Lawns
A HEALTHY lawn PRODUCES our OXYGEN, CLEANS our AIR and FILTERS our WATER.
The key to a healthy lawn that contributes to our environment and our wellness is proper soil preparation, proper installation and proper maintenance practice.
What is important to understand is that a lawn is turf grass and turf grass is a plant and as such, contributes to the environment as any plant does and requires the proper care to ensure its health like any plant does. A healthy thriving plant is a working plant. Not only is turf grass an efficient groundcover, it is one of nature’s most luxurious and least expensive groundwater filters and oxygen producers. All in all, turf grass ‘gives us much more than it takes’.
To build a lawn you have two choices. You can sod or you can seed.
Sodding 101
Nursery sod is a living product, cut and delivered fresh from the sod farm where it was professionally grown. Nursery sod cannot stay on a pallet very long, especially in the heat. If you have to store your sod, do so in a cool, shaded area. Do not cover or water sod while on the pallet!
It is always beneficial to incorporate a compost product into the top 6″ of a healthy friable topsoil before you lay the sod. Apply a good starter fertilizer with a broadcast spreader on top of the soil before you lay your sod. And remember, sod should be installed tight together with no gaps.
Water sod within 30 minutes of installation. Continue watering for at least 10 days, depending on rainfall. Watering early in the morning is preferable; a once a day thorough soaking of at least 2″ is better than an intermittent watering throughout the day. It is important to get enough water down into the roots and soil below. Shallow watering develops weak and shallow roots and makes your lawn vulnerable to drought, compaction, pests and diseases.
When you mow your lawn, the best advice we can give you is to mow high and mow often with a well maintained and sharp mulching mower.