If you’re planning to welcome spring by planting new grass, it’s important to understand the proper steps you need to take to ensure your new grass survives and thrives. After all, you don’t want to go to all the work of planting new grass only to have some or all of it end up dead. Fortunately, with the right care, your new grass will grow quickly and you’ll soon have a lush, green, beautiful lawn.
Water It, but Not Too Much
One important component of growing healthy grass, whether sod or seed, is ensuring it receives enough water. New grass is much less tolerant to long periods without water, so if you want it to grow successfully, regular watering is a must. Water your grass until the soil is damp but before you notice a substantial amount of standing water on the ground. Too much standing water could quickly become stagnant and cause the grass blades to begin to rot.
Trim in Time
As you’ve probably noticed when you’ve edged or trimmed mature grass, this process can be very stressful, even to lawns that are established. The quick-spinning trimmer can damage grass that’s not absolutely healthy, and that includes new grass. Although it might drive you crazy to have tall grass around the perimeter of your lawn, avoid trimming your grass until it is well-established. If you don’t, the uneven cut that results could cause diseases that require eventual re-planting.
Stay Sharp
Along the same lines as trimming, a dull lawn mower blade can cause significant damage to your new lawn. Kind of like a dull razor blade when shaving, a dull lawn mower blade pulls, rather than slices the grass it contacts. This pulling action will result in an uneven cut and put unnecessary stress on the root system.
So, if you have an older lawn mower, sharpen your blades before your first cut on your new grass. If selecting a new lawn mower from a company like Cox Mowers, ensure you select one that can bag the clippings. Though clippings make great fertilizer for established lawns, they can serve to choke out light and nutrients from lawns that are still growing.
Feed It Right
Just as babies have different dietary needs than adults, so, too, does new grass have different dietary needs than mature grass. If your new lawn is in need of fertilizer, it’s important to utilize a type that’s specially formulated to be lower in nitrogen and higher in phosphorous and potassium. This mix focuses more on growing solid, deep roots that help the grass that grows above ground to be able to withstand a variety of stressful conditions.
Enjoy It
A beautiful new lawn is no good if it’s not able to be enjoyed. In the midst of all you do to ensure it grows beautifully, take a step back to admire your handiwork. When everything is going well and you’ve got a beautiful green carpet for a lawn, it can certainly be a source of immense pride and neighborhood bragging rights.