5 easy ways to encourage your lawn to grow lush and full

If you want to make a good lawn even better, here are five easy ways to encourage your lawn to grow lush and full without a ton of fuss.

Although lawn grasses vary in their appearance and most active seasons of growth they all have several things in common, including basic care. Here are five things you should know about lawn care that could help transform a good lawn into one that's lush and full.

Always fertilize when the grass is actively growing. What does that mean? Think about springtime when it seems you can't mow your lawn often enough: it seems to grow before your very eyes.

• Feeding a lawn that's resting or dormant often means you may be feeding weeds, wasting time and money, or causing unnecessary water pollution. Hold the food until your grass is ready to eat.
• During especially dry, hot spells (near mid-summer) your grass is in slow-growth mode but the weeds aren't. They thrive under most conditions where grass withers and goes yellow until the next bout of rain.

Check your soil's acidity (pH). Inexpensive soil-test kits are available at most garden centres or home improvement stores.

• The pH of pure water is 7.0. to give you an idea. Anything lower is considered acidic, while anything higher is deemed basic. The pH of acid in a car battery is slightly under 1.0

Many naturally acidic soils need to have the pH raised with the addition of lime

• Raising the pH helps the grass take up nutrients more efficiently. It will also enhance your lawn's resistance to disease.
• Pelleted or granular lime is as easy to apply as fertilizer.

Just as with fertilizer, if your soil's pH is too high or low it favours the growth of weeds at the expense of your grass.

Don't mow the lawn too low. It's especially tempting to do this in spring when the grass grows like there's no tomorrow.

• "Scalping" a lawn invites weeds by weakening the grass and creating empty spaces for weeds to sprout and grow. What's more, cutting your lawn too close damages the roots and potentially invites pest insects to inflict further damage.
• Ideal mowing heights vary with the type of grass, but it's always better to mow a little high than to mow too low.

All grasses have a time during the year when they naturally become lush and full. It depends on the variety of grass you have and where you live in Canada.

• That period of luxuriant growth is the best time to attend to small weed outbreaks and to give your grass a little extra fertilizer or water.

Fertilizing your lawn at just the right moment will result in tighter turf with deeper roots – exactly what'll be needed if your lawn is later faced with drought or other stressful conditions that favour weeds.

How green is your grass? Not green enough? Epsom salts may be the answer because they can help add much-needed magnesium and iron to the soil. New grass that lacks iron quickly turns yellow and looks unhealthy. Magnesium deficiencies in the soil may cause the grass to look slightly reddish.

• Add 30 millilitres (two tablespoons) of Epsom salts to four litres (one gallon) of water, then spray evenly on your lawn.
• Follow that up by watering the lawn with plain water to ensure the mixture soaks into the grass.