Tips for taking care of grass

Want to keep your lawn in tip-top shape? Then follow this advice for mowing, fertilizing, and sowing new grass.

• You're not the first person to think that cutting your lawn extra-short is a genius idea. But while you may not have to mow the lawn as often, you'll weaken the blades and roll out the welcome mat for weeds and invasive grasses.
• Although ideal mowing heights vary depending on the kind of grass, there is a golden rule to lawn mowing: Never remove more than one-third of the blade. Giving your lawn a trim rather than a close crop encourages deeper root growth and healthier grass overall.
• Increase height of mower by one centimetre (1/2 inch) after a drought, when you're mowing shaded areas, or when the grass has been stressed by high traffic. In cool climates, your last mow of the season should be about 30 percent lower than normal — that'll help you prevent matted grass and snow mould fungus.

• Apply fertilizer during the spring growing season or in late fall — never during the hot summer months, when it can cause turf burn or promote weed growth.
• All commercial fertilizers use three-number designations, which correspond to their ratios by weight of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K); slow-release 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 formulations are generally considered safe for most lawns. Although newly-seeded lawns need all three nutrients, established grasses usually require supplemental nitrogen and little, if any, phosphorus and potassium.
• For those who don't want to dump a bunch of chemicals on their lawn, there are good organic fertilizer options. Our favourite? Used coffee grounds! Ground corn, soy, cottonseed, alfalfa meal, and organic fertilizer are also effective. Unlike their chemical counterparts, organic fertilizers can be used any time of year; they need about three weeks to break down in the soil, so be sure to apply them well in advance of seeding.

• Before you do anything else, find out which types of grass grow best in your area. You can find this out by consulting a soil-testing laboratory or a local garden centre or nursery (or you can ask a neighbour with a nice lawn what kind of seed he or she uses).
• Once you're out shopping, pay close attention to the packaging: The makeup of even "identical" blends from the same manufacturer can vary because seeds come from different sources. Two of the phrases you want to look out for are "weed content" and "other crop seed" (this "other" category can contain anything not specifically classified as a noxious weed).
• The only way to guarantee that you're not sowing a fair number of weeds along with your grass is to select a box that says "zero per cent" in those categories. You should also avoid grass seed packages marked "VNS," which stands for "variety not stated," and those that contain more than 0.5 percent annual grasses; this is important because you want to limit the amount of annual grass that's going into your yard — it will die off after that first growing season.
• Finally, look for a high germination rate — at least 85 percent for Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, and turf-type tall fescue (TTTF).