1.Water your lawn in the early morning. If you water during the day more water can be lost to evaporation and is wasteful. Be careful not to over water as this can be more damaging than under watering. Don't water at night as there is more chance of fungus developing.
2.Leave clippings on the lawn so that the nutrients are returned to the grass. Use a mulching mower if possible which will chop up the clippings into tiny pieces that will not show on the grass and easily decompose. You won't have to rake up the clippings or dispose of them.
3.Fertilise your lawn only one or two times a year. Once in the Fall and again in the Spring.
4.Use a water soluble, slow release fertiliser that won't burn the lawn and will slowly release nutrients as they are needed. Natural organic fertilisers, methylene urea or sulfur coated urea are good choices and should contain about 50% nitrogen. A fast acting fertiliser is easily washed away when you water or after rainfall, can pollute water courses and is very wasteful.
5.Watch the weeds for helpful signs. If you have dandelions on your lawn then the pH is probably too high and it's time to add some sulphur. Dandelions grow best at a pH of around 7.5. Clover is a sign that your soil lacks nitrogen so apply a slow release fertiliser.
6.Instead of using herbicides use corn gluten to control the weeds. Corn gluten is non toxic and is a by product of corn processing. One application can reduce weed growth by 60% by killing the seedlings. It also adds nitrogen to the soil.
7.Try to minimise your use of pesticides and herbicides. These kill good and bad organisms indiscriminately and you need a variety of good organisms for a healthy lawn. If you have been using chemicals on your lawn it may take a few seasons for the lawn to recover.
8.Use vinegar as a spot treatment for weeds instead of pesticides. It is effective for the removal of plantains and dandelions but take care to only treat the weeds rather than the surrounding grass which it can burn. You could also manually pull out the weeds including the roots.
9.Use any fallen leaves as mulch or put them in a compost bin to turn into a rich humus to spread on your soil.
10. Repair damaged areas with new grass seed in the fall. You can also thicken existing grass by scattering grass seed over the area at this time.
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