The ultimate goal of every homeowner who takes pride in their landscape is to have a thick, green, and lush lawn to enjoy. The easiest way to have that is to make sure it has the right amount of irrigation, a healthy dose of sunlight, and the proper lawn fertilization program. With those 3 things in-tact, your lawn will be the envy of the neighborhood.
Sunlight:
Too much shade is often the culprit for an unsightly dirt patch in a lawn. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone tell me they think all they need to do is install a pallet of sod and their lawn will be fine. What actually happens is the sod looks great for a few months, but over time begins to fade and, six months later, their unsightly dirt patch is back. They're treating the symptom of the problem (the dead sod) rather than the actual problem (the amount of shade on that area of the lawn).
The bottom line is that St. Augustine and Zoysia need about 4-6 hours of sunlight a day.
Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Sun
Watch Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #1 is Sunlight
Water:
If your lawn developed brown spots last spring in the sunny areas, I’d venture to guess that your problem is water-related. Most of the lawn issues we see in May and June are from the dry spells we experience. These brown spots during droughts are generally caused by one of two things if you have a Gainesville Irrigation system: Improper irrigation coverage or incorrect watering times.
Three Quick Tips to Avoid Over or Under Watering Your Lawn:
1. Run your irrigation early in the morning. I set mine to start at 4AM.
2. Run your Rotor or Rotator Zones for about 45 minutes. Shrub/Ornamental zones can be set to 25 (deeper root systems).
3. Run your irrigation twice per week from March - November, per Alachua County Code.
Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Water
Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #2 is Water (Sprinklers, Irrigation, Drought stress)
Food:
Many homeowners in our area use the ‘feast or famine’ method fertilizing once or twice a year because of chain stores recommending the spring and fall lawn feedings. This is one of the many ways that turfgrass and the human body are very similar. This is not unlike eating one or two large meals a day and expecting a healthy physique – It just doesn’t work like that. In the same way that many nutritionists recommend 5-6 small meals a day because your body needs to be fed constantly, your lawn is at its best when it is given 5-6 doses of nutrients per year too.
Get more information here: 3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Gainesville Lawn: Fertilizer
Video Here: 3 Basic Needs of a Lawn - #3 is Food (Fertilizer)
It's a Brand New Year and a great time to set goals for your lawn. It all starts with a vision, and having a plan in place to focus on where you want to see improvements will help to make sure you hit your lawn goals for the year! Grass can survive with a minimum amount of care, but keep in mind, to grow well, it will need supplemental watering and fertilizer when it starts to look stressed. That’s where we can help out!
Our lawn health programs are designed by a team that specializes in Gainesville turf grasses, with a focus on prevention of issues before they become issues. We use seasonally appropriate lawn foods to ensure your lawn is primed for success.
If we can be of help with any of your Gainesville landscape maintenance chores - or the surrounding areas of Alachua, Jonesville, and Newberry - please don't hesitate to reach out to us at (352) 378-LAWN or fill out our form at the top of the page!