In order to maintain a lush and healthy lawn, it is important to
fertilize and water your lawn regularly. Use Earthway spreaders to
accurately spread your fertilizers and insecticides. When watering
your lawn, if you start, do not stop. Each week your lawn needs between
½ and one inch of moisture. Whether the moisture comes from
daily watering or a large rainfall, the lawn needs to have at least
½ inch of water. When you water, make sure you water deeply,
soaking the soil. The roots will follow moisture and you will have
a deeper root system. Shallow watering should be avoided.
Many sprinkler devices will give you the dimensions of their coverage.
If you do not know or do not have access to the original box, measure
the coverage area. It is also a good idea to place several tin cans
or rain gauges around the coverage area. This way you will know
how much water is applied per hour from your sprinkler and with
your water pressure. The Gilmour Pattern Master Fertilizing Sprinkler
allows you to water and fertilize your lawn at the same time. It
offers a unique speed control for even coverage of your entire lawn.
With the Gilmour Fertilizing Sprinkler, your lawn will never be
deprived of water and fertilizer.
When to Water:
Watering in the morning is generally considered to be the best time.
If it is physically impossible to water your lawn in the mornings,
then late afternoon is the next best time. Try to avoid watering
overnight, the cooler air with the moisture you are applying is
a breeding ground for plant diseases and fungus. There are few people
that will disagree with us that Swan Hose is one of the top manufacturer's
of lawn hoses. When using a hose, you do not want to mess with a
lightweight hose, which is why we recommend Swan Soft-n-Supple Garden
Hose.
The Gilmour Comfort Grips Nozzle attaches to all hoses and can
be used to spray off your driveway.
Initial Watering:
There is a large difference when first watering a newly seeded lawn
versus a sodded lawn. A newly seeded lawn needs to be kept moist
until germination (10 to 14 days). You do not want to over water
a newly seeded lawn because over watering would cause the seeds
to wash away. A newly sodded lawn needs to be soaked to a depth
of six to eight inches and watered daily until the root system has
taken hold (two to three weeks). During the next few weeks, it is
important to keep your lawn moist.
Fall is a good time to aerate. After the foot traffic that your
lawn endured during the summer, the soil has compacted so there
is less ability for water to soak deeply. Spring is also a great
time to aerate. Make sure the aeration method removes three-inch
cores so there is more ability for water to soak deeply. Root growth
will increase and your lawn will thicken up. The holes left from
aeration are ideal for areas for grass seed to lodge when over seeding
early in the fall.
When Can I Mow:
Seeded areas with existing grass can be mowed as needed. Do not
let clippings accumulate on the lawn, as smothering of new seedlings
may occur. New lawns should be mowed as the lawn reaches a normal
mowing height. For Ryegrass, Bluegrass and Fescue, this should be
in the 2.5 inch to three-inch rain range. The Ames Wheelbarrow is
our recommendation for moving heavy loads associated with lawn care.
Whether it is soil to level out low spots or lawn clippings, this
is the wheelbarrow to use. Ames also offers a great set of tools.
The rake shovel or hoe are all great choices for lawn use. When
raking and shoveling, your hands can become sore, Boss Gloves protect
your hands and look great as well. With Boss, you know they will
last for a long time.
Controlling Weeds in Your Lawn:
With the fall season comes winter weeds. They germinate during the
fall, grow in the winter and spring, then die in the spring. Weeds
can be controlled if the proper method is used. The two methods
are pre-emergent and post-emergent. The pre-emergent method is the
most effective because the weeds 
are
controlled before they ever emerge. Proven Crabgrass Preventer plus
lawn food is a very effective product in killing weeds before they
emerge.
The other method used is the post-emergent method. This involves
spraying the weeds after they have emerged and are showing. Fertilome
is one of our favorite brands. Fertilome Weed Out is very easy to
use, and effective. 
Fertilome
Weed Out kills a wide range of broadleaf weed commonly found in
lawns. For weeds that get started along the borders of the lawn,
the product of choice is Hi-Yield Super 
Killzall.
Hi-Yield Super Killzall will kill them quickly and not leave chemical
residue. Do not spray anything that you want to keep! This makes
for an easy way to edge your lawn under fences, gates and edges
of buildings.
There is simply no better way to quickly green up your lawn than
to use Ironite. The 10lb size bag will cover approximately 1000
square feet of lawn. Ironite is also great to use on your perennials.
Make sure you read the label direction for the rate of use. Also
be aware that iron will discolor your concrete. Be careful when
spreading iron products. If you do get discoloring on your concrete,
look for Fertilome Klean-Crete. It removes iron, rust and scale
stains from concrete, decorative rock & stucco and is 100% biodegradable.
Proven
Brands 4-Step Fertilizer has a secret ingredient, UFLEXX. This secret
ingredient makes your lawn last longer and work better than other
fertilizers. UFLEXX stabilized nitrogen fertilizer improves your
nitrogen effectiveness. It 
embodies
an ingredient that maximizes nitrogen efficiency while minimizing
loss to the environment. While combining a urease and nitrification
inhibitor, it reduces the loss of nitrogen from volatilization and
leaching. With the effects of volatilization and leaching under
control, more nitrogen is sustained in a usable form for a longer-lasting
effect.
The four steps are:
1. Crabgrass Preventer: This step is used to control crabgrass,
foxtail goosegrass, banyard grass and annual bluegrass. It should
be applied in the spring, one to two weeks prior to the germination
of the annual grass weeds.
2. Weed and Feed: This step promotes lush green lawn growth
and controls dandelions and other 140 broadleaf weeds from emerging.
This step should be applied when weeds are growing actively in the
early spring or fall. Do not apply to newly seeded or sodded lawns,
until after three mowings.
3. Lawn Fertilizer: This step should be applied throughout
the growing season for a show-place lawn. Apply this fertilizer
every four to six weeks.
4. Fall Fertilizer/New Lawn Starter: Promotes vigorous growth
of new grass in the spring and encourages root development, winter
hardiness and disease resistance in the fall. For fall use, apply
in late September, October or November while the soil temperature
is above 50 ° Fahrenheit. When soil temperatures are below 50
°, turfgrass becomes dormant and cannot make use of the fertilizer
nutrients.
* We greatly encourage the use of the Proven Brands 4-step lawn
care program for a healthy beautiful lawn.
