Taking care of new sod or even existing turf is important if you want an appealing yard. Below I am listing some tips to help you maintain an appealing yard.
- Keep a regular mowing schedule, once a week on average.
- Keep grass at an average of 2-3 inches. Longer grass uses less water.
- Never cut more than 1/3 of the leaf blade per mowing. Keep mowing blades sharp as dull blades can damage or even ruin grass.
- Fertilize lawn on a regular schedule. I like to do my yard on the big holidays. So I will fertilize on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and one time in late October or early November before the weather turns off really cold.
- Too much water can be just as harmful as too little. Be sure to check sprinklers often to efficiently maintain water use.
How do I know if I am watering too much?
You can get watering rates from your local extension office. A good rule of thumb is to water between 1″ and 1-1/2″ per week. In my area, the Intermountain West, that is the recommended rate. Most sprinkler heads have precipitation rates. This means for a particular sprinkler head, it will water a certain number of inches per hour. For example, if you have Rainbird 15 series spray heads in your sprinkler system, they will water around 1.5 inches per hour at 30 psi. This means you would set your timer to water that station between 45 minutes and 1 hour per week to get the recommended rate. So if you are watering 4 days per week on that station, you would water 15-20 minutes on that station’s run time for those 4 days.