In this segment I'm going to be offering you my best lawn care tips. If I had to tell the homeowner two things that they could do to make their lawn better, they would be to mow high and fertilize in the fall. I know these sound counterintuitive. A lot of people like to mow lower because it makes the lawn look better, and they like to fertilize in the spring because they think that's when the grass is growing and that's when it needs it most, but in both cases, it's counterintuitive what the best thing to do is.
First, let's talk about mowing high. Why would you want to mow high? Mow as high as you can for two reasons; one, longer grass shades the earth. That does two things. That will prevent weed seeds from sprouting, or it will certainly allow fewer of them to sprout since less sunlight is hitting the ground. Also, since less sunlight is hitting the ground, there will be less evaporation of water, and you'll need to water the turf less. So my advice is mow as high as you can while your lawn still looks good to you.
The second tip, again, is counterintuitive, and that's to fertilize your lawn in the fall. Why would you want to do this? Obviously, the lawn is growing most in the spring. You want to get it to green up quickly, and it seems to make the most sense to fertilize in the spring, which most people do. But a lot of studies have shown if you fertilize in the fall, particularly even as late as Thanksgiving, or while the grass is still green but not growing anymore, what you want is the grass to be photosynthesizing and when you put down fertilizer or nitrogen, the grass plant take up the nitrogen, and it stores it as carbohydrates which is going to help your turf get through the winter as sort of like putting on winter fat. And then in the spring it will green up quicker, and it will have that nitrogen already in the plant ready for use.
