A few tips!

Blue Water Irrigation and Lawn Care wants your landscape to look its best. The following tips will help you learn more about your property's maintenance requirements. Watering,Mowing,Thatch,Grasscycling,Drought,Pruning,Mulch, Fertilization,pH Balancing Watering Proper watering procedures help maintain lawn color, resilience and proper root development. A lawn should be watered regularly, before it has a chance to wilt and turn brown. To ensure proper watering procedures, follow these simple instructions: Be aware of early signs of wilt. Two common signs of wilt are grass leaves that have a bluish green cast caused by folded grass leaves or footprints that stay in the lawn instead of bouncing back up. Apply enough water to wet the soil to a depth of approximately 6-8 inches. A soil probe may be used to check moisture depth. To maintain a soil moisture depth of 6-8'', a water rate of 1'' to 2'' of per week is required. You can place open cans in the sprinkler pattern to determine the amount of water being applied. Water may be applied any time of day, but morning watering is usually most efficient. This is due to the higher humidity, negligible wind and wetness caused by dew which usually accompanies this time of day. Night watering is not recommended as it encourages disease and insect development. Mowing Good mowing practices are critical to the appearance of your lawn. If you follow these general guidelines you can increase the health and appearance of your lawn. Make sure your blade is sharp. A lawn mowed with a dull blade appears gray shortly after mowing and the tips turn brown within 48 hours. Cut often enough to remove no more than 1/3 of the grass blade. This will help avoid scalping, which puts the grass under stress and reduces its vigor. Mowing at the correct height also shades the soil, which keeps temperatures lower for optimum growth. You may leave clippings if you mow often enough. The grass clippings will recycle nutrients back into the soil and do not contribute to thatch build up. Thatch Thatch is a layer of partially decomposed stems, roots and other plant parts that build up between the grass blades and the soil in your lawn. It acts like mulch to insulate and protect the grass plants. However, if there is too much thatch, 1/2'' or more, it can cause problems for your lawn. Thick thatch can act as a barrier to air, water and fertilizer. It also harbors disease and insects. The following things are important to control thatch in your lawn: Core aeration: Core aerating is the process of removing small plugs from your lawn. This process allows more air, moisture and fertilizer. Proper soil pH: Proper soil pH encourages microbes that break down thatch. Grasscycling Leaving grass clippings on the lawn not only reduces the problem of limited landfill space; it also provides many benefits for you and your lawn. Grasscycling is recommended for the following reasons: Improved lawn quality. Decaying grass clippings release valuable nutrients, which improve the soil and feed the grass plants. This helps you enjoy a greener, healthier lawn. Save time. A recent study in the Southwest found that homeowners who quit bagging grass saved an average of seven hours of yard work at the end of six months. Clippings don't cause thatch. Thatch is caused by the build-up of roots, stolons and other plant material. It has been found that leaving clippings on the lawn contributes less than 1/16'' to the thatch layer each year. All mowers can grasscycle. No special equipment is needed. Grasscycling is an environmentally responsible practice. Landscape waste, including grass clippings, accounts for almost 20% of all curbside waste. Grasscycling provides an environmentally important opportunity for you to participate in reducing landfill volume. Drought Before beginning corrective steps following a drought, a professional diagnosis of the type and extent of damage should be made. Drought conditions weaken the root system, resulting in the grass turning brown. Insect damage and lawn diseases that attack the surviving roots, often compound the problem. After a Summer drought, it is essential that you provide a proper combination of nitrogen, phosphorous, potash, iron, and micronutrients to help develop a strong root system over the Winter. This will help your lawn get off to a good start in the Spring with less threat of weeds, insects or diseases. If the entire lawn has been seriously thinned, reseeding may be necessary to restore your lawn to optimum condition. Pruning Pruning landscape plantings is a useful way to control growth and repair damage. Minor pruning can be done at any time of the year; major pruning projects should be done in the early Spring before new growth begins. Flowering bushes should be pruned shortly after blooms fall. Plants injured by storms, accidents or vandalism should be pruned to remove damaged areas as soon as possible. Pruning should be done on dry days, when limbs and twigs are dry. After trimming diseased plants, tools should be disinfected to prevent transferring the infection to healthy plants. Mulching Using mulch around the base of plants has many benefits including retention of soil moisture and prevention of heat loss. However, when applying mulch, one should be careful not to use too much. Check to see that it is not smothering the base of plantings and is not more than 4 inches high in the beds. The key symptoms that indicate over-mulching are off-color foliage, small leaves, poor twig growth and tieback of older branches. Over-mulching can cause many problems if not corrected in a timely manner. Fertilization Fertilizer promotes root development and increased turf density. Throughout the year, applications of fertilizer perform assorted duties for your lawn. Quality lawn care materials must be selected and formulation and application instructions need to be followed. Lawn care materials, whether purchased by the homeowner or applied by a professional, must be applied in accordance with the EPA registered label instructions on the product. Keep your family and pets off the lawn until the lawn care materials have been watered into the soil and the lawn is completely dry. pH Balancing When the pH level of your soil is properly balanced, your lawn is healthier and applications of fertilizer are more effective. The soil pH, controlled with lime or sulfur, will make nutrients more available, allowing fertilizers to work efficiently to provide a long-lasting, deep-green lawn. Proper pH levels promote favorable growing conditions, which encourage hardy plants that are less susceptible to damage. To have your soil pH checked by a professional please contact Blue Water.When the pH level of your soil is properly balanced, your lawn is healthier and applications of fertilizer are more effective. The soil pH, controlled with lime or sulfur, will make nutrients more available, allowing fertilizers to work efficiently to provide a long-lasting, deep-green lawn. Proper pH levels promote favorable growing conditions which encourage hardy plants that are less susceptible to damage. To have your soil pH checked by a professional please contact Blue Water.