Like all living, growing things, your lawn needs continual maintenance to stay green and beautiful. When you understand your lawn, you can care for it appropriately and confidently. While focusing on a few of these tasks is okay, to truly have the lawn you want, you should consider all these lawn care responsibilities:

• Choose the right type of grass for your lawn. Climate is a huge consideration when selecting grass – whether you live in a warm or cool climate and have extended sun exposure. If your yard or lawn sees a lot of foot traffic or activity, you will also want to take that into account.
• Your lawn needs air. If the grass gets to compact and densely grown, the grass roots cannot receive the air and nutrients. Aerating your lawn revitalizes it and improves oxygen circulation for your plants’ roots.
• As the foundation for your lawn, knowing your soil is a critical aspect of caring for your lawn or yard overall. One of the best ways you can understand your lawn is by checking the pH of the soil. By knowing the pH of your soil, you know what kind of nutrients it may be lacking or if there is too much of something in the ground.  If you do need to set new soil on your lawn, you want to strip all the weeds from the area and till the area until you are about six inches deep into the ground. When you replace the soil, try to add a little depth to lawn to optimize drainage.
• Once you better understand the soil, you can figure out what kind of fertilizing agent to use. Most fertilizers use a combination of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, but you may require more nutrients like sulfur or iron. While your grass needs these elements, so does your soil.
• Seeding your lawn is a great way to replace dead patches of grass. Pay attention to the kinds of seeds you are dispersing and try to disperse them as evenly as possible. It is also recommended dispersing the seeds as part of a mulch or pulp, so the seeds are just sitting on the soil, and they will have easy access to nutrition.
• Watering your lawn is a given and one of the easiest ways to take care of your green space. The basic idea is to water less, but water well. Your grass roots need to see some of that dihydrogen oxide to stay healthy and growing.
• Mowing your lawn is another responsibility we all know about – and sometimes even debate. How often you mow your lawn partially depends on what kind of grass you have and optimal height. However, taller grass usually indicates healthier root systems. Mowing more is not always better – it usually just leads to more mowing.