Common Lawn Care Mistakes

Basic lawn and yard maintenance seems like a simple task, but for if you’re not sure what you’re doing or don’t have time to get to it, you could end up with an unhealthy sad-looking lawn. If your lawn is hanging on to life by a thread, you should consider hiring a professional lawn care company to revive it for you. Though you might have the best intentions for your yard, rental or commercial property a few simple mistakes could lead to a real DIY disaster. Here are some common lawn care mistakes homeowners and property managers make.

Burning your lawn with too much fertilizer.

Fertilizer will help your lawn grown strong and healthy by giving it important nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.  It is an important part of regular lawn care but if you over fertilize you could actually give your lawn a chemical burn. Too much fertilizer will change the levels of nitrogen and salt in your lawn too drastically and that can damage or even kill it in areas completely. If you’ve finished fertilizing and your lawn now has strips of yellow or brown patches of dead grass…you’ve over fertilized. Call a professional lawn care and maintenance company in Edmonton.

Weed killers that kill the grass.

You had dandelions, crab grass and clovers growing in your lawn and they needed to go! Weed killer seemed like the correct option. Though you had the right idea, weed killer can kill your grass if not used properly. If you accidentally spray some on your bushes, shrubs and flower beds you could kill them too. The most common mistake is accidentally using a dual weed AND grass killer or accidentally using fertilizer instead of weed killer.

The University of Findlay made the mistake of using fertilizer instead of weed killer and killed 75% of the campus’ lawns. Depending if they chose to reseed or lay new sod on the property, this mistake cost them between $432,000 and $2.1 million!

It’s important you read the label carefully before you use any herbicides. If you’re unsure, call in the pros! Learn how to get and maintain a healthy lawn.

Neglecting to rake the lawn before winter.

Autumn is a beautiful time of year! You love the colours of the leaves, but love them less when they fall all over your yard and need to be raked up. It’s hard work, but if you neglect to clear your lawn of leaves and debris before the snow flies you could find some nasty issues come spring. The thick layer of snow on top of the leaves and debris will suffocate your lawn and create ideal conditions for mildew and snow mold growth. Once it melts, you’ll have a rotten blanket of last-years leaves to deal with and perhaps snow mold. Let your lawn breath and make sure it gets raked this fall. Read these season-to-season lawn care tips.