Proper mowing can mean the difference between a so-so lawn and a great one. There are a few simple decisions to make when mowing that make a difference in your lawn.

How high to mow?

Grass generally performs best when mowed at one of the higher settings on your mower — especially in hot summer weather.

• Avoid scalping at all costs.
• Never cut off more than 1/3 of the length of the grass blades in a single mowing. If lawn growth gets ahead of you, mow it at a higher length, then lower blade and mow again a few days later.

Recommended mowing heights by grass type

Grass	Minimum Height	Maximum Height
Fine Fescue	1½"	2½"
Kentucky Bluegrass	1½"	2½"
Ryegrass	1½"	2½"
Bahiagrass	2"	4"
Bermuda grass	½"	2"
Buffalo grass	2"	3"
Carpet grass	2"	3"
Centipede grass	1"	1½"
St. Augustine grass/Floratam	2"	4"
Bahiagrass	¾"	2"

How often to mow?

Once a week is usually sufficient. In spring, when grass is growing more rapidly, mowing twice a week may be necessary to avoid removing more than 1/3 the length of the grass blades.

Blade sharpness

Keep mower blade sharp. Mowing with a dull blade tears the ends of grass blades, leaving ragged ends which later turn brown, giving the lawn a dried-out look. Such grass blade damage also encourages the spread of fungus disease.

Other tips

• Mow in different directions (diagonal, horizontal, vertical patterns) each time you mow to prevent "leaning" of grass blades in your lawn.
• Avoid making sharp turns with the mower. Use sidewalks and driveways as a place to turn the mower, or make "header strips" and turn the mower at the end of each row when you reach the header.
• Never mow a wet lawn, as this can lead to uneven cuts and invites fungus to your lawn.
• Get the "striped" or "checkerboard" look, like on a professional baseball field, by placing a roller on your mower. These can be purchased at many hardware stores.
  

       Choosing A Mower
       Mowing A New Lawn

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1. Prepare the soil.

The soil must be worked up to a depth of approximately one inch to provide a lodging place for the grass seeds. In small areas, this can be done using any sharp garden tool such as a garden rake. Or, spread Scotts® Enriched LawnSoil® over the area and then sow the seeds.

2. Sow the seed evenly.

Seeding of the area can be done using any Scotts lawn spreader, either drop-type or rotary. On very small areas, the seed can even be spread by hand, although the tendency here is to apply more seed than is necessary. To make the job of seeding bare spots especially easy, you can use Scotts PatchMaster Lawn Repair Mix, a product which contains Scotts grass seed, along with the special Starter Fertilizer and mulch. All three are mixed together in a single package.

3. Be sure to fertilize.

Apply Scotts Starter Fertilizer the same day you seed, to get the seeding off to a fast, strong start. (This is an extremely important step although it doesn’t matter which you apply first.) You can skip this if you use Scotts Enriched LawnSoil.

4. Watering is critical.

Keep the seedbed constantly moist to start germination. Water often, rather than deeply, and only the top inch of soil needs to be kept moist. Once germination starts, keep the area moist until the seedlings are well established.

5. Early follow-up.

Begin mowing as soon as the seedlings are about 1½ inches tall. Do not mow when soil is so wet as to allow the mower to damage young plants. Do not use a weed killer until the young grass plants have been mowed four times.

6. Long-term follow-up.

As soon as the new seeding is established, the lawn should be started on an Annual Lawn Program for best results.

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Small dead spots in the lawn may be made by dogs urinating, fertilizer or chemical spills, construction, weather damage or lawn insects or diseases. There are three ways to fill these spots:

• If the spot is small, it may repair itself depending on the grass type. Kentucky bluegrass, for example, will fill in naturally through its growing habits. This is not an option for tall fescue lawns and warm-season grasses.
• A second option is to patch it with sod, sprigs or plugs. This is a bit more trouble, but the dead spot is gone immediately.
• A third option is to re-seed. Re-seeded areas are slower to establish than sod—but quicker than self-healing. This option is often used for larger dead areas or badly damaged lawns with many dead spots.

Patching With Sod

Sod for patching can be obtained at a local nursery. Some nurseries sell small pieces of sod just for this purpose. Select sod that's as close to your lawn type and color as possible. Different varieties of the same grass can be quite different shades of green. For example, some bluegrass varieties are a deep blue-green, while others are a soft apple green. If the purchased sod is very different from your lawn, it will look like a patch forever.

Another way to get patching material is to raise it yourself by cutting patches from an out-of-sight portion of your own lawn. You might even plant a small piece of lawn just for this purpose, making your own sod farm. Raising your own sod saves you a trip to the nursery, and you know the sod will match your lawn. Whenever you remove a piece of sod for patching, re-seed the spot.

Use a sharp spade to cut a square shape in the lawn around the damaged spot. Holding the spade horizontally, cut the damaged sod out, taking about 3/4 inch of soil with it. Lay the cut-out portion on the new sod. Using the cut-out piece as a template, make cuts around the edges into the new sod. Lift this sod (if it's part of your lawn) by undercutting with the spade.

Rough up the soil in the damaged spot with a rake or cultivator and lay the patch in place. Press it down firmly to establish good contact with the soil. Water it daily in dry weather for the first couple of weeks until the roots have grown into the native soil. Gently lift a corner to test. If you meet resistance, the sod has established.

Re-seeding Dead Spots

Damaged spots can also be patched by reseeding them. Rough up the soil in the damaged area to remove dead grass and expose fresh soil. Scatter lawn seed (of a type that matches your lawn), sprinkle on some starter fertilizer, press the seed into the soil, and keep it damp until the seeds sprout. This may take up to a month in cool weather.

Re-seeding can be made easier by purchasing a patching mix of grass seed, fertilizer and mulch. Just spread it on the dead spot and water daily until it germinates.

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There are several ways to establish a new lawn:

Seed — the most popular planting method, since it's the easiest and most cost-effective, with a wider choice of varieties. Seeding is the most seasonal method, and works best for bluegrasses, rye grasses, and fescues and other cool-season grasses.

Sod — rectangular strips of grass cut from a sod farm, brought to your yard and laid on prepped soil for instant gratification. However, cost and installation can be prohibitive. (more on sod)

Sprigs — pieces of grass without soil attached. Sprigs are scattered across prepared soil and kept moist to take root, then spread readily to fill in the gap. This method is more affordable than sodding, but also more difficult than seeding.

Plugs — small pieces of sod that look like plugs are laid in a grid across prepared soil. It is a cost-effective way of establishing a lawn, but can take up to 1-2 seasons for complete coverage. Weed infestation can also be a concern.

New lawns also require special mowing practices to prevent damage.

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The dirt on your lawn's foundation.

A quality lawn is only as good as its soil. And unlike a garden, it is difficult to see, feel and even work with the soil in a lawn. There are steps you can take to improve the soil in your lawn, but before you go putting shovel to earth, there are a few things to uncover about soil.

Soil Defined

Soil consists mainly of mineral particles, along with air and organic matter. The three basic mineral particles in the soil are:

• Sand — Sand makes up the largest particles and adds more space between particles in the soil than the other two minerals. Soil that is 50% sand drains well, dries quickly and warms up faster due to better porosity. It also tends to be less fertile and more susceptible to moisture loss.
• Clay — The smallest particles (less than .0001-inch) in the soil are clay. Clay is the most dense, with the least water and pores between particles. A soil with 50% clay is the opposite of sand; it drains, dries and warms up slowly. It can be very fertile and has excellent water retention.
• Silt — Silt is a product of the weathering and decomposition of preexisting rock. It is between clay and sand in particle size. It behaves much like clay, but its larger particle size makes it faster to lose water.

Soil Texture & Structure

Soil texture is determined by the percentage of sand, clay and silt particles in your soil. How they are arranged and how big these proportions are dictates the nutrient availability and drainage of your lawn. Structure refers to how these particles clump together, and is often influenced by organic materials in the soil.

Think of it this way: At one extreme is beach sand, and at the other you have clay. At the beach, the sand particles are visible to the naked eye, water drips through it and very little grows. On the other hand, clay — which covers much of the U.S. — is slow to warm up and drain (it is clumpy and sticky when worked in your hand). Two very different textures and structures.

Clay soils need amendments to make them an ideal place to grow a quality lawn, or garden for that matter. The perfect soil is loam, which is somewhere in the middle. Loam is a mix of particle sizes and types, at about a 40 percent sand, 40 percent clay and 20 percent silt proportion. Loam soils hold water and nutrients while allowing excess water to properly drain.

There are simple methods to you can take, such as testing your soil, to determine your soil texture and structure. We’ve outlined the steps in the evaluate your soil project. Once you know the basic characteristics of your soil — sandy, clay or loam, then you'll know what to do to improve it.

Soil pH: Acid or Alkaline?

Another factor of soil behavior is its pH, or the measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Many of the chemical reactions that occur in the soil rely on the pH. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 14, with 1 being extremely acidic and 14 being extremely alkaline. A pH of 7 is considered neutral. For example, vinegar has a pH of 3, distilled water a pH of 7 and baking soda a pH of 11.

For soil, the ideal pH range is between 6 and 7. This is important because some nutrients are only available to plants when the soil is within that pH range. Rainy areas, like the Pacific Northwest and eastern U.S., generally have low pH and more acidic soil. Lime is traditionally used to balance acidity. The soils of the Southwest and West have dry climates that lead to a more alkaline soil. These are often balanced by sulfur, but that is often a difficult task.

Soil can also be more acidic in certain areas, particularly under and near evergreens, whose needles contribute acid properties to soil.

Testing your soil will give you an accurate read of the pH level. To properly test your soil contact your county extension office. A soil test will provide exact information about the pH, as well as the texture of your soil, any nutrient deficiencies, and the presence of organic matter and harmful salts. See the evaluate your soil project for more information.

Compacted Soil

Topsoil is the top level of soil — anywhere from 4 to 12 inches — that is most available to plants. Ideally, it consists of crumb-sized aggregates of granular soil particles with lots of porosity.

Over time, fertilizing, mowing and foot traffic can cause a soil to become compacted, with far fewer pores for air and water. This means poor drainage and inadequate growth. An easy way to check on the compaction of your soil is to walk around your yard, pushing a metal rod into the ground. If it's hard to get a 6 to 8 inch depth, your soil probably needs aeration. If it's consistently resistant, you may have a "hardpan," or severely compacted crust layer. Hardpan soils contribute to fungus and root rot, caused by poor drainage. Compacted soil should be aerated to introduce more porosity.

Soil fertility

Within soil, plants, including lawns, require the basic nutrients supplied by fertilizers. They are:

• Nitrogen — makes plants grow and become green
• Phosphorus — promotes strong roots and stimulates seed development
• Potassium — for disease resistance and drought tolerance

Iron, calcium, magnesium and other elements are also vital to soil's overall health. Scotts fertilizers contain special Micronutrients™ to deliver a complete array of benefits for specific soil needs. Typically, lawns are fertilized with a higher percentage of nitrogen to promote green, healthy blades.

Learn more about fertilizer and how to select and apply it in our lawn basics section, or see our Scotts Annual Program Builder for a customized fertilization program. It tells you exactly which fertilizers to apply and when for your region and grass type.

Improving Soil Texture & Structure

The easiest way to understand your soil is to conduct a soil test. You can test your soil quite easily using a kit, or with the help of your county extension service. A soil test will determine the pH, phosphorus level, potassium level and organic matter in your soil. A soil test report typically gives an analysis as well as recommendations for specific fertilizer, lime or sulfur amendments to create the ideal nutrient and pH levels.

But to truly understand what your soil test means it's good to have a basic understanding of what soil is and what these measures mean.

Ideally, soil contains 5 to 10% of organic matter, which will get its makeup closer to the ideal, loamy soil. The organic matter in the soil — whether inherent or introduced — is eaten by microorganisms in soil, producing polysaccharides. These form humus, which allows clay and silt to form together into larger particles. By creating bigger aggregates of particles, you create more openings for air and water to move through soil. That means better drainage, which gets more nutrients to plants and gives them room to grow and thrive.

Humus is essential in sandy soils, to capture moisture and nutrients that make a more fertile ground for growth.

Luckily, it's quite simple to improve the texture of your soil. Just adding organic matter, such as sphagnum peat, to the soil will improve nutrients, moisture and drainage. Turned into the soil, organic matter breaks up clay particles. In sandy soils, it binds the grains together and retains moisture and fertility. Here's a simple guideline for your soil:

• Sandy soils — apply 4 inches of top soil and work into the top 4-6 inches. Water will move more slowly, keeping nutrients available to plants and out of ground water.
• Heavy clay soils — these dense soils lack the proper consistency and aeration for good plant growth. Add 1-2 inches of topsoil and work into the top 4-6 inches of soil.
• Average soils — even soils that roughly match a loamy profile can be improved by amendments. Organic material is constantly consumed by microorganisms, so replenish it much like clay soils.

Resist the temptation to add sand to clay soil to improve drainage. Unfortunately, it usually has the reverse effect, and leads to compaction due to the way clay and sand binds together. Adding other materials may be more expensive in the short-run, but it will lead to better results.

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As a general rule, most lawns require about one inch of water per week from rain or sprinkling. But many people ask, "How long should I water to equal one inch?" Well, it depends on your water pressure and the type of sprinkler you choose — find out more by exploring the links to the right.

A few tips to keep in mind:

• It's best to water early in the day. You won't waste water through evaporation, and watering at night puts your lawn at risk for developing mildew and fungus disease.
• Don't give your lawn a light sprinkling. This promotes shallow roots, and it may not even reach the soil, depending on how much you water.
• During dry spells or droughts, pay attention to watering restrictions.
• Water deeply and infrequently (1/2" twice a week is enough) and don't waste water.

See the following links for more on watering lawns.
What To Know About Watering
The Can Test

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Two types of weeds show up in lawns: broadleaf weeds and grassy weeds. Dandelions and thistle are broadleaf weeds. Basically, any plant growing in the lawn that does not resemble grass is a broadleaf weed. Crabgrass and goose grass are examples of grassy weeds.

If your lawn is full of weeds, the best solution is to use a broadcast herbicide to kill them. This can be accomplished with a product like Ortho Weed-B-Gon MAX Weed Killer for Lawns or a "weed and feed" product like Scotts Turf Builder with Plus 2 Weed Control. Remember to read and follow label directions.

A few weeds can be pulled up by hand, but many will grow right back because of their deep tap root. It may appear that the entire weed was pulled out, but the tap root simply breaks and what is left in the soil sprouts new weed growth above the soil. To kill the entire weed, use a product that will kill broadleaf weeds and not harm the grass, like Ortho Weed-B-Gon.

Grassy weeds are a bit tougher to control. Typically, grassy weeds like crabgrass die in the fall and drop thousands of seeds that germinate the following spring. This is why a crabgrass preventer is recommended in the spring.

The best defense against weeds is a thick lawn that is properly cared for and never scalped by mowing. A thick lawn will choke out weeds and never allow them a place to establish in the lawn.

Weed Control Tips