Homeowners in Tennessee pride themselves on having luscious, beautiful-looking lawns.
If you’re a first-time homeowner, you’ll be dying to make your lawn look as though pros handle it.
If this fits your mindset, here are six unique lawn care tips for brand-new Tennessee homeowners that you should know about:
1. Stay Up-to-Date with Mower Maintenance Needs
Few things can wreck your lawn mowing tasks and schedule like suddenly finding your mower or other lawn care equipment in need of costly repairs.
Especially in today’s hectic economy, first-time homeowners are looking for ways to save money.
Being up-to-date on your mower and other lawn care equipment’s maintenance needs will help you avoid costly repairs, and keep you on schedule throughout the coming year.
If you do need maintenance, you must seek it out ASAP.
If you ignore the problem, and let the equipment further deteriorate, you may find yourself in a devastating scenario where your equipment is unrepairable (and this will cost you a ton to correct).
2. Never, Ever Mow a Sopping Wet Lawn
Mowing is an art form.
As with any other art form, it’s key that you know the base rules to create an effective, beautiful piece of work.
If you need help at first, contacting a lawn care service to help guide you the first few times is a great idea. One of the key rules of mowing is that you should only ever cut dry grass.
There are many reasons for this crucial rule. Firstly, mowing wet grass significantly raises the risk of your mower malfunctioning, or flipping (if you’re using a riding lawn mower).
Especially if you’re mowing on hills or uneven ground, you will put yourself in danger by mowing wet grass.
And then, you still won’t have a nice lawn, as mowing wet grass creates tons of clogging issues, and causes wet, now-rotting grass to potentially infect your lawn in between sessions.
Be safe and smart, and never, ever mow your grass when it’s sopping wet.
3. Be Sure to Dethatch and Rake to Keep Your Lawn Healthy
There are several lawn maintenance tasks that first-time homeowners are often completely unaware of.
Both dethatching and raking are incredibly important to not having a clean, beautiful-looking lawn, but one that will keep pests and lawn diseases away as well.
By detaching your grass, you’re ensuring that it’s not having issues with massive weed growth, or weak grass seed growth.
Raking up leaves and any dead grass is essential as well. When left alone to slowly rot, leaves will attract tons of pests that can damage your lawn’s health.
In some cases, they can even attract ants and termites to your lawn, which will continue to cause issues and hurt your bank account.
4. Soil and Fertilizer Maintenance is Key to a Luscious Lawn
Taking care of the soil and fertilizer you use to keep your lawn luscious is another key responsibility of any first-time homeowner.
Doing soil tests yearly can give you a treasure trove of information that will let you know exactly how to take care of, or reinvigorate your lawn.
Additionally, using the right fertilizer to promote grass growth, and keep pesky weeds away, is key.
When you’re first handling this task, calling a lawn care service to help you with the task is recommended.
They will walk you through the process effectively, and ensure you’re only using the best products to keep your lawn safe.
After this initial professional help, you’ll have the knowledge you need to do the task yourself in the future.
5. Be Sure to Alternate Your Mowing Directions/Patterns Between Sessions
Once you start mowing regularly, you’ll have a certain way of patterning and directing your mowing burned into your mind.
While this habit is important, it’s also crucial that you alternate your mowing patterns and directions between each session.
This promotes strong grass growth and ensures that your lawn gets the beloved stripes each time you mow.
If you want to impress your neighbors with how smoothly and sharply your lawn is mowed in 2023, this tip is absolutely essential.
6. Make Sure Your Mower’s Blades are Sharp Before Every Session
Lastly, you must make sure your mower blades are nice and sharp before you jump on your mower.
Dull blades will not only make your lawn look uneven and trashy but running them can cause issues with your mower’s effectiveness.
If you have dull or uneven blades, and suddenly hit a rock, for example, you could end up damaging your equipment in a way that will harshly affect your finances.
The more you take care of your mower, the less you’ll spend on lawn care needs each year.
