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Lori Elswick 2010 LoCAR President

It’s the height of the lawn care season! Lawn care falls into one of the following categories: Establishing, mowing and watering. Whether you have a new lawn or an already established one, lawns need tender loving care over the course of a season. Below are some tips to help your lawn stay beautiful and thrive throughout the season.

Establishment
Turfgrass can be established a variety of ways. Do you have a new construction? An existing lawn that is thin and rough? A fair lawn that is just a little thin? Depending on what condition your lawn is in will determine where to start. Let's say you have a lawn that is in fair condition but needs thickened up. An easy way to do this is to Aerate and overseed. An aerator is a machine that will poke a hole in the ground (thousands of them actually) and remove a core of soil and leave it laying on the surface. These are called core aerators.

This process will stunt the grass and slow it's growth allowing the new grass that you will seed to get started with limited competition from the existing grass.

The amount of seed you use is important. If you don't use enough you won't get the desired results. Be sure to measure the square footage of your lawn accurately and write it down. Everything you do in lawn care will ask for how large the lawn is. Spread the seed with a spreader of any type, do not use your hand and just throw it around, you won't get even coverage. Spread the seed using half of the required amount spreading it in one direction, use the other half spreading the opposite direction creating a cross hatch pattern on the lawn. This way you are assured of getting even coverage.

After the grass is about 3 weeks old you should be able to start mowing. CUT IT HIGH!!!

Fertilizing
Fertilizing the grass does more than just make it green. Of course it will make it grow too, but lot's of things happen when you fertilize. Fertilizer makes the seed germinate faster and grow thicker and look healthier. What most people want to know is how much and when. Simply put, most grasses will benefit from four applications of fertilizer per year. Spread out 60 days apart starting in early spring approximately 30 days before the growing season starts in your area, continuing through the growing season until fall. Spring fertilizing gets the grass off to a fast start giving you that rich green color everyone wants.

Weed Control
Controlling weeds in a new or existing lawn is vital to the health and overall appearance of the lawn. A beautiful smooth lawn gets most of it's good looks from the fact that it is smooth and level with no weeds sticking up above the turf. You have probably mowed your lawn before only to have dandelions popping up above the grass a day later making it look like you need to mow already. A weed free lawn holds it's good looks for several days if the grass is a monoculture with uniform growing heights.

Buying a home can be one of life's most exciting experiences - and one of the most challenging. The more prepared you are at the outset, the less overwhelming and chaotic the process will be. Be sure to utilize the services of a professional -- a REALTOR® -- who can help guide you through the home buying and selling process. A REALTOR® with your local Lorain County Association of REALTORS® is trained to help you make your housing dreams become a reality.

The Lorain County Association of REALTORS® is one of more than 1,200 local boards and associations of REALTORS® nationwide that comprise the National Association of REALTORS®. The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing more than one million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

The Lorain County Association of REALTORS® offers a website that provides a complete listing of REALTOR® and industry Affiliate members (such as title companies, banks, home inspectors, etc.). If you are a first time homebuyer or a repeat buyer consider www.MyNewCommunity.net or www.LoCAR.org as a good source for information.

REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. Not all real estate sales agents are REALTORS®. All REALTORS® are members of NAR along with their State and Local Associations.