How to Maintain a Lawn

In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook and host Kevin O’Connor discuss best practices for keeping a lawn lush and green.

Steps:

1. Every autumn, run a core aerator over entire lawn to relieve compaction and allow water and nutrients to penetrate into the soil.

Pro Tip: Roger Cook, This Old House landscape contractor, emphasizes that aerating is one of the most impactful maintenance steps you can take: “Aerating the lawn is the best thing you can do short of applying chemicals.” A core aerator drives spikes into the ground, pulling out plugs about two or three inches long — those holes allow water, nutrients, and air to get down into the lawn and make your grass stronger.

2. Spread an even layer of compost over the lawn to improve the soil.

3. In early spring, run a power dethatcher over lawn to remove dead grass and leaves.

4. Rake up the thatch and dump it into a compost pile.

5. Rake new grass seed over bare spots in lawn.

6. Use a soil tester to evaluate health of soil and to how much lime and fertilizer to add.

Don’t skip the soil test. As Roger Cook demonstrates on This Old House, a soil test reveals both the physical structure of your soil — sandy, clay, or loamy — and its pH and nutrient levels. “You’ll notice these red numbers, all those red numbers indicate things that we are lacking in or low in,” he explains. Addressing those deficiencies with a balanced fertilizer before you seed or fertilize can make all the difference.

7. Use broadcast spreader to add lime, and then fertilizer to lawn.

8. Mow the lawn, making sure to raise or lower the mowing deck to the optimum height. It’s best to cut off no more than ⅓ of the grass blades with each mowing.

Why Mow High: Roger Cook recommends setting mower blades 3 inches high, because tall grass grows deep roots and shades out weeds. Keep blades sharp so the grass is cut rather than ripped. And if the grass turns brown during dry spells, don’t panic — that only means it has gone dormant and will quickly green up again when it gets the moisture it needs.

9. A mulching lawnmower blade will chop grass clippings into very fine particles and blow them back down into the lawn. If using a non-mulching mower, be sure to bag the clippings.

10. Use a lawn sprinkler to apply 1 inch of water per week. Apply the inch of water during two or three applications per week.

11. Use an automatic timer to water the lawn in the very early morning, some time between 4am and 6am.