Maintenance Lawn Care
Summer lawn care is mostly maintenance, mowing, watering, and what I think is tremendously important--treating you lawn to a regular light shampoo.

The use of soapy tonics on a regular basis will reduce the lawn's need for water, and help fertilizers and other controls work better.
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To ensure that every drop of water you provide goes deep into the soil, where it's needed most. Is to use a solution of:

1 cup of baby shampoo
1 can of beer
1/2 cup of ammonia (take extra care when handling)

Mix these ingredients in a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer and fill the jar the rest of the way with water. Then spray on your lawn to the point of run-off. This will keep your lawn growing and looking good.

How Often to Mow
There is no set schedule as to when to mow your lawn, there are many factors in play that dictates when to mow and how often you should mow your grass.

Never mow the grass in the heat of the day. Always mow in the late afternoon, or early evening hours. This will lessen the stress on the grass.

Never mow wet grass, because the moisture will cause the grass to lay down causing an uneven cut. Cutting wet grass will dull your mower blades faster.

Depending on what type of grass that you have, because different grasses grow at the different rates, at different times of the growing season.

Usually mowing weekly will cover most needs. If it's hot and dry then you might mow bi-weekly. Because the grass grow rate will slow down. Also Zoysia is a slow growing grass. Where Bermuda is a fairly fast growing grass.

It depends on how large your mower is. If you have a 20"inch mower, it's going to take you more passes to mow your lawn. If you have a 40"inch mower, this will cut the passes down considerably.

Keep Mower Blades Sharp
Dull mower blades make jagged unclean cuts that will pull the roots and can leave grass at risk for developing disease or being damaged by the sun. The unhealthy grass can turn gray or brown and potentially kill the grass. So be sure and keep your mower blades sharp to keep your grass happy and healthy.

It's hard to tell you when to sharpen the blades. But you should be able to tell when your blades are getting dull.

Your engine will start working harder to cut the lawn. The mower will start using more fuel to cut the same amount of area.

Change Directions When Mowing
It's easy to fall into a habit of mowing your lawn in the same way everytime. It's usually easier to mow in a straight line than to change your pattern of mowing.
When you do it over and over again your grass will start growing that way. If you change the direction of mowing, this will give you a better looking lawn.

Cutting Grass is Not Equal
During the growing season, you should always follow the 1/3rd rule. Never cut more than 1/3rd of the grass height at one time. This is why you should never neglect cutting your grass at regular intervals.

The longer the grass the more times that you will have to cut it. When you let it grow too much, the grass will tend to wrap around the blades and will pull on the grass instead of cutting it. This is hard on the grass and the blades of the mower.

How High to Leave the Grass
Don't cut your grass to low. This will cause it to turn brown and have a shallow root system.

Fine fescue should be cut no lower than 2"inches. You should cut it at 3"inches.
Kentucky bluegrass should be cut no lower than 2"inches. You should cut it at 3"inches.

Bermuda should be cut no lower than 1" to 1 1/2"inches. You should cut it at approximately 3"inches.

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