A key part of having a beautiful lawn is knowing how to fertilize grass. Proper fertilizing will give you a nice green lawn to enjoy instead of a dull colored patch of weeds. Fertilizing is not complicated but there are a few keys of doing it the right way the first time. If you mess it up, you can’t just go back the next day and do it again. You have to wait until it is time to do it on the next cycle.
How to Fertilize Grass Yourself: 2 Ways of Fertilizing
There are a couple of ways of going about the task of fertilizing. One way is get granular fertilizer to be spread in a push spreader. A spreader can be a drop type that drops the fertilizer pellets straight down on the turf as you push it. But the more commonly used type is a broadcast spreader which spreads seed, or in this case fertilizer, in a wider path. That way you don’t have to do as much walking while still covering more area.
Right Amount!
Whichever type spreader you use, just be sure to follow the instructions on the bag of fertilizer. Put out the right amount for the best results. You need to know the size of your lawn so you know how to fertilize grass correctly. Too much fertilizer and your grass will grow too fast and have to be mowed too frequently. Too little fertilizer will not kick start the growth you desire.
Liquid Fertilizer Is More Effective
Another way to do the fertilizing on your little ponderosa is to go with a liquid fertilizer. This way is a bit more effective as the fertilizer is soaked into the turf immediately. Equal distribution of the chemical fertilizer is still important in this case too. You don’t want spots of nice green grass and other spots that are light green. That will happen if you don’t fertilize as evenly as possible.
Have Fun and Spray Around!
How to fertilize grass using a liquid fertilizer? Well, you can use a pump up sprayer. Just mix water with the concentrate and start walking and spraying. If you have a big yard, I suggest a backpack sprayer. It holds more than a hand held sprayer and the pump seems to work better in these designs. You can also just buy a simple fertilizing kit that hooks on your standard garden hose. This is for those who want the easiest solution possible. All you have to do is to hook the bottle of concentrated fertilizer to the end of your water hose and start spraying. It automatically uses the right amount of mixture as you spray. How does this work? I assume it is some kind of green thumb wizardry!
But, Don’t Make This Mistake….
The biggest mistake folks make is not doing an even job with the fertilizing. You can’t tell it until the fertilizer starts working, which may be several days after you fertilize. Depending on what technique you used, you can see certain patterns of bad fertilizing. There could be streaks that show how poor a job you did or just random spots left unfertilized. Either way you will have to correct the problem a few weeks away. If you re-fertilize right away to make the lawn look even, you run the risk of adding too much fertilizer to the lawn. That is as harmful as not adding any fertilizer at all and in some cases it is more harmful. So do the job right the first time to not have to worry about correcting it.animation_direction=”down”
Sharing = Saving Money
Fertilizing can always be hired out just like any lawn task. Just be sure you get a quality company that can handle your personal needs. Bigger is not always better when it comes to service providers.
If you and your neighbors have tiny yards, consider buying fertilizer in bulk. You might save enough money to be worth sharing. You don’t want to have to buy 200 pounds of fertilizer for your small yard then have to store the chemicals all year long. Neighbors that work together on lawn maintenance can save dollars by buying in bulk on many other items as well. Now you know how to fertilize grass, it’s time to learn when to fertilize it!
