GREEN ENVY

SETTLERS BAY — Everybody loves a luscious lawn. There are few things as satisfying as enjoying an ice-cold lemonade while overlooking the vivid green of a freshly cut and trimmed lawn.

It’s a satisfaction Amos Stephens knows well. As superintendent for Setters Bay Golf Course, Stephens is entering his 11th season caring for the course’s lavish links. While Stephens and his crew practice the science of grass maintenance, it’s a pursuit every homeowner can be successful at.

For those looking to grow and maintain that perfect patch of grass, there are several important, yet simple, things to do, he said.

“The most important thing is you have to go into the winter as best as you can,” he said. “If you can’t put the grass to sleep for 165 to 170 days through ice and snow — if it doesn’t have enough food, it’s not gong to come through that. We’re preparing for the winter today.”

For the average homeowner, that means following some simple rules, he said. That includes not spoiling or over-indulging a lawn. While you may think you’re pampering the yard by giving it healthy doses of expensive fertilizer and watering every day, you may actually be making your grass weaker.

“Well, first off, in my opinion, grow only bluegrass,” Stephens said. “I don’t like the looks of fescues, fescues are stringy.”

And don’t fall into the trap of thinking grass needs a lot of lime to be healthy.

“First off, what’s your soil pH?” he said. “If you don’t know that, you don’t really know if you need lime. With lime, you’re either wasting your money or you’re getting lucky.”

Most homeowners won’t take the extra steps to have their soil pH tested, which is understandable, Stephens said. In that case, if you do fertilize, use a simple 1/0/1 ratio of nitrogen/phosphorous/potassium. That means, use 1 percent nitrogen and potassium and no phosphorous. The ratios of those nutrients can be found on bags of fertilizer he said. For example, a 50-pound bag with a 20/0/20 ratio is 20 percent nitrogen and 20 percent potassium. Simply figure out how many square feet of lawn needs to be fertilized and use the right amount.

To mow or not to mow?

At Settlers Bay, groundskeepers mow every day, but once a week is fine for homeowners, Stephens said.

“Once a week is OK, but the more you mow the better it’s going to look,” he said. “That grass is going to train itself and it’s going to thicken itself up.”

Use a sharp mulching lawnmower blade and — if it can be helped — do not bag up grass clippings, he said. Instead, let the mower’s mulching blade do its job and leave the clippings on the lawn.

“It’s recycling the nutrients,” he said. “If you’re harvesting the clippings, you’re taking nutrients away.”

That’s true for those pesky leaves as fall comes on. Run the mower over the leaves — every day if you need to — to greatly improved the health of your lawn and help prepare it for winter.

Air it out

Along with basic mowing, Stephens is a big believer in aeration. Using an inexpensive tool to take out small plugs of grass and dirt allows grass to be fed at the root level, he said.

“Aeration is the key to everything, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I punch holes from treeline to treeline at the golf course. It improves infiltration of water and enhances nutrient availability through fertilization because it allows them to get through the thatch layer.”

Another tip is to take the lawnmower and run over those plugs of dirt to make them part of the lawn’s normal mulch, Stephens said. If you do, though, make sure to resharpen the blade after.

Along with aeration and mowing, keeping those unwanted weeds out of a lawn can be as simple as going to the local gardening supply store, Stephens said. There are a number of products designed to eliminate weeds, if they’re used according to directions.

How dry I am

The No. 1 mistake most people make regarding lawn health is overwatering the grass, Stephens said. For the most part, a lawn only needs 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water once a week.

“When it rains here, then you drive around; what’s everybody doing?” Stephens asked. “Watering their yards. People overwater more than anything else.”

Because sprinkler systems and heads vary, an easy way to know if you’re watering enough, but not too much, is to put a shallow baking pan on the lawn while watering. When 1/4 to 1/2 inch has collected, it’s enough.

“When that thing fills up with 1/4 to 1/2 inch, you’re done,” he said. “You’ll time that, then you’ll know how much time it takes that sprinkler to put that much water down.”

One reason you don’t want to overwater is that with the right amount, grass is encouraged to develop a deeper, stronger root system to seek the water and nutrients it needs.

“Turf is not an idiot,” he said. “You have more root mass and more area for (those roots) to find nutrients. With that ability to get nutrients, the grass can store carbohydrates, … and that’s the ability to make it through winter.”

Ultimately, the biggest factor in creating that perfect layer of lawn is effort, Stephens said. Your yard will only be as nice as the time and care put into it.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.