Lawn Care Tips for our neighbors in Berkeley Heights, New Providence, Summit & Nearby Areas

Watering your lawn tips.

We recommend that our customers water their lawn for 20 to 45 minutes per zone a few times per week, with 30 minutes per zone being best for most cases. Deep, infrequent watering is best since it will help the lawn develop a strong, deep root system. The watering zone for your landscaping and shrub areas should also receive deep, infrequent watering. 

Every lawn is different, so the watering schedule should be customized. We want the sunnier, dryer parts of your lawn to receive more water than shady or wet areas.  

Watering late in the evening will leave the grass wet overnight and creates a perfect condition for a fungus to grow. The best time to water your lawn is between 4 and 10 am. 

Your irrigation system should be turned on in mid- to late May. It should be scheduled to run once or twice per week, then increase the days as we go into the summer. Watering every other day is best for the summer. 

If your lawn needs more water in the heat of the summer, increase your zone times to 45 minutes per zone. In extreme summer heat, if it is not green, add additional days.

As fall begins to set in, we suggest cutting back on watering to one day per week in late September, then stop all watering around the middle of October.

If watering with a garden hose and sprinkler soak each area for 1 hour once or twice a week.

When seeding, a different watering technique must be used. Your lawn should be watered daily for about 20 minutes per zone. Then after about 30 days when the seed has been established, follow the watering guidelines as we laid out above.

Lawn mowing tips.

For a healthy attractive lawn, mowing and maintenance are some of the most important factors. A few tips for mowing your lawn correctly:

• Keep your lawn routinely mowed high, at a height of 3.0 to 3.5 inches This will promote a thicker, stronger lawn.
• We suggest only removing about 1/3 of the grass blade per mow.
• Mower blades should be sharp. We want to cut the grass; a dull blade will tear the grass, leaving the tips brown and more susceptible to disease and insects.
• Bottom line, it's best to cut weekly, high at 3.5 inches with a sharp blade.

Tips for preventing lawn disease.

Diseases in your lawn can happen at any time of the year based on the different weather conditions we see in the New Jersey area. The best ways to prevent lawn disease is:

• Using our annual lawn care program to promote and maintain a strong, healthy lawn.
• Bag the grass clippings.
• Every two years our team should aerate or dethatch your lawn.
• To create a more disease-resistant lawn we will overseed with a newer, better quality grass.
• Watering properly is crucial for a disease-free lawn. Improper watering will cause more damage than good.
• Preventing lawn care disease is our goal, but should a disease occur, a chemical application should be applied. This will last approximately four weeks, and multiple applications are often needed to control the disease. We suggest applying disease preventives during the peak seasons; June, July, and August.

Tips for your lawn care irrigation system.

Simply understanding your irrigation system so you can make needed adjustments throughout the year is important.

• We can help you set up a watering schedule and timing that is optimal for your lawn.
• You should make sure all the zones are properly labeled on the timer.
• Check all sprinkler heads are working properly.
• Every few years you should cut the grass away from all your sprinkler heads because the grass will grow over them and cause issues.
• Water sensors should be checked and cleaned to ensure they are working properly.
• If you don’t have a water sensor, you need to install one. This will prevent wasted water and lawn damage from overwatering. If it's raining and already wet, the sensor will shut your irrigation system off.
• Your irrigation system should run between 3 am and 7 am. To prevent lawn diseases, never run your system in the evening hours
• Try to not water on the days you mow. After you mow, you should water the lawn in the next day or two.

Understanding lawn care thatch.

Thatch occurs naturally but will increase rapidly when using a low-quality fertilizer. A layer of thatch is made up of decomposed grass blades, stems, and roots, and in small amounts is beneficial to your lawn. Thatch can create many problems when the layer exceeds ½” thick, it will prevent water, air, and fertilizer from penetrating the roots properly. If the thick layer of thatch is not removed, insects will begin making it their home and disease can take over, causing damage to your lawn that will be difficult to treat.

We will come to your property and remove this layer of thatch by using a de-thatcher/power rake, or through core aeration. The best time of year for this service is late summer or early fall and is often combined with our overseeding services. Dethatching should be done every few years, creating a healthier lawn that will require less water and fewer problems with disease and insects.