You can save money and have the best yard on the block. From proper mowing to treating soil compaction, learn the details of maintaining your lawn on a budget.

After learning all you need to know about saving money by fertilizing your own lawn, you can move on to learning more inexpensive ways to care for your Canadian or Midwest and Northern U.S. yard while sticking to your budget. Bookmark this page or print it out to use as a reference.

Mow High to Save Money

Setting your mower blade higher results in denser turf that blocks water evaporation from the soil and inhibits weeds. A low-mowed lawn is more expensive, needing more frequent watering and more herbicide for weed control.

• Mow no lower than 2-1/2 inches during the summer months. You can mow as high as 3-1/2 inches.
• Do not remove more than one-third of the grass blades at one time to avoid stressing the lawn.
• Lower the mower blade a bit once the weather cools, then use an even lower setting for your final mowing late in the fall. Mowing low late in the season discourages snow mold and other problems by keeping grass from clumping together.
• Use a mulching mower and leave grass clippings on the lawn to return nitrogen to the soil. If you do not have a mulching mower, bag clippings every other time you mow or skip bagging and mow more often so clippings are small enough to break down quickly.
• Keep the mower blade sharp and never mow wet turf to discourage tearing of the grass blades.

Lawn Watering Requirements

Buy and use a rain gage to determine if your lawn receives one inch of water per week. If Mother Nature is not cooperative, give the lawn an inch of water in one watering. Water early in the morning or early evening to avoid evaporation, but do not water late at night as it encourages fungus and molds.

Lawn Weeds and Pests

Crab grass is controlled most effectively before it germinates very early in the spring by using a pre-emergent weed deterrent such as one that contains corn gluten. Post-emergent crab grass killers are not effective on large clumps but work on younger, smaller crab grass clumps.

Broadleaf weeds can be treated with a selective lawn herbicide which kills only weeds and not your grass. Nonselective herbicides such as Round Up kill all plants regardless of type and can not be used on the lawn. Avoid wasting money by applying herbicide under proper weather conditions as specified in the product directions.

Brown Patches in Turf

Patches of dead grass can indicate insect problems or fungus or mold, both of which are treatable. Unfortunately, turf fungicides are expensive so if you use one, follow directions to avoid wasting the product. Use pesticides as sparingly as possible because they kill beneficial insects as well as pests.

The Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service has excellent turf grass management publications to teach you how to identify and treat turf pest and disease problems. Read Turfgrass Insect Management and Turfgrass Disease Profiles for help with determining what is causing brown patches in your lawn and how to treat them.

Dethatching the Lawn

Thatch is a layer of dead vegetation that exists under grass on the soil surface. Up to one-half inch of is healthy and insulates your lawn, which is important in Canada and the Midwest and Northern United States. Lawn health suffers when grass takes root in a thick layer of thatch or pests such as lawn months make nests in thick thatch.

Dethatch in early spring before you fertilize or apply preemergent weed preventative. You can rent a dethatcher from a hardware store but the cheaper alternative is to rake deeply to remove the thatch. Special dethatching rakes are available but are difficult to use while not removing much more thatch than a typical yard rake.

Never dethatch newly seeded, overseeded or sodded lawns as they have a delicate root structure, however, after mechanically dethatching the lawn is an ideal time to overseed. You can also reduce thatch by core aerating.

Core Aerating

As your lawn is used over the years the soil will become compacted. Compaction reduces oxygen in the soil which grass roots need to properly absorb water and nutrients. To determine if the soil under your lawn is compacted, cut out a section that measures one square foot and is 6 inches deep. If the grass roots grow down two inches or less, you should aerate.

Aerate your lawn in the fall before your final fertilizer application. Rent a core aerator from a hardware store or rental center and reduce the cost by get together with neighbors to share the machine and divide the rental fee.

The immediate results of core aeration are not attractive, with small plugs of lawn and soil being deposited on the lawn surface. But the following spring you will have healthier turf with better access to water, oxygen and fertilizer.