How to Grow Greener Grass

Learn the secrets on how to grow healthier, thicker and greener grass from our staff expert. These are our best grass growing tips.

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How to Grow Greener Grass
Family Handyman

How to Grow Greener Grass

Our staff expert tells you the six secrets for growing greener grass. You'll keep your lawn healthier, greener and thicker with a lot less effort. He also reveals the five biggest mistakes!
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Meet the expert
Family Handyman

Meet the expert

As the in-house turf "expert" at The Family Handyman for the past 15 years, I've spent a huge amount of time talking with world-class grass gurus and learning the science of lawns. And I've spent even more time clearing and converting a half-acre of rough, overgrown horse pasture to a Pebble Beach–quality lawn. My final conclusion is this: Growing greener grass is surprisingly simple and easy. If you're willing to learn some basic facts and put in just a few hours of light labor every summer, you can have a lush lawn. You supply the labor and we will supply the know-how so you can learn how to grow greener grass.
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 1. Water deeply, but not often
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 1. Water deeply, but not often

If you water frequently and for short periods, the grass roots have no reason to grow deep. Those shallow roots can't reach deep soil nutrients or deliver the water when you skip a watering. Instead, water deeply enough to penetrate the soil 4 to 6 in. Do our little test for a few waterings and you'll get a sense of just how long and often. It'll depend entirely on weather conditions and your soil type. Water for 30 minutes. Then plunge a spade into the soil and pry out a wedge to see how far the water has penetrated. Four to 6 in. deep is ideal. Not deep enough? Water longer. Once you know how long to water, use a water timer and you'll know what to set it for every time. Heavy soils should be watered less often and less heavily but for longer periods of time. Sandy soils, on the other hand, can handle heavy, fast watering but dry out faster. In hot, dry weather, you may have to water every two to three days.
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 2. Attack broadleaf weeds in mild weather
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 2. Attack broadleaf weeds in mild weather

You need to kill weeds when they're growing. That's because the herbicide is absorbed through the leaves and then sent throughout the rest of the plant. When the weather is too cool, the weed isn't growing and the herbicide won't be absorbed, and the chemical isn't as effective. Too hot and the herbicide will stress the grass. The product directions will give you the best temperature range. Apply herbicides when rain isn't forecast; a soaking will just rinse off the herbicide before it can do any good.
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 3. Kill crabgrass before it spreads
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 3. Kill crabgrass before it spreads

Crabgrass preventers (aka pre-emergence treatments) do one thing and one thing only. They prevent crabgrass (and any other seed) from sprouting. Once crabgrass sprouts, it's too late. Here's the key. Apply preventer between the second and the third mowings. Because crabgrass starts sprouting a few weeks after the grass greens up, that's generally just the right time.
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 5. Don't skip the fall fertilizing
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 5. Don't skip the fall fertilizing

Before the lawn goes to sleep for the winter, you should feed it well. Even after the grass seems to go dormant, the roots are soaking up nutrients and storing energy for the next growing season. Surprisingly, it's much more important to fertilize in the fall than in the spring, when most people do it. Like watering, this is one of the most important favors you can do for your lawn.
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 6. Test the soil pH level
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How to grow greener grass magic bullet # 6. Test the soil pH level

Grass grows best when it's growing in the "pH happy zone." Grasses like a pH level between 6 and 7.2. If the soil is too acidic or too alkaline, the grass won't thrive even if you do everything else right. So collect one tablespoon-size sample a couple of inches under the sod in three different places in your yard and take the three samples in for testing. Some garden centers offer the service, or search the Internet for "soil testing" to find a place to send it. You're after a pH between 6 and 7.2. If it's too high, you'll treat the lawn with iron sulfate or sulfur; too low and you'll use pelletized limestone. Whoever does the testing will tell you what and how much to use to fix the pH. Applying the treatment is as easy as walking around the yard with a spreader. Illustration courtesy of Trevor Johnston
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Five ways to growing greener grass simpler and cheaper: 1. Use a broadcast spreader
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Five ways to growing greener grass simpler and cheaper: 1. Use a broadcast spreader

Use a broadcast spreader—not a drop spreader. Drop spreaders (the type that drops granules straight down) are notoriously tricky to use. You're bound to end up with stripes or checkerboard patterns on your grass. You're much better off with a broadcast spreader, which spews out the granules at random for much more consistent coverage.
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Simpler and cheaper: 2. Eliminate a few weeds one by one
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Simpler and cheaper: 2. Eliminate a few weeds one by one

Don't treat your whole lawn for just a few weeds. That's expensive, a hassle and ecologically unsound. If you have only a few weeds, pull them by hand or spray each one with a pump-up sprayer.
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Simpler and cheaper: 3. Use liquid broadleaf weed killers
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Simpler and cheaper: 3. Use liquid broadleaf weed killers

Use a hose-end sprayer to kill a yard full of weeds. It's faster and more effective to dispense concentrated liquid broadleaf killers than to use granular broadleaf killers. You just add the herbicide, dial in the right concentration on the sprayer lid and walk around the yard and mist all the weeds. You can treat an average yard in less than 20 minutes. Learn more about killing weeds in our video tutorial.
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Reseed Late in the Growing Season
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Reseed Late in the Growing Season

For a healthy spring and summer lawn, reseed in the late summer/early fall. Whether you're seeding a small patch or a whole yard, you're going to be much more successful if you wait for the cooler, damper weather of late summer or early fall. It's almost impossible to get seed to survive during the dog days of summer — in most regions, it's simply too hot and dry.
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Simpler and easier: 5. Use concentrates
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Simpler and easier: 5. Use concentrates

Use concentrates whenever you can. For most liquids, you can buy concentrates and mix your own treatment with water. You'll save about 70 percent of the cost of premixed. Be sure to mix only as much as you can use within a week or two. Minerals in tap water will reduce the potency of the chemicals in just a short time.
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Five great ways to wreck your lawn: 1. Dethatch when not needed
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Five great ways to wreck your lawn: 1. Dethatch when not needed

Dethatching involves flailing away at your lawn with a powerful, engine-driven steel rake. If that sounds scary, imagine how your grass feels! The idea is to rake up the old woody stems resting at the base of the grass leaves. Dethatching does this, but at great cost to your lawn because it tears up not only the grass but also the roots. It's rarely a good idea. If you have thatch, it's probably because you've been under watering, over fertilizing and/or consistently mowing when the grass is overgrown.
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Wreck your lawn: 2. Catch the clippings
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Wreck your lawn: 2. Catch the clippings

OK, maybe it won't actually wreck your lawn, but you're not doing it any favors either. Let the clippings lie. They'll release nutrients into the soil and form a mulch to help keep in soil moisture.
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Wreck your lawn: 3. Ignore the directions on lawn treatments
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Wreck your lawn: 3. Ignore the directions on lawn treatments

They are SO important! It's not only the concentration for fluids or the spreader setting for granules. Pay attention to the details like the rain forecast and what temperature ranges the treatments require. Skip them and you'll either wreck your lawn or waste your time and money.
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Wreck your lawn: 4. Over Fertilize!
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Wreck your lawn: 4. Over Fertilize!

Yep, just skip the directions and pour it on. You'll kill your whole yard in no time. And if you don't kill it outright, it'll turn yellow and take weeks to heal itself.
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Wreck your lawn: 5. Mow with dull blades
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Wreck your lawn: 5. Mow with dull blades

Dull mower blades rip through the leaves, which stresses the plant. Instead, you want to slice them off cleanly. You can always tell a lawn that's been mowed with a dull blade because it looks brown on the top. Get on your hands and knees and you can actually see the damage. Learn how to sharpen lawn mower blades in our video tutorial.
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Learn How to Grow Greener Grass With These 12 Pearls of Wisdom
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Learn How to Grow Greener Grass With These 12 Pearls of Wisdom

  1.  Don't mow wet grass. You'll leave giant clumps of sodden clippings where they'll smother the thick grass beneath. Not only that, it'll carpet the underside of your mower deck with a thick mat.
  2. Set your spreader at half the recommended dosage and treat the lawn twice from opposite directions. It'll take twice as much hoof work on your part, but you'll get a more consistent distribution.
  3. Fill the spreader on the driveway, not over the thick grass. Or at least spread a tarp on the grass to catch spillage. If you have an accident, you'll have a nice, big dead spot in your lawn.
  4. Accept that you can't grow grass everywhere. If you've struggled mightily to grow grass in a shady spot, at some point give it up and mulch, use a shade-tolerant ground cover or plan yourself a patio.
  5. Give crabgrass a second dose of crabgrass preventer. About one month after your first treatment, apply a second to stop the seeds that survived the first treatment from germinating.
  6. Rinse out your spreader every time, especially after using fertilizer. Fertilizer is essentially a type of salt. And it eats up any metal parts it finds.
  7. Aerate in the Fall if you have heavy loam or clay soil. (No need if you have sand.) Just before you fertilize, rent an aerator and aerate the lawn from both directions. It will help loosen the soil and allow the fertilizer to penetrate deep into the soil.
  8. Give your lawn a good flat-top for winter. Just this one time each year set your lawn mower to 1-1/2 to 2 in. and clip it off. That'll help retard mold during the winter.
  9. Water new seed lightly and twice a day or more. If you don't bother keeping the soil moist over new seed, don't bother seeding. Dampen the soil even more often during hot, windy weather. Keep watering for at least two weeks and don't miss any days.
  10. Rake up downed leaves in the fall or those soggy leaves will suffocate the new sprouts in the spring and leave dead spots all over your lawn.
  11. Choose "slow-release" fertilizers. Rather than feeding the lawn all at once, this type allows the lawn to snack over a longer period. These fertilizers cost a bit more but are well worth the added expense.
  12. Don't apply too much seed. You should try to achieve a concentration of about 15 seeds per square inch. If you exceed this, you'll have an overpopulated lawn with too many plants competing for nutrients and sunlight.