The positives of a well-maintained grass yard are many.
By Jim DeFrank and Beth Alois
Spring is here and that means that homebuyers in the Brandywine Valley are going to be paying just as much attention to the exterior of a home as the interior. Those shopping for a home want to envision their children playing in the yard, their friends coming over for barbeques, and lazy Sunday afternoons relaxing on the lawn.
While people are inclined to plant annual flowers, paint the deck and work on the curb appeal, the lawn itself is often neglected. The positives of a well-maintained grass yard are many and it is important to get your grass in tip-top shape before showing your home.
When it comes to growing grass, consistent care is the key. Failure to invest in long-term turf care can open the window to any number of problems with your lawn.
Be sure to give your grass the fertilizing lawn care and control treatments it needs based on the season. Lawn care for growing grass in May is different from the care that is needed in late summer and fall.
The way you mow your lawn can either make growing grass easier or harder. In the spring, you need to keep the grass high. You never want to remove more than one third of the total blade height when mowing or you could chop off the food-producing parts of the grass blade and end up with a brown lawn instead of a green one.
You should also leave grass clippings on the lawn to help recycle important lawn fertilizing nutrients.
Lawn care experts share that growing green plants is the best thing you can do to clean the air. Grass is considered to be better than most other plants or trees at removing carbon and other impurities from the atmosphere. Through the process of photosynthesis, grass takes carbon from the air and stores it in the ground.
“A grass lawn enriches the soil by providing a home for beneficial micro-organisms and insects that eat nature’s leftovers—decomposing grass clippings, plant leaves and other vegetation—and recycle nutrients back into the soil,” said Michael McDermott, a lawn care expert in Larchmont, N.Y. “It also pollinates plants and serves as food for other animals, making grass an important part of nature’s cycle.”
An important component of growing grass is to properly water it. It is better to water deeply (down to a depth of six inches) and less frequently, than lightly and often. If your lawn dulls in color or begins to wilt, then your lawn needs water. Make sure to sweep any fertilizer that lands on driveways and sidewalks back on to the lawn.
Grass also acts like a natural air conditioner that cools the air as it releases water vapor through its blades. The water evaporates and draws heat, cooling the air in the process. As a result, lawns are a safer surface for children to play on and provide the cool comfort we desire on hot days. Those are selling points that can help any home sale.
* Jim DeFrank and Beth Alois can be reached at 610-388-3700. Prudential Fox & Roach is an independently owned and operated broker member of BRER Affiliates Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity.
