Keeping a green yard is really a combination of mowing, watering and fertilizing. To choose the best treatment for the lawn, then you need to know which sort of grass is growing. Warm-season grasses and cool-season grasses aren’t fertilized at the same times of the year. However, once you know the sort of grass, taking care of your yard is not a hard task.

Types of Grasses

There are two distinct classes of yard grass, warm-season grasses and cool-season grasses. As its name suggests, warm-season grasses develop throughout the warmest months and go dormant during the winter. Common warm-season grasses include St. Augustine, Bermuda, centipede, kikuyu and zoysia grass. Cool-season grasses go dormant during the warmest months and develop the most during the cooler spring and fall months. Cool-season grasses include Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye and fescues. The various growing seasons require different timing for fertilization.

Should Fertilize

Fertilize grasses at the start of their growing season to assist with green development, and before they go dormant to aid with root development. Fertilize warm-season grasses from March through August to keep the grass green and growing aggressively. Fertilize cool-season grasses from September through November, with one extra application in February or March before they start to slow down their growth cycle.

Amount to Fertilize

The whole amount of fertilizer applied annually is usually based on the amount of nitrogen required. Recommendations vary between 2 and 4 lbs of nitrogen per 1,000 square foot annually. Divide this amount evenly over many programs, applying no longer than one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 feet in a single application. Evaluating whether the yard is nitrogen-deficient can be done with a soil test or by detecting a yellow-green shade and invasion with clover and other weeds.

Lawn Clippings

You can reduce the amount of fertilizer your lawn demands by 20 to 50 percent if you leave grass clippings on the lawn. As the clippings decompose, they return nutrients to the soil so that you don’t need to add the nutrients with fertilizer. Should you mow the grass often, removing just one-third of the stature each time, your lawn may not require fertilization during the fast-growing seasons.

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