How healthy is your soil?

Soil plays a huge role in the health of your grass, supplying nutrients, water, air, and a place for shoots to sink their roots into.

It should come as no surprise, then, that it’s one of the most important factors we take into account when developing a custom lawn care program.

How to spot healthy soil

Generally, the first step we take is to test your soil. When doing this, there are a few things we look for.

First, depending on your location, your soil structure will be a big factor in your battle against thin grass. For instance, sandy and chalky soils are composed of very thin particles that don’t retain water and nutrients well. Clay soil, meanwhile, is dense and tightly packed, which makes it difficult for air, water, and nutrients to reach the roots.

PH is another key factor we look at. Soil that is too acidic (low pH) or too alkaline (high pH) will make it hard for plants to make use of the nutrients in the soil. Most grasses prefer a pH range of 6.4 – 6.8, which is close to a neutral pH of 7.0.

Soil solutions

Once we know the state of your soil, we can build a strategy for correcting its deficiencies so that it can better support a healthy lawn.

Fertilizer

Fortifies nutrient-deficient soils. Most of our programs include a series of nutrient applications to sustain growth throughout the season.

Lime

Neutralizes acidic soils, raising the pH towards 7.0.

Sulfur

Neutralizes alkaline soils, reducing the pH towards 7.0.

Wetting agent

Allows water to penetrate and remain in the soil, so that your lawn can make the most of the water it gets.

Aeration

Helps to relieve tightly packed soils so that water, air, and nutrients can flow more freely to your turf’s roots. We usually recommend this once a year for all soil types.

 

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