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Tips on new lawn-care for a healthy green lawn
Tips on lawn-care to Keep Your Lawn Healthy Do you have a new lawn? If so, then you should know what the keys are to maintaining the health of your grass. New lawn-care involves three main components: water, mowing and traffic. While the key to new lawn care requires keeping the turf moist, you should not over water your new lawn to the point where it is a wet, muddy mess. Try to not saturate the soil. If puddles are forming in your lawn, you are watering too much. Too much water in the soil can keep the roots of your new grass from achieving deep roots.
Once your new lawn has passed the two week time period, you can reduce watering to two or three times per week. How often you water your new lawn at this stage will depend upon your environment. A new lawn in a dry climate or in an area that is experiencing significant drought may need to be watered four or five times per week. New lawn-care guidelines for turf state that a first mowing can occur within three weeks of planting. New lawn-care guidelines for seeded lawns state that it may be eight weeks before a mowing is needed. Another key component to maintaining the health of your new lawn is to never mow your grass unless it is dry. Mowing on new, wet grass can pull the newly rooted grass out of the soil.
Traffic You should try to limit the amount of traffic on your new lawn during the first few weeks after planting. While it is unnecessary to keep all traffic off of your new lawn, traffic should be kept to a minimum. You will not want your children riding bikes or playing ball on your new lawn. A lawn that is not protected from high traffic can be damaged.
Friction on the new grass can pull up newly established roots that are still weak. Reducing friction is important in new lawn care.
Return from lawn-care to gardening
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If your grass starts to take on a gray color, it is telling you that it is not getting the water it needs. A quick way to see if your lawn is getting enough water is to use a knife or screwdriver to dig into the soil. The dirt should be damp to a depth of six inches. 
Never scalp your new lawn. It is better for your new lawn grass to be a little high than to be too short. By allowing your new lawn to grow a little high before cutting it will ensure that the grass is well rooted and established before it undergoes the trauma of a lawn mower blade. Once the lawn is established the rule is to mow often but not too closely.
