There's nothing quite as simple and elegant as a simple grass lawn, without all those extra fripperies that require extra work. With a nice, lush lawn, all you have to do is mow it once a week and you're done with the work, but you'll be able to enjoy it forever.

Does your current lawn have brown spots where the grass has died? Has it been taken over by weeds? Are there dips and soft spots that are hard to mow? Then its time to replace your old grass with a lush new covering.

The first thing to do before replacing your grass is to find out if the soil is healthy. It's imperative that your soil be able to supply nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and the other elements necessary to ensure that your grass remains healthy. In order to do this, your soil needs to be pH balanced. "pH" refers to the "power of hydrogen," and is used to express the acidity or alkalinity of your soil. If your soil has a pH of 7.0 is neutral - and good. If it's less than 7.0 the soil is considered acid, and above 7.0 is considered alkaline. Once you know the pH level, you can add lime to raise the pH, or sulphur to lower it. You'll want the tests conducted in several spots on your lawn.

Types of grass

There are many types of grasses, and you'll want to choose the appropriate kind of grass for your lawn. If your area doesn't get a lot of rain you'll want to use one kind of grass...if it gets a lot of rain, still another. If kids are going to be running around on the grass you'll want a grass that can stand up to being constantly compacted. Discuss your needs with your local gardening professional.

What color should you have?

There's nothing like the look of a lush, dark green lawn. However, grass is as unpredictable as life itself, and it's quite possible lighter colors of grass can be mixed in with the dark green portions. Like the minions of the Red Queen you can paint those intruders to match the rest of your lawn (I'm joking here) but the easiest thing to do is choose a grass color in which all shades of green are blended together.

Grass seed or sod?

Sewing grass seed is the least expensive way to start your new lawn, but it can be hit or miss as a sudden rainstorm can wash all the seed away before it has a chance to germinate and take root. Planting grass "plugs" is another solution...a slightly more intensive one, as you place these plugs in straight lines up and down your lawn, let them take root, and eventually they'll spread to cover the rest of the lawn. The quickest way, but also the most expensive, is to use sod - grass already growing which can simply be unrolled onto the well-prepared ground.

Maintenance

Depending on whether or not you seeded your lawn used plugs, or sod, you must take good care of it until it's actually filled out into a nice, lush lawn. Make sure you read and follow the directions for any type of grass that you use. Water it on a regular basis, and use organic fertilizer if required.

Properly maintained and cared for, your lawn will grace your home for generations to come.