While we all want a lawn that resembles a golf course, it often ends up looking like the Outback instead. No matter what we do, we can't seem to keep weeds away or keep our lawn green instead of brown. But before you throw your hands up and let your lawn grow into a jungle, consider these tips for turning your front or back lawn into the one you want and deserve.

Fertilizers

The majority of turf-grasses require fertilizers in order to maintain their color and vitality. Fertilizers improve various features of grass, including:

* color

* durability

* growth

* thickness

* vigor

Fertilizers contain three main elements on the Periodic Table, including Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potash. Grass requires different amounts of each of the elements. An unbalanced fertilizer can result in grass growing slowly or unevenly. Furthermore, it's important that fertilizers include various micro-nutrients that grass also requires, including Boron, Sulfur, and Zinc.

Mowing simply involves cutting the grass when it needs it, right? It's not quite that simple. Every type of grass has a particular range of height at which you should mow it. This will cause your lawn to look greener, be healthier, and avoid dying out due to dehydration. Furthermore, the height at which you mow your lawn is linked to how deep the grass's root system is. Thus, the higher you mow the grass, the deeper the roots of the grass will be—which will increase the amount of water that the grass can acquire.

Watering

Okay, we know that grass needs water, but how can we water our lawn properly? Watering your grass is extremely important, and when you think you've watered your lawn enough, you probably need to water it a little bit more.

The two main types of watering are Establishment and Maintenance. Establishment watering involves watering your lawn 1-3 times daily for short increments of time. Start by watering the grass three times daily, until the grass is roughly three inches tall. At that point, stop watering the grass for a few days. After it has dried thoroughly, you can mow it. Then start watering the grass only once daily or once every two days. To promote deep growth of the roots, gradually change the watering schedule to once or twice weekly.

Weed Control

Unfortunately, weeds can grow throughout the year. That's why many homeowners are able to control weeds during the springtime, but then have reoccurring weed problems in the Summer. It's important to continue your war on weeds during the whole year, by using weed-control products throughout the year. The two main types of weed-control products are pre-emergent (before weeds germinate) and post-emergent (existing weeds) products. And if you want to multi-task when performing weed control, then you can use a weed control-fertilizer combination product.

If you want a golf course-like lawn, there are companies that can help you. You want ot make sure though that, besides the quality of product (weed-free turf, the company you choose has outstanding customer service. You don't want to mess with unhelpful companies if things don't go exactly to plan.