Live Up Where the Grass is Greener: Your Lawn Care Checklist

We’ve put together an at-a-glance checklist to help maintain your sod, keep your lawn healthy, and ensure your trees and shrubs make your great outdoors impress just as much as your great indoors. The steps below are arranged chronologically, so be sure to start at the top of each list.

Pro Tip: If you want to make sure you don’t miss a step, we recommend adding them to your calendar.

IF YOU HAVE A SODDED LAWN

1) Water the sod as soon as you have the opportunity to do so. Early watering is the key first step to achieving good soil moisture, which you’ll want to maintain for a minimum of 2 to 3 weeks.

2) Continue watering each area of sod, or zone, for about one hour each day to help your lawn get growing. (Hopefully you’ve unpacked your sprinkler by now.)

3) Once grass begins to grow, you can reduce watering 2 to 3 times per week.

4) Regularly mow your lawn to a recommended height of 2 to 3 inches. Resist the urge to make it “putting green” short.

IF YOU HAVE A SEEDED LAWN

1) While you’ll want to keep the soil moist for several weeks after grass germinates, also be careful to avoid over-watering.

2) Once you see grass begin to grow, reduce watering to 3 to 4 times per week, watering each area, or zone, for about an hour

3) Regularly mow your lawn to a recommended height of 2 to 3 inches

TREE AND SHRUB CARE & MAINTENANCE

• Aim to water trees and shrubs every other day for the first week.
• After the first week, you can then ratchet it down to water them just once a week — that is, if temperatures are below 85°F, water twice weekly to maintain a healthy moisture level.
• When you’re watering, be sure to soak the soil around trees and shrubs, and not just the mulch.
• Continue watering your trees and shrubs in this manner through the Fall of the first year you’re at your home.
• When Spring arrives, you’ll want to fertilize your trees and shrubbery.
• After a full year has passed since moving in, you can set your foliage free, pulling up the stakes and cutting support wires.
• Don’t let your trees and shrubs sport unsightly growth; be sure to prune regularly to ensure they’re healthy, not infringing on your home and other structures, and are always looking their best.
• Don’t forget to make your beds, that is, weeding plant beds and mulch areas as well as performing pest control as needed.