If you don’t know how to fertilize your lawn properly, you are not alone. Many homeowners don’t fully understand the importance and role of regular fertilization for their lawn’s health, according to landscape designer Doug Scott of Redeem Your Ground in Atlanta, GA.
Fertilizing your lawn is important because it provides grasses and plants with the nutrition they need for healthy growth. Even in rich soil, plants will absorb and deplete the nutrients over time. Fertilizer restores those nutrients and helps keep your lawn lush and healthy.
In Exmark’s new Done-in-a-Weekend video Fertilizing 101, Scott explains, “All plants require six essential nutrients. Oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, which are received above the ground, through air and water, and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, what must be provided by the soil.” Those three essential nutrients are shown in the letters and numbers on fertilizer bags, which many homeowners find confusing.
“Every bag of plant food will contain three numbers, separated by dashes. These represent the three nutrients your plants rely on the soil to provide – nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), in that specific order.”
“A bag of fertilizer labeled ’11-7-7’ is made up of 11-percent nitrogen, seven-percent phosphorus and seven-percent potassium. The remaining 75-percent consists of inert fillers designed to help properly distribute the active ingredients without burning the lawn.”
There are a dizzying array of fertilizer combinations, but it’s easier to understand if you know what the principle nutrients do for plants.
Nitrogen (N) fosters leaf and vegetation development.
Phosphorous (P) aids root development and flower and fruit production.
Potassium (K) helps regulate water and nutrient absorption, and promotes disease resistance.
The type of fertilizer you use will depend on your lawn, shrubs and plants condition, your primary soil types, and the time of year. A good general fertilizer is one labeled 10-10-10: It has all three elements in equal proportions.
You’ll want to broadcast the fertilizer evenly over the area, then water thoroughly so plants can begin to take up the nutrients. Be careful not to over fertilize, as that can burn or damage lawns and plants.
Regular fertilizing with the right fertilizer will help you achieve the lush lawn and beautiful plantings of your dreams. Best of all, this is a low-key project that you can accomplish in a weekend.
Find more Done-in-a-Weekend projects to help transform you lawn.
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