The 3 essential lawn care basics
Master these three basic lawn care steps, and you’ll grow a healthy and beautiful lawn that’s strong—i.e. more resistant to weeds and disease.
Feed the grass
Your lawn will thrive on a balanced diet of macronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and essential micronutrients from liquid or granular fertilizer. However, more isn't always better.
At Sunday, we champion precision fertilization, applying targeted amounts of nutrients throughout the growing season. This approach minimizes waste and ensures your lawn receives exactly what it needs, exactly when it needs it—safeguarding your wallet and the environment.
Seasonal guide to fertilizing
- Spring: Use iron-rich fertilizers to kickstart greening in your lawn.
- Summer: Sustain your lawn’s growth with slow-release nitrogen.
- Fall: Repair summer damage and prep for winter with fall formulations.
Ready to grow? Get a complete lawn analysis from Sunday to determine the best fertilizer for your lawn.
Sunday Tip:
A soil test can reveal your soil's nutrient levels, and provide you with clear guidance to address and resolve any soil nutrient deficiencies.
Water deep
A golden rule for watering: about an inch per week is just right. Excessive watering leads to waste, not lawn wellness. In many regions, your lawn may receive the 1 inch of water needed from natural rainfall.
When it doesn't, add supplemental irrigation sessions that water deep and infrequent. This technique encourages grass to grow deeper roots and become more resilient to shifts in weather or stress like summer heat.
How to water your lawn:
- Watering in the early morning to limit mid-day evaporation and prevent moisture-related diseases.
- Aim for no more than 1-3 watering sessions per week to reduce shallow roots from daily or frequent waterings.
- Time your watering session for 30 minutes to hit your goal on 0.3-0.5 inches of water per session.
Sunday Tip:
Audit your sprinkler to check how much you're watering your lawn. Bonus? You'll conserve water and see extra savings on your water bill.
Mow high
Think of mowing as a trim rather than a chop. Set your mower to its highest setting to encourage a lush, thick lawn that requires less mowing while conserving water. Opt to mulch grass clippings rather than bag them and recycle free nutrients back into the soil. During peak growth, adjust your mowing frequency but never remove more than a third of the grass blade length at once to avoid stress on the grass.
Sunday Tip:
Sharpen mowing blades throughout the growing season. A sharp blade helps to avoid shredding of grass blades that can lead to lawn damage.
Beyond the basics: advancing your lawn care routine
Mastering the fundamentals prepares you for advanced lawn care techniques like strategic seeding and effective weed control.
Weeding
Regular monitoring and correct weed identification are the best ways to target weeds and reduce the use of herbicides within your lawn.
When to use Sunday weed control
- Apply Sunday's iron-based pre-emergent as a broadcast application in early spring before weeds emerge.
- Switch to post-emergent spot treatments in-season when weeds are small and easy to treat in lawns.
Weed & Green Pre-emergent and Post-Emergent Weed Killer
- 5-in-1 concentrate weed control
- Easy hose-on application
- Prevents crabgrass and broadleaf weed germination
- Controls weeds, moss, algae and lichen
- Suppresses lawn diseases
- Greens up lawn quickly
Seeding
Reduce lawn issues with strategic lawn seeding. Seed cool-season grasses in early fall or spring, and warm-season grasses in late spring or summer. Lightly rake the lawn before seeding to ensure seed-to-soil contact, and keep the soil moist after seeding to support germination.
Ways you can plant grass in your yard
Fescue Rescue Grass Seed
- Tall fescue grass seed
- Fast-growing, drought-tolerant
- Germinates in 6-12 days
- 99.9% weed-free guarantee
- For northern, transitional climates
Let's get growing
We use climate science and soil data to create a custom plan just for your yard, so it gets exactly what it needs. Nothing more, nothing less.
