Green and Healthy Lawn Essentials

green and healthy lawn

A green and healthy lawn is the ultimate goal for any land owner, but getting there isn’t always easy. You water, you fertilise, you weed, but you still think your lawn could look better. However, you don’t want to spend every free moment or a huge sum of money caring for your lawn. Fortunately, you don’t have to. By following these essential lawn care practices, you’re sure to get the lush green lawn of your dreams.

When to Weed

The best time to weed your lawn is whenever weeds first pop up. You can use chemical weed killers to rid your lawn of unsightly plants, but they may damage your grass. Your best bet is to remove any weeds you find including the roots and discarding them away from your lawn. Resist the urge to mow them down with your grass, as this will often spread seeds and leaves the root system behind, giving new weeds the opportunity to pop up. A few moments of weeding here and there will keep your lawn looking its best and save you time, as the job will only get worse the longer you put it off. Regularly weed your lawn in the early spring and summer to stay ahead of the game.

However, we know that sometimes these weeds will get ahead of you and spot weeding is just not possible. That’s when applying a weed killer to your lawn may be the best approach. Weed killer will only work when weeds are actively growing. Good seasons to use weedkiller are autumn and late winter. You need to get to the weeds early before they flower. So if it gets hot in spring, they tend to flower quickly and set seed.

Other Tips:

  • Never apply weedkiller straight after mowing as the weed killer needs leaf to attach to
  • The lawn needs to have moisture in it before applying weed killer, so a day or two after rain is ideal
  • Only apply when your lawn looks green and healthy, not when you going through a drought
  • Check the forecast, and never apply weedkiller before any rain as the chemical will be washed away.

When to Fertilise

The best time to fertilise your lawn is in the early spring when the ground is moist. Fertilising at this time of year helps stimulates root growth, giving your lawn the ability to grow thicker and healthier. A thicker lawn means that weeds will have less of a chance to grow in the first place. The thicker grass will use the bulk of the sunlight, water, nutrients, and space the weeds need to grow and proliferate.

When and How to Water

Rather than watering your lawn a little bit every day, try giving it a good soak as needed instead. Soaking your lawn promotes deeper root development, which creates stronger, healthier grass. Simply sprinkling your lawn means that only the surface soil and root systems are getting watered, which promotes the growth of weeds and sickly looking grass. This could also cause dead spots in your lawn, which is prime real estate for weeds. Also, resist the urge to water your grass at night. Night watering could cause fungi or bacteria that are harmful to grass to grow in the soil. This is because the ground won’t have a chance to dry out properly overnight.

Other Tricks for a Green and Healthy Lawn

To keep your lawn looking green year-round, cut it to a height of one and a half inches for the first and last mows of the season. As the weather warms, raise the blade height to two inches. A sharp mower blade will result in a straighter cut, making your lawn appear decidedly green. Finally, mow your lawn regularly so you only cut the top third of the blades, which should be left on your lawn. Leaving large piles of clippings on your lawn can cause damage, so you’ll want to rake those up. However, the top third of a blade of grass, which will decompose quickly, adds essential nutrients such as nitrogen to the soil. By leaving these clippings, you’re giving it the opportunity to grow greener, healthier, and thicker than ever before.

Written by: outdoor garden lover

 

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Body Language and Facial Expressions: Do they Matter?

Coworking

Our early ancestors lived in an incredibly dangerous world for many years. Without any real language, they needed to have other ways to communicate. Communication was necessary to express their emotions, needs, anxieties, and desires with each other. They managed to do this through using nonverbal communications including physical changes, gestures, sounds, and facial or body responses. Our biological heritage meant that for so long that we communicated nonverbally. Let’s take a closer look at body language, including how it has evolved to where it is today. Between things like facial expressions and even how we fold our arms, our body gives us away.

Evolution of Body Language

We evolved; learning to verbally communicate with each other as well as bettering our skills of understanding body language. The result is that it has made such a vast difference in our lives and allowed our species to continue to thrive. Otherwise, there would have been a problem with our species becoming extinct long ago. It has taken a great deal of time, but these skills are infinitely better than they were before. Here is a closer look at this evolution.

This technique has developed with time. Without conscious behavior’s, some signals directly alert others of any risks that are perceived. We are also able to communicate to others around us immediately. As our brain forces us to freeze in place when we see an aggressive dog, it conveys our body’s reaction. It is noticeable whether or not we are comfortable or uncomfortable, content or hopeless, safe or in danger. The benefit is two-fold. As we physically react to the world around us, others can benefit. For instance, if we taste something disgusting, people will see our facial expression. They will not even need to taste it because they will know by your face that the food is terrible. Body language gives you an efficient way to communicate before your words can even come out. As you can see, body language is essential to our evolution.

Importance of Body Language and Facial Expression

Body language has not only evolved from the need of survival, though this is the main reason for it. Our brain also expresses intentions through body language. For example, say you are speaking to someone, and you notice that their feet are pointing towards an exit. You will know that this person probably needs to leave. They may be running late for something and need to go. They stay to talk to be polite, but they need to go. You can see this through their body language, and you can end this conversation. A perfect example as to why we say that actions speak louder than words.

So what’s psychologically behind all of this? Our demands, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and motives are processed by what’s known as the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system has input into what our body naturally does without thought. For instance, when someone gives us bad news and our lips compress instantly, or you are asked to work another weekend, and we narrow our eyes as our chin lowers. These are common facial expressions for these situations, and stress displays that our limbic brain has perfected over the years. You are not reacting this way based on cultural identity; rather these are things that everyone does.

How People View Us

Body language helps people get clues on how we feel about them or how they should view us. When we see someone that we are comfortable with, our eyebrows will arch defying, and our facial muscles will relax. Our arms will be pliable so we can welcome them. In the presence of someone we love, we are going to have very specific reactions. We tend to lean our head, and blood will flow to our lips making them complete, as our pupils dilate. This signifies that our bodies naturally adjust to the authentic thoughts that we feel.
Our bodies do not have to react like this. However, we evolved to present them for a reason. We are social creatures that want to communicate verbally and non-verbally. Understanding body language is quite crucial and also very fascinating. There have been reported cases where children who are born blind, having never visualised these non-verbal cues can instinctively do them. For example, a child that is blind had covered their eyes when they heard something they do not enjoy. This suggests that body language is hardwired into us.

Conclusion

What one visually observes can in combination with other cues, be an excellent way to discover how others feel about you and assess how a relationship is evolving. Frequently when people feel that something is wrong in a relationship, this can be expressed in body language displays. Couples who hold hands all the time may or may not be a real indication of their relationship if it’s done out of habit. Instead, the subtle behaviours may be more accurate representation. Learning the art of reading body language can go a long way. It can help us identify what others are feeling, believing, wanting or worrying about. Having that additional insight gives a much better evaluation of others. In turn, it helps us in communicating more empathetically and efficiently for better comprehension. No matter where we are, our body language will give us away. You have all been there when someone is saying “yes” to you; however, the body language is saying “no”. Our body language will tell observers what we are thinking and feeling, giving off signals to the people around us.
Author: Professional researcher

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