Let’s continue with our mini-series about lawn care myths. In the last posting, I talked about beer and grub worms. Today, I want to talk about grass seed, and specifically, your lawn’s own reseeding process.

Chances are, if your lawn is healthy, in the late spring, right about this time of year, it starts to reseed itself. Healthy turfgrass naturally sends up seed shoots and pods ever year. If you’ve been fertilizing and watering properly, thousands of seed pods will be produced.

Many people mistake these seed stalks for weeds because, many times, they have a reddish color to them.

Anyway, one myth I often hear is that, when the lawn is reseeding itself, you should be sure to mulch your clippings so those seeds will fall back into the lawn and grow.

The fact is, guys, those seeds are not mature enough to grow. If you truly wanted to reseed your lawn this way, you’d need to let the seed stalks grow for up to 8 weeks until the seed grew, dried up, and fell off naturally. Only then is the seed viable. Of course, this does not work for a home lawn because we mow and trim weekly.

Now, you should still mulch your clipping during the seed stalk season because those unripended seedlings do contain good nutrients that we want to get back in to the soil to be used.

So, next time you see the seed stalks in the lawn, go ahead and be sure to mulch, not because of the seed, but because of recycled nutrients.

By the time you guys read this, it will be Friday and just about 24 hours away from another awesome weekend of home improvement, including lawn care. But will you look at it like work, or will you get some enjoyment from it? I, of course, hope it is the latter. Here’s why I can almost always maximize my own lawn care experience.

The “Me” Time

This has to be the best part of working on the grass, especially while mowing, trimming, and edging. I put on my MP3 player (with noise canceling headphones, of course), crank up the mower and go to town. It’s automatic “me time” for at least 2 hours because no one can disturb me. I usually throw on some summertime tunes from Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet, and that really goes well with the freshly cut grass smell and sunshine on my face. I get a lot of thinking done during these times and I hope you can enjoy that part, too.

The Rewards

After all the time I get to spend with myself, I can sit back and admire my hard work almost immediately. Mowing some nice stripes in the lawn and creating a tight edge around the driveways and sidewalks makes my lawn pop out in comparison to everyone else’s, which is really my main goal. Think about it; all the other home improvement stuff you do around your house really doesn’t “show” too much. I mean, changing furnace filters and cleaning your rain gutters is important, but nothing really looks any different when you’re done. But your lawn care experience totally shows itself during the entire next week, and that is the cool part!

Then, there is the ultimate reward–when my wife tells me, “Hey Al, the lawn looks really good.”

When I get that, I am on top of the world all week long!

So get out Saturday and enjoy your time in the lawn. Don’t look at it like work, rather a time to get something accomplished that’s important for both you and the turf! Enjoy your lawn care experience!