6 Lawn Care Tips for a Lush Green Florida Yard

It’s easy to assume everything is lush and green in Florida. It’s Florida! Palm trees! Tropical flowers! Sunshine! 

Why the heck would anybody need to ask “How do I get my lawn green in Florida?”

A healthy green lawn doesn’t just happen. Even in Florida. 

How do you keep your lawn lush and green? Put down that can of green spray paint and check out these tips: 

1. Food, Food, Food 

Think about the hungriest you’ve ever been. Like, three cheeseburgers hungry. Now imagine your grass out there saying, “Same.”

Maybe you’ve heard you should fertilize your lawn four times a year. Absolutely. Now, add a few more times.

The soil here in Sarasota is sandy, which means those important nutrients in fertilizer run right through it.

Florida lawn care means more frequent fertilizing, but with smaller amounts, so fertilizer has a better chance of feeding the roots than draining right through into the groundwater. 

Make sure your Sarasota lawn care service fertilizes more often than just four times a year. Tropical Gardens visits once a month for 8-10 months of the season, visiting more often and applying smaller amounts of nutrients so they can really take hold. 

2. Keep Your Grass Tall

Watch that mowing height. Sure, it’s tempting to mow it short, so you don’t have to mow it again too soon. (We’re not judging.) 

But if you’re asking “How do I get my lawn green in Florida?” how high you mow plays a key part. 

St. Augustine grass, one of the most popular varieties here, needs to be kept at 4.5 to 5 inches tall, higher than other types of grass.

If you mow it at 3.5 inches, the grass blades aren’t tall enough to shade the soil. You want your lawn’s root system to stay cool and shaded on hot sunny days. 

And never remove more than a third of the leaf blade at a time when mowing. If you remove more than that, the grass will become stressed — and not so green. 

When we install a new sod lawn, we let the grass grow tall  — 6-8 inches high, then slowly bring it shorter, mowing 1/4 inch the first time, 1/2 inch the next time, gradually bringing it to 4.5 or 5 inches high. 

If you insist on your lawn being mowed shorter than 4 inches, you’ll need to find another landscaping company, not us, to do it. That’s how important mowing height is to a green Florida lawn. 

3. Florida Lawn Care Involves Proper Watering 

Sod growers recommend three separate watering sessions each week that deliver one inch of water each time. 

That’s your irrigation goal for spring, summer and fall if you have St. Augustine grass. You can reduce that schedule to two days a week in winter months. 

Set your irrigation system for that and the rain sensor — mandatory here — will shut off your system if it rains and Mother Nature provided enough water.  

But, this is Florida, so figuring out the right watering schedule isn’t that easy. Weather can be pretty unpredictable around here. 

Systems need adjusting 6-8 times a year, allowing for rainy periods and finicky temperature changes. Sometimes, that means three times in one month. 

Make sure you have a Sarasota lawn care service that stays on top of irrigation maintenance, so your backyard tropical oasis stays well-watered and healthy. 

During times of drought, water restrictions are in place here in Sarasota that only allow watering one day a week. If you have new sod, you’re in luck. New sod is exempt from restrictions for the first month.

But there’s more to proper irrigation — and a green Florida lawn — than setting your timer. Stuff happens out there. 

Neglect your irrigation system, and entire zones might fail. Valves break. Heads get clogged. Worries multiply.

Regular irrigation system inspections keep your irrigation system working great — and your grass nice and green. 

4. Know Your Lawn’s Habits 

We’re not talking about eating Oreos in bed or leaving the cap off the toothpaste. 

Make sure you’re not expecting greener grass than your lawn can give you. 

If you have a St. Augustine lawn and are on a quality lawn care program year-round, your grass should stay green. 

But Zoysia grass, another popular lawn variety here in Sarasota, goes dormant in the winter. It’s not happy when the temperature dips below 30 or 40 degrees and will turn brown. That’s normal. 

5. Soil Structure and a Green Florida Lawn

Soil structure here in Sarasota used to be simple. One word: sand. 

But new housing developments are usually built on clay soil brought in to create a more stable foundation for building than our native sandy soil.

Florida building codes continue to take into account rising sea levels. That means new construction rules require building several feet higher than an existing structure. Bring on the clay.

Why should you care? Because now, your lawn might need aeration to break up that thick, compacted clay. 

Lawns hate clay soil. 

When your soil is compacted, your lawn can't breathe. Its roots can't take in the water and nutrients it needs to thrive.

Your struggling lawn gets weak. That makes it easier for weeds and disease to move in.

You might need aeration as part of your Florida lawn care. Lawn aeration uses a cool machine to pull out tiny cores of soil from your lawn, allowing water and oxygen to get to the roots again.

Aerating sod also helps break down thatch, a layer of dead grass that sits between the grass blades and the soil. When it gets too thick, thatch blocks air, water, and fertilizer from reaching your lawn’s roots.

It’s smart to have your Sarasota lawn care service aerate your compacted lawn once a year to keep those grass roots breathing. It should be done when the grass is actively growing, ideally in spring here in Sarasota, at the beginning of the growing season. If you have a problem lawn, fall is a good time for follow up.

Then, you might as well take advantage of all those little holes aeration left behind. Time for lawn topdressing. It’s food for your soil, a nutrient-rich layer of soil or sand blended with compost and other organics.

The blend of sand and compost top soil settles into the holes created by aeration and over time amends that compacted clay soil so lawn roots can really sink in.

Next up: a healthier green Florida lawn! 

6. Get On a Great Residential Landscape Maintenance Program

Let’s face it, a green Florida lawn takes a lot of maintenance. You have better things to do, right?  You could take tango lessons or enter a hot dog eating contest or write long romantic poems about your lush, green grass. If only you had lush, green grass…

Hand over the pesky chores to a great Sarasota lawn care service that specializes in comprehensive turf care.

You want a tailored lawn care program with perfectly timed fertilizer and weed control. Add attentive irrigation maintenance to help ensure that healthy green Florida lawn. 

How to Keep Your Lawn Lush and Green? Talk to Us 

How to get your lawn green in Florida?

You need skilled experts on board who can set you up with the best variety of grass, make sure your irrigation can handle its specific water needs, and know how to offer nutrients that go straight to your lawn’s hungry roots. 

Let’s get started. We’ll help you figure it all out. 

Give us a call or fill out our form today! Our team of Sarasota designers can’t wait to help you create a backyard tropical oasis for your home or vacation rental property.