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These tips will help you create a healthy, good looking lawn with minimal effort.
- Rely on local experts: Consult a nursery, extension service or native-plant society for help in choosing the best plants for your landscape.
- Ensure good drainage: Prepare a new lawn by slightly grading it away from the house. Improve soil drainage by incorporating a two inch layer of compost and shredded leaves or bark.
- Take the plunge: Replace an existing lawn by rotor-tilling it until it disintegrates. Before you plant, many sources recommend that you apply a glyph sate type weed killer to prevent aggressive turf grass from growing again.
- Diversify: Include a variety of shrubs, small trees, edible plants and large rocks for a beautiful landscape.
- Use mulch to suppress weeds, preserve soil moisture and build soil. In early summer and late fall, apply a 1-2 inch layer of compost, shredded leaves or shredded bark between plants.
- Water as little as possible. New plantings need regular watering in their first two years. Use hoses that drip water slowly to plant roots. Water once or twice a week during hot, dry weather.
- Water when soil feels dry.
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