Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Outdoors

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

The Best Lawn Care Products to Keep Your Yard Healthy

Joe Morales
By

All of your hard work has paid off, and you have that wonderfully landscaped yard. Whether it was a DIY project or you hired a professional, you have a space you can be proud of and enjoy. The neighborhood envies the work you put into the luscious green grass and vibrant flower beds.

Now all you have to do is worry about the maintenance. You have to make sure those pesky weeds don’t pop up in the grass or kill the flowers you so painstakingly planted. Where do you start? There are some basics that you need to know about and if you follow a landscape maintenance routine, you’re bound to have a beautiful garden and thriving yard year-round. Well, depending on where you live of course. That doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for the changing seasons, though.

Recommended Videos

The Farmer’s Almanac has some great tips on how to maintain a beautiful yard. Maintaining your landscaping is more than just watering and mowing. You need to cultivate the grass, your flowers, and your vegetable garden.

Related

Related Guides

How to Maintain a Healthy Yard

In addition to following The Farmer’s Almanac, you should follow some of the basic steps for maintaining a healthy yard.

  1. Watering. Give your grass about 1 inch of water per week. Of course, this will vary depending on the area you live in but you should be able to get a good amount of water into the soil. You can gauge the amount of water by using a small cup or glass and mark 1 inch on it and monitor the watering schedule.
  2. Fertilize and Feed. Use some lawn fertilizers that promote growth. The grass is a plant after all, and it can benefit from plant food and nontoxic weed killer. The soil will help a lot, too, but give it a boost to be even more healthy.
  3. Mow. Mowing your yard is more than just pushing the mower in eye-pleasing patterns. Each grass variety has an ideal cutting size to it. You should know the type of grass you have and what the best length for it is. As a general rule, grass should be about 2.5 to 3 inches tall and when you mow, you should only be trimming no more than ⅓ of the grass. This will promote stronger, healthier grass and encourage roots to grow deeper.
  4. Recycle. Save the grass clippings for the flower bed or leave it where you cut it. Grass clippings promote healthy soil, retain moisture, and reduces landfill waste. Now, it may not always be convenient to leave the clippings on the lawn, but you can use them for the flower bed or garden.

What Equipment Do I Need?

We put together a great starter kit for your yard. These are some of the basics you will need to maintain your lawn. As you move through the year, you may realize you need to add more lawn care products to your arsenal, which will only help your efforts in the long run.

Lawn Fertilizer Program

Every region has a different type of grass. Choose your fertilizer program for the area you live in such as northern or southern. Your grass type may vary from coast to coast as well. This Scott’s Lawn Fertilizer Program is broken down into four seasons, early spring, spring, summer, and fall. These products feed your lawn, kill weeds, and controls insects. If you follow the instructions, it will take the guesswork out of caring for your lawn. The trick is to keep the grass healthy and prepared for winter.

seasonal lawn care products
Image used with permission by copyright holder

All-Purpose Plant Food and Weed Preventer

The Miracle-Gro Shake n Feed is more for your flower bed and garden. It promotes the healthy growth of plants while keeping weeds at bay. The all-purpose plant food is an easy application and will feed and protect up to 3 months. It is recommended to apply this early in the growing season to further prevent weeds from appearing.

miracle grow shake n feed bottle
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Turf Builder Mini Broadcast Spreader

Get accurate and even coverage when performing your lawn fertilizer program by using Scott’s Turf Spreader. It’s designed to keep all grass seed and fertilizer off your manicured landscaping, driveway, and sidewalks. It’s a walk-behind spreader and stores easily and comes pre-calibrated for maximum efficiency.

pushable lawn seed spreader

Battery Lawn Mower Kit

This eco-friendly lawnmower kit is a 21-inch mower with a lithium-ion battery and exceeds the power of gas and is the power of gas but without the noise and fumes! It comes with a raid charger and can run up to 45 minutes without needing to be recharged. There is a 6-position cutting height adjustment, 3-in-1 mulching, bagging, and side discharge option, easy push-button starter, LED headlights, and it folds for compact storage. Extra batteries are sold separately.

battery powered and rechargeable lawn mower
Image used with permission by copyright holder

24-Volt Cordless Electric Lawn Care System

Sun Joe’s 24-Volt cordless yard care system features three adjustable and interchangeable tool heads and comes with a 5.3-foot extension pole to convert from a pole saw to a hedge trimmer or string trimmer. The lightweight 24-Volt battery pack recharges in about an hour and is the perfect portable yard tool. The kit includes an 8-inch pole saw, a 17.7-inch pole hedge trimmer, and a 10-inch string trimmer.

battery powered and rechargeable lawn care equipent
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Remember, regular maintenance of your lawn and garden will produce quality results every time. Feed them regularly, water them weekly, and keep the grass trimmed and not cut too short. You want to promote growth, not stunt it.

Read more: How to Renovate Your Home

Editors' Recommendations

Joe Morales
Joe Morales
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Joe Morales is a trained chef with over five years of experience working in fine dining and Michelin recommended restaurants…
Campfire cooking: This is the absolute best way to make a pot hanger
Make the most of campfire cooking with this ingenious pot hanger guide
A campfire pot hanger holds a kettle over a stone circle

Campfire cooking is an art form. Sure, you can always just skewer a sausage or a s'more and roast it directly over the heat, but with a little camping cooking gear, you can elevate your camp cooking to new heights. With the cooler nights of fall just around the corner, camp cooking becomes even more important, as you'll need the extra calories to stay warm overnight. There are plenty of styles of campfire cooking to explore, and a suspended pot over your fire is one of the most versatile.

By hanging a pot or a kettle over your fire, you can keep your dish away from direct heat, but retain a rolling boil or a gentle simmer. This means you can always have hot water ready and waiting for a cup of coffee, heat yourself a cowboy casserole of beans and ground beef to pour over a biscuit, or simmer a stew for a substantial meal under the stars.

Read more
How to make nutritious and delicious trail snacks: Your DIY guide
DIY trail snacks are less expensive and better for the environment
Date and cashew bars

Knowing how to properly feed yourself to stay energized throughout the day is essential to success on the trail. Whether you're out hiking for the day or on a multi-day thru-hike, nutrition will make or break your trip. There are loads of trail snacks on the market that you can take in your pack, but if you hit the trail every day, these can be costly.

We all want to be a bit more environmentally conscious. As outdoor enthusiasts, we have a much closer connection with the natural environment than most. Even some of the more environmentally aware companies still wrap their snacks in plastic packaging, and many snacks come individually wrapped for convenience. Save yourself money and look out for your environmental footprint in one move by learning how to make your own trail snacks at home. Here are six of our favorites.
Raisin, cherry, and honey flapjacks

Read more
Camper van vs Class B RV: How to choose which to buy for your outdoor adventures
Class B RV vs Camper Van - who ya got?
Man building a campfire in front of a Winnebago Ekko Springer camper van.

If you would love to go on road trips and experience the best national parks, there is no better way to do it and still feel comfortable like you’re at home than camping in an RV. Let’s be honest: You will enjoy sleeping on a cozy bed in an RV with an air conditioner more than in a moist and chilly tent. It’s also easier to prepare your meals in an RV because of the refrigerator, and you don’t have to worry about packing and unpacking your camping bags every night or morning. 

However, the big RVs can be a headache if you're driving through low-hanging bridges or tight spaces. They’re also more expensive to fuel and maintain compared to smaller-size vehicles. Alternatively, you could choose a Class B RV or a camper van if prefer an RV that strikes a balance between rural camping and big-city adventure. But the question is — what’s the difference between a Class B RV and a camper van? And which one should you buy?
A Class B motorhome is built with all the camping amenities

Read more