Save on lawn maintenance with these 3 pointers

Having a lush and beautiful lawn doesn't need to be a financial burden. We'll give you three pieces of advice that will save you money on lawn treatments, fertilizer, and aeration, so that your lawn always stays at its best.

• Despite what the makers of pest and fungus treatments want you to believe, not every yellow or dead spot is the result of a sinister invader.
• Some yellow spots are simply the result of low spots in your lawn, especially if they appear after heavy rain.
• Grass can suffocate or rot in standing water. To fix this, try spreading a layer of compost over the yellow spot to raise it up to the level of the surrounding ground. Within a week or two, new grass will likely sprout to fill the patch.

• If you have the kind of mower that shreds grass and drops it right back onto the lawn, you can reduce the amount of lawn fertilizer that you use by at least a third, and possibly even half.
• A mulching mower will save you having to spread pounds and pounds of chemical fertilizer every year.

• Every year, many eager workers roam around the neighbourhood ringing doorbells, insisting that you need to aerate your lawn. If you don't keep track, you might do it three or four times a year.
• You can relax. Most lawns only need aerating once a year to improve the drainage and breathability of soil, and it's important to do it at the right time for your area and grass type.
• Some grasses do better when aerated at the beginning of the growing season and some prefer it at the end.
• You don't have to pay someone else to do your aeration: it's no more strenuous than mowing the lawn. Just be sure to mark your sprinkler heads and any buried cables first.
• Try asking some of your neighbours if they'd like to go in on an aeration party, then pool together to rent a machine. You can rent the machines from hardware stores for half a day for about the same amount that you'd pay to have a single lawn aerated.
• You can take turns using the machine on each of your own lawns, or pay a strapping teenager to do them all in one morning. Either way, you'll come out ahead.

In many ways, your lawn in the face of your home. It's important to keep it beautiful. With these tips, you can maintain a lawn that you can be proud of and save money while you're at it.