You don’t have to have a landscaper or buy expensive products to have an impressive lawn. By taking some time to water your yard correctly and regularly, giving your lawn the attention it needs and getting rid of stubborn weeds, you too can have a yard to be proud of. Here are a few tips from around the web to help you on your way.

Lawn Fertilizers and Tonics

According to the Scott’s Miracle-Gro Company, summer is a great time to focus on fertilizing your lawn:

Summer is tough on grass. Heat, drought, foot traffic, and insects stress it out. Feeding your lawn in the summer protects and strengthens it against these problems. Lawns in warm-season grass areas should be fed over the summer months as they grow steadily from spring to fall.

Homemade lawn fertilizers, or tonics, can work well for lawns that need a boost. Instead of buying expensive, premade products, you can utilize household items and ingredients that promote lawn growth. Here are a few recipe ideas from Rose Works for you to try out:

  1. Epsom Salts and Ammonia: mix together 16 tablespoons of Epsom salts with 8 ounces of household ammonia and water. Spread this evenly across the yard.
  2. Soda and Beer: two substances that are pretty bad for you are actually great for your lawn! Mix together 1 can of diet coke, 1 can of cheap beer, a 1/2 cup of ammonia, a 1/2 cup of liquid dish-washing soap and 1/2 a cup of mouthwash. Put this into a hose fertilizer sprayer and spray over lawn.

    The pop and beer feed the lawn and the ammonia helps promote growth while the dishwasher soap works as a wetting agent that helps the water get to the roots and lastly the mouthwash kills bugs. Ammonia can kill the grass if too much is used. This mix should only be used in really warm temperatures and it can be reapplied every 4 weeks.

  3. Tomato Juice and Fabric Softener: this unlikely pairing can help your lawn flourish. Combine 1 can of tomato juice with 1/2 cup of fabric softener, 2 cups of water and 2/3 cup of orange juice. Distribute evenly on your yard.

Homemade Weed Killers

Take a look at some great weed killer recipes from Tip Nut:

  • Vinegar: when there’s no sign of rain, spray weeds directly with undiluted household vinegar. You should be able to get rid of any baby weeds this way. If you need something for more stubborn weeds, try looking for a stronger vinegar, like pickling vinegar.
  • Salt: this is a great weed killer but can also negatively affect surrounding soil. Only use salt in areas where you do not want to promote plant growth, like driveways, sidewalk cracks, underneath decks, patio blocks, etc. Mix together 1 part salt and 2 parts water and spray on weeds.
  • Vinegar and Dish Detergent: mix together pickling vinegar and a squirt or 2 of dish soap in a spray bottle. Spray on weeds at the hottest part of the day.
  • Liquid Dish Detergent: mix up 1 part liquid dish soap and 10 parts water. Soak any weeds with this mixture.
  • Common Weed Killer Recipe: combine 1 quart of household vinegar, 1/4 cup salt, and 2 teaspoons liquid dish detergent (with no bleach) in a spray bottle. Spray directly on weeds.

Make Your Own Rain Barrel

Rain barrels can be expensive to buy, but they’re pretty easy to make on your own out of a large trash bin. Check out this video from Danny Lipford:

What are some of your best DIY lawn care tips? We’d love to hear about your methods in the comments section below. Thanks for being a Tip Hero!