These are some secrets to maintaining a healthy, green lawn all summer long?

1. Maintain a proper mowing height to avoid the many problems that occur when grass is cut too short. You should never be cut shorter than 1/3 off its height at any one time." The optimum height depends on the species - for centipedegrass it's about 1 1/2 inches and for  it's 3 to 4 inches. (For other species see www.turffiles.ncsu.edu.)

2. Take a soil test. Any time is OK, but now is good because it's not so busy at the the Department of Agriculture where they do the testing. This will determine the pH of your turf's soil and proper soil fertility, then tell you what you need to apply in the way of fertilizer.

3. Once you've got a healthy lawn, it's easy to control weeds. "I always recommend doing this by hand.A pocket knife or weeding fork will do the job. Remove a few every day to keep under control - without the use of herbicide."

4. Make sure the turf you planted is still suitable for its location; if a large tree now shades portions of your centipede lawn, you may need to replace it with a shade-tolerant variety like. An alternative is to remove the turf from the shaded area/s and replace with a ground cover like mondo grass, ajuga or lirope.

5. Do fertilize according to grass species. For example, centipede, is a low maintenance turf that requires very little fertilizer - just one application in May or June of a low nitrogen, zero phosphorus but high potassium product like a 5-0-15, at the proper rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. For fertilizing other grasses, see www.turffiles.ncsu.edu.

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