A perfect lawn is not easily won. There are many factors that play into the health and hardiness of your lawn. Not only do you have to carefully care for the lawn, but you've got to nurture the soil, too. Feeding the soil is as important, and sometimes more important, than feeding the lawn.

Without good soil, you cannot have a good lawn. Most of the time, the soil that we have in our yards is less than ideal. It's more than likely depleted of nutrients, packed down by years of foot traffic and may even have foreign elements in it. Before you expect to be able to grow the lawn of your dreams, you'll need to assess your soil situation.

Types of Soil

Our lawns depend on soil to provide water and nutrients. Fertilizing and watering your lawn will do no good if the soil is not equipped to capture the water and nutrients effectively. If you have soil that's sticky and packed together, you have clay soil. It's good for retaining water and nutrients, but bad at letting water drain properly. It's also so packed that roots can have a hard time digging in. Mixing some wood bark, wood chips or peat into the soil will break it up and allow for better air and water circulation.

If your soil has big granules that fall through your fingers easily, you have sandy soil. This soil is good for air and water flow, but doesn't capture the nutrients your lawn needs to survive. Mixing in compost or aged manure will help to capture those nutrients that your lawn needs so much.