Yard Wizard field guide

Better lawn care starts with understanding the lawn.

Clear, Florida-focused explanations of the maintenance practices that affect turf health, appearance, and long-term performance in Pinellas County.

Proper Mowing for Florida Lawns

Learn why mowing height, blade sharpness, timing, and the one-third rule matter for healthy Florida turf.

Understand responsible lawn nutrition, Pinellas County restrictions, and why the right application matters.

See how careful trimming creates clean lines without scalping turf or weakening landscape plants.

Find out when compacted soil may benefit from core aeration and what the service can—and cannot—fix.

Learn how stump size, access, utilities, grinding depth, roots, and cleanup affect a residential stump-grinding project.

Understand what UF/IFAS soil tests measure, current laboratory fees, turnaround time, and when a test is genuinely useful.

Learn when organic-matter topdressing, potash, or iron may help—and why a dry or yellow spot should be diagnosed first.

Mowing height, irrigation, seasonal care, and the pest and disease problems most often seen in Florida’s most common lawn grass.

A practical guide to this durable, low-input Florida turf, including seedheads, drought response, mowing, and mole crickets.

Learn why bermudagrass needs full sun, lower and more frequent mowing, and a higher level of maintenance.

Dense, attractive turf with cultivar-specific mowing needs, slower recovery, and a vulnerability to large patch and thatch.

Identify dollarweed, doveweed, sedges, crabgrass, Florida pusley, and torpedograss—and learn what their presence may reveal.

Recognize warning signs associated with chinch bugs, sod webworms, mole crickets, large patch, gray leaf spot, and root problems.

Prefer a professional opinion?

Tell us what you are seeing and what you want to improve. We’ll recommend a practical place to start.