Sometimes even with your best efforts, your lawn can be trampled by playing children or romping pets; however, that doesn’t mean you have to just lie down and take it (or, rather, your lawn doesn’t just have to lie down and take it!). There are some helpful tactics that can be implemented to make your lawn rise once again!

Lawn care professionals will advise that the first step is to choose a grass that is resilient and take good care of it. A happy lawn is a healthy lawn. Depending on its availability, tall blended fescue and perennial rye grass are good examples of resilient grass types. However, these types don’t always necessarily thrive in certain areas of the country, so the best option is to consult with your lawn care company to see what kind of grass will defy all the trampling. Regardless of what type of seed you use, what is more important is aerating your lawn once a year (sometimes twice). Core aeration eases the compaction that takes place when people and animals are continuously traveling over the lawn. An added benefit is that aeration also improves the color and density of your lawn.

Another way to battle the effects of busy foot traffic is to control the traffic itself. Instead of allowing your dog to roam free in your yard, take him to a dog park where he can wear himself at the expense of someone else’s lawn. If you have both a front and back yard, have your kids switch their play areas every few weeks to give one spot an opportunity to recuperate. Even better, send them off to the park as well! With the dog! (Kill two birds with one stone!)

If none of these options are ideal, lawn care professionals propose using artificial turf. It is more expensive than a regular lawn, but its resiliency is much, much higher than a natural lawn. If you aren’t sure what to do to keep your lawn healthy, contact your local lawn care company and put it in the hands of the professionals!