Jay Nygaard: Jay Nygaard, President and CEO of Great Outdoor Landscape, here to give you a few tips on caring for your newly placed lawn.

The most important thing for caring for your new lawn is the amount of water it receives as it's developing its root system. From a watering standpoint spring and fall are the easiest times to put in the new lawn. You can, however, install the lawn during the heat of the summer but you may require that you water up to three times per day. Consistent water will need to be supplied for up to three weeks until the root system of the new site is grown to the point where you can cut back on the amount of water needed.

You will want to keep heavy traffic off the lawn for two to three weeks especially after you water. Foot traffic after heavy watering will cause divots and uneven spots throughout your lawn area.

Surely after placement of your new lawn, you can apply a Starter Fertilizer which is designed to accelerate the root growth of your new site. It comes in a time release granular form and slowly dissolves over several weeks. This Fertilizer is designed to advance the root system of your new site and develop it more quickly than it otherwise would.

Because your lawn was placed over a composted and tilt soil, there is no need for aeration that first growing season, and the first time that you will mow your new lawn it would be two to three weeks after it is installed. It is my suggestion that you hold off on any chemical application for at least three months to give your lawn the opportunity to fully root in and to acclimate to your surroundings and your particular soil conditions.

You will also want to watch for dry spots as they develop supplement through watering by hand in those areas until the root system has fully developed, and when that root system is developed chances are your sprinkler system will be more than adequate to cover those areas.

Next up do's and don'ts for the care of your lawn.