Lawn maintenance is grueling work, simply because it takes a great deal of time and money to pull off. Especially money, since you have to consider spending hundreds of dollars just to keep your lawn in good condition. Sure enough, maintaining your lawn can be a costly endeavor altogether, so you should expect to shoulder high lawn maintenance costs.

Luckily, there are several ways you can reduce your expenditures all the while keeping your lawn in the best condition. All you have to do is to be practical and resourceful when it comes down to it. That being said, let’s look at a few cost-saving approaches to greener grass and a more attractive landscaping for your property.

1. Turn your sprinklers on once a week

Like it or not (but most likely you don’t), sprinklers can consume thousands of liters of water if they are being used more than once per day. You can imagine the immense water bill you will be shouldering courtesy of your irrigation system.

Sure enough, it’s much more practical to avoid turning on your sprinklers every day. Your grass doesn’t need to be watered frequently, so you will actually be wasting more water than is necessary. A better option is to turn on your sprinklers once a week and for a longer period of time. This will keep the grass properly hydrated without having to consume too much water.

2. Develop your own fertilizer

You can never go wrong with a good fertilizer at hand. Sure enough, you might consider buying a commercial fertilizer for your lawn. However, most of these products contain ammonia and other chemicals that could do more to stunt the growth of the grass and make your lawn vulnerable to attacks by pests.

As much as possible, you should develop your own fertilizer which you can use throughout the year. Using organic materials, you can develop a good mix to use on your lawn without having to pay anything for it. Plus, organic fertilizer is proven to be more effective since it doesn’t contain toxic substances that could damage your lawn.

3. Cut grass at least a third

Tall grass can be unsightly, so you might want to consider cutting your lawn down to size. However, cutting the grass too short, while it makes for a cleaner and manicured look for your lawn, can actually make it harder for the soil to retain water. The advantage of tall grass, on the other hand, is that it prevents moisture in the soil from drying up due to heat.

That being said, you need to cut the grass by a third of its height. This will provide for enough shade to slow down moisture absorption.

4. Mow your lawn at the best time

When it comes to mowing your lawn, the timing is important. Depending on your location, there’s always an ideal season for cutting the grass. Certain grass types in Texas, for instance, require you to mow the lawn during the spring or fall season. To be sure, you might want to ask gardeners and landscaping professionals for advice.

As the owner of a racehorse, you must always get pretty excited when it is race day, and you expect to get the best performance from your horse. However, the factor that contributes most to the performance of a horse is its fitness levels. You need to ascertain that the fitness level of your horse is at its highest so that you can be sure that it will perform well in the races. In this article, you will learn about some effective tips to help you boost the fitness of your horse so that it performs well in the races.

Exercising

Exercise is important for any sport, and it is stressed upon when it comes to a sport like horse racing, which involves high-intensity physical movement. You need to make your horse exercise a lot, and this exercising will be dependent on the type of track and the type of race that is coming up. You should put little obstacles in the practice park, where, your horse races and check the times and gallops that it does. As the practice improves, you need to put larger obstacles. To improve speed, you must ensure that the horse gets a right diet and is allowed to graze enough. You should have timers and time your horse for the lengths of time it takes to cover a certain stretch and gradually ensure that it improves.

Familiarity

Familiarity with the racing track is important. You need to ensure that your horse can have some idea about the exact dimensions and type of racing track that it will be running on. You can create a mock practice track based on the designs of the final race track and practice your horse there.

Trots and gallops

You need to take your horse regularly out to the field and practice its trots and gallops to help it get a certain rhythm. Often the rhythm of the galloping suffers because of unfamiliarity with the track but once you cover that the pace of the horse will improve remarkably.

Diet

Ensure that the horse takes the right diet and is fed properly. You should provide the horse with the right type of hay and chickpeas to ensure that it has nutritious food and is not getting any form of gluten or fat-based food. The diet is essential for developing the muscles and strength of the horse.

Practice

Lastly, take your horse out for regular practice sessions. Do not limit the time of practicing to only before the race but do it all around the year. This will help the horse to get into a competitive mindset. You should practice for at least an hour every day on different types of grass tracks.You can visit Dayton Raceway to witness exciting races.

Fitness is crucial for a horse to perform well at the races. The tips mentioned in this article will ensure that the fitness levels of your horse remain constant and do not falter.

Cricket is more than a sport, rather it’s a juggernaut that binds people, evokes frenzy and creates legends. How about getting closer to the game and monetizing it? No, I am not talking about hardcore cricket betting, which is illegal, socially unacceptable and prone to multiple risks. Instead, my reference is to fantasy cricket, a thriving, legit sport where skills override chance, making it a low-risk and high-return proposition. Here, you monetize your ingenuity and cricketing awareness while being in control of your own team. This is something you imagined doing all your life and fantasy league cricket is just making it happen for you.

What is fantasy cricket?

Fantasy cricket is a virtual sport where you select and manage your own team in anticipation of cash rewards. The sport runs parallel to the actual cricket match/event played by actual players in actual conditions. Suppose Mumbai Indians are playing Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match. Now, you have to construct your fictitious team with players from both teams in a fixed budget allotted by the host website. The runs, wickets, catches, saves and run outs your players make, take or implement in a real match will translate to points. And if your points supersede those of competitors’, you reinstate your authority in cricket and go home with a bounty.

How to go about it?

Playing fantasy cricket is not that tough provided you follow simple steps listed below.

• Choose a fantasy cricket website and get registered.

• Select a team featuring at least 4 batsmen, 3 bowlers, 1 all-rounder and 1 wicketkeeper.

• Opt for a practice match or a cash contest option.

• For a cash contest, deposit a modest entry fee.

• If need be, substitute players before the match.

• The host will publish the list of top point earners upon completion of the match.

• Withdraw earnings if your name futures in the final points tally.

Golden rules to win big:

Now that you know how to play fantasy cricket, it’s time to strategize to ace the league and fellow leaguers. Committed to your success, I offer you proven strategies for winning big.

• Scurry web pages: Cricket specific websites are the best ally for a fantasy leaguer, helping him stay on top of everything cricket. Resources like CRICBUZZ and ESPN talks at length about team compositions, form and fitness of players, pitch and weather conditions and everything else required for educated selection decisions. Many host websites also feature practical suggestions on team selection for each contest.

• Prefer performers: Fantasy leaguers often carry emotions to the selection table, which often leads to their undoing. They spend a major chunk of the budget buying their favourite stars, neglecting performers outright. You need to avoid such folly, as stars may fail to justify their price tag, leaving you struggling for points. The trick is to invest on performers, preferably all-rounders, which keep you gainful with the bat and ball alike.

• Choose Power Player wisely: Power Player delivers you double the points vis-à-vis a normal player. It calls for some practicality in selecting the power player, or else you will miss an easy opportunity to rake in points. Here too, designate all-rounders or wicketkeepers for the job, as they will contribute to your team in more ways than one.

• Pitch Perfect: Ignoring the pitch means compromised selection decisions. Make it a point to go through the pitch and player history with the pitch for every match and every selection. This will add nuance to your selection decisions and keep you profitable in the long run.