1. Mow with Sharp Blades

A healthier lawn starts with sharp mower blades. A dull mower blade tears at leaves, which stresses the plant and its roots more than a straight cut. Sharpen mower blades roughly once a week to ensure you make a clean cut every time you mow.

2. Mow High

Resist the urge to mow your lawn very short, von Gal advises. “Cutting the lawn short exposes soil to the sun, drying it out and encouraging weeds to sprout,” she says. Instead, she suggests keeping the lawn to around 3 1/2 inches tall, which allows the grass to shade the soil and in turn hold onto more moisture.

3. Reduce Inputs

Water deeply but less often—twice a week max, von Gal says—to encourage roots to grow deep and create a more resilient lawn. And consider skipping the fertilizer: "Weed-and-feed can harm surface tree roots, wash into streams and groundwater, and linger where children and pets play," says von Gal. Instead, she suggests using a mulching mower to chop up clippings (which feed the lawn naturally). “Clippings are the perfect lawn food,” says von Gal.

4. Aerate Occasionally

Von Gal encourages aerating your lawn to introduce oxygen and organic matter to the soil. Yes, it's an extra care step, but one that only needs to be done every so often and is especially beneficial to high-traffic lawns. You can aerate by hand with a broad fork or rent an aerator for a larger lawn. If you have a riding mower, an aerator attachment makes easy work of the task.

5. Embrace Imperfection

Von Gal urges gardeners to let go of the idea of lawn perfection. Overseeding grass in the fall can help crowd out spring weeds, but there's an opportunity in letting nature take over to a certain degree: “If you stop all broadleaf herbicides, small blooms like clover, violets, bluets, and pussytoes may appear naturally—and the bees will love it,” she says. "My feeling is that whatever is going to thrive over time will be the plants that show up on their own."