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29 Mar

Posted at 11:23h in Landscaping

As the weather warms up and ice begins to melt, the neglect our lawns faced over the winter becomes apparent. When it comes down to it, cleaning things up and refreshing your yard is an important task if you want your lawn looking its best during the summer months.

Rake

Raking is a great way to gather up all types of debris scattered across your lawn, from leaves and sticks to pinecones, acorns, and any trash that may have blown in throughout the winter. You will need to go through and pick up any larger items, such as branches, but most things can be handled with a thorough raking.

Dethatch Your Turf

Thatch is a layer of both dead and living organic matter, like dead grass, bugs, etc., that accumulates between the grass blades and the soil. This layer can block sunlight, water, and nutrients from reaching the roots. Any thatch thicker than ½ inch should be removed in the summer when the grass is healthy.

Delay Aeration

When you’re doing your spring cleaning and working on getting your lawn looking nice before the warm weather really sets in, it can certainly be tempting to add aeration to your to-do list. Before you pull out your aerator, it’s important to know that spring is not the best time to aerate. You should do this during your turf’s peak growing season.

Soil Testing

Before you treat your soil or add any fertilizer, you should test the soil. Soil needs potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus, but you can’t tell what ratio yours needs until you test it. A soil test can tell you:

  • Nutrient deficiencies
  • Salt levels
  • pH imbalances
  • Factors that could hinder your turf’s growth

Fertilization

Whether you have cool or warm-season grasses, fertilizer is an important step in the maintenance of your lawn. Warm-season grasses should get their first application of nitrogen fertilizer after the grass is green and has been mowed 2 to 3 times. Cool-season grasses, on the other hand, should be fertilized in the fall.

Overseed Your Turf

If you want to keep the nice, thick carpet of grass in your yard, the trick is to spread your grass seed before thinning begins. Overseeding is an important step if you want to prevent bare spots. You should overseed cool-weather lawns between September and mid-October, while warm-weather grasses should be overseeded during the spring and early summer.

Application of Herbicide

For those that often deal with weeds, applying a chemical barrier to prevent growth is a great option. A pre-emergent herbicide will kill the weeds before they grow, while post-emergent herbicides kill any weeds that are already established.

Spread Mulch

If your lawn has flower beds, you’ll definitely want to spread some mulch. This helps with moisture control as well as helping to prevent the growth of weeds, plus organic mulch adds nutrients to your soil.

Mow the Lawn

Once your lawn has been raked and cleaned up, it’s time to run the lawnmower. Think of this as a fresh haircut for your lawn. Not only will it clean things up and make your yard look better, but regular lawn mowing also helps your grass grow thicker and healthier.

The Importance of Spring Lawn Care

If you want your lawn to look its best and stay healthy throughout the year, giving it some attention in the spring is the way to go. Whether you choose to do this work yourself or you employ the assistance of a lawn care professional, spring lawn care is something you don’t want to skip.

02 Feb

Posted at 15:52h in Landscaping

Aeration is one of the keys to keeping your plants healthy. Plants need oxygen to grow and thrive. Oxygen moves through the soil and roots and is absorbed by plant cells for growth. Aeration can help improve the amount of oxygen that gets into the soil, improving the overall health of your plants.

Oxygen-rich soil leads to healthier, happier plants. Your plants will also be less susceptible to disease, as well as insect infestations when they are getting enough aeration. To learn more about the benefits of aeration and what you can do to implement it into your garden, we invite you to keep reading to learn more.

Why Choose Aeration?

When plants are exposed to an environment without enough oxygen, they can suffer. For example, plants may display yellowing leaves or tall grass. Here are some of the benefits of aeration for your plants:

  • Increased resistance to insects and pests
  • Decreased susceptibility to disease
  • Improved root system
  • Reduced thatch
  • More oxygen
  • Stronger turf

As you can see, aeration is essential for plant health. If you want to keep your plants happy and healthy, consider adding aeration into your garden regimen. It’s completely worth it to maintain good soil quality by providing your plants with what they need: plenty of oxygen.

Different Ways to Achieve Aeration

There are many ways you can aerate your soil to get the oxygen into it that your plants need. Composting is a great way to get air into the soil because of the air pockets created by decomposing organic matter. If you don’t want to compost, there are other ways to aerate your lawn or garden.

One of these ways is with an aerator, which will create air pockets in the soil so that oxygen can be absorbed more easily by plant roots. You can also till or dig up some of the topsoil and then replace it when done—this too will create air pockets in the soil. 

There are also chemical aerators that are available at most nurseries or garden centers, but please do not use these if you have a septic system on your property.

How to Identify if Your Plants Need More Air

One of the best ways to identify if your plants need more air is to simply check their leaves. Plant leaves can give a lot of clues as to what they may need, and it’s important that you know how to read those clues. Signs that the plant needs more air include yellowing, dryness, and wilting.

It’s also important to check for insects on your plants. If there are a lot of ants or other pests on your plants, chances are there is not enough oxygen in the soil.

Another way you can tell if your plants need more air is by burrowing into the ground with a shovel. If you hit dirt instead of roots after five to six inches, it’s time to aerate. By taking action now, you can ensure the health of your plants.