Reasons to Choose Organic Lawn Care Products

Whether you take care of your lawn using your own two hands or you’ve hired a lawn care company to provide regular maintenance for you the sheer number of lawn care treatments available can seem overwhelming. At any given big-box home improvement store you’ll find hundreds of sprays, seeds, and shakers – but which one is right for your yard? If you’ve ever wondered about the benefits of choosing organic, natural substances for your lawn here are a few to consider.

Organic lawn care products are generally regarded as safer for your family and pets. While tests are inconclusive the EPA suggests using as few chemical pesticides as possible to help reduce the risk of ingestion. Though all known pesticides undergo a thorough review every 15-years to test for product safety there have been numerous studies that show organic substances are less likely to cause undesired side effects. Particularly if you’re growing vegetables or herbs, natural food and pest treatments are highly recommended.Continue reading →

Protecting Your Grass from Snow

Winter’s in full swing across much of the country and homeowners everywhere are worried about the season’s inevitable impact on their lawns. The last thing anyone wants to see come spring is a dead, patchy carpet of grass out front but there are a few steps you can take now to ensure your grass will emerge from the winter snow as good as new.

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Cold-Harty Plants Just Right for Your Yard

Everyone wishes they could move in the springtime, just the right time of year to plant a lush yard that will keep giving all year long. But what if your big move is planned in the dead of winter, or you simply need a landscaping overhaul? There are plenty of winter-hardy plants on the market to plant now and forget about. Whether you live in the frigid Northeast or as far south as Florida, these lawn choices will make it through the winter.

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5 Ways to Keep Your Yard Healthy This Winter

Winter’s nearly in full swing but that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to three to five months of dead, brittle grass. We’ve put together six helpful hints for keeping your yard happy and healthy all winter long so when spring comes you’ll be the pride of the neighborhood.

5. Don’t Stop Watering:Water Your Yard
Many people (counterintuitively) believe watering the yard is a summertime job. Your grass actually needs about an inch of water every 2-3 weeks to stay vital no matter what the season. It goes without saying people who live in hotter climates should water more frequently in the warmer month but generally, a good dose of water all throughout the fall and winter will keep your grass green. Just avoid watering right before a frost and don’t overdo it – too much water can lead to mold.

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Winterizer Fertilizer for Your Lawn

The winter season can bring on a great deal of hardships for your lawn, so it’s important to do everything you can to prepare and strengthen it against the weather and precipitation.  One of the most important ways to go about this is by applying a winterizer fertilizer.  We’ve discussed fertilizer makeup on the blog before, but as a refresher, it is comprised of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium.  Different fertilizers have different proportional combinations of these ingredients depending on what the purpose of the fertilizer happens to be.  Most winter fertilizers have a higher Potassium and Phosphorous content than fertilizers used other times of the year.

Unlike other fertilizer, this particular type is not intended for growth as it is to be applied when your lawn is at a dormant stage.  The purpose of winterizer is to strengthen the root system to help the grass store nutrients through the winter in preparation for growth in the spring

.winter fertilizer

As I mentioned, the winterize should be applied once your lawn is dormant or at least nearing that stage.  This will obviously vary significantly depending on where in the country you live, but generally it will fall sometime between October and December. 

Just like any other lawn application, applying winterizer requires some knowledge of this process in order to ensure both your safety and its effectiveness.  Therefore if you are unfamiliar or unsure how to go about spreading it, you can contact a lawn care professional to assist with this process. 

 

Composting in Winter

If you’re a frequent reader of our blog, you know that we are strong proponents of composting. There are countless benefits to this practice and once you get started it’s a pretty simple task. If you are familiar with composting you know the importance of keeping your compost pile warm. If you are new to the concept, visit one of our past posts on composting for more information.

So, the question remains, how do you keep your pile warm, when the temperature drops. There are several options to facilitate this. One of the most obvious is to have an indoor compost pile. However, this clearly takes some new bins and infrastructure and some people are just generally opposed to the idea of having this inside their home. So if this is not an option for you, don’t worry there are plenty of other options. Continue reading →

Preparing for Frost

After an unusually warm fall, most areas of the country are now experiencing the first real cold spell of the season. This could mean snuggling up by a warm, cozy fire, but for your plants it could be quite treacherous. Frost has the potential to damage or even destroy your plants, but there are ways to protect them and minimalize damage.

 The basic thing you are working toward is providing your plants with extra warmth. If you have the ability or room to bring potted plants in doors, that is obviously ideal. However for shrubs or larger plants, this may not be feasible.lawn frost

One option is to cover them with either a tarp or sheet or similar material. This will help keep the heat in but it they need to be covered at the appropriate time to maximize heat.Continue reading →

Choosing the Right Irrigation System

sprinkler systems

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There are countless advantages to adding an irrigation system to your yard. It saves you the time of having to manually water your yard and you can ensure much more effective and efficient watering, which in turn leads to water conservation. However, these things can only be achieved if you choose the right system and watering schedule for your lawn. There are many different types and styles of irrigation systems and it’s important to understand the various purposes and functionality before you invest in these products.

There is first the difference in a sprinkler irrigation system and a drip irrigation system. The names of these two pretty well describe themselves. Sprinkler systems project water above ground over your lawn, whereas drip irrigation systems have tubes with small holes that slowly release water to the soil. Continue reading →

Managing a Yard Full of Leaves

yard leavesFall is upon us, and so are the leaves. This is a season of beautiful trees and lovely weather, but eventually all of those leaves come down, leaving you with a lot of work. Staying on top of the leaves in your yard can be a daunting task, but it’s important not to let things get too out of hand or you could damage your lawn. If there is a major buildup of unraked leaves, it could provide the perfect breeding ground for lawn diseases as well as block oxygen and sunlight from reaching the grass. Here are a few tips for more effective leaf management.

Some areas of your yard may be far from the nearest natural area requiring you to rake them a long, tiring distance. There’s a simple homemade solution to this, and all you need is a rake and an old sheet. Simply rake a pile of leaves on to the sheet leaving a little space around the edges and fold it up from the edges into a Santa-like sack and carry it to your compost pile, leave pile, etc. You can even have a little fun with the kids while doing so. Continue reading →

Fall Seeding for Cool Season Grasses

seeding grass

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If you live in the northern areas of the country or areas with a cooler climate, chances are you have a cool season grass in your yard. Common types of cool season grasses include bluegrasses and fescues. The ideal time of year to seed this type of grass is the fall. This grass grows in temperatures in the 60s and 70s. Therefore, if you wait until spring to seed, it will be too warm by the time summer arrives for it to thrive.

It’s essential that you aerate your lawn before seeding. The key benefit of this is to break up compacted soil so that it is better prepared for the seed. For more information on aerating and why it is a key component of your lawn care regiment, visit our post on aerating.Continue reading →