Home & Garden Club

The modern lawn has fast become the status symbol of today’s suburban family. If you own a house and it has yard space, then more than likely you will have a lawn. For some people a lawn is a very aspect of their house and they can spend a lot of money to ensure that their lawn looks good. There are people who dedicate a substantial amount of money to be sure that they have the most talked about lawn in the neighborhood.

If you want a healthy and great looking lawn then lawn care is important. The lawn care tactics you use are as much a part of lawn maintenance as the actual maintenance steps themselves. Lawn management requires dedication on your part and good application of the skills you will need which are not that hard to understand and learn.

Lawns can come in various types, forms, shapes and sizes. Each lawn has a style and character of its own. There are lawns that boast of verdant gardens. They can be considered as great works of art and perfect as setting in the Florida environment. There are some that resemble the old farm style. They are covered with grass and garden of weeds. The greens can be very relaxing and comforting. Many other lawns can be seen out there that are groomed almost flawlessly. However, no matter what type it is, the most important matter to a lawn owner is to know how exactly to maintain and care for it.

Having the perfect lawn involves many things. There are many ways to care for your lawn. Following are some tips which will defiantly help you in maintaining the proper lawn:

1) Apply water regularly to keep the soil moist.

2) There are different fertilizers available like organic, synthetic, inorganic, slow release, fast release etc. Use the appropriate fertilizer for your lawn and region.

3) Aerate your lawn from time to time.

4) Try to thatch at least once per year. Thatch can stunt the growth of lawns and can prevent healthy growth.

5) Lawn pests need to be managed with organic methods or pesticides.

6) Weeding is very important and should be done in the fall and spring.

In Florida, most every one can afford a beautiful house. The only thing left to the owner is to put an identity to the place. He or she can make it look as desired, whether be it posh, elegant or charming.

It is best to give emphasis to the first part of the house that people will see, the lawn.

Getting the Perfect Lawn

Lawns can come in various types, forms, shapes and sizes. Each lawn has a style and character of its own.

There are lawns that boast of verdant gardens. They can be considered as great works of art and perfect as setting in the Florida environment.

There are some that resemble the old farm style. They are covered with grass and garden of weeds. The greens can be very relaxing and comforting.

Many other lawns can be seen out there that are groomed almost flawlessly. However, no matter what type it is, the most important matter to a lawn owner is to know how exactly to maintain and care for it.

10 Tips to Maintain and Care for the Lawn

Whether in Florida or in any other state, all it takes to keep the lawn beautiful is to maintain and care for it. Here are 10 tips to take into account:

1. Come Up with a Plan

Lawn owners should come up first with a plan. Identify what should be achieved by the project.

Ideally, any plan should be written down. This shall be your guide as you consider the options and endure the various obstacles in your sod endeavors.

Once the plan is laid down, you can easily decide on the other aspects of lawn maintenance. You will know the choices to make to care for your type of lawn.

2. Choose the Plants and Flowers

Plants and flowers should be chosen well. Pick one that will suit best the character you want your lawn to have.

It all depends on your type of landscape and personality. Bushy plants are ideal for those who want some coverage. Colorful flowers are best for people who like to keep it bright.

Be wary also of some plants that may damage your endeavors. Caring for the lawn requires certain caution from plants that can damage the soil or choke other shrubbery.

Dandelions and black medics or the yellow clovers may look good to the eye but their presence can actually affect the alkaline of your soil and even result to deprivation of other plants.

3. Grass It Up

Before planting any grass on your ground, research first on the best one available for your location.

It depends on where you live. There are cool season grasses that are ideal for the northern area and the arm season type that is good for southern plantings.

4. Aerate the Lawn

Aerating the lawn is a must to give a way for fresh air to the small life forms and the microbes under the soil. It also gives water a new course to take, preventing saturation.

Aeration is best done during springtime when the soil is still moisturized and the rains are not yet over.

5. Have the Right Chemistry

To achieve the perfect chemistry for the lawn, people sometimes have to add lime or iron to the soil. Grass ordinarily prefers acidic soil. Lime is perfect to bring down the acidity. Sulfur on the other hand will help increase it.

Seek a professional or an experienced gardener to test the acidity of the soil to know the proper option to take.

6. Use Fertilizer

Grass is one plant that utilizes much nitrogen. Make the soil rich in nutrient. Chemicals are out there but this can disturb the ecosystem of your lawn. Compost is a good way to enrich the soil.

7. Watering the Lawn

Regularly water the lawn to keep the shrubbery healthy. Invest on a watering system. You can choose from a sprinkler system, a hose or simply a gardener who would do the task.

8. Mowing the Lawn

Determine the proper schedule to mow your lawn. It depends on how fast and how thick your greenery grows.

Mowing will help you get rid of old part of the grass. It also encourages a deeper root system for a healthier soil environment.

9. Simply TLC

Of course, never forget to give the tender and loving care to your lawn. With this in mind, you can never go wrong.

10. Enjoy and Be Amazed

A lush and beautiful lawn is the first thing that any neighbor, visitor or a mere passerby will notice in the household. This alone shall speak of the industry and dedication of the owner to the welfare of his or her home.

Thus, the presentation of the lawn is crucial, especially for people living in neighborhoods like in Florida where households and residents speak of beauty and good life.

Having the perfect lawn involves many things. And with those many things to do in taking care of your lawn, would it not be best if there is somewhere a set of guides to help you along? Well look no more, because here are some lawn tips that could be useful to you.

Important Lawn Care Considerations

If you want a healthy and great looking lawn, then lawn care is important. The lawn care tactics you use are as much a part of lawn maintenance as the actual maintenance steps themselves.

So, first up, When you choose the grass for your lawn, make sure it is the right type. The factors that could affect your choice of grass include your location (because you may be living in a dry or wet part of the country).

Your choice of grass can also be affected by that grasses’ availability at a particular season and certain planting methods. Your lawn and garden will not be as perfect as you wish it to be if right from the start you didn’t prepare adequately.

Guide to Lawn Maintenance

Lawn management requires dedication on your part and good application of the skills you will need, which are not that hard to understand and learn.

One important lawn care necessity is lawn mowing. You cannot just let the grass in your lawn overgrow, can you? When you mow, use a sharp mower so that you would get the job done easily and fast. A sharp lawn mower is also best to avoid young grass seedlings from being uprooted.

Another important lawn care practice is regualr and adequate lawn watering. Naturally, if you do not water the grass in your lawn, it will dry up and eventually die. Know the requirements of the grass type you have planted and water accordingly.

You may need to water your lawn more during the hot seasons and be careful with timing too.

Another important thing to remember when you take care of your lawn is lawn fertilizing and of course you must know the right fertilizers for your grass.

That is why choosing your grass in the first place was important. So, do some research down at your local specialists and decide what you need to do and in what season.

You might also want to take into account insect control and relevant treatment too.

Aside from that, your lawn may need some aerating from time to time. The thatch - mowed bits and pieces of grass can pack the soil of your lawn as well as block the air from entering.

So you might consider that with your lawn management, using a hollow tine fork or other attachments that you might be able to use on your mower.

A lawn scarifier can be found in your garden center, as an attachment or a free-standing piece of kit, often inexpensive and very practical and effective.

Lawn weeding is also important. Though your lawn is mainly grass, you do not want other types of grass to be mixed in there. Also use the proper and best lawn equipment you can find to ensure a good job.

In fact, a good idea here is to meander around your lawn, just after you have cut it, with a small knife and cut out the biggest weeds. As you do this frequently the weeds weaken and die off. It’s a good investment of time for those bigger weeds.

Lawn care is important, for that beautiful expanse of green you have dreamt about, so make sure to do your best with it.

Since most of the soil in Houston tends to be heavy clay, you may need to consider regularly aeration as part of your lawn maintenance program. One way to check if your lawn needs aeration is to excavate a hole about 6″ deep. If grass roots have only grown 1-2 inches down, your soil is probably compacted should be aerated with a core machine. Remember the root will be deeper in late spring then summer. This is more likely to be problem if the lawn is used for a garden pathway, parking cars, or just general traffic.

Compacted soil can be even worse in areas that have standing water from existing drainage problems. Compaction greatly reduces the pore space within the soil that would normally hold air. The roots of any grass require oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water from the soil. If your soil is compacted the pore spaces are reduced and the amount of air, water and nutrients is reduced. This reduction can greatly impact the quality of turf by impacting the nutrient uptake rate and water infiltration rate.

Aeration and you Landscape Maintenance

There are many other benefits from aeration; increases the activity of microorganisms that promote detaching, increases water infiltration improving drainage and reducing harmful fungi, increase the earth worm population all of these things work together in a synergic relationship to give you a better lawn. Core aeration also reduces fertilizer and pesticide run off which helps the environment and ensures your are getting the most from you applications.

What is involved?

Core aeration involves the removal of small soil plugs or cores out of the lawn. You can do this manually or by hand, but it is normally accomplished by a machine that has hollow tines or spoons mounted on a disk or drum. This is where the “core” aspect comes in: it extracts 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter cores of soil and deposits them on the lawn. The holes are typically 1-3 inches deep and 2-6 inches apart. Spike type machines pushes solid spikes or tines into the soil without removing a plug. This process is not as effective because it can contribute to compaction. The coring process is the best way to reduce compaction of heavily used turf and to control thatch buildup.

In Houston, the best time to aerate St. Augustine is early spring and late summer. Bermuda grasses and Zoysia grass are best aerated during June and July. During these periods is when the lawn is in a period of vigorous growth and will recover quickly from aeration. If you are planning to over seed your lawn be sure to aerate at least 6 weeks before seeding. If not, your irrigation system or rain water could potentially wash a higher concentration of seeds into the cored holes and creating a spotted lawn.

Since 1987, Exterior Worlds has been providing lawn services in the Memorial, Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, Hunter Creek Village, Tanglewood, River Oaks, West University, Bellaire and the greater Houston area.

Sod worms are also known as lawn moths. This name comes from the fact that these worms change into moths over time and they feed off the grass blades in yards, golf courses and in some areas of turfgrass. In the larval stage these worms are dingy white in colour. As adults they fly around the lawn planted their seeds and feeding off the grass at night. However it is not really the moths that damage the grass. It is the larvae that do the most damage. The larvae feed off the grass at night and leave an area of the lawn bare. During the spring and summer months the larvae turn into moths that drop their eggs and the cycle continues again.

 

The damage caused by lawn moths can be clearly seen in the grass. An infected are of grass will appear to be brown in appearance and it will have an irregular shape. If you closely examine the grass you can see small tunnels or lines that branch out around the browned area. In the damaged area, the blades of grass have been removed completely and the area appears to be scalped. There are other indicators that there may be an infestation of lawn moths and that is the presence of the small green fecal pellets.

 

Treatment for the sod worm starts with how well you monitor the amount of damage that has been inflicted upon your lawn. If you notice that you are getting small brown patches but nothing too big, then you might want to try using a simple home remedy of laundry detergent mixed with water. However, if you have tried the home remedy and you find that you are not able to contain the worm then you might want to consider getting a chemical product from your local gardening store. If you are unsure what to do about your problem then you might want to contact a lawn care expert in your area to find out what you can do to prevent the increase in damaged areas in your lawn. There are a number of chemical products on the market today but if you plan to use one of these then you need to make sure that you are able to use them on your grass.

 

Lawn moths are more prevalent in grasses like bluegrass and Zoysia. The problem with using chemicals on your grass to kill your worm infestation is that you might be killing insects and pests that are actually beneficial to your grass and then there is the possibility that you might end up killing your grass anyway. Be sure to read information on the product to find out what insects that it will kill. There are also a number of biological controls that are capable of killing the sod worm so you might want to consider exploring that avenue if you are unsure about using chemical products.

 

Proper lawn maintenance will help you discover the presence of these worms right away so that you can take steps immediately before too much of your grass gets destroyed.

If you want to be confident that the landscape around your home is exquisite and in the best potential form, then you will want to be solid that you correctly take treatment of the lawn patch portions of your landscape device. It is very important that exact maintenance of the lawn is conceded out so that they not only stop attractive but also wholesome. Frequently, the lawns are the most extensive and first noticed areas of the inclusive landscape.

Watering the lawn and patch is one of the most important parts of good meadow maintenance. In some parts of the country, there is enough drizzle so that the roots are suitably complete with dampness. Nevertheless even in what would be considered mushy areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, there are periods or dry endure and no rain. When this happens, it is critical to the survival of the lawns that they be properly watered.

The first marker of an impending dearth train of the lawn patch topic of your landscaping is a change in shade. The prairie in lawns that are agony from insufficient wetness will leave to elude their intense greenness and will soon shot to a straw color, or even russet if the lack of damp persists.

The best time of day to water a lawn or backyard is during the coolest part of the day. This means that gyratory on the pasture sprinkler early in the morning or in the nightfall after the sun has set is best. Garden lawn experts also say that the rotary sprinklers present the best coverage if you don\’t have a built in sprinkler method for your lawn maintenance.

Frequently, it is best to water your grassland just once a week, except the erode is really hot or dry. When liability your weekly watering, you can place a blank tuna can on the pasture and let the water run pending it is full up.

This will help you know when you have watered enough to give the pressing roots enough damp without over watering. Watering in this way will also help your lawns progress an immersed cause practice which will also help them outlive periods of famine.

Another side of lawn and patch maintenance is decorous fertilization and prepare contain. Good important maintenance techniques will go a long way in trust the lawns of your home and patch well, blooming and with few weeds.

Spring is the best time to fertilize lawns as this is when the grassland is \”waking up\” and will necessity the ultra nutrients from the fertilizer to secure wholesome increase. The best patch lawn fertilizers will have a combination of nitrogen, phosphates and potash.

Besides a \”mechanism feeding\” of your lawn garden, you can also boost the wellbeing and verve of the grass in your lawns with a support rotund of fertilization during the summer. This will help assure that your grass is healthy enough to help endorse out the weeds that might try to take rifling and you can also use a fertilizer that combines a tidy killer to restrain these useless plants.

For all the work you put into mowing, fertilizing and other forms of landscape maintenance on the weekends, it’s what happens when you aren’t in your yard that determines whether it reaches its aesthetic potential. Proper watering is the key for any grass area, and Morris and Bergen County Irrigation offers residential irrigation and commercial irrigation systems that can make lawn care easy and affordable. With over 30 years of experience and more than 6,000 satisfied customers, we offer state of the art irrigation solutions that promise to keep your lawn in the pristine condition you aspire to.

The value of your landscape to the overall look and feel of your home cannot be underestimated. A lush looking lawn for our clients is our one and only mission, and one of our lawn irrigation systems are well qualified to make it possible. Everyone’s landscape is different, and we’ll work with you to customize a drip system or sprinkler system using top of the line products from the leading names in the industry. From small backyards to large parks and outdoor commercial areas, our professional installers will have your system up and running in a timely fashion, a pre-cursor to the days ahead when you’ll save on maintenance time due to your easy to use automatic system.

Irrigation systems from Morris and Bergen County Irrigation depend on the latest state of the art technology to do the job in a dependable fashion, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t easy to use. On the contrary, even the most technologically challenged among us will be able to work and program their new system at the touch of a button. And because you’re system will be dialed in to the exact water specifications your lawn requires to look great year round, you’ll cut down on wasted watering time and save water and money in the process. It all adds up to a drip or sprinkler irrigation system that defines dependability and affordability; the very reasons at the heart of our more than three decades of service to Morris and Bergen County residents.

Maintaining your lawn is a year-round job, but you don’t have to be the one doing the heavy lifting. With the right lawn and irrigation products in place, keeping your lawn at its pristine best becomes a much easier proposition. Make sure that your lawn is receiving the proper water dosage it needs on a regular basis, and in a fashion that is easy and affordable for you.

The modern lawn has fast become the status symbol of today’s suburban family - its health and vitality reflecting considerably on the homeowners. Millions are spent each year as more and more families fork over hefty fees to professional landscapers and lawn care services in an effort to maximize the potential of their property. But for some, the simple joy of working outside - and of achieving a beautiful lawn - can be an achievement not worth hiring out. For those ambitious do-it-yourselfers - or for those who find comfort and relaxation in working outside - a few basic lawn care tips will go a long way towards achieving a healthy and beautiful lawn.

One of the best lawn care tips is to go straight to the professionals to learn what will work for your specific lawn. Depending on your climate, your lawn will respond best to a myriad of different factors that must be considered when implementing a successful lawn care plan. Your local home and garden store is likely well-stocked with everything you will need to best care for your lawn. Additionally, the employees who work in these retail outlets are often vastly knowledgeable and can guide you in your purchases.

Other such lawn care tips include frequent and ample watering of your lawn during inevitable dry spells; the periodic aeration of soil to allow grass roots to receive the utmost sunlight and water; weekly mowing in season to ensure proper and continued growth; fertilization and seeding in fall and spring to lay the groundwork for future success; and the tackling of weeks that can strangle the roots of a growing lawn.

Lawn care tips are varied and numerous; do your part by reading as much information as you can about your specific species of grass, talk to professionals and even neighbors who have success with their own lawn maintenance; and visit the Internet where a vast amount of resources reside for lawn care enthusiasts. The time you dedicate to sorting through lawn care tips will pay off in the way of a beautiful lawn that can be enjoyed by all.

Now that the fall season is upon us and you’ve done all the damage control you can from summer’s unfriendly effects, what can you do for your lawn now that will keep it healthy and beautiful?

Lawn maintenance is key for the month of November, the focus should be on sprucing up your lawn and doing any necessary leaf cleanup from October’s leaf shedding.

Lawn Spruce Up

Last minute compost As recommended for September and October, it is a good idea to spread a layer of compost over your lawn. You can patch up and reseed bare spots by adding a layer of compost and spreading the same type of seeds you have in the area. The next steps include covering the layer of compost and seeds with an even spread of straw while watering the area consistently, which will allow the grass enough time to germinate before extremely cold temperatures occur. Just because winter is right around the corner doesn’t mean you can stop watering your lawn. Your lawn still needs some water action before the cold season settles in.

Cutting grass During the fall and winter, lawn experts recommend cutting your grass a little higher than usual in order to maintain a deeper root system, which contributes to a healthier lawn. Before you mow your lawn next time, raise the deck height of your mower to a height of at least two inches for warm season grasses and about three to four inches for cool-season grasses. In the more densely shaded areas of your lawn, you should allow the grass to reach an even taller height.

Avoid walking on new lawns New lawns can be very sensitive, especially if they are not carefully monitored to avoid being trampled and stepped on. New grass blades can be damaged so much that they may not be able to survive. Give your new grass every opportunity to grow by keeping people, especially children, off the lawn. Also, even if the lawn becomes iced over, avoid walking on it.

Leaf Clean-Up

The more trees you have on your lawn, the more fallen leaves you’ll have. It’s important not to dismiss fallen leaves and instead to take quick action to remove them, as they can disturb your turf grass, especially recently seeded lawns. Removing leaves quickly will also decrease the chance of insect and lawn disease problems since leaving leaves on your lawn can cause them to become matted down from rain and moisture, and is more prone to developing insect problems and lawn diseases.

To remove leaves from your lawn, a rake or leaf blower both work well. Be careful not to pull up any tender grass blades while using a rake. A bamboo rake can be useful because it does less damage than a plastic or steel rake. If you want to be extra careful with grass blades, a leaf blower will help, although you may want to make sure any and all new seeds have germinated and won’t be blown away by the leaf blower.

To avoid both the rake and blower, you have another option with the mulching mower, which can shred leaves into tiny pieces that decompose in the lawn while adding organic matter and nutrients back to the soil. Don’t let the name fool you, as the mulching mower does not actually make mulch, but leaves behind compost instead. The mulching mower can be quite beneficial since it leaves compost in the lawn directly as opposed to the trouble of creating a separate compost pile and using that to spread over the lawn.

Lawn Mower Maintenance

I have been in the lawn mowing industry for many years and am writing to share my experience on lawn mower maintenance and purchasing. For my personal/home mower, I do the following things:

1) Change the oil and filter at least on time per season (I always carefully read the owner’s manual and follow the factories recommendations. At the very minimum, I change the oil and filter at least one time per season.)

2) Replace the factory blade with a mulching blade (I have had best results with a product called gator blade. By changing to a mulching blade, I have been able to eliminate the need for bagging grass and improve the look of my yard)

3) replace the spark plug at the beginning of each season (spark plugs generally cost less than two dollars and often make the lawn mower easier to start, especially if the old spark plug is very worn)

4) Check and clean the air filter every 3 cuts (a dirty air filter can damage your engine and make your mower much harder to start. I highly recommend checking and cleaning your air filter on a regular basis)

Lawn Mower Repair

If you are uncomfortable repairing your lawn mower yourself or have a complicated problem with your lawn mower, you should consult a professional who works on lawnmowers on a regular basis. You may find a professional by typing your cities name lawn mower repair into Google (for example, you may type, “Downers Grove Lawn Mower Repair” into Google). Once you generate a list of people in your area who do Lawn Mower Repair, you should research the companies you find a bit to find out whether or not they are trustworthy and sufficiently knowledgeable to do the job. To do this, I often ask for the recommendations of my family, friends, and other people in the lawn mowing industry. Often times, personal recommendations are a great way to find a trustworthy business.

Furthermore, once you find a professional that you want to take your lawn mower to, I strongly recommend getting a clear estimate for the price to complete the work before authorizing them to fix your machine. Often time’s repairs can exceed the value of a lawn mower and it makes more sense, economically, and it makes more sense to dump an old lawn mower than it does to invest a $150 dollars into an old one.

In the case your lawn mower is old and not worth fixing, I strongly recommend investing either in a Honda Self Propelled Lawn Mower or Toro Personal Pace. In my opinion, Honda’s are the best lawn mower for someone that is willing to pay $400-$500 in order to get a great machine that lasts a long time. However, if you have a smaller budget, $250-$400, I strongly recommend the Toro Personal Pace because it is very reliable, well built, and features a very unique self propelled system that makes it very easy to use. The personal pace system actually varies its speed based on how hard you push, the harder you push, the faster it goes. I have owned several Honda’s and several Toro’s and recommend both to my family and friends depending on their budget and unique needs.

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Downers Grove Lawn Service