what is the cheapest safest way to get rid of japanese beetles?

Answer 1

Actually it is pretty easy and extremely effective.
Just spray the area you wish to protect with a solution of water and ONLY ONE of the following drugs:

Endosulfan 35%, 1 litre per acre.

Endosulfan 50%, 0.8 litre per acre

Etoprop 70%, 4 litres per acre

Clorpirifos 48%, 3 litres per acre

Metamidofos 50%, just 50cm3 per acre

Of all of the above I'd suggest you the Endosulfan, it is fairly cheap and safe for benefic insects.
The cheapest of them all is surely Clorpirifos.

In both cases you'd just have to spend a few bucks for your whole yard and have even remaining drug to control future reinfestations.
You can get them for a cheaper price at any grain elevator if you live in a rural area, otherwise, just check for them at a garden shop.
Good Luck and let us know how it went!

Answer 2

pannetone2002 Is 100% superb!! that is strictly what I write each and each and every time someone asks about eastern Beetles. Milky Spore works like not something else by using giving the beetles a virulent disease that spreads to different beetles in line with annum and then they're only undemanding gone. I used it 20+ years in the past and reapplied it about 4 years in the past even as i noticed that they were coming back. I have seen perhaps 5 this year and that i have thousands of plant existence, and those I did see are both useless or close to to it. I were given mine at Lowe's also. playstation I have associates on both facet that do not use it and nonetheless do not have any beetles. pannetone2002 is likewise accurate on sevin... it kills bees and also you want bees for plant existence! that straightforward.

Answer 3

Safest: milky spore disease
Most effective in the long run: milky spore disease.

Cheapest: knock them into a container of some liquid and dispose. Do several times a day,

Answer 4

that's down to the hand pick system, I'm afraid. Stay away from plants that they like such as geraniums, and roses. Above all, do not put one of those beetle traps, they just attract more!

Answer 5

Milky Spore You can get it at a Home Depot or Lowe's. Not cheap but it works.

Answer 6

go to a meijer or target and buy those little white or yellow hanging bags on your lawn they worked for us and they don't cost a fortune, and treat your lawn with a grub treatment.

Answer 7

Start learning Mandarin, damn they hate that. :))

Answer 8

bean dust.

Answer 9

Gardening, Lanscaping and Lawns
50 Articles on Lawns
Green with Envy – What’s the Best Lawn Grass for You

Lawn care is not only hard work, but it can also be very confusing. If you live in a suburban neighborhood, you know how much peer pressure there is to have the perfect lawn, but that there is a lot to keep track of in the process. You have to know when to fertilize, which fertilizer to use for the time of year, and then there is the decision of which grass type you are going to use for your lawn. There are many factors that may determine what type of grass you want to seed in your lawn, but the first will likely be the climate in which you live. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For instance, if you live in the southern United States, where the weather is warm almost year around, you will likely want to plant what is called a warm season grass. Warm season grasses do their active growing roughly between the months of April and October. Warm season grasses, as you may guess, prefer warmer climates. For proper growth of warm season grasses, your area needs soil temperatures to be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Be careful; don’t make the mistake of trying to plant a warm season grass if you live too far north. The grasses are genetically bred to grow in warm climates and will not be able to survive a Midwestern or northern winter. Bermuda grass is an example of warm season grasses.

If, however, you live in the Midwest or northern part of the country, then you will want to think about planting what is called a cool season grass. Cool season grasses do most of their growing in late spring and early fall. Because they are bred for cooler weather, their growth usually slows down considerably during the heat of the summer. The best time to plant your cool season grass is the early fall. If, however, you want to plant at a different time of year, be careful that you do so when soil temperatures are around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which would likely be in the spring. Kentucky bluegrass is cool season grass for example.

A third option, and one that is best for beginners, is to plant a grass seed mixture. The mixture will contain a number of different grass species in it. Planting a mixture will help you to avoid disease in your lawn. Most fungi that attack lawns are specific to certain species of grass. If there are various species growing in the yard, it is hard for fungi or other diseases to spread from one plant to another when there are other species buffering them from one another. Mixed lawns will tend to adjust themselves to differences in the soil makeup or sun exposure in different parts of the lawn. All in all, a mixture is lower maintenance for a lawn care beginner.

Another kind of grass you will want to think about for your lawn is not one you would make your base grass in the lawn, but can be a big part of the overall look of your landscaping. That type of grass, of course, is what is called ornamental grass. Ornamental grasses are becoming an increasingly popular way to improve the look of lawns and landscaping all over the country. While ornamental grasses can be grown from seed, the most popular way of raising it is to buy pots of the grass. Each pot can be divided up to make more grass, and if you are savvy with grass you will be able to grow all of the ornamental grass you could want.

Growing and maintaining a lawn can actually be stressful if you don’t know what you are doing. When it comes to seeding a lawn, the number of species and options in the grass seed aisle of your local garden store can be intimidating. However, if you educate yourself through a little research, you can make good decisions about the grass to plant in your lawn. Talk to a representative at your local nursery or garden store and find out what is best. If you decide to go with a mixture, the same representative can help you select the mixture that will work best for you and require the least maintenance.

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Don’t Get Cut Short! Three Rules for Mowing your Lawn

Mowing your lawn is one of the most basic home owner chores you may have. Believe it or not, though, there are some things you need to keep in mind when it comes to properly mowing your lawn. Mowing is not just about keeping your lawn looking nice, but also about keeping your grass healthy. In order to make sure that you are able to follow the rules, first make certain that your lawn mower is ready. Blades should be kept sharp. Also, riding mowers should have all tires filled equally to insure a level mower, and push mowers should have all wheels set at the same height. Once you have your mower ready, you can effectively mow your lawn. By following three very simple, yet often ignored, rules in mowing your lawn, you can insure that your grass will be healthy and look spectacular.

First of all, whenever possible, you should mulch your grass or have the clippings spread through the grass. Clipped glass is a natural nutrient for your lawn as they decompose naturally. In fact, mulching your lawn properly can equate to as many as three fertilizer treatments in a year. To put it more simply, mulching allows you to spread compost on your lawn without a compost pile. When the clippings are pushed down in between the grass blades, they begin to decompose in the soil. In effect, compost is created right on your lawn, which completely eliminates the need for compost piles. Also, a proper layer of mulch on the lawn will prevent water loss. If you mulch, rather than bagging the clippings, you will find that you need to water less in order to have a nice looking and healthy lawn.

The second rule is to make sure you vary the pattern in which you mow the lawn. In general, homeowners are not ones to take note of mowing pattern. Patterns are seen in the grasses of golf courses, baseball fields, and football facilities. However, the variation in mowing pattern is about more than just fancy design and aesthetics; it actually helps your lawn stay its healthiest. By changing the pattern in which you mow every 2 to 3 weeks, you will keep the wheels of your mower hitting in new locations and allow the blades to hit the grass at varying angles throughout the year. The grass will, then, grow straighter and will not begin to show the ruts and indentations that can come with mowing monotony. Above all, varying the direction of your mowing pattern will allow your grass to grow naturally and with a healthy, groomed appearance that will effectively keep you looking your suburban best.

The third lawn mowing rule is that you should keep your mower in prime condition. First of all, make sure you are mowing at the right height. To keep a healthy lawn, you should mow it so that the blades are at least a 2-3 inches in length. The extra length will help your lawn to look fuller and to feel softer. Also, longer grass requires less water to stay healthy. The blades will keep each other shaded from the sun and from drying out. Also keep your blades sharp. Dull blades on a lawn mower will cause damage to the individual blades. In addition, you will get incomplete cutting so that you will have blades of varying heights sticking up above your cut line. Your lawn will end up looking frazzled and rough.

Proper lawn care is important. A nice lawn adds to the look and even to the value of your home and even your neighborhood. In addition, it gives you and your family a lush and beautiful place to enjoy the outdoors around your very own home. Though creating and maintaining a nice looking lawn can be a little intimidating, it doesn’t have to be difficult. One of the most routine and simple things you will do with your lawn is to mow it. Mowing your lawn properly can play a big part in keeping it healthy and looking its very best if you take the time to follow the three simple rules. Just remember to always mulch, keep your mowing pattern varied every couple of weeks, and maintain your mower for blade sharpness and thickness of cut you will find that your lawn will almost take care of itself.

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Get Mowed Over – How to Know when to Mow

Mowing may seem like a mundane necessity of keeping your property looking groomed and well maintained. However, mowing is not something to take for granted. It is, in fact, one of the most important lawn care practices you can perform. There are many factors that can affect the effectiveness of your mowing, including the height at which you mow your grass and the blade of the mower. However, the frequency and time that you mow can have a huge impact on the health and appearance of your lawn.

The most important information in knowing when to mow is going by the length of the grass, or the frequency you mow. In a perfect world where you can fit your mowing in with little league games, anniversaries, and trips out of town, you would mow your lawn using what many refer to as the one third rule. The one-third rule says that you should never mow off more than one third of the length of the grass blades. To put it another way, if you were to mow your lawn to three inches in length, you would not want to mow it until the blades have reached a length of four and one half inches. Obviously you are not going to wade out into your lawn with a ruler and check out the length of each blade. The idea is that you have a general idea of what you are doing when it comes to how often you cut your grass. Mowing cuts the blades and thus is actually injuring the grass. By not mowing too frequently and keeping the one-third rule in mind, you will be able to minimize the damage you do to the lawn.

What the one-third rule means for you is that your lawn mowing frequency will vary. Your grass, depending on your climate, weather, and type of grass will grow at different rates during different times of year. The other thing to keep in mind with regard to the one-third rule is that you should not wait too long after your grass has reached the one-third cut off length. Because, just as you shouldn’t mow too often and cut the grass when it is too short, you should also avoid cutting the lawn when the grass is too long as well.

The first thing that can happen if you let the lawn grow too high is that you are exposing parts of the grass to the sun that are not equipped to handle it. When your grass grows too long, the tops of the blades prevent the bottoms of the blades from being exposed to the sun. When you suddenly then cut off the tops, you expose those bottom parts and your grass will look rough for a couple of weeks.

The second thing that can happen if you cut the blades when they are too long is that you can end up with problems below the surface. The sudden exposure of the bottom blades to the sun can cause the roots to go into shock. This shock can stunt the growth of your lawn for a few days and really add to the shabby look of it. Also, tall grass getting mowed just simply creates larger clippings and thus a bigger mess.

Once you have the frequency down, you should also consider what time of day you are going to mow. Evening is really the best time to mow your lawn. Remember that mowing the grass damages it and it will need to heal. During the day your grass is already being pounded by the sun, so mowing it will only make that worse. If you mow in the evening, your lawn will have some time to begin healing before it is hit with the sun’s damaging rays the next morning.

Mowing is a very important part of lawn care. If done properly, it can help you develop a lawn that almost takes care of itself in addition to being something you can be proud of. Perhaps the most misunderstood and most important part of mowing is timing. Since mowing is a damaging process, timing is everything. You need to make sure you avoid cutting your lawn too frequently, or even from mowing it when it is too long; adhere to the one-third rule. Also, be sure to mow in the evenings so that the cool night can give it time to heal before it has to deal with the harsh sun again during the day. Keep these timing hints in mind and you will be on your way to a great looking and healthy lawn.

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Grass Issues – To Bag or Not to Bag

One of the most basic and possibly mundane actions you have to perform on your lawn is to mow it. Every Saturday or Sunday you fire up the lawn mower, push it out into the yard, and begin the routine: push down, back, down, empty the bag, and repeat. Do you have to empty the bag, though? Do you have to bag the clippings at all? The topic is one that is debated on cul-de-sacs across America. The truth is that there is a time to bag your clippings and a time not to bag them. You can avoid a lot of the time consuming work of bagging and emptying by educating yourself on the scientific reasoning behind mulching, while still keeping in mind that there are good times to bag your clippings.

You are already thinking that mulching or leaving clippings is bad for your lawn because it contributes to thatch. That is actually not true. Thatch, for the most part, is made up of dead or dying roots, leaves, and other slow-decomposing organic matter, but not grass. Your lawn clippings actually decompose at a fairly rapid rate, and will actually make your lawn more durable.

Clippings contain many of the same nutrients contained in the fertilizers you buy at the local gardening center. For every bag of clippings you haul away from your yard, you are taking with it a quarter pound of organic nitrogen. Now, how much do you pay for organic nitrogen for your lawn? By simply mulching your clippings back into the lawn, you can save significantly on your fertilization costs. Imagine the money you would save if you just fertilized one less time per year.

Leaving your lawn clippings in the grass will also help to create a cushion under your lawn surface that is healthier than the thatch, but is enough to help maintain the lawns durability. The clippings will also help to keep your soil temperatures down and moisture in the soil where your grass can actually make use of it.

There are a lot of benefits to leaving your clippings in your lawn, or mulching them down, but there are actually reasons to bag your clippings from time to time as well. The most notable time is if you let the lawn get away from you. Maybe you had to go out of town and let it go a week longer than you should have, got busy and didn’t get to it, or just were feeling lazy one week. No matter what the reason may be, if you are cutting more than an inch off of your lawn, you are creating fairly large clippings. Large clippings of an inch or more may have trouble getting between the blades in your lawn and down to the soil where they can do any good. In that case, bag the clippings. You can still use them in a compost pile or for fertilizing other plants on your property, though. Just keep in mind that if your lawn has been recently treated with chemicals, that you should wait through two cuttings before using the clippings on any other plants. The other reason to bag your clippings would be if you happen to have dandelions in your yard and they have gone to seed. In a perfect world, you would never have dandelions growing in your yard, but the truth is that not everyone has the time or desire to do what is necessary to keep them out completely. If you were to leave them in after going to seed and mowing them, you will, however, end up with many more dandelions than you had in the first place.

Traditionally, lawn clippings have been bagged and set out with the trash collection each week. However, the trend is certainly moving away from the bagging of lawn clippings. By leaving the clippings in the lawn, scientists have found that the clippings can reduce water evaporation, reduce lawn weary by adding a cushion, and create healthier grass by giving nutrients and maintaining cooler temperatures in the soil through hot summer days. By leaving your clippings in, except for in certain circumstances, you will be able to create a more self-maintaining lawn and save yourself money at the same time.

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Starting from Scratch – How to Prepare the Ground and Plant your Perfect Lawn

Starting a lawn from scratch can be a daunting task. However, if done properly, you can give yourself a lawn that will be much less trouble to care for than one that is not given the time and effort. If you are creating a lawn where a newly built house has been placed, there is a good chance the topsoil has been scraped off so you will likely need to make some adjustments to the soil.

First thing you will have to do on the road to your new lawn is to test the soil. At your local do-it-yourself store you will be able to find a self testing soil kit. However, the local Agricultural Extension Service will be able to do it much more accurately than a do-it-yourself kit can and they generally will test your soil for fewer than ten dollars. The test will let you know the pH of the soil and whether or not it needs phosphorus or potassium.

If it turns out your soil is too acidic, you can correct the problem by adding lime. On the other hand, you can use sulfur if the soil is found to be too alkaline. If you decide to use your Agricultural Extension Service for the testing, they will also be able to tell you what to add, how much to add, and how often to add it in order to grow your lawn. No matter what you need to add or till into the soil, once you have done it you should rake it flat and remove any large stones from the area. You are ready to get going on your new lawn.

You will need to make a decision on what type of seed you are going to use for your new yard. You can ask the Agricultural Extension Service for advice about what grows best in your area, you can ask someone you see with a nice lawn, or talk to someone at a local lawn and garden store. Once you have decided what you are growing, buy some seed, but keep in mind that you generally will not get the best results with cheaper seeds.

Your climate will play a large role in when you plant and what you plant. If you live in a warm southern climate you will likely be planting a warm-season grass seed. These will need to be spread in the spring. If you live in the north or Midwest, you will likely be planting a cool-season grass like fine fescue or Kentucky bluegrass. These should be planted in the fall for best results.

To seed your lawn you can use your hand, a broadcast spreader, or a drop spreader. The broadcast spreader will likely be your best bet if you have a small to medium sized yard. The drop spreader is made more for larger areas. Once you have planted the seeds, you should water the area at least a couple of times a day. By keeping the seed bed moist, you will be making sure that the grass successfully germinates.

If you don’t want to mess with seeding a lawn, there are a couple of other options. You can plant grass plugs. Plugs are small little groups of grass that spread by runners if you plant them in a prepared bed of soil. The other option is to look at is laying sod. Sod is like lawn carpet. It can also be installed any time of year except for the winter. Sod will give you quick results, but still must be put into prepared soil to take correctly.

New houses are popping up all over the country, and people are gobbling them up quickly. When a new home is built, however, the area around it is often torn up during the construction process. Not only is the grass torn up and destroyed, but the top soil may also be missing, and it is an important component in a good lawn. In order to get your lawn going, you should have the soil tested, get the pH where it needs to be, and select the proper grass for your lawn. Once you have prepped the soil and have your seed spread out, you just need to water and care for the area and before you know it you have a gorgeous, thick, and inviting yard with your new house.

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Kentucky Blue Grass – It’s not Just a Type of Music

Kentucky bluegrass, as a species of grass, is native to most of Europe, the northern parts of Asia, as well s the mountainous regions of Morocco and Algeria. The grass, though common now in the cool humid parts of the United States, is not even native to North America. It came to this country along with colonists from Europe, who brought grass seed mixtures. The species took to the climate of New England well, and is now found throughout much of the modern United States.

Kentucky bluegrass is one of the most recognizable grasses in the United States. It grows from about one and one half to two feet in height. It is recognizable because of its boat shaped tips on the blades. The growth of Kentucky bluegrass varies with the time of year and is triggered by the length of the days rather than the temperatures of the days.

If you wish to plant Kentucky bluegrass you must know that it requires approximately two to three pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet of land. Fortunately it can be seeded any time of the year, but will grow best if you plant in the spring or fall. Once planted, you should water your bluegrass at least a couple of times a day for the first two weeks, and maybe even three times depending on the weather. You can cut back on the watering once the seeds start to produce visible sprouts.

Compared to many other grasses, and specifically warm season grasses, Kentucky bluegrass requires a lot of water. To stay healthy it will need as much as two inches of water every week. That should keep the grass green and bright throughout the summer. In order to help the roots to grow deeper and hardier, water no less than an inch on any single day of watering. If your Kentucky bluegrass happens to go dormant during a drought, it will need only about an inch of water every two or three weeks. That will keep the crowns of the grass alive so that when rainfall does come the grass will recover fast.

Kentucky bluegrass requires a fairly large amount of Nitrogen during most every year of its life. The first year, when you plant it, it will likely need five or six pounds of nitrogen to grow properly. After that, you can probably get away with cutting that back by about half. In order to avoid burning and to maintain convenience, you may want to use some sort of slow release nitrogen source. It can be applied more liberally and less frequently, making it an especially attractive option if you are a beginner in lawn care.

Like most pure bred lawn grasses, Kentucky bluegrass is susceptible to pests. The weed problems you may encounter with your bluegrass are dandelions, clover, crabgrass, and annual bluegrass. These can generally be controlled with pre-emerge herbicides. As far as insects, billbugs, sod webworms, and white grubs all enjoy a good Kentucky bluegrass meal. Monitor the insect situations diligently and apply pesticides in a timely manner, with care not to over do it. Bluegrass may also get hit with disease. To prevent this problem, you can seed with a mixture added to your bluegrass or use varying strains of Kentucky bluegrass that have resistance to different diseases. If your soil happens to be alkaline, and you did not have it tested in advance, your Kentucky bluegrass could develop iron chlorosis, which is yellowing between the veins of the grass.

Kentucky bluegrass, because the state is named for it and because it can be found all over the United States, is one of the most well known grasses around. It is also very recognizable by its unique blade and bright color. Native to the middle United States where the weather is cool and humid, the grass is not as difficult to plant and maintain as its reputation would imply. Plant your bluegrass in the correct density to ensure good cover, seed it either in the spring or the fall when the days are the proper length to ensure a good root system, and be sure to get the newly seeded area significant light, frequent water, and proper care and you can have a beautiful bluegrass lawn that you can be proud of.

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Bermuda Baby! Five Reasons to go for Bermuda Grass

If you are going to be seeding a lawn, you will be taking into account the climate in which you live for choosing your grass seed. If you live somewhere that it is really hot and sunny, then you will want to choose a warm season grass. A perfect choice for such climates is Bermuda grass, which is bred for just such climates. There are actually five reasons you should consider planting Bermuda grass.

First of all, starting a lawn or filling in dead spots in a lawn can be a real challenge, especially if you have pets. Bermuda grass is actually a very quick growing breed of grass. In addition, it grows with great vigor and density. When you are trying to start a lawn or fill in bare spots, quick and vigorous growth is exactly what you are after. In fact, if you don’t edge your Bermuda grass properly it will even grow into flower beds and other places you may not want it to grow.

Secondly, Bermuda grass produces a dense turf with fine texture. That makes it perfect for a yard where you are going to have children playing or pets roaming. Bermuda grass has fine texture and gives a soft surface for your family to enjoy. It is a great grass for most any lawn in any hot weather area, especially for family and pets. Because of this, your Bermuda grass lawn will rarely have weed problems. You will likely want to apply a crabgrass prevention formula on your lawn a couple of times a year, but it is rarely a problem with Bermuda.

Third, Bermuda grass is very wear-resistant. The turf produced with Bermuda grass is one that can endure a lot, which makes it fairly low maintenance. It is a popular breed of grass for use on golf courses since it is so durable and resilient. It can also be found being used on soccer, football, and baseball fields as well. It can and should be cut fairly short, which also makes a great grass for keeping in manicured condition.

Fourth, Bermuda is great in heat and drought conditions. During times of low water production or high heat, it is a hardy grass that will survive most of the time. Even to keep it at its best, you need only to give your Bermuda grass lawn around two inches of water per week. That is another reason that it is so commonly used with golf courses and on athletic fields of all kinds. Hot climates are prone to drought and high heat, so Bermuda grass is the perfect choice for you if that is the type of climate in which you live.

Fifth is a culmination of all the other reasons, but that makes it as important as any: Bermuda is low maintenance. It grows quickly, so once you seed it you only have to keep up a daily watering regimen for a short time. Bermuda grows thick and fine turf that makes it hardy and able to withstand a lot of use by children, pets, and the entire family. Also, Bermuda grass can withstand drought conditions very well. On top of it all, is the fact that it will go dormant in winter so that even living in a hot climate you will not have to mow your lawn 12 months a year. Overall, it is a great grass for your lawn, golf course, athletic field, or really anywhere you want covered by lawn grass in a warm environment.

You should be aware that there are a couple of miner drawbacks to having Bermuda grass in your lawn, though they are far outweighed by the positives. As mentioned before, it can grow into your garden or flower bed if you do not edge it well. Also, it should be mowed fairly often to be kept at around one half inch in length. It also needs full sun, so if you have a shady yard, it is not for you. Lastly, you will have to remove thatch regularly when dealing with Bermuda grass.

Growing and caring for a yard can be a real prideful thing. If you live in a warm climate and want a lawn with a hardy tough reputation, Bermuda grass is going to be your best bet. Take a page from the golf course and baseball field management teams and plant Bermuda grass in your hot sunny climate.

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Getting Hole Punched – Why Aerating your Lawn is Beneficial

Caring for a lawn can be complicated. You spend a lot of time figuring out mowing schedules, fertilizers to use, and when to edge. You probably worry about insects, disease, and even your own competence in care. One thing that you should look at in terms of lawn care that can be a solution to many of your problems is lawn aeration. Aerating your lawn is a very beneficial procedure that can end up saving you a lot of stress down the road.

Lawn aeration is the process of reducing soil compaction by essentially punching holes in the soil either with special shoes, a hand tool, or coring machine. The procedure can be done by buying or renting spiked shoes that are made for loosening the soil as you walk around. The other way of doing it is by renting a mechanical core aerator, which will mechanically remove plugs of soil and thatch from your yard. Either way, it is an important procedure to perform in the maintenance of a healthy and beautiful yard.

Often times, you may even be overlooking the problems that compacted soil may be causing in your yard and blaming them on other things. Many homeowners will blame insects, bad watering processes, disease, or even fungus is often blamed for a yard’s decline. In reality the real problem may be compacted soil. Compaction begins when approximately the top four inches of the soil and thatch become compressed. This compression can impede air movement, water movement, and nutrient access to the roots of the plants. The whole thing can be very stressful on the grass. It can become less able to compete with weeds and may not recover from injury or shock as quickly.

Aerating your lawn will take care of a lot of your problems. Aeration will loosen the compacted soil and thatch so that water and nutrients are more available to the plants. The process of aerating will also increase oxygen in the soil, which can stimulate the roots as well as the activities of the thatch-decomposing creatures that help keep your lawn healthy. Aeration helps reduce water runoff so that your watering is more efficient. Overall it will improve your lawn’s health and increase its tolerance to drought.

So you know that it is important to aerate your lawn, but when should you do it? You will aerate your lawn either in the fall or the spring, depending on what kind of grass you are growing in the lawn. If you have a cool season grass, you should aerate in the fall, when the danger of heat damage is low. For a warm season grass, you should aerate in the spring and summer during active growth times. For either kind, no matter when you aerate, you should do so on a day with mild temperatures and moist soil.

Aeration then should happen as often as necessary. The best way to tell if your lawn needs aeration is through a screwdriver test. Take a screwdriver out to your lawn and try to push it into the soil. If it is hard to push it in, then you probably need to aerate. If it goes in with just a little bit of resistance, then you do not need to aerate. You should only perform the screwdriver test when the soil is mildly moist.

You can also combine the aeration and seeding of your lawn. Once you have aerated the lawn, allow about a month before you seed, though. The ground and grass will need time to heal before introducing seed to the situation. By combining the aeration and seeding of your lawn, though, you will be able to create a beautiful and full looking lawn.

With all the chores that are involved with lawn care, it can be easy to get confused. You may be watering more often than you need to, spreading more pesticide than you need to, or changing your fertilizer when it is unnecessary. The real answer may just be that you need to aerate. By aerating you will loosen up compacted soil and then solve a lot of the problems you may have had before. Aerate your lawn as often as needed to keep it healthy and low-maintenance.

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Tips for Aerating your Lawn to Health

Aerating your lawn is an important part of keeping it healthy and lush. Many times, some of the problems you may blame on insects, fungus, under watering, or fertilizer problems are, in fact, actually due to the fact that you are not aerating correctly or as frequently as you should.

Aerating your lawn will help to prevent soil compaction, which happens when the top four inches of soil compact and prevent nutrients, oxygen, and water from circulating around the grass properly. Aerating loosens the soil by removing cores of it and allowing room for the nutrients and air to circulate in the soil properly. The problem in home lawns is usually more prevalent in high traffic areas where people and pets might help the soil to compact more quickly than in other less disturbed parts of the lawn.

There is a simple test you can perform to figure out if you lawn is in need of aeration. Take a screwdriver out to your lawn when the soil is moderately moist. Attempt to probe the screwdriver into the soil. If it is very difficult to do, then you likely need to aerate right away. On the other hand, if there is just a little resistance, then there is no compaction problem and you do not need to aerate.

Getting your home lawn aerated, though not always a common practice, is not very expensive. In fact, the simplest and cheapest way to do it is to use a spading fork. Push the tines into the soil as far as you can then rock them back and forth. This is not the best way to aerate, but for lack of another way the tines will create space for the circulation and will loosen the soil. Because of the work involved, it is really only a method that works for small areas of lawn.

Another small lawn solution for aeration is to spend a few dollars and purchase a sod-coring tool. The sod-coring tool actually removes cores of soil and deposits them on the lawn. The plugs that are left behind are as helpful to your lawn as the holes themselves. The plugs bring microorganisms up from below that can help decompose the thatch that may have developed in your grass.

What, though, if you have a larger yard? In the case of a large yard, the two manual methods would be just too labor intensive. The answer is a power-driven core aerator. You can rent one at your local home or garden store. The machine takes hollow tubes and drives them into the lawn. Cores of soil are removed and left over the lawn. Some will, instead, have spoon shaped tines that perform the same task essentially. Leave the plugs on the lawn, but you can rake them in if you don’t like the way they look laying on the grass.

No matter which method you use for aeration, there is a technique to it. First, go over the entire lawn in one direction, like if you were mowing. Then, go over another direction, perpendicular to what you had just done. Using this method to go over the entire lawn twice will give you the best results when aerating.

If you have a bare area in your yard or a part where the grass is just sparse, then you may want to combine seeding and aerating to get the good lawn results you want. If you choose to combine aerating with seeding, then you should go over the lawn six or ten times. There should be a lot of holes in the area you are seeding. Then, give the holes about a month so they can begin to heal so that you don’t get speckled looking grass. Then, simply put out your seed, keep it watered, and you are on your way to a healthy and new looking lawn.

Aeration is an important, and often overlooked, part of lawn care. Golf courses and sports field maintenance teams do it all the time, but for some reason it gets neglected by homeowners. The process of aerating your lawn is not expensive, but can help you to a healthy lawn and help you avoid many problems you likely blamed on other things in the past.

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Bugged Out! How to Diagnose what’s Eating y our Lawn

Insects can cause a lot of problems in a lawn. They can eat the grass blades, attack the roots, or just be a nuisance. The best way to get rid of an insect problem in your lawn is to call a professional, but if you want to do the work yourself, you should make sure you can identify some of the more common lawn insects.

First on the list is the immortal aphid. Aphids feed on all types of vegetation and come in a few varieties. If you get white pine aphids in your yard, they may not cause damage to your grass, but they can get into any decorative trees you may have and wreak havoc. There are many species, so if you think you do have an aphid problem, the best thing to do is consult a professional.

If you live in the southern part of the United States then you are likely familiar with a major turf pest: the armyworm. An armyworm is a moth in its larval form. They feed directly on turf grasses and will chew them all the way down to the ground. They most often appear in the fall as they feed to store up for the winter. Armyworms can cause a great deal of damage to a lawn if left untreated.

Another tough pest is the billbug. There are a number of different species of billbugs that attack different types of turf grass. The adults grow to about ¾ of an inch in length and can be identified by a long snout. These beetles will burrow in the grass stems right up by the surface of the soil. They also will feed directly on the grass leaves.

Another lawn pest is the chigger. Chiggers don’t really do damage to the lawn itself, but if you plan to enjoy your lawn with your family, you don’t want a chigger problem. Chiggers are a type of mite that will attach themselves to your skin. Once they are attached they release a point that causes severe itching and stinging so that they may get access to blood. They are very tiny, so often only their effects are seen rather than the mites themselves.

Another moth larva that can cause a real problem is the cutworm. Cutworms are a spotted gray or black caterpillar that is about 2 inches in length. They will hide in the soil of your lawn during the day, and then they will come out at night to feed on your grass. They can do severe damage to Bermuda grasses, bent grasses and rye grasses which are their preferred food.

Another very destructive larva is that of several beetles, including the Japanese beetle. That, of course, there is the grub. Grubs live below the surface of the lawn and feast on the roots of grass plants. This eventually destroys the plant. Generally grubs do most of their damage during the late summer months. The resulting damage, though, may not be apparent to the eye until fall rolls around and it is too late. If you are susceptible to grub problems, you should try to get your lawn treated in the early summer when the grubs are most susceptible to treatments and pesticides.

Leafhoppers are a tiny, but damaging, little pest. They are wedge shaped hopping and flying insects that are generally green in color. There are many species of leaf hopper, but most all of them love to feast on lawns. They climb onto the blades of the grass and suck the sap from the stems and leaves. The damage they cause can sometimes be so severe that lawns have to be reseeded. If you see white patches showing up in your yard, you may have a leaf hopper problem and should get it treated as soon as possible.

Insects, worms, and bugs can cause a lot of problems for an otherwise healthy lawn. There are countless types of these pests and many species within each type, but no matter which pest it is, quick identification and treatment is important. It is recommended that you consult a professional before treating your lawn, but by identifying the problem early you may be able to get a jump on it before things get too serious.

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Gone to Seed – Five Ways to a Perfect Lawn

Knowing how to take care of your lawn will help you to have a better looking yard in the spring and summer seasons. It will provide greener grass, as well as healthier looking grass. There are several tips and ways in which taking care of your lawn will help to improve the looks of your yard. By following a few simple rules, you can have a better and healthier looking yard.

1. Watering your lawn. It is important to know how much you need to water your lawn. This will always depend on the region that you are in. If you receive a lot of rainfall, it won’t be necessary to water your lawn as much. If you live in a dry area, it may be easier and more effective to put an irrigation system in your yard to help keep the lawn moist. If you water your lawn too much, it may cause the grass to wilt, and by watering it too little, it may cause brown spots throughout the yard. It is easy to tell when your lawn needs more moisture, simply by seeing how much moisture is in the dirt. Another part to keep in mind with watering is to always water early in the morning or late at night. This will help the water to stay in the ground, instead of evaporating.

2. Remove lawn thatch from the lawn. If your grass is kept short, having thatch on the lawn will cause the water and nutrients that you are supplying to be soaked up by the thatch, instead of the lawn. It may also cause an extra problem with insects getting into the lawn. By raking the thatch away from your yard regularly, you can prevent problems with thatch taking the place of your yard.

3. Lawn Aeration. One of the overlooked parts of taking care of a lawn is the aeration that is needed for the grass to breathe. The first way to allow your lawn to breathe is to take away the lawn thatch. The second technique that can be used to allow the nutrients to get into your lawn, and allow the lawn to breathe, is through poking holes in the soil, either in early spring or in late fall. If the area of the lawn is walked on consistently, the lawn may need to have this done more often as the grass can be smashed down, making it harder for air to help supply nutrients.

4. Lawn Fertilizer. It is best to fertilize your lawn periodically. The best type of fertilizer to use is the ones that are found to be slow-releasing, meaning that the nutrients do not all spread over the lawn at once, but rather, are moving into the lawn over a longer period of time. This will not only help your lawn to stay green, but will also help with weed control for a longer period of time. There are several different types of fertilizers, all which are better when used at a certain season in order to ensure that your lawns remain healthy throughout the entire year.

5. Mowing the lawn. One suggestion for having a better lawn is mowing with a mulching mower. This will allow you to not have to mow as much, but will also allow you to not have to rake or bag grass clippings, which allows extra fertilizer to the ground. The next thing to keep in mind is when and how often to mow your lawn. Most say that it is best to mow your lawn when it is about 3 inches tall, and not to cut it to be less than 2 inches tall. This allows the nutrients to be used to their fullest in the lawn. It is also best to mow early in the morning or in the evening, as it is less stressful for the lawn. It is also best to mow in different directions every time that you cut your grass. This will prevent ruts from forming in your lawn.

By taking care of the lawn through providing the right balance of nutrients, as well as knowing when to take care of the lawn through these techniques, you can be ensured a greener, healthier looking lawn.

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Top Five Watering Basics for a Perfect Lawn

One of the most important things that will be needed for a green looking lawn that stays healthy is through watering it properly. If you don’t water it right, it can cause either wilting of the grass, or it will cause brown patches to be in different areas of your yard. Here are five watering techniques to be used when watering your lawn in order to make it look healthier.

1. Know how much water to give your grass. It is important to know the climate that you live in, as well as what type of soil that you have and the nutrients which you need to give your grass. By determining all of these different things, you will know how much water you need to supply with your grass. Each region is different, and can be measured easiest by keeping these things in mind.

2. Knowing how long to water your lawn. Many will stop watering their lawns after the spring and summer seasons are over. However, even if you are thinking that it is going to snow a lot, beginning in the late fall, it is best to continue watering your lawn. Because of the colder temperatures that are arising, the shift in climate moves into that of a desert, meaning that the lawn is in need of more supply of water, rather than less. By the time the cold takes over, it will ice the water and freeze the ground, making it so that the grass doesn’t receive the same nutrients that are needed.

3. Irrigation Systems. There are several different ways to water your lawn which will make it easier for both you and the grass. Automatic irrigation systems are one way to water your grass. They can help to save money as well as save on water supply. If you have an even surface, the best type of system to put in is a spray lawn sprinkler. This gives a lot of water to the lawn in a shorter amount of time, which will then be soaked up by the soil quickly. If your lawn is on a slope, it is best to have a rotor lawn system. This applies water at a slower rate, but can water larger areas that are uneven. By knowing what type of water system you need, an irrigation system can help in saving on maintenance time, as well as saving on water supply.

4. Know the soil type. This will help to determine how much water your grass will need. There are basically three different types of soils. The first is clay, which will not need as much water. The second is loamy soils, which is an average type of soil. The third type of soil is sandy, which requires more water. The difference between these three is the size of the soil. The larger soils can soak more water and keep it in the yard. You can tell the size and type of your soil by the qualities and the size of the soil. For example, clay soil will be stickier and can be rolled into balls without falling apart. Loamy soil can not role in a ball, but will stick when you apply pressure to it. Sandy soil will fall apart without you being able to control the form that it takes.

5. Watering your lawn at the right time. If you water your lawn in the middle of the day, you are likely to have to water your lawn more, without the lawn carrying the nutrients for long periods of time. This is especially important when the weather is hotter, as the sun will take the water and cause it to evaporate, instead of allowing the water to soak into the soil. It is said that the best time to water is either in the morning or evening. This will not only help with preventing extra care to the lawn, but will also preserve water.

The most important thing to keep in mind when determining the factors in watering your lawn will be how to save on water while supplying the right amount of nutrients to the lawn. By doing so, your lawn will stay greener throughout the years.

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Stay Sharp – Proper Mower Maintenance for a Lush Lawn

When cutting your lawn, there are some different steps that can be taken with your lawnmower in order to allow the proper maintenance and care. This will help your lawnmower to stay new for a longer time. It will also help your grass to look better, as the cut from the mower will be more even and won’t rip.

The first thing to consider with the proper lawn mower for your lawn is what type of mower will be best for your grass. This can be determined by whether your lawn is on a slope or flat ground, what type of machine would have the easiest type of maintenance, and what type of environment you are in.

If you have to cut grass on a slope, the best type of lawn mower is one with high wheels. This will make it easier to push up a hill, or to move back down the hill with. The second type of lawn mower that is available is a cordless or electric mulching lawn mower. This doesn’t have gas, making it less messy to mow with. It also helps with mulching on your lawn. The third type of lawn mower that can be used is a reel lawn mower. These are said to be more environmental friendly, not contributing to pollution and are easier to mow with.

Beyond deciding which is the right type of lawn mower to use, is the maintenance which it receives. This will not only allow the mower to last longer, but will also give your grass a better cut. Every spring, the different parts of the lawnmower should be cleaned or repaired. The main thing that should be looked at is the wear and tear that is in the spark plugs. This also includes the nuts and bolts that are holding the mower together. They should be tight when they are fastened to the lawnmower. Besides checking or replacing this in the spring, you should check to make sure they don’t become loose throughout the duration of the season.

One part which should be cleaned at least twice throughout the season is the deck of the lawn mower. This helps the lawn mower to remain consistent while cutting and will help it to last longer. It will also help in preventing the spread of diseases in grass. In order to clean the deck of the lawnmower, you should first empty the gas tank and make sure that the spark plug is not connected. You can then stand the mower up on its side and spray the mower with water. You can then scrub off the rest of the dirt and grass that is stuck on the mower. Make sure to dry the mower after you have finished rinsing it off, to make sure that none of the parts rust.

Two other parts of the mower which should be maintained are the oil and the air filters. The air filters should be cleaned or replaced on a regular basis. Before removing the filter to replace, make sure that you know whether it is paper or foam. The oil that is maintained includes lubricating your mower by putting some oil into the fuel. This is only for two-cycle engine lawn mowers. The four-cycle engine lawn mower should always have oil filled before you mow.

One important part of maintenance, which will help your mower to last longer and will help your grass look better, is sharpening the blades every one to two months. This will allow a clean cut of the grass, rather than rips that may happen in the lawn. You can easily do this by removing the blade from the mower and sharpening it with a file.

When it is no longer necessary to mow your lawn, there are certain things that you can do for your lawnmower to make a better hibernating season. The first is to remove the gas from the gas tank. You should also remove the oil from the mower. If these are left in the mower over the winter, they get to old and get a bad texture to them.

With consistent and proper care of your lawnmower, you will be able to keep your lawn looking great through the seasons and years.

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Testing 1-2-3: How Soil Testing Can Lead to a Perfect Lawn

When you are getting ready to maintain your lawn, it is best to test the soil in order to see what you will have to do in order to keep it looking healthy. Soil testing will determine not only how much you need to water your lawn, but also will give you an idea of what nutrients are in your lawn. If there are not enough nutrients, or if they are absorbed in the wrong way through the soil, then your lawn can easily not look as healthy as it was meant to be.

When you test your soil in your lawn, you will be able to measure how much of each type of nutrient your lawn will need to receive. There are several ways to test your soil, as well as different conclusions that can be reached by measuring the soil in your lawn.

The first way to test your soil is through finding the pH balance of your soil. There are several test kits that are available for your use to determine the level of pH that your soil is at. If you are uncertain about using one of these kits, there are universities and companies which offer pH balance testing for your soil. By knowing the pH, you can determine how many nutrients will be needed in order to balance out the soil. If the pH is off, it will be harder for the right nutrients to be given to your grass. By balancing out the nutrients through the pH, it will help with the growth of your lawn.

The second thing to consider with your soil is what type of soil you have. There are generally four different categories that are included in the types of soils that are present. The first kind is sand. This is usually light and airy. If your lawn has sandy soil, it will be harder to maintain for several reasons. It is unable to carry a large amount of water or nutrients in it because it is a grainy type of soil that is smaller in size. If you have sandy soil, it is best to either replace it with a lot of nutrients, or water frequently.

The second type of soil is silt. This type of dirt is usually found around river beds. Like sand, it can not retain much water and erodes easily. The problem with silt is that it will not retain water or nutrients when you water. Instead, it will wash away. The third type of soil is clay. This is opposite of sandy soil, as it is heavy in texture. While it absorbs water and nutrients easier, because of its thick texture, it is often hard for this to reach the lawn. The fourth type of soil is loam. This is noted to be a balanced type of soil, with a good amount of nutrients, but it won’t cause drainage or hold things away from the plants.

You can test the soil you have by digging into your yard and picking up a handful of dirt. If the dirt clumps together, it is more like the clay. If it falls easily out of your hand it is closer to the sandy or silt type of soil. The loam soil will be found if it stays in your hand, but does not clump together when you test it.

Once you know which type of soil you have, you can determine what types of nutrients or fertilizer you need to add in order to grow a great looking lawn. If the nutrients are unbalanced in your yard, you might have problems with brown spots or wilting.

Soil testing will also help in determining how often you need to water your lawn. If the soil is closer to a clay type, then it won’t be necessary to water your lawn as much. If it is closer to a sandy or silt type of soil, then it is important to water it consistently, as the water won’t be absorbed as easily.

By testing your soil for both the pH balance, as well as for type of soil, you will be able to know how to maintain your lawn with little to no extra work. It will also help your lawn to look healthy throughout the spring, summer and fall seasons.

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Five Lawn Problems from Weak Watering Practices

Watering your lawn is one of the most important ways to make sure that the grass is receiving nutrients and staying healthy throughout the year. Bad watering practices can cause problems to occur with the lawn that you are trying to get to remain healthy. There are certain ways not to water in order to prevent some of the problems with your lawn. By paying attention to watering practices and staying consistent throughout the season, your lawn will look healthier and greener from the nutrients you are giving it through the water.

1. Drained food reserves from dormant grass. This may occur because of inconsistent watering. It is important to decide if you are going to water throughout the entire season, or allow your lawn to stay dormant through the spring and summer. If your grass is dormant and brown, then you decide to water it for a while, then allow it to go back to the brown dormant mode, it will drain the food reserves that are in the plant, causing the grass to die instead of just to be in a dormant or hibernation mode.

2. Smaller roots and a color that does not stay green. This is a result of not knowing when to water lawns. At the beginning of the season, you shouldn’t water your lawn right away, but allow a few days for the grass to get use to the warmer weather. The grass will actually go through a period of drought stress. However, the reaction to this by the grass is that it allows for the grass to increase rooting. The grass will also turn greener in color as a result. If you water right away, the grass will be over-watered, which will cause problems for the rest of the season with nutrients and color of the grass.

3. Soil washing away, causing the grass to turn brown because of a lack of nutrients. This is a result of watering your lawn too much. If you water too much, it will cause the soil to wash away the nutrients that the lawn needs. When you water, it’s important to water for a longer period of time, but not every day. This allows the water to be soaked into the soil, and be given to the grass over a longer period of time. Through this, the grass will be able to soak in more nutrients that are in the soil as well as in the water.

4. Browning and dehydration. This is a result of watering in the middle of the day. This will cause the grass to not receive the right nutrients and can cause browning and dehydration. By watering in the middle of the day, the water is absorbed and evaporated by the sun instead of the soil, not allowing the grass to get the nutrients that it needs through the water. It then dries out the soil, causing the grass to not have the proper amount of nutrients available.

5. Brown spots and over-watered grass. This can easily occur if there is inconsistency in watering the entire lawn. It’s important to make sure that the lawn all receives the same amount of water. If some places receive too much water, and others don’t receive enough, it will cause the grass to wilt and die. If you are on a slope, then it is important to watch for runoff that may occur when watering your plants. If you think this may be happening, go to the lower places on the slope and make sure that the water has soaked in, or water it again to make sure it is ok. If your lawn doesn’t all receive an even amount of water, some places will be over-hydrated, while other places will not be receiving the right amount of nutrients that is needed.

Bad watering techniques may cause your grass to not grow roots properly, to wilt, to brown when it is not needed, and not receive the proper nutrients. By not watering right, your lawn will not be able to grow right. It’s important to make sure you have a system that will benefit the lawn throughout the season by knowing what your grass will need in relation to better watering practices.

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Faking it for the Perfect Lawn – Consider Astroturf

If you think that taking care of your lawn will require too much maintenance and care, but still want your yard to have a green lawn look to it, there are options which you can consider in order to have the best of both worlds. Some consider landscaping, however, this makes it difficult to use the grass as a play ground if you have children or animals. Because of this, Astroturf, also known as synthetic grass, is becoming a popular way to have grass without having to maintain it.

Astroturf first became popular in the late 1960s in order to provide carpets in schools as well as urban playing surfaces that could be used. It came as a result of observing that children who lived in cities and urban areas were not receiving as much exercise as those living in rural areas.

Today, there are several places that sell synthetic turfs for not only playing surfaces, but also for the use of lawns. The difference between Astroturf’s and regular grass is that the synthetic grass is often a lot harder than a regular grass would be. It has also been known that it is easy to get stuck in some of the fibers of Astroturf, causing one to fall or trip easier. Several different companies continue to test the synthetic grass for things such as foot traction, weather problems, and wear resistance.

Most Astroturfs are made out of a synthetic fiber that is knitted, tufted from nylon, or made of polypropylene fibers. There are now new kinds of Astroturf’s, which are often referred to SmartGrass. These are closer to the idea of natural grass in the fibers. They are usually softer and smoother and have a taller length between blades.

Astroturfs are used in indoor fields in sports, as well as in several different baseball and football stadiums in order to ensure better looking fields. Many of the Astroturf’s that are used in this stadium have rubber as the base of the grass, with the different kinds of fibers placed into them. This allows an easier moving ground with the synthetic grass. The other disadvantage is that if the sun hits the Astroturf, it will often times become hot, making it hard to move on. The Astroturf also stays green all year around, making it obvious that the grass is not real. If you have a lawn in part for neighbors, then it might be better to get real sod in place of a synthetic one. Most say that it is fairly easy to tell that the grass isn’t real, not only because it stays green all year around, but also because the look of the grass is not equal to that of real grass.

There are several advantages, however, to having a synthetic lawn. First, there is no need for a large amount of maintenance of a lawn. The only need is to lay it out in your yard and leave it for the season, as well as keep it clean. The second advantage is that there is no contact with dirt or diseases that may be in the outside areas. This helps to prevent grass stains and dirt from coming into your home. A third advantage is that it saves on water and money in other areas. Some say that it saves up to $200 a month in maintenance costs. Most say that the grass will last from twelve to twenty years.

The only maintenance that has to take place with an Astroturf is raking leaves and debris off of the synthetic lawn. Occasionally, it is best to wash off the dirt and dust that stays stuck on the grass. The grass is usually installed by the company that you order from, who charge by the amount of feet which they have to install.

If you are looking for a way to have a yard that is available for enjoyment through grass, but don’t want to take the time to maintain it, then Astroturf or other types of synthetic grass may be an easy way to have a lawn that doesn’t need the time and money spent for proper care. By using an Astroturf, you can enjoy a yard without having to take care of it as much as you would a regular yard.

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Banish that Brown – Five Fertilizing Tips for a Perfect Lawn

If you want to have a healthy, green lawn, then it is best to provide it with the right nutrients in order for it to thrive. There are several ways in which you can help your grass to remain green throughout the season. By fertilizing the soil and balancing out the pH in your lawn, it will result in better grass. Her are five ways in which you can make your fertilizer work for your lawn.

1. Use fertilizer that is a slow-releasing product. There are several different types of fertilizers that can be applied to your yard, all which have different qualities in them. If you decide to fertilize your lawn, then the best thing to use in the spring is a slow-releasing product. This means that the fertilizer will continue to give nutrients to the ground throughout the season. By doing this, you will only have to fertilize your lawn once or twice throughout the season. It will also eliminate weeds from your yard, as they will be replaced by the fertilizer that is in the ground and consistently working on the nutrients in your yard.

2. Schedule when to put fertilizer in. Depending on the region in which you live, the climate you have, and the type of soil which you are dealing with, your lawn will need to have fertilizer put in at different times of the year. Some of the fertilizer provides the best nutrients in the spring, where the nutrients can be soaked into the soil for the season. Other types of fertilizer is best put in before the winter season as it will provide nutrients to the grass throughout the ice season when your grass is getting ready to hibernate for the winter. If you schedule out the right times for your lawn fertilizing maintenance, it will allow for better growth throughout the season.

3. Using weed control fertilizers. There are several different types of fertilizers that can be put in the ground for the main purpose of eliminating weeds from your yard. By doing this, you will have to do less maintenance on your lawn when weeds start to show up on your grass. It will also prevent weeds from slowly appearing throughout your yard and taking the nutrients that are intended for the grass. By applying weed control at the same time as regular fertilizer, it will help provide more nutrients for your grass.

4. Spread the fertilizer evenly. There are spreaders available in order to spread the fertilizer evenly throughout your entire yard. If this is not done, it will cause grass burn in some places from too much fertilizer being placed, and not enough fertilizer in other places will cause more weed growth, and less nutrients to be able to go to the grass, causing brown patches. This is especially important if your yard is sloped, as the unevenness can cause problems in how much fertilizer is put in each area.

5. Know how much fertilizer to apply. It’s important to know the pH of your soil, as well as the type of soil that you have. You can measure the type of soil by seeing the thickness which it has. The soil can be anything from sandy, to silt, loam, or clay. By knowing the texture and thickness of your soil, you will be able to tell exactly what kind of fertilizer you should apply and how much of it you will need in order to change the balance of your soil and allow for more growth and greener grass from your lawn. By measuring out how much fertilizer you need, it will help to prevent a lack of nutrients or too much fertilizer throughout your yard, which can cause problems.

By knowing what type of yard you have, as well as knowing how much fertilizer to apply and when the best time to apply it is, you will be able to have greener grass and a better, healthier lawn throughout the year. If you choose not to fertilize your yard, it can cause several problems, such as brown patches, a lack in nutrients, weeds, and problems with water being absorbed into the ground. Fertilizer is known to help the yard to look greener and have better nutrients year round.

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Weed Out the Competition – Top Three Weed Problems of your Lawn

Weeds can be a consistent problem when you are trying to have a nice looking lawn, which receives the right amount of nutrients and continues to grow. Weeds can become overbearing in your yard, and if the proper maintenance isn’t given, they can completely take over your lawn. Because of this, it is important to know what the problems with weeds are. By identifying the major problems that your lawn may be having with weeds, it will be easier to eliminate the weeds and allow your lawn to grow better while receiving the proper care.

1. Broadleaf weeds. These are the number one type of weed that is found in lawns. They can easily take over the entire yard by taking the good soil and water from your plants. Some of these will appear every single year, with new roots forming in the same place, even after you pull them out. The seeds spread quickly as well. These are found in almost every single lawn and are constantly taking the nutrients and water from the grass that is growing around it. If these aren’t handled, they can easily kill off all of the grass and take over your lawn. However, there are several other types of weeds which will try to take over your lawn. It is always best to identify what these are.

2. Growing and spreading of weeds. One of the most common problems with weeds is that they reproduce easily. Once one weed finds a home in your lawn, several others will begin to spring up around it. Because of this, it becomes hard to get a handle on the weeds once they start growing. Even after you have pulled the weeds out, there may still be several seeds or roots that are in the yard, which will cause the weeds to take the nutrients from the lawn and use them for their own growth.

3. Hidden Weeds. Sometimes, it is hard to see the weeds that are in your lawn. They may get mowed over, or may just be a small type of weed to begin with. Several weeds will thrive without you ever noticing that they are there. This will help them to grow and spread throughout the lawn, causing major problems later on. Because of this, it is important to take some time to find the hidden weeds that are growing in your grass. These kinds will always continue to grow and eliminate the nutrients that the grass needs in order to survive.

Because of the problems that weeds bring with them, there are several ways to get rid of the weeds. The first thing to do is to identify which type of weed it is. There are some types of weeds that are best eliminated at a certain type of year. By doing this, you will be determining that they will never come back again. The second thing to do is to find the right type of weed eliminator for your yard. Some will use a fertilizer or spray in order to get the weeds out. Others will spend time pulling the weeds out from their yard. If you decide to do this, it is important to get all of the roots out with the weed, in order to make sure that you are getting rid of the entire problem.

If weeds do take over your yard, it is because they are soaking up the nutrients and water that the grass needs. By doing this, the grass will not be as green as it should be; it will begin to turn brown, and eventually will die completely, while the weeds begin to get healthier. Because of this, it is important to find weeds before they get too big and start to soak up all of the nutrients that are supposed to be going to your lawn.

Weeds can become problematic for lawns. They can easily take over an entire yard by taking nutrients, spreading easily, and returning year after year. Certain types of weeds are especially attracted to lawns and need to be watched for. Because of this, the proper maintenance, as well as identifying the type of weed that is taking over your yard will help in eliminating weeds completely.

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Wise to winter – Winterizing your Lawn

Taking care of your lawn throughout all of the seasons is especially important. Because of this, preparing your lawn for the winter season, or winterizing your lawn is one of the parts of maintenance to be performed. Your lawn does not die in the winter time, but rather, becomes dormant for one season because of the cold. If it gets colder in your area at this time, and if it is likely that snow will cover your lawn, then it is important to winterize your lawn to prevent problems which may occur the next spring.

Before preparing everything for the winter, make sure that your lawn is healthy. It is important to not stop mowing the lawn too soon or to stop watering the grass before the season is over. By doing this, the lawn will not be able to take in the last of the nutrients before the ground freezes.

When the right time comes, the first thing which should be done is to rake all of the leaves and debris that is on your lawn. By doing this, you will be allowing the nutrients and sunlight to continue to move into your lawn through the winter season. Bad soils that are in your lawn at the time will also be removed, causing only the healthy soil to remain in place and balancing out the pH contents. Raking also helps cause better aeration to occur throughout your lawn, which will help your grass to become greener when spring time comes back around. You will also prevent diseases from occurring from molds that may form as a result of the ice and snow moving into the soil and molding. The wet from the snow will often find debris or leaves to hold onto in order to mold.

The fall season is also a good time to apply weed control to your lawn. This will cause the weeds that were growing in your lawn before to not be able to come back the next year. This is especially good for the broadleaf weeds that were trying to grow in your lawn for the season. Eliminating weeds at all times will help prevent further weeds from growing. Unlike grass, weeds continue to grow throughout the year, making it harder to eliminate them when the spring comes.

The third thing that should be done in order to prepare for the winter seasons is adding compost or fertilizer that will help your lawn throughout the winter seasons. Because grass becomes dormant, instead of dying, it is important to make sure that there are extra fertilizers that can be stored throughout the winter. This will help especially if there is ice or snow that will cover the ground, as the grass will have extra stored resources to help move through the winter season. This also helps the grass recover from the heat of the sun from the summer and will prepare them for the same thing next year.

It is always important to check on the soil and the amount of pH balance that is contained at that time. Because of the shift in nutrients and soil during the summer seasons, the pH balance can easily change. You may need to reduce the acidity or re-balance it through the use of different fertilizers. By doing this before the winter season, it will give the fertilizer time to soak into the soil; making it more balanced by the time the spring season arrives for a re-growth in your lawn.

Another thing to do in winterizing different parts of lawn care is to make sure that your lawn mower is ready to be stored away. In order to keep the mower running like new, it is important to make sure it is taken care of during the winter season as well. It’s important to remove all of the gas and oil that is left in the mower. If you don’t do this, the oil and gas will become old and will not be useful in the spring. It may become too thick to be able to allow the lawn mower to run.

By preparing your lawn and lawn care maintenance tools for winter, it will make it easier to take care of in the spring. It will also help your lawn to stay healthy, even though it is a dormant season of the year. Winterizing your lawn is a way to allow a better and healthier lawn to come back at the beginning of the next year.

***** How Low Can You Go? Why Cutting your Lawn Short is Hazardous for its Health

Cutting your lawn, and understanding the science behind when and how to cut your grass is one of the important parts to maintenance for your lawn. Cutting at the right time and knowing the right length to cut can help with several things in your lawn, while not doing this can cause more problems and maintenance than was expected.

It is said that you should allow the grass to stay at an average of two to two and a half inches. When you mow, you should only remove the top third of the blade. When your grass is a little over three inches high to three and a half inches at most, is the best time to mow your grass. You can either estimate these heights, or you can set your lawn mower to be able to cut this much. There are special made lawnmowers that will help to determine the length in which you should cut your grass with.

The measurements that have been made for cutting grass have been averaged out for several reasons. The main purpose of this is that allowing this much length in your grass allows nutrients to continue to move through each blade. When the blades of grass are growing, they take a certain amount of soil, water and sun in order to grow properly. When you cut the tips of this off, they have to adjust how much of the nutrients they should continue to get. If this change is too drastic, it will cause problems with the grass.

This moves into the second reason as why you should not cut the blades of grass too short. Because of the change in size and nutrients, cutting blades too short will stress out the plants. This is because they have to adjust to the different length. The second type of stress that they receive from the shorter blades is if the weather is hotter, the blades will not have enough protection provided from the length that they once had. Too much of a difference in blade length can then cause problems by either causing brown patches, wilting, or grass burn.

A third reason why it is always good to only cut this much off, and consistently, is because each time you cut your grass, it grows back thicker and faster. If you only cut the grass by a third, it will continue to be able to receive the same amount of nutrients and sun. By doing this, it will be able to grow back at a faster pace, turning even more green and filling out space more than it did before.

On the maintenance side, you won’t have to remove as many grass clippings when you don’t cut as much off. It is known to be healthy to leave some of the grass clippings that you have cut on the grass, as this provides more nutrients as well as protection to the growth of the other grass blades. With this in mind, if you leave too many grass clippings, it will take away the sunlight and water that the plants are supposed to be receiving.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the grass should not be mowed when the grass is wet. This causes a spreading of diseases, as the dampness that is on the blades of grass can not be evaporated, and eventually begins to mold or turn into a disease. Mowing with wet grass may also cause you to slip and injure yourself. The best time to mow a lawn is in the early evening. This will prevent the grass from getting stressed. The sun in the afternoon usually stresses out the grass and the mowing in the afternoon will only add to this.

Grass should always remain at a length between two and three inches. When it begins to move past three inches is the best time to mow the grass. Beyond this, you should never take off more than one third of the blade. If grass is not mowed at the right height, it can cause problems with stress, nutrients, and diseases spreading throughout your lawn. By cutting your grass at the right height, and mowing when it is about three inches tall, you will not only keep your lawn healthy, but you will also provide a better looking, greener lawn.

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All Grasses Are Not Created Equal—How to Know which Grass is Best for your Lawn

There are many types of grasses used for green lawns; do you know which grass is best for your lawn? The key to great looking green lawn is lawn fertilizers and weed control as well as using the right type of grass seed. Most lawns are made up of many different types of grass seed and yours might need different seed in different areas. Mowing is an important ingredient to having a great looking lawn as well.

Let’s look at the type of grass that is best for your yard. One of the first factors is to decide what zone you are in. There is a difference between the cool season zone and the warm season zone. Warm season grasses are used best in the southern states in the United States and the cool season grasses are used in the North as well as Canada. You may well be found in the middle of these two zones; in that case, you can contact your local county extension to ask which types of grass are best for your zone.

Warm season grasses are: Bermudagrass Buffalograss Zoysiagrass

These are the most common grasses used in the warm season zone.

Cool season grasses include:

Bentgrasses Bluegrasses Fescues Ryegrasses

The grasses can be mixed in your lawn to take advantage of the strength of the various types of grasses. One of the items you may need to consider is if your lawn has shady spots. Along with that, spaces in your yard that have at one time been covered by pine tree branches or have heavy foot traffic deserve special attention. You may also be in a region that often is affected by drought. For shaded spots, some of the cool season grasses such as bentgrass and bluegrass may be the answer to your problem. In areas of heavy traffic, try the sturdy Kentucky bluegrass. Some new strains of Kentucky bluegrass are also specially designed to be drought tolerant.

Red fescue is used to keep the lawn together and show a tighter appearance. It is fine leaved and can stand close mowing. Especially good for cool zones, it is strong and durable. Meadowgrass is an excellent choice for regions that are prone to drought conditions. It has a beautiful dark green color and has a good resistance to fungus diseases. Bentgrass provides a good base to a lawn and by over seeding can give you an attractive tight looking lawn. Ryegrass has a newly developed strain that stays green all year and has great wear tolerance.

Here are some recommendations of grasses for different parts of the country. Kentucky bluegrass still seems to be the favorite grass for the Rocky Mountain and Plains states. Bluegrass varieties that need minimal maintenance are; Belmont, Caliber, Cobalt, Monopoly, and Unique. Kentucky bluegrass needs to be watered often, as the roots don’t grow deep and is an excellent choice for sports fields and for parks. It likes to be mowed to a height of about two inches.

The grass recommended for the Northeast and Midwest is a good fescue. This grass grows slowly, has wiry blades, and has a height of only six inches. Lots of shade and moisture requires a hardy perennial relative of bluegrass called Poa supine.

The Southeast has a grass called centipede grass. The grass is light colored, grows slowly, and requires less maintenance than other warm season grasses.

Sources say that grass is hard to grow in the Southwest. A popular grass is regular Zoysia. It turns brown in October and stays brown through March. Zoysia loves the warm weather, turns brown if the temperature gets below 55 degrees, and loves to be cut short. This grass is not a good grass to use in areas that get a full-blown winter.

In the great Northwest, bent grasses are well adapted to the climate of that area. They do tend to be high maintenance but there are strains that have been developed for cool areas and are also low maintenance such as Velvet bentgrass. Ryegrass is also a good choice for cooler weather climates. You can use annual ryegrass for a quick fix on a lawn or you can choose perennial ryegrass for keeping your grass year after year.

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St. Augustine—Sometimes the Grass is Greener There

Yes, the grass is greener in St. Augustine and one reason is that Southern lawn grass is the St. Augustine grass. It is great for hot temperatures; it is also aggressive and dense. St. Augustine grass is tough, course and is mat forming. This grass is good at spreading quickly and can be started with either plugs or sod patches. If you look for bags of St. Augustine grass seed, you’ll have a hard time finding it. St. Augustine grass does not produce a marketable seed. Recent developments have given the public a seed but it is still better to start with sod or plugs. This grass is great for salty, alkaline, or acidic ground. It tolerates ocean saltwater and thrives in the sun. If temperatures in warm weather zones are expected to drop to below 20 degrees, watering the lawn will keep the soil temperature closer to 32 degrees. Colder temperatures coupled with a dry soil will cause root damage. St. Augustine grass will grow well in full sun and will tolerate some shade.

St. Augustine grass is usually a light to medium green color and as mentioned before is course in texture. Its growth habit is fast and it creeps along, filling in the lawn as it goes.

St. Augustine grass needs to be mowed to a height of 2.5 to 3.5 inches for best results. If you have shady areas, you need to let the grass grow a little longer. In the hottest part of summer, raise the mowing height and don’t mow at all if you’re experiencing a season of drought. St. Augustine grass will knit itself into a tight turf that naturally resists weeds if you fertilize properly. It actually smothers weeds, as the grass grows so thick. The grass has aggressive aboveground runners called stolons that can grow ¾ inches per day laterally. In addition, iron in a fertilizer will give you the maximum green color that lawn enthusiasts desire. Fertilization is best done in Spring, Summer and Fall. Early in Spring your St. Augustine lawn needs a weed and feed pesticide that will kill broadleaf that is already up and growing and stops new weed seeds from germinating. Also in late spring you should use a fertilizer and pest control if it is needed. You should use lawn fertilizer in the summer and insect control but only as needed. In the early fall, St. Augustine grass should be winterized with a winter conditioner. If your lawn’s ph level is discovered to be too low, then lime should be added in late winter or early spring. It is important to remember when fertilizing your lawn to use a fertilizer spreader to spread lawn care products evenly over your lawn.

Maintenance will depend on the temperature of the soil, water levels, and your mowing and fertilization schedule. If temperatures are cool, the grass will grow slower and less mowing is required. St. Augustine grass needs to be regularly irrigated or watered to keep it healthy. It requires two inches of water every seven days to preserve its green color and keeping it from going dormant. If it does go dormant, it will green right up again as soon as it receives the moisture it needs. If you have more than ½ inch of dead stems and debris on the soils surface, you will need to thin and clear out the dead thatch for a healthy lawn. You should do this in the spring just before new growth begins. The root-growing season starts in April and goes through October.

Two pests cause damage to any lawn with St. Augustine grass. One is known as St. Augustine Decline, which is a virus and the other, is a bug called a chinch bug. These are tiny black insects with white wings. You will probably find them in hot dry spots of your lawn. If you are unsure if you have them, you can make them come to the surface by soaking the spot with a bucket of soapy water. To repair spots damaged by the virus or the chinch bugs you will need to plant sprigs of a resistant strain of St. Augustine grass such as Floratam or Floralawn. Check with your county extension to see how and when to best control both problems.

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Following Fertilizer Rules—Three Things to Know Before You Fertilize your Lawn

The first thing you need to consider is when to fertilize your lawn. There are many factors to take into consideration before you fertilize. First, you will need to learn about the two types of grasses, Warm-Season grasses, and Cool-Season grasses. Each of them have their own different growing season, so they’re fertilizing schedule would not be the same. For both types of grasses, it is better to fertilize when your lawn is in the growth stage.

For Cool-Season grasses, the first time you should fertilize is after the winter dormancy. The second is during the early fall when the weather has turned moderate usually after August. This also is the time when heat waves and droughts are typically over. Nitrogen, an important ingredient, should be applied in larger concentration during the fall growing period and a lesser amount in the spring.

For Warm-Season grasses because they flourish during the summer months, will need to be fertilized shortly after the grass turns green in the spring and then again in late summer months. Nitrogen in larger concentrate should be applied during early spring and the lesser amount in the fall. That is the opposite of the Cool-Season grasses.

The second thing you should know before your fertilize your lawn is what to use. The three primary elements in fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. There are 13 elements that lawns need to survive but most are already supplied to the lawn from the soil and what surrounds it. Most fertilizers are sold as complete fertilizer because they contain all three elements. There are numbers listed on the fertilizer package that tells you how much of each element is contained in the fertilizer. The first number represents the nitrogen percentage, the second number is the phosphorus percentage, and the last number is the percentage of potassium that is contained in the fertilizer bag.

What purpose do these three elements serve in your lawn maintenance? Nitrogen is the most important. It is needed to make the grass grow and keep its green color. It also helps with sturdy growth that will help fight weeds and pests and creates thickness and density. Phosphorus encourages strong grass and root growth. An increase in phosphorus is seen during the times of planting and renewing old lawns. Potassium is used to help your lawn’s resistance to disease, wear and tear, cold weather, and drought.

If you are unsure of what your lawn needs it is possible to buy home testing kits and complete a soil test. They cost between $5 and $10 and have easy to follow instructions. These kits will tell you how much of the three above elements your lawn needs. You should avoid applying nitrogen before your lawn has greened up. It could stimulate and encourage weed growth or other unwanted grasses in your lawn. Don’t be chained to a calendar, base the amount and timing of fertilizing on whether the grass is established.

You also need to make sure you know how long the fertilizer will last. Most fertilizers are time released and take two to eight months to release all their nutrients. You need to make sure that enough time has passed since your last fertilization to avoid burning your lawn by over fertilization. Most fertilizers need to be well watered after application. If it just sits on your lawn and is not watered, it could cause yard burn. Wait for a drought to end if you are unable to keep the lawn good and moist after fertilizing.

The third thing you need to know is how to spread the fertilizer on your lawn. Several methods can be used to spread fertilizer. The most important thing to remember is to make sure it is spread evenly no matter which method you use for spreading.

There are three different types of spreaders. The first is a broadcast spreader either a handheld spreader for a small lawn or a walk behind rotary spreader. This spreader will spread typically a three-to five-foot width. The bin will hold a large amount of fertilizer, which can be distributed evenly by moving at a constant rate of speed. These types of spreaders have a release control lever that allows you to control the amount of fertilizer you are spreading on your lawn to avoid over fertilizing.

The drop spreader performs similar to the rotary spreader but drops the fertilizer straight down and doesn’t spread it. If you decide to use this spreading it is a good idea to overlap the wheelbase slightly while making a pass. Two perpendicular passes are recommended for an even spread.

The third type is liquid spraying. This spreading is done by using a garden hose with the fertilizer bottle of concentrated liquid attached to the end. This type of fertilizing can give immediate results. To control the spreading you should spray back and forth after marking your lawns into sections so you will know where you’ve already been. It’s also a good idea to walk backwards so you can see where you have sprayed.

Once you have fertilized, no matter what method you use it’s a good idea to water the lawn especially during hot, dry months.

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Golf Green—Not Just a Color in your Crayola Box!

No, not just a color in your Crayola Box, it is now possible to have your own private putting green in your own yard. For the avid golfer it might seem like a dream come true to have your own green. Do they know what is involved? Let’s look at some facts.

Greens are expensive to build and need special maintenance. If you are determined to have one then we will fill you in on some facts. The first thing you ought to know is that taking care of greens will need a great deal of work. One of the first items to be considered is drainage. To maintain a green in good putting condition, the water has to be able to drain off properly. It does need to be watered, but in watering, it also should be well drained. If you want to have your own green, you should be able to spot disease, insect problems, and fertility issues. One thunderstorm can tell you if you have enough drainage. Some greens need to be surrounded by perforated pipes to carry the water to a distance away from the green or to a private stream.

Seeding is a problem, knowing what seed to plant for your location and making it look great is another problem. If you consider using sod, you should know that it is expensive. Seeded greens have to be pampered while the grass is taking hold. There is a fine line between waiting too long to mow and weakening the turf, making it open to blight, and mowing it too soon. The grass could be so young and tender that a regular mower will mash it down.

Green mowers are also an important cost factor to consider. New mowers can cost $5000 or more and used mowers are known to be priced as high as $1000. Toro makes a special mower just for greens.

Controlling such diseases as pythium, sod webworm and cut worm as well as algae and moss has to be done consistently. Regular treatment needs to be applied and if a treatment is missed, you could find your green overrun by disease in the space of one week.

Building a green can be done either by USGA specifications or by using less expensive material and less elaborate drainage designs. USGA specifications can make the cost of your green anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000. A good design is one where the green is above the surrounding lawn area with sandy loam topsoil. It also requires about a one-percent slope for satisfactory drainage. Many experts also recommend an irrigation system so you won’t have the inconvenience of watering the green by hand.

What grass do you want for you own backyard green? Again that is going to depend on where you are located. You have to consider if you are in the warm season zone or the cool season zone. There are many basic grasses that are used on nearly any golf course and there are also grasses that have been specifically developed for golf courses.

In the cooler climate, these seeds are suggested for your green. For one hole of golf, in the tee areas it is recommended that you use bentgrass while roughs and fairways require bluegrass. Hazards can also be planted with rough bluegrass and other ground covers.

In the southern or warmer zone, the recommendations are as follows. Tee areas should use Hybrid Bermuda, for fairways Bermuda, Ryegrass, and Zoysia is recommended. Roughs require Bahias, St. Augustine, Common Bermuda, and Ryegrasses.

Another question that you will need to answer is; do I need a special lawn mower? A standard rotary motor is not the right mower for keeping a green. It is important that you use a mower that pinches off the grass rather than chopping it. Look around for the best deal on these mowers.

Maintenance time should not be so time-consuming that you can’t enjoy your private putting green. It can give you hours of enjoyment and practice in the comfort of your backyard and if you especially enjoy gardening, it will be well worth the effort. Landscaping and preserving a golf green can be fun and relaxing, and you have the added benefit of being able to improve your game at home instead of going to a course to practice.

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Lawn Lingo—Ten Basic Facts You Should Know

Maybe you’re a first time homeowner and you don’t know a thing about taking care of a lawn. You look at the neighbors lawns and they are beautifully manicured and a beautiful shade of green with nary a brown spot to be found. You think to yourself, “Can I have that kind of lawn?” Sure, you can. There are just a few basic facts that you need to know.

1. Lawn Seed: You will need to know what type of grass will grow in your climate zone. Not every strain of grass will grow in cooler climates and some won’t thrive in the southern or warmer zone. Investigate what type of seed you need for your soil as well, and is it sunny, shady or a mixture of both? Read the labels on the seed packages; there is important information for you there. Prepare your seedbed and use high quality lawn seed. Re-seed annually and always repair bare patches as soon as you notice them. While you are spreading the seed, shake the box well so the seed mixture is well mixed. 2. Mowing: Yes there are good and bad ways to mow your lawn. If you are in a drought condition, you shouldn’t even mow, as it would take its toll on the health of your lawn. Mow regularly and avoid cutting too low. Don’t think just because you cut it lower you won’t have to mow as often. If you cut it too low, you leave it wide open to burning or getting taken over by heartier weeds and lawn disease. 3. Water: Your lawn needs water to thrive just as you do. If you are experiencing a real dry season, be sure that you water your lawn frequently. That goes along with not cutting it too short when you mow. 4. Fertilizing: The products that are on the market now are normally combined as a fertilizer and a weed killer. Your lawn needs to be fertilized in spring and summer as well as in late fall. Use a fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen. Use a spreader and be sure to spread your fertilizer and weed control evenly. Always fill your spreader on the driveway or somewhere else, never on your lawn. That can cause an excess of fertilizer to fall into your grass and leave a burnt spot. 5. Raking: We all know it is important to rake leaves in the fall or to mulch them. Leaving dead leaves on the lawn could give you ugly looking brown spots when the grass starts turning green in the spring. You also need to rake out old grass, or thatch, during the spring and again in the fall just before the grass goes dormant. 6. Trim: Yes it is a little extra work to trim the yard but it also gives the lawn a beautiful finished look. A weed trimmer is important to have if you have articles in your lawn that you can’t totally get to with a mower. In addition, if you have a fence it will help your yard look trim and neat and professionally finished. 7. Weed control: Weed control is a very important factor in having a beautiful lawn. A four-leaf clover might be lucky, but it’s still a weed. Dandelions, broadleaf weeds, and other types of weeds can attack a week lawn. There are very good weed control products on the market today and they are usually noted what type of weed the product was developed to get rid of. 8. Pests: Your lawn might be infested and you not even realize it. Two types of pests, those that exist above the ground, and those existing below ground. Above ground pests would include the chinch bug, cutworms, armyworms and green bugs. One of the most prevalent below ground pests would be the white grub. Using the right type of pesticide easily destroys all of these. 9. Tools: Some tools will be a must when you have a lawn. One of course is a mower. You can pick the type of mower that best fits your needs from a hand pushed mower to a self-propelled mower all the way up to a riding mower. Along with a mower, you might consider having a weed blower or vacuum, an edger, a trimmer for a more professional looking lawn and a simple rake. The rake will be used in both early spring and in fall to remove thatch, dead grasses, and raking the leaves in the fall. 10. Lawn Disease: Yes even lawns get sick and end up with some unusual diseases. Lawn fungus can show up as well as mushrooms. Yes even mushrooms, there seemed to be an abundance of those in my area this year and it did seem strange to see them growing in my lawn. Other types of disease are snow mold, found in the colder climates when the snow sits on the lawn for an extended amount of time. Brown patches will start in a circle and often spread outwards in a circular or horseshoe pattern. Dollar spots are brown small spots shaped like a silver dollar and usually brown or straw colored. These can be found in lawns with a low amount of nitrogen.

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Five Questions to Ask when Hiring a Lawn Care Company

Are you one of those folks who want a lovely lawn but just don’t have the time to care for it yourself? The answer for you could be a lawn care company. However, how do you know whom to choose? Below are five questions you should have answers to before hiring a lawn care company.

1. Price is something that should be looked at when hiring a lawn care company, but remember the old saying, “you get what you pay for?” Some companies may give you a lower rate but do they scrimp on materials or use low quality products? They also may be able to charge lower prices because they are not training their staff adequately. Ask your neighbors and friends whom they use. A company with a good reputation will be promoted widely by word of mouth. Look at their lawns and ask them if they are happy with the lawn they have. Are they satisfied and well treated? Lower price can sometimes mean lower quality. Get a price quote and a quote for anything extra that may come up or is not already provided by their company. Check out several lawn care companies before you decide. Walk around your lawn and see what their suggestions are and if they sound genuinely interested in making your lawn the best it can be. 2. Look for companies that are professional and belong to lawn care organizations such as the Professional Lawn Care Association of America as well as state lawn care organizations. Lawn companies that are involved in these organizations usually are staying current with the latest in technology, safety regulations and have a professional pride in their business. 3. Ask what pesticide programs they provide. Are they organic or natural and those words won’t always mean pesticide free. Ask detailed questions about the pesticides they use, are they allowable in the area where you live and ask if there are any environmental or health risks. Ask what products they use. A good company will be able to give you the names and product labels of all their seed blends, fertilizers and pest control products. 4. Another question to ask prospective lawn care companies is; what techniques do you use to improve the health of the soil and grass. This is an important part of any lawn care program and not all companies provide these services. Services should include over seeding, topdressing, aeration, and hand weeding. Yes, some work still needs to be done by hand. Be sure to ask if these are extras or part of the service. If they don’t do these extras, then ask for information so you can do them on your own to keep your lawn healthy. If these services are not offered, then be sure that their charges reflect what they are doing. 5. Is mowing a part of the service? What height do they cut the grass; do they leave clippings on the lawn, bag, or mulch? Will they adjust their mowing schedule according to the weather? More in the spring and less in the summer when it is needed less. Do they bag clippings and take them with them or do they leave them for the waste disposal people to pick up? Will you be responsible for providing bags for clippings? Will they rake or mulch leaves in the fall? What about anything extra that might come up such as storm damage? Will they be available to help with that? You never know when a natural disaster will occur and you need the help to clear out the debris of limbs from your yard.

These questions are all important ones for you to consider when choosing a lawn care company. Your lawn and garden program will be effective if you have a partnership between you and your lawn care company. You should know what services your lawn care company provides. They should know what your expectations are for your lawn and what you should do between visits to maintain your lawn properly. Between visits, it is up to you to watch out for insects and disease. If you are mowing, you need to do it on a regular schedule and water the lawn properly according to their instructions. Your lawn will look its best if you and your lawn care company understand each other and are both aware of what is expected from each side.

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Organically Yours—Environmentally Friendly Products for a Perfect Lawn

Your lawn should be a healthy lawn without pests, lawn diseases or weeds but can you do that without putting harmful chemicals into the ground? It is possible to have a beautiful lush lawn without harming the environment. The use of chemical pesticides can be a health risk but can also kill insects that are favorable to your lawn. Runoff can eventually find their way into the water supply around your area.

Weed identification can be classified into two classes. These classifications are based on the way in which they come out of the seed. In simple terms, Monocots are weedy grasses such as crabgrass. Dicots are broadleaf weeds such as dandelion, ground ivy, and clover. These two weed types are divided into three groups: 1. Perennial weeds: have a life that spans no more than two years and is reproduced from new seeds every year. 2. Biennial weeds: have a life of two years. They store up food reserves in the leaves and root system the first year and produce seed in the second year. They often mix with the perennials, as they are so similar. 3. Annual weeds: are yearly weeds started from seeds, grow, and eventually flower producing more seeds in less than a year. There are summer annuals that germinate in the fall maturing in late fall, and winter annuals that will germinate in late spring.

If you are unsure of what weeds are in your yard, you can take samples to your county extension and they will help you identify them.

One of the most natural methods of controlling weeds is to have a vigorously growing turf cover. Correcting the underlying problem with the soil can control some weeds. For instance without correcting the soil compaction, you will not be able to rid your lawn of knotweeds. Other weeds can be controlled by altering what you do to your lawn to favor the lawn instead of the weeds. Adjusting the mowing height of your lawn mower, changing the frequency of mowing, or changing the water schedule can control weeds.

There are also very natural ways of controlling lawn pests and there are organic pest control products now on the market. Some of the organic pest controls use natural ingredients such as citrus oils; garlic, hot peppers, and cloves are also natural ingredients in some new organic pest and weed control. The natural organic weed controls with lemon as its base can kill various pests including aphids, bean beetles, fire ants, and our all-time favorite, Japanese beetles.

Another organic lawn and garden spray has a base of sesame oil, clove oil, and thyme oil. It can be used on fruits, vegetables, and your lawn. It is good for repelling such insects as fleas, ants, grasshoppers, and ticks.

Fire ants are prevalent in the south and are a danger because they sting and could potentially be a threat to small children. Ants can also nest in your lawn and can cause problems while mowing. Fire ants are attracted to bait and can end up carrying the bait back to the nest. That will either kill the queen or leave her infertile. Dry granular bait can be applied directly to ant mounds. These baits are made with natural oils are safe to use around pets, children and food crops. This same bait, used for fire ants, can also be effective in controlling many other garden and lawn pests.

Another organic garden spray has a base of black pepper and garlic and can be safely used on lawns and gardens. This spray will help control mosquitoes, gnats, fleas, and ticks.

An added benefit to using organic pest control is they are designed for long-term pest control. That means you will spend less time fighting those pests and more time enjoying your lawn.

Of course, you can still do the tried-and-true method of hand weeding, but that is only practical for the occasional plant that springs up. The easiest and safest ways are to treat your lawn and garden for pest and weed control with all natural, organic products that can be readily purchased from any store that sells home and garden supplies.

Look at all the options before you decide to use chemicals that are harmful to your plants, animals, and water supply.

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Don’t Get Crabby—How to Banish that Pesky Crab Grass in your Lawn

Crab grass thrives in hot and dry conditions and is an annual grass that sprouts roots at the nodes and crowds out the grass your really want in your lawn. Its roots are shallow and the leaves are course textured. Crabgrass often has a different color than grass and will stand out in an otherwise perfect lawn. It makes the lawn look uneven and the weeds can turn brown while the grass around it remains green. It eventually flowers with spiked seed heads coming from the center of the plants. They produce many seeds and those seeds will be germinating in the spring to give your lawn even more grief. Weak spots in your lawn are especially vulnerable to crabgrass. The areas most susceptible are areas that are next to pavements and heavily used areas. Crabgrass is nearly impossible to get rid of entirely but there are things you can do to keep it from overtaking your lawn.

You can hoe or dig out the crab grass leaving the roots exposed so they dry out and die, or you can maintain a good thick lawn to keep crabgrass from taking hold. The lawn should be well fertilized, well watered and you will not want to cut the grass too short. Cutting the grass too short will weaken your lawn base and allow crabgrass and other weeds to attack your lawn. Crabgrass will die in the fall with the first frost, but if it was allowed to seed, you will need to apply crab grass killer that will prevent it from germinating in the spring.

Here are a few tips on controlling that annoying crab grass in your lawn. As stated above it is hard for crabgrass to get a toehold in your yard if your lawn is healthy. Without sunlight, the crabgrass can’t take root. Try to remove crabgrass as soon as you see it. One little sprig of crabgrass can quickly turn into a large patch because it is so fertile.

Cutting your lawn too short will allow the sunlight to reach sprigs of crabgrass as it will take advantage of the sunlight and spread quickly. Lawns should be cut to a height of between two and one half to three inches. Mowing and grass length seems to have a great deal to do with a healthy lawn. Keep your lawn mower blades sharp.

Before you try to remove the crabgrass, water the area heavily. This will help loosen the soil and make removal easier. Make sure you get the entire root. Roots will grow wherever roots touch the soil. Once you have removed the crabgrass, mulch the soil. This helps any left over roots from taking hold and causing problems later.

Using chemicals should be a last resort. You won’t be able to find an herbicide that only kills crabgrass. That means that other plants will be vulnerable to any type of chemical treatment you apply to the crabgrass. There are chemicals that are pre-emergent but it’s hard to predict when to apply it. If you apply too early the effects can fade and the weed can appear later. If you wait and apply the chemical too late, then the crabgrass can already have taken hold. Always use gloves when using any sort of chemicals as gloves will also protect your hands from calluses caused by pulling weeds and gardening.

One of the easiest ways to keep crabgrass out of your lawn is by using Zoysia grass. This grass grows into a think heavy ground cover and virtually chokes out weeds. Zoysia grass is not a good grass to use in some climates and you should check to see what is recommended for your climate zone.

Crabgrass is very hard to get rid of, so be patient and diligent. Crabgrass can spring up seemingly out of nowhere. Be firm, mow with a sharp blade, feed your lawn with a good fertilizer, and reseed bad parts of your lawn. Remember, reseeding helps keep your lawn healthy and will not allow weeds to take hold. Keep an eye on your lawn; even if it means getting down to weed level, you can control the dreaded crabgrass weed.

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Lime for your Lawn—How to Know When you Need It

Why do lawns need lime and how do you know when you need it? I’ll try to answer some of these questions for you. The first fact you should know is why lime is used on lawns. Soil ph is a measure of the soils acidity or alkalinity. If your ph level is below 7.0 then your soil is considered acidic and if it’s above that number, it is considered alkaline. A desirable ph level is between 6.0 and 7.0. Lime conditions the soil and will improve the growth of turf and make it healthier. With a good ph factor a lawn has, less of a chance of loss of nutrients and thatch is reduced. Soil acidity increases with an increasing rainfall.

Some of the things that can cause acidity in lawn, other than rainfall, some fertilizers also leach the nutrients from the soil. Other factors which cause acidity are irrigating with water that has a high acid content and decomposition of soil organic matter.

The only way you can determine if your soil needs liming and how much to apply is to do a soil test. A soil test kit can be found at your local garden center to test your lawn’s ph level but it won’t tell you how much lime to use to make your lawn healthier. The only way to determine how much lime you need is to have an actual soil test by the county extension office. If they don’t have the facilities to test there, they can tell you where to send your soil for testing. They should be able to tell you how to collect the soil needed for testing. You will receive a test report when the test is completed, and in that report there is a section titled Lime. If there is a zero in that section, you don’t need any lime at all. If you see a letter “T” or “M” with a number following, that indicates you need lime. The letter “M” stands for pounds per 1000 square feet. Homeowners will normally not see the letter “T” because it is the indicator of tons per acre.

There are a couple of different forms of lime. You will find palletized lime or powder lime. Pellet sized lime is easier to apply and creates much less mess. Powdered lime, even though it is less expensive it is very messy and hard to spread. It has the consistency of baking flour. The finer the particle size of lime the faster it will have an affect on soil ph. Applications of lime are best when mixed with the soil with a roto-tiller or using a core aeration machine that pulls out soil plugs.

It is recommended that lime application and fertilizer applications be separated by at least two weeks. There really isn’t a specific time to apply lime. It can be applied anytime during the growing season. It should not be applied when the grass is wilted or frost covered. It will help improve turf growth because grass grows better when the soil ph is improved. Lime is completely natural, as it is crushed limestone. Homeowners mistakenly think that they need to apply lime every year to keep the necessary ph level. There are negative aspects of creating a too high ph level as well as of having too low a level. A high ph level prevents nutrients such as nitrogen phosphorus; potassium sulfur and other nutrients are less available. With these nutrients less available, it makes your lawn less vigorous and healthy. Once your ph level is adjusted to the proper number, you can maintain the correct level by combining one pound of lime to every pound of fertilizer used. You only need to have your soil tested once every three years or so after, it’s initially tested.

The question has been asked if liming your lawn will eliminate moss. It won’t do that; the only way it helps eliminate moss is by allowing the turf to grow stronger and healthier.

Any way you look at it, lime is an essential ingredient for a healthy lawn. If your lawn is not healthy and has an abundance of weeds, test your soil. If you find your ph level is not at a high enough standard for a healthy lawn, then you can use lime to help your lawn grow green and strong. Remember sturdier grass and healthier lawns are a deterrent to those nasty weeds we don’t like to see cropping up in our yards.

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Lawn Cutting is an Art Form—How to Cut your Lawn Properly

I bet you don’t think of mowing your yard as an art form. A chore has to be done if you have any lawn at all. It takes about 30 minutes to mow your patch of lawn, and most likely you don’t consider it a form of art. To have a healthy, hearty growing lawn, you do need how to cut your lawn properly. Lawn mowing can give you a great workout, be relaxing and gives you a good feeling when your lawn is freshly mowed and looking neat and tidy.

When do you mow? That seems like a simple question but if you’ve been following the same mowing, routine you may not have thought about it. You should never mow when your lawn is wet. Grass doesn’t bag or mulch properly and it can cause clumping of the lawn. Schedule your lawn mowing for late afternoon or evening, not only will it be cooler but also it will have had plenty of time to dry from the morning dew or after early morning watering. Another drawback to mowing while damp is that it can spread lawn fungus very quickly. You can do the same thing when the lawn is dry but is much more likely to happen when mowing a wet lawn.

You don’t have to mow every Saturday. Some grasses will flourish during the summer months and may need to be mowed every 3-4 days. On the other hand, if there has been little rainfall, you may not need to mow more than once a month. Grass has its peak-growing season and you will need to adapt your lawn-mowing schedule to your grass. Sorry, your grass will not make any concessions for you!

What happens if you have been away from home and your lawn is overgrown when you return home? The worst possible thing you could do is to get out the mower and cut it down to the standard height you normally mow it to. What you should do is to mow one third of the height at a time. If your lawn is overgrown by more than six inches, cut two inches off and let the lawn mower set for a couple of days. This will allow your lawn to recover before you bring it out and cut it again. If you do cut it too short, watch closely for weeds and give it plenty of water. Weeds will crop up fast in a scalped lawn.

Do you mow your lawn in the same pattern and direction every time? If you do, you could be creating streaks and striped lines that will grow back irregularly and look bad. It is recommended to change your mowing direction each time you mow. One time go side to side, the next time go from top to bottom. This cross cutting will help your lawn to grow and won’t be matted or trampled in the same place each time you mow.

Should you bag or mulch? That’s another good question. You will need to have a lawn mower that will mulch with plenty of horsepower to cut and essentially re-cut the grass to drop back into the lawn. Clippings are a perfectly balanced, slow release, non chemical lawn fertilizer. Best of all, it will reduce your need for fertilizer by 50 percent and its free and natural. Mulching your lawn does increase the development of thatch in your lawn. Thatch build up is harmful to your lawn as well. Make sure that your blades are sharp. Try to sharpen them at least two times during the mowing season. This will keep your mulching mower working more efficiently. If you aren’t keeping your blades sharp, then you are tearing the blades of grass and not cutting them. That will cause your lawn to look ragged and increase its susceptibility to disease. If you notice thatch is building up you may want to bag your clippings occasionally. Mulching is recommended during heat waves, after fertilization and during times of drought. It will provide the soil with increased cover to hold in what moisture it does receive. Clippings can contain as much as 80% water and 5% nitrogen with other nutrients found in small quantities and will be continually fertilizing your lawn.

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Fungus Fever – Three Ways to Protect your Lawn from Fungal Growth

During the spring and summer, having a healthy, green lawn is one of the hopes for all homeowners with a yard. However, in order for this to happen, the right maintenance and care for your lawn should take place. One of the steps in caring for the maintenance of your lawn is making sure that there is balance between the water, soil and nutrients in your yard. If this doesn’t happen, it may cause problems with fungus in your yard.

There are several different types of fungus that can grow in your lawn, all which grow in relation to the amount of water that is in your yard, as well as the type of climate that gives them room to flourish. Fungus may also have an opportunity to grow if your soil isn’t balanced from fertilizer or compost at the beginning of the season. Some types of popular fungus include mushrooms, mildew, dollar spots, and fairy rings. These are a few of several types of fungus that can move into your lawn. Some ways to notice the fungus is through patches of yellow, red, or orange in your lawn. Other types of fungus will begin to spread from the tips of the grass, causing brown blades to form.

No matter what type of fungus begins to take over your lawn, it is known that they can eventually spread over your entire lawn, taking the nutrients and moisture that is needed for your grass. Because of this, there are ways to prevent the fungus from appearing and taking over your lawn.

1. Keep your lawn dry. Most fungus will begin to form after the winter is over or during the fall. If extra snow is not drying on your lawn or if there is too much shade, it gives a perfect spot for fungus to grow. By removing snow that won’t melt you can prevent some of the fungus that will grow in your lawn. Before the winter arrives, you can also make sure to cut your grass down in order to make sure that the grass stays aerated and doesn’t keep the moisture locked into the grass. If it is spring and fungus is beginning to grow, it is probably because the water isn’t drying during the days that you water. Make sure to water in the morning so that the grass has time to dry during the day from the sun. If it is not going to be warm and sunny that day, it is best to wait to water until you know that the water will be dried from the sun.

2. Kill the fungus with different products. There are several different types of natural ingredients that will take the moisture out of the fungus that you have in your yard. One type of ingredient is baking powder mixed with water. You can spray this over the area where the fungus is. The baking powder will act as a neutralizing agent to get rid of the fungus. You can also use plain corn meal by spreading it over the area where the fungus is. If you choose to use one of these ingredients, make sure you know what type of fungus is in your yard first, then use the proper type of ingredient in order to get rid of the fungus.

3. Prepare the soil to prevent fungus. Before laying fertilizer or soil in the spring, or before you have put in new sod, it is best to make sure that it has some type of preventative ingredient from fungus. This, as well as mulching will balance out the nutrients in the soil in order to prevent fungus from appearing. Often times, it is best to make sure that there is enough nitrogen in your soil and grass. If there is too much nitrogen, or not enough, it will often cause problems with fungus having room to grow. Things such as greensand or glauconitic can be purchased in order to balance out your soil again.

In order to keep your lawn looking healthy and green throughout the seasons, it is best to find ways to prevent different types of fungus from overtaking your lawn. This can be done through simple maintenance of making sure that the soil, water and grass all remains balanced and healthy.

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To Aerate or Not to Aerate – When is this Question?

By aerating your lawn, you will prevent several things from happening to your lawn. This will help it to remain healthy. If you have crabgrass, aerating your lawn will eventually cause it to not receive the compact nutrients from the soil and die. If your lawn seems to be dry, and if you are still watering it regularly, it needs more air moving through the blades and soil in order to continue breathing properly. If your grass is thinner than usual, aeration can also help it to become fuller than it was before. All of the problems that may be seen in your grass are a result of the soil becoming too compact. By this happening, the roots are not able to move freely and receive the right nutrients from the water and soil.

It is best to aerate your lawn at least once, and possibly twice during the year. For those living in a warmer climate, it is best to aerate your lawn in the late spring. If you live in a cooler climate, the best time to aerate is in the fall. The only time that you definitely shouldn’t aerate your lawn is in the warmer summer months. By doing so, you will damage the lawn as it becomes stressed under the heat.

You can also know when to aerate your lawn by recognizing some of the problems that your lawn may be having. If the water isn’t moving into the soil in the ground, it probably means that the soil is too compact and isn’t able to reach the roots. You can also tell by fertilized grass not turning green and other parts of the lawn staying flat.

If your yard is close to a street where there is some traffic, it is especially important to aerate your lawn, as this will cause the aeration to become polluted and not allow nutrients to move into your grass. If the soil that you have in your yard is compacted, you should also consider aerating more often, as this holds in the air that needs to move through the grass in order to keep it healthy and green.

One type of popular aeration that is used is known as core aeration. This pulls up plugs of soil and puts them as topdressing. When you water next, or when it rains, the soil will disintegrate. Air will then be able to move into the soil where the holes were put, giving more nutrients and room for the grass. Another reason why core aeration works is because the water will be held in the soil for a longer time, instead of running off of the soil.

A similar way to aerate your lawn is through a punch aerator. This pushes holes into the soil, instead of putting the soil on the surface. If you think that the grass will need more nutrients from the soil, then it is better to use the punch aerator method. This will still allow more oxygen and water to move into the soil, causing for healthier grass.

A third way to aerate the lawn is through de-thatching. This can be done at any time of the year. The more that it is done, the better it is for the grass. By thatching, you can rake up the dead grass, moss and debris that are left on your lawn. By doing this, it will give the outer surface of the grass more room to breathe and take in the nutrients that are needed from both the sun and the air. All of the different types of aeration methods include tools that can be used in order to make your job easier when you aerate your lawn. Before you aerate, make sure that your yard is moist, as this will make it easier for the soil to move out of the areas in which the core aeration is. This will also make it so there isn’t as much stress to the grass. It will also allow you to not accidentally pull up parts of the roots or grass when aerating.

Aerating your lawn will allow an easier movement of nutrients, water and oxygen in your lawn. By aerating, you are allowing the nutrients to move further into the soil and are allowing the roots of the grass to become stronger. You are also helping your soil to keep water for a longer period of time. By aerating once or twice a year, you will help your yard to remain greener, fuller and healthier through the seasons.

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Pet Deposits – Why Cleaning up after your Pet is Important

If you are a dog or pet owner, there are several maintenance responsibilities that come along with owning the pet. One of the important responsibilities to take is cleaning up after your pet’s deposits in your yard, or in a public area as well as in your own home. In most places, it is a law that you pick up after your pet because if not, it can be hazardous to others’ health.

The main reason why it is important to clean up after your pet is because there is a bacterium in their deposits, which may sink into the soil. This bacterium is harmful to both us and the water. Eventually, these bacteria will move into storm drains as well as lakes and streams, causing problems and diseases to spread from the pet deposits. By not picking up pet deposits, the water in the area can become hazardous to one’s health.

Beyond the bacteria getting into the water, are other types of diseases or infections that can occur from not picking up the pet deposits. Skin infections and the spread of other kinds of diseases may not only occur with your pet, but also in your household. One popular disease that spreads easily through pet feces is several different types of worms. The best way for these diseases and infections to not occur is by continuously picking up the pet’s deposits.

A third reason why it is important to pick up after your pet is because the waste is not as degradable as other types of waste. If you have a lawn or if you are taking your pet to a public area, it won’t help the grass or other types of plants. The nutrients in the deposits don’t have the right type of fertilizer that would normally balance out the soil. Instead, it causes problems with either natural habitats or in the yard. By not picking up after your pet, the aeration to your yard or to any other type of plant will be blocked from receiving other proper nutrients, water and sunlight, causing either problems with fungus, weeds, or causing the lawn or plants to eventually die.

If your animal is an indoor animal, it can often cause behavior problems by not picking up the deposits. The animal will think it is ok to break their training habits of going outside or using the litter box. Pets respond to smell. Because of this, they will think it is permissible to break their training and avoid the places where they should be for their pet deposits.

Because the chore at hand is not always pleasant, there are several different ways to complete the chore of cleaning up after your pet without having to do much work. There are several companies who will clean up after your pets for a small fee every week. They will then take the feces that they pick up from your yard and take them to a local waste area to dispose of. There are several different types of deals and ways that you can organize this service, depending on the types of animals that you have and how many animals you have.

Another option in cleaning up pet deposits is to put in an in ground septic system. This is buried inside of your ground and will break down the waste. The pet deposits will then be broken down through the septic system, taking away the enzymes that can cause several of the diseases. While you still have to pick up some of the waste, it can be ensured that there won’t be as much of a bacteria problem.

No matter what type of pet you have, or where you take them to deposit their food, it is important to pick up after them. By doing so, you will prevent several different types of diseases, behavioral problems and will keep the plants and your lawn looking healthy and free of disease. If you don’t like to pick up after your animal, there are several companies who will come to your house for a small fee to help with the chore. By cleaning up after your pet, you will be ensuring your health, as well as others. *****

Giving your Lawn the Time of Day – Picking the Best Time to Do Lawn Maintenance

Your lawn requires the right maintenance in order to be able to remain green and full throughout the seasons. Allowing the right time of day for this maintenance is one of the important factors when allowing your lawn to perform at its best. Another thing to consider is to know when the right season is for the right maintenance. By maintaining your lawn at the right time of day and year, it will allow a better supply of nutrients to reach your lawn as well as avoid stress problems with the lawn.

The first thing to consider with timing and your lawn is when to water your lawn. The best time to water your lawn is in the early morning. This will help your yard in two ways. The first way is that it will be easier for the water to soak into the soil. If this is done in the afternoon, it will be likely that the sun will evaporate the water that is supposed to be used for the grass. The second reason why it is best to water in the morning is that it gives the lawn time to dry during the day. If the grass remains damp or wet, it may cause fungus or diseases to spread through your lawn because the moistness that is left from the watering will not have time to evaporate or move into the soil, where it provides nutrients for the grass.

The second thing to time out properly when working on lawn maintenance is when to mow your grass. It is known that it is best to mow your lawn in the evening. If you mow your lawn in the afternoon, it may cause the lawn to become more stressed. The heat from the sun already causes the grass to be stressed out. By cutting it during this time, it will only add to the stress. The next thing that lets you know that it is best to mow your lawn in the evening is that you know the grass will be completely dry. If you find that the grass is still wet in the evening, it’s best to not mow it until it has had time to dry. If the grass is wet, it may cause a spread of diseases, as the bacteria are given an opportunity to spread through the lawn mower. It may also make it more difficult to move through the lawn, as the grass is slippery when it is wet.

Timing out the right days to mow your lawn will also allow for easier maintenance. It is best to look at how long the blades of grass are. The best time to mow your lawn is when the blades are all about three to three and a half inches long. If the blades are shorter than this, it may not allow the right amount of nutrients to be given to the blades.

Another way to time out the maintenance of your lawn is through the seasons. This will depend on if you are in a warm or colder climate. For example, it is best to aerate your lawn in the spring if you are in a colder climate. If you are in a warmer climate, it is best to aerate your lawn in the fall. The beginning or end of the season can be determined by the change in sunlight as well as the change in temperature. This will allow for the proper nutrients to reach the soil and for the roots of the grass to be given a better chance to grow stronger into the ground.

One thing to keep in mind with lawn maintenance is to know when to winterize your lawn. This should be done before the ground freezes, but if it is done to soon, it will cause the grass to become stressed. The lawn is winterized in order to allow for the grass to still be given the proper nutrients during the winter season. Winterizing your lawn includes making sure that the pH level in your lawn is balanced; removing leaves and other types of material from the lawn, and making sure that you apply mulch. By doing this right before the first winter freeze, it will ensure that your grass will have enough nutrients to supply it through the winter season.

By knowing when the best time for lawn maintenance is, you will be able to cut down on costs as well as time and energy. This will also allow your grass to be greener and fuller throughout the seasons. Timing is everything in your lawn maintenance. *****

Blade Basics in Both your Lawn and Mower

Cutting your lawn is one of the most important parts of maintaining a lawn. However, in order to prevent extra maintenance of your lawn, it’s important to remember that there are certain maintenance tips with both the lawn as well as the lawn mower blades. By remembering certain things about your lawn mower blade, as well as knowing when to care for the lawn blades, you will be able to have an easier time with maintaining the look of your lawn.

One of the things that must done in order for your lawn mower to be the most effective is by continuously sharpening the blades before you mow the lawn. Before you sharpen the blades, you should clean the blade with a wire brush. By doing this, it will be easier to sharpen the blades evenly. The blades can be sharpened by a grinding wheel and a file. It’s important to keep the blades all sharpened evenly, so they will be able to cut the grass evenly. You can tell if the blade is off balance by hanging it. If one side of the blade is leaning, then it needs to balance more through the sharpening. If the blade is not balanced, it can cause the crankshaft to damage, which will eventually ruin the engine.

The blade may also need replaced at certain times, in order to keep the blades working properly. It is recommended that the blade of the lawn mower be replaced at the beginning of every year. This is not only to keep the blade sharp, but also to make sure that it does not rust. If the grass clippings were wet at one time, or got stuck to the blade, then the blade can become bad quickly. You may also need to replace the blade if it has hit a rock or branch on your lawn, as this can cause dents or nicks in the blade, causing an uneven cut. To replace the blade in your lawn mower, make sure to empty the gas and oil from the lawn mower first, then take the blade off and replace it. Many will replace the blade before beginning a new season of mowing, making it easier to replace the blade.

One thing that may happen if you don’t sharpen or replace your lawn mower consistently is that it will tear the grass instead of cutting it evenly. The blades, instead of cutting, will get stuck in the grass and the dirt. This will cause more problems for the grass as well as for the mower in maintaining the grass. The grass may also come off in clumps instead of by the blades. It is also known that if you don’t sharpen the blades, it may cause diseases to spread over the grass, as the rip from the grass will cause the grass to not be as protected from the diseases. Your grass will not only be cut unevenly, but it may cause further problems with the grass remaining green and alive during the summer season.

When you are mowing, you should always know how much of the blade of grass to take off. It is known that you should never take off more than an inch from the blade of grass, as this will cause extra stress from the grass. The proper nutrients will also not be able to be received through the grass.

Another part of the lawn blades to keep in mind when mowing is what to do with the grass clippings after you have mowed your lawn. Some of the clippings can go back on the lawn, as this will provide protection as well as extra nutrients to the soil. However, it is better if most of the glass clippings are thrown out as it can prevent water and nutrients from going into the soil of the grass.

By knowing how to care for the lawn, as well as taking care of the blade in your lawn mower, you will be able to have a healthier lawn that is able to cut more evenly. You will also be able to prevent problems with your lawn mower that may be caused from the wrong blade being used. Maintenance to your lawn mower as well as your lawn will help with a healthier lawn, and more efficient lawn mower.

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Laying Down the Lawn – How to Turn that Dirt Patch into a Perfectly Green Lawn

There are several different ways to have a lawn in your yard. One way is through the use of laying down sod, which is pre-grown grass. While this is easier and faster, it is not the only way to turn your yard into a lawn. You can also plant grass through seeds. This is a cheaper way to have a lawn and will allow you to have a different grass type than what is available with sod. If you decide to have a lawn that requires seeds, then it is best to prepare your lawn so that your seeds will grow more effectively.

The best time to plant seeds for grass will be determined by the climate in which you live. However, as a general rule, most lawns shouldn’t be planted in the middle of summer, as the sun will cause the seeds to overheat, stress and die. You also will not be able to plant your lawn in the middle of winter, as the ground will most likely be frozen and if not, the proper nutrients for your lawn will be harder to maintain. It is said that either in early spring or early fall are the best time to begin your new yard.

The first thing to do when you decide to put in seed for a lawn is to make sure that the ground is clear for the seeds. This includes digging up weeds that may be growing in your yard and turning the soil so that old roots and weeds don’t have a chance to re-grow. This will not only help in getting rid of the old weeds or lawn, but will also help to move the nutrients in the soil to be more effective.

The next thing that should be done in order to have a healthy lawn from seed is to make sure that the soil has the right nutrients and right pH. You can easily test your soil to make sure that it is made of the right components. The first way to do this is to get a pH tester. You can also determine the type of your soil by seeing the thickness of the grains. If they are too thick, or clay like, or too thin, similar to sand, it won’t allow the seeds to get the right amount of nutrients. After you determine what type of soil you have, you can put fertilizer or extra nutrients in the ground to balance out the pH and type of soil. If your soil is claylike, you can break this up by using a tiller. This will cause the clay to break and become more even.

When you put the fertilizer or compost in the ground, you should make sure to use a tiller so that it will be spread evenly. Raking soil so that it is even, as well as moving extra rocks and debris from the soil will help in making sure that your soil is healthy and a good place to grow the grass. Before you plant any grass, it is important to make sure that the nutrients, as well as the soil is even all the way across the lawn. This will prevent problems when your grass begins to grow.

The easiest way to spread the seeds through your yard is by using a seed spreader. It is said that it is easiest to spread only ¼ of the seeds each time across the lawn, and each time go in a different direction. This will help to spread the seeds evenly. After this, you can rake the seeds into the ground. The seeds should be slightly covered by the soil so that they will receive the right amount of nutrients and not become stressed out and die from the heat or the sun.

In order for your lawn to grow right, it is important to water your lawn consistently. You should begin this as soon as your seeds are covered under the ground. Because they are not rooted into the ground yet, it is best to use a light spray. It is best to water your seeds consistently every day before they begin to sprout. After they begin to come out of the ground, you can change the watering to only twice a day. After about six weeks, you can change the watering to only during the morning.

By starting out your lawn with the right nutrients and with healthy soil, it will be ensured that you will have a lawn growing in a short amount of time. Maintaining and taking care of your grass will help your lawn to become green and healthy through the summer season.

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Sod Savvy – Five Steps to Ensure that Sod Turns into a Healthy Lawn

Laying down sod for a lawn is known to be an easier way to grow grass. Sod is best planted either in early spring or early fall, depending on the climate of where you live. However, if the ground is not prepared properly, or if it is not laid down right, then the sod can dry out or die. In order to ensure that your lawn becomes healthy and green, here are a few steps to remember when planting sod.

1. Prepare the soil. One of the important things about sod is that it will need to find the right nutrients in your soil once it is laid in your yard. Because of this, it is important to take out all of the old weeds that you have and turn the soil over. After this, you should make sure that the soil is balanced through pH as well as through the type of soil that you have. One way to prepare the soil is to add the right amount of fertilizer and compost for the soil to continue mixing in nutrients to the lawn. The last thing that you need to do in order to prepare the soil is to even out the yard, leaving as much of a flat surface as possible. You should also remove in rocks or debris that will get in the way of planting the sod.

2. Laying out the sod. When you begin laying out the sod, it is best to start on the outer edges and then work into the center with different strips. This is done to prevent the sod from drying out. Because the edges have the strongest tendency to dry out, starting with the sod that has the full width will allow for more nutrients and water to be available at the edges. Because sod isn’t evenly laid, and is different for every yard, you may have to cut strips out of the sod. This is best done in the middle of the yard where there is more sod.

3. Stagger the ends of the sod. If you have to get extra rolls in order to cover your entire lawn, then it is best done by making sure that the ends and beginnings of each piece of sod touch the ends of each other. It is also important to make sure that they don’t overlap. By doing this, you won’t allow gaps of dirt to take over certain places of the sod and will allow for a consistent green lawn. Strips of sod that are adjacent to each other should be staggered between rows. By not lining them up exactly, it will help them to fit together better and grow easier into the ground.

4. Finishing the laying of sod. The first thing to do when finishing the sod is to make sure it is even. If there are parts on your yard that are lower than others, than you can add some topsoil to make sure that the grounding is even. After this is done, you should take a roller and press the sod into the ground. This will remove extra air pockets that you have missed when laying down the sod. This also allows the sod to make easier contact with the soil, which will ensure its growth and will move the roots into the soil.

5. Watering and mowing. Your sod should be watered everyday for a couple of weeks. This will help to ensure that the roots are moving into the soil. It will also allow for the right amount of nutrients to move into the sod. Your sod can easily dry out if the watering is not done. In this time, you shouldn’t have to mow the sod, as it will cause extra stress to the grass. Once you see that the sod is settled into the soil, and is growing at an even rate, than you can start mowing on a regular basis.

Preparing and laying down sod properly is one way in order to make sure that your grass begins to grow healthy and become green throughout the season. By preparing your yard to lay down the sod and by following a few simple tips, your sod will grow into your soil easily. *****

How to Make the Grass Greener on YOUR Side of the Fence

As the summer season approaches, many will be considering the care of their lawn. In deciding the maintenance for your lawn, you can also decide to allow your grass to become greener and healthier than what it has been in the past. The reason why some lawns are greener than others is mostly because of the amount of nutrients that the yard is receiving. The way that lawns are cared for adds onto the green that they are able to produce in return. This maintenance allows nutrients from the soil to be given to the grass. By watering your lawn properly, mowing and aerating your yard, you will be able to make a greener looking lawn.

One of the factors which may be adding to your grass not being as green is the location where it is at. If your lawn is shaded by trees, or other outside factors, it will be harder for it to receive the right amount of sunlight each day. This can eventually lead to the grass dimming out. If a tree is preventing sunlight from reaching the grass, you can trim the branches to allow more sunlight to come in.

Another thing to consider is how much traffic is moving through your lawn. By people moving over your grass, it causes the aeration that is needed through the soil to not move right. This causes the grass to have a lack of oxygen and may also add onto water moving into the soil as much as it should. You can solve this by aerating your lawn. If you notice that the soil is compact, or if there are flat places on the lawn, then you should aerate your lawn. Make sure not to do this in the middle of summer, as it will stress out the grass. In preparation for your yard to become green, it is best to aerate your lawn at least in the spring, and possibly in the fall.

Making your grass greener also includes watering the grass at the right times and with the right amount of water. When watering your lawn, it is best to do so in the early morning, as this will allow the water to move into the soil instead of evaporating by the heat of the sun. It is also important to make sure that you are watering it evenly throughout your yard, instead of in patches. An easy way to do this is to use an irrigation system for your yard. It is also important to make sure that the soil is not staying to wet, or becoming to dry between the days that you water. This will help in making sure that your grass becomes greener.

Another factor in making sure that your grass becomes greener is making sure that lawn thatch and debris aren’t taking over your yard. This may mean raking your lawn consistently and removing thatch that is over a half-inch in your yard. This will allow more aeration to move through your grass, as well as allow the water and nutrients to move freely through the grass and soil.

The soil that you are using for your yard is an important factor to consider in making sure that your lawn stays green. The soil should have the right pH balance, as well as the right texture with the grains. If it doesn’t, you can easily add compost or fertilizer to balance out the soil. This will help with giving the grass the right amount of nutrients, which will help it to stay greener. Depending on the type of soil, or the problems you see from the grass, as well as the time of year which you will be applying the fertilizer, will determine the type of fertilizer that you should get for the lawn.

Another important consideration in keeping your grass greener is when to mow your grass. You should remain aware of the mowing height and clippings that you should use. If you cut your grass too short, it may stress out your grass. If you don’t cut your grass enough, it may cause problems with water and sunlight moving into the soil.

Aeration, proper nutrients, the environment around the lawn, as well as mowing will all help your lawn to become green and stay greener. By keeping the maintenance in mind with your lawn, you will easily be able to produce a green lawn.

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Mow Power – Five Tips in Choosing the Perfect Mower for that Perfect Lawn

Mowing your lawn can often be a hard task if you don’t have the right equipment. By finding the right kind of lawn mower, you can easily cut your grass easier, and allow for a better cut of your lawn. By considering several different factors of your lawn, as well as from the equipment, you will be able to get a better cut and healthier grass. Here are some things to consider when finding the right kind of lawn mower.

1. Consider the shape of your yard. If you are cutting grass on a slope, it is best to find a lawn mower that will be able to move easily on uneven surfaces. There are some lawn mowers that are made with the wheels at a level of twelve inches, instead of the regular height for even surfaces, making it easier to move up and down slopes, without cutting the grass unevenly. If your yard is completely even, then the shape of the wheels as well as the mower should also be considered.

2. Environmental factors. One thing to consider with your lawn mower is how it will effect the environment. Several normal lawn mowers pollute the air with their use of gas. The gas may also cause a mess where it is being poured into the mower. Having a gas mower not only causes pollutants to go in the air, but may cause problems with aeration in the lawn. If this is a concern, then there are different types of lawn mower that won’t cause pollutants or messes with gas. Reel lawn mowers are one option that is available for those who want to be environment friendly. These are usually cheaper than regular lawn mowers, and don’t use a motor to mow the lawn. There are also self-propelled lawn mowers that will make it easier to cut the lawn, and also allow for a more even cut. However, these types of mowers won’t allow you to chop larger debris, such as branches.

3. Cords that are connected to lawn mowers. Several lawn mowers will limit how you can move through your yard because they require cords. If you have a large yard, then you might consider getting a cordless lawn mower, or a reel lawn mower. This will save you time by allowing you to move around your lawn freely, without having to step over the cord and change your position when mowing your lawn. If you have a larger lawn, this is one thing to consider. You may also consider getting a lawn tractor in order to move through larger spaces.

4. Knowing where to put grass clippings. When you mow, you will be left with grass clippings through your yard. One thing to consider with the perfect mower is how you want to handle grass clippings. Several lawn mowers will come with a bag so that the grass clippings won’t move onto your lawn. There are also mulching lawn mowers, which will cut the grass clippings into smaller pieces before they go back onto your lawn, making it so that the clippings don’t prevent aeration or nutrients from water to move into the soil. If you don’t have these clippings taken care of through the mower, you will most likely need to pick them up after you mow.

5. Finding the Right Cut for your Grass. It is suggested that you cut your grass when it is about three to three and a half inches in height and that you don’t cut it down more than one inch. Certain lawn mowers will allow you to pre-measure how much it will cut allowing for an even cut that won’t be too long or short when you are finished. If you don’t want to measure how much you will be cutting from your lawn, finding a lawn mower that will measure for you is one thing to consider.

When considering a lawn mower, there are several different factors to consider. The right equipment will help with your grass, allowing for less maintenance or other problems to occur when mowing your lawn. By finding the right lawn mower, you will be able to cut your grass easily, leaving an even cut and healthier grass.

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Weed Whacked – Ten things you should NOT do In ridding your lawn of weeds

One of the common problems in lawns is an abundance of weeds getting ready to take over the grass that is growing in your lawn. Weeds can be prevented and taken out of your lawn through simple methods. However, there may also be an invitation for more weeds to grow in your yard if the right preventative measures aren’t taken in getting rid of weeds in your lawn. Here are ten things that you should keep in mind and not do when getting rid of the weeds in your yard.

1. Don’t mow at the wrong time. One of the ways to encourage weeds to grow is through low mowing. This won’t allow you to see the weeds as they grow, and will cause them to seed easier, spreading faster through your yard. It is also best not to mow right after you have applied a weed killer, as this will cause the killer to be picked up out of the ground, instead of moving into the weeds.

2. Don’t avoid putting fertilization in the yard. If you don’t fertilize your yard, there won’t be enough nutrients available for your grass. The nutrients that are in the soil will go to the more deeply rooted weeds, which will eventually take over the yard.

3. Don’t fertilize at the wrong time of the year. Depending on the type of fertilization that you decide to use, you should put it in at a certain time of year. Most of these are best in the early spring or early fall. If you put the fertilization in at the wrong time, then it may cause weeds to use the fertilization, as the grass will be stressed from the sun or from other factors.

4. Don’t over-water. If the soil can’t soak up the water that you are giving to the grass, then it is a perfect opportunity for weeds to take the extra water for their own growth. It’s important to make sure that the water is all going into the soil and being used for the grass.

5. Don’t have too much shade. By having shade from bushes or trees, weeds will have an extra chance to grow. Many different types of weeds begin in the shade, as they don’t need as much sunlight, then spread to other parts of the yard. By cutting back tree branches and bushes, this will prevent weeds from growing.

6. Don’t apply herbicides with low soil moisture. While herbicides are used to prevent weeds, doing this when the soil moisture is low will cause damage to the grass as well as not be effective in the prevention of weeds.

7. Don’t add herbicides to new sod or to newly planted seed. If you add herbicides or weed remover before the grass has a chance to grow, it will have the opposite effect than what was intended for the growth of the grass.

8. Don’t use the wrong kind of weed killer. If you use the wrong kind of weed killer, it may cause the opposite effect from what was intended, or have no result at all. It may also damage the grass.

9. Don’t use weed killer in the wrong season. If you use weed killer in the summer, it will most likely evaporate instead of moving into the weeds. The weeds also aren’t really growing in the spring and fall, making it easier to kill them and prevent them from growing in the summer.

10. Don’t use the wrong prevention method. There are several different types of weeds, each which thrive in certain types of environments, with several different factors in relation to the nutrients that are available. It’s important to choose the right type of weed killer, and to identify which type of weeds you have. By doing this, you will be able to kill the weeds easier. You will also allow less maintenance time in getting rid of the weeds in your yard.

By knowing the exact method in taking out weeds in your yard, you will be able to follow an easier process for getting rid of the weeds in your lawn. You will also be able to prevent more weeds from appearing without having to do as much maintenance in your yard. By not knowing exactly what to do for weed prevention, you may be inviting more weeds to grow in your yard.

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Burn Baby Burn: How to Treat Your Sun Scorched Lawn Try as hard as you might to avoid it, your lawn may end up sun scorched for one reason or another. Though you can try to prevent scorching through proper maintenance and drainage, there are also some simple ways to cure this problem once it occurs. Scorching occurs when your grass turns brown due to the sun and heat. During dry and drought periods during the summer, grass is more likely to be damaged. Reductions or restrictions on water usage can also make it more likely that your grass will be scorched. New sod can be particularly prone to damage. This is a particular problem if you are not watering the new sod as often as it needs. Watering often will help establish its root system underground. Your lawn can also be burned by the use or overuse of some pesticides or improperly applied fertilizers. To avoid scorching, consistent watering is important. Water can also be the best cure for the sun-scorched lawn. If your grass is scorched and not dead, then water alone might be able to revive it back to its former state. When you water, you want to make sure that you water deeply, letting the water soak in at least six inches deep. If you are only doing shallow watering the roots come much closer to the surface and are more prone to damage by extreme heat and cold because they are much more exposed. You may also consider adding sugar to your grass. Silly as this might sound it will benefit the organism and microbes and help enrich your soil. You should spread one pound of sugar for every three hundred square feet on your lawn. What you want to avoid is using a lot of fertilizer or weed killer. These kill the microbes that are beneficial to your grass and which you’ll need to get it back to the green color you love. Adding sugar will free those microbes and keep them alive. If the sun scorching has killed areas of your grass, then you can fill or plug those bare spots with sod. This will be less expensive than replanting your entire lawn. You can remove the dead sections and then add new sod to those sections or depending on the season when doing this; you can start to re-grow your grass with grass seed. Be warned though – grass seed can be tricky at the best of times and you may end up with a very patchy looking lawn. New sod may be expensive, but if you are only using little patches of it to fill in dead spots on your lawn, it won’t set you back too much. In a worst-case scenario, you will have to re-sod or re-seed your entire lawn. As daunting as this might sound, it is sometimes the only solution, particularly if the damage is extensive. If you do need to do this, then you need to make sure that you look after your newly planted grass in the manner required to prevent the damage from reoccurring. The last thing you want is to start an unending cycle of seeding, scorching and re-seeding. The sun can do a great deal of damage to your lawn, but so can fertilizers and weed killers that have been improperly applied. When looking at applying fertilizer, you must read the directions carefully and only apply it at the right time of the year. Using certain products in the summer will burn your lawn, even though they may be fine to use at other times. The best solution (again) is watering, but you might also consider applying activated charcoal to your grass. This can detoxify your grass and reverse the effects of improperly applied weed and feed. If the damage is too extensive then your only option will be to re-sod or seed to bring the grass back to what it once was. When dealing with a sun-scorched or burned lawn, the most important thing is to give your lawn the love and care it needs. A little TLC will help prevent sun scorching and it will also help cure it. If your lawn is sun-scorched then water is really your best friend and will really help in returning your lawn to it former green glory. ***** Protecting your Turf: How to Keep Your Neighbor’s Weed Problem from Becoming Yours You do everything in your power to care for your lawn and prevent weeds from infesting your grass – but what you do isn’t always enough. Even if you are a good neighbor and take care of your home and your garden, not everyone in your area will do the same. If your neighbors don’t care for their lawns, then their weed problems can quickly becomes yours too. Here are a few things you can do to protect your lawn from unwanted visits from neighborhood weeds. The first thing you want to do is try talking to your neighbor. If you have a neighbor who is not caring for his or her lawn, then you should try communicating with them about the problem. Letting them know that their failure to care for their own lawn isn’t only affecting the appearance of their home, but also the health of your lawn might make all the difference. Sometimes people are unaware of how inadequate garden care can affect those surrounding them. You may run into a few people who are less than neighborly about the situation, but most people will be very reasonable about these sorts of things when they are brought to their attention. Proper lawn care will go a long way in preventing weeds from taking hold. If your grass is strong and healthy from proper mowing, fertilization, watering and irrigation then weeds are less likely to get a foothold in your lawn. Once the weeds have started to spread, you’ll want to deal with them as quickly as possible. Throughout the growing season, weeds are a problem you need to stay on top with whether they come from near or a bit further a field. Start by removing weeds that have come into your garden. You can dig, chop or hoe these invaders. Doing this right at the start will put you one step ahead of the weeds. To prevent further weed development, you can lay down some mulch over the soil. Putting down this mulch will prevent weeds from germinating. You can use bark, leaves or even old newspaper – just about anything that will cover the surface of the soil and discourage weed growth. You can also try to prevent weed growth by growing shrubs to their full size. The larger the shrubs are the more shade they will make on the surface of the soil. This shade will choke the weeds before they really get a chance to become established. You can also plant ground covers that will choke the weeds. If you have a great deal of ground covering plants, the weeds won’t have any space left to grow in. Even though you do your best to prevent weeds, they will occasionally crop up here and there. You need to make sure that you are pulling weeds as they appear so that they never go to seed in your garden. If you do not stay on top of this, you could end up with a very extensive and time-consuming weed problem. You can use chemicals for weed control, but your best option is to start out with less toxic methods. If you find that you must resort to weed killers, always wear protective clothing, eyewear and gloves to reduce the risk to yourself. There are some pre-emergent chemicals on the market, which are preventive herbicides – meaning that they control weeds before they start to grow. You should only use these sorts of herbicides after clearing your lawn of weeds. Pre-emergent chemicals should not be used on weeds that have already begun to grow. There are all sorts of ways that weeds can be spread – through vehicles, through animals and, of course, through your neighbor’s lawn. The best thing you can do to prevent your neighbor’s weed problem from becoming yours is put in place the preventive measures discussed above and pull weeds as they come. Also remember that a neighborly chat won’t go amiss if your next-door neighbor’s lawn is cause for concern. Before it escalates into a source of stress for you or a neighborhood tiff, speak with your neighbor about the problem calmly and reasonably. Sometimes bringing it to their attention is all that needs to be done. ***** Rooting for the Perfect Lawn: Maintaining Proper Nutrient Levels for your Lawn Maintaining proper nutrient levels is an important, but often overlooked part of a healthy lawn care routine. If the nutrient levels in your soil drop below what they should be, your grass and plants will suffer. That’s why you need to be aware of the nutrient levels and take steps to correct the levels if they drop below what is needed for a healthy lawn. There are many factors that contribute to the nutrient level of your soil over time. The type of grass and soil, as well as weather conditions and the age of your grass will all factor into your lawn’s particular nutrient level. If you are concerned about the nutrient levels in your lawn you can perform a simple pH test on your soil to ensure that you have the right balance of nutrients. This test is the only way to know for sure whether your soil has the right balance of nutrients. Because there are so many factors that can influence the amount and times of fertilizer applications, a pH test is the only way to get an accurate reading of your soil’s nutrient levels. You can have a soil test done at a lab or you can purchase one of the many do-it-yourself kits that are now on the market. These kits are inexpensive and easy to do at home, but you may not get as accurate a result as you would from a professional lab. If you discover that your nutrient levels are below what they should be, then you can fertilize your grass. You want to avoid over fertilizing your lawn. Fertilizing should only be done when nutrient levels go below what is required for the maintenance of a healthy lawn. Adding compost to your soil will help with the nutrient levels, but the release of nutrients will occur slowly over time. Organic fertilizers will supply the type of nutrients you need, though they are in a slow release form. You can also purchase inorganic fertilizers at your local garden center. These commercial fertilizers are usually made up of three main nutrients needed for healthy lawn care. The first is nitrogen, which gives your grass a deep green color and promotes growth. Next is phosphorous. This nutrient encourages root growth. Finally there is potassium for stress resistance. Your soil needs all of these nutrients to really thrive, but they are needed in different levels, with nitrogen being the most used and needed of these elements. If there is too much nitrogen though, there will be too little root growth and too little energy stored for the winter months. That’s why your fertilizer mix should be a balance of all three nutrients. There should be numbers on the fertilizer bag, which tell you what percentage of these three nutrients is in the mix you’re looking at. The numbers will always be presented in the order N-P-K (N for nitrogen, P for phosphorous and K for potassium). You will need to make sure to water your lawn after applying an inorganic fertilizer (unless the packaging tells you not to). If you do not water after applying this kind of fertilizer, you may burn sections of your lawn. Before applying fertilizer, you need to measure your lawn area property. The basic ratio of nutrients to land space should be listed on the bag of fertilizer you purchase. When doing your calculations, you need to make sure that you are just measuring your lawn area and not the entire size of your property. You must subtract any non-lawn area from the size of your property (for example your house, driveway and planted beds). The rate and timing of fertilization is really important to the health of your lawn. Some soils only require fertilization in the fall, some in the spring and fall and some lawns require anywhere from four to six applications per year. The best time to fertilize is in the fall rather than the spring. In the fall, fertilizer helps the lawn grow and store carbohydrates to help through the winter months. Spring fertilization can actually deplete stored energy and the result can be excessive growth, which must be kept under control with extra mowing and a lot of extra work on your part. ***** Climate Control: How Where You Live Dictates the Type of Grass in your Lawn When deciding on the type of grass for your garden there are many things you need to consider. Depending on the amount of maintenance you are willing to do and what sort of activities you want your lawn area for, you will want to select a grass seed mix that meets your. You will also want to choose a mix that suits your climate because different grasses thrive in different climates. Here is an overview of some of the main types of grasses and which climates they are best suited to. Bahia Bahia grass does well in humid heat climates. It is deeply rooted and quite tough and resistant. The texture of Bahia grass is a bit rough, but its heat and heavy rainfall resistance more than makes up for that. Centipede This type of grass requires a warm climate and needs to be in sunny spots or partial shade. Centipede grass is tough and it can thrive with very little care in southern climates. Centipede can survive where other grasses have failed to take root. Bentgrass Bentgrass can be a slightly challenging variety, but if you are up for that challenge then you will be rewarded with a lawn that looks and feels like carpeting. The texture of Bentgrass is quite fine and this type of grass requires a great deal of mowing to prevent it from becoming spongy. Bentgrass is suitable for small areas and homemade putting greens, but is not practical for an entire lawn. Buffalo Grass Buffalo grass is native to the Great Plains and has only recently been used for home lawns. This grass is suited to a dry climate and has a high tolerance for cold and drought. It really doesn’t require much maintenance and really needs less watering and fertilizing than most other varieties of grass.

Bluegrass Bluegrass does well in more moderate climates and it is best suited to heavy, well-drained soil. The color of Bluegrass is unmatched by other varieties, as is the texture. There are some types of Bluegrass that can grow in the shade, but most varieties require half a day of sunlight. Perennial Ryegrass You can mix in Perennial Ryegrass with your bluegrass and fescue for improved resistance to wear and tear. It can also be used in warmer climates as a kind of winter grass if it is planted in the early fall. The Perennial Ryegrass will maintain its color throughout the winter and then will died in the heat of the summer just as the permanent grass comes to full life again. Perennial Ryegrass requires a great deal of direct sunlight to grow. Fine Fescue Fine Fescue is not the kind of grass that can tolerate much wear and tear, but there are some benefits to this type of grass. This variety can grow in partial shade and can even grow in dry shade under a tree. Fine Fescues can survive in spots that are cold, dry and windy. Fine Fescues do well in cooler climates and can even survive brutal winter weather if they are well fed. Tall Fescue Similar in some ways to Fine Fescue, the Tall Fescue grass variety is really adaptable and has become particularly popular in climates that have warm summers and mild winters. Tall Fescue grass can grow in partial shade and also does well beneath trees – particularly those that shed leaves every fall. If you fertilizer correctly, Tall Fescue will reward you with a brilliant green color throughout most of the year. Zoysia This type of grass is best suited to sunny and well-drained spaces. It does take a bit of time to establish itself so you will need to have a bit of patience if you choose to grown this type of grass from seed, rather than laying down sod. The texture of this grass is fine and looks luxurious, but all of that comes at a price – you will need to spend a lot of time caring for your grass and nurturing it along. Picking the right type of grass for your climate will make all the difference. If you take some time now and research different grass types, you will save yourself a lot of time and hassle in the long run. ***** Fescue to the Rescue: Five Places Where Fescue Makes for a Great Lawn Fescues are grasses particularly well suited to cool season climates, though their resistance to drought also makes them suited to dry climates. There are both tall and short fescue varieties. Both kinds share the same main characteristics: they are shade tolerant, stay green all year long and are tolerant of droughts. First introduced into the United States in the early part of the 19th century, fescue grasses can be found growing in low, damp meadows and pastures throughout North American and Europe, as well as some areas of Northern Africa. The fescue category is actually composed of about one hundred difference sub-species of grasses. Some of these include creeping red, hard, sheep and chewing fescue. Depending on your needs, you will want to look at the difference species of Fescue grasses. For example, Red Fescue has narrow, deep blades and can be used to establish a lawn very quickly, whereas Hard Fescue is a really hardy grass that is slow growing and requires little maintenance. Fescue varieties are often mixed in with other types of grass to increase the health and vitality of a lawn. The things that all Fescues share are an ability to grow in shady spots, drought resistance and an ability to grow well with most other varieties of grass. Here are some of the best spots to use Fescue grasses: 1. Cool, Damp Spots Fescues are most suited to cooler and damper climates. Tall Fescue can be somewhat drought resistant by going into a dormant state when there is little water to be found, but on the whole fescue grasses are more suited to low lying, damp areas. 2. Clay Soils Fescue grasses can be adapted to different soil types, but it is soils high in clay levels that most appeal to this variety of grass. Clay soil with a high level of organic material will yield the best results. If you have soil that is rich in clay and organic matter, then fescue grass may be the best option for you. 3. Shady Spots This type of grass can grow in partial shade. Though virtually all grass needs some kind of sun or light to thrive, there are many varieties that need more light than your landscape is able to provide. If that is the case then you might consider looking into Fescue grass, which can survive in cool, shady spots. 4. Transitional Zones Though Fescue was originally thought best suited to cooler season climates, it can also work really well in what is know as the transitional zone of the United States. Places like Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and the northern parts of Georgia and Texas are all part of this transitional zone. Fescue grasses can do very well in areas like because cool season grasses do not survive due to humid summers and warm season grasses fair no better because of colder winters. If you live in this kind of transitional zone, Fescue grasses might be able to thrive where other types of grasses have failed. 5. Round the Old Oak Tree Because Fescues can survive in shady spots, these grasses do really well under trees. It is often difficult to find grasses that will do well under the shade of trees, but Fescue is one of these varieties. If you’ve had trouble in the past with grass around your trees, then you might try planting a variety of Fescue grass. Because Fescue can do well in partial shade, they are well suited to spots under trees that shed their leaves every year. If you are in a warm season growing climate, than Fescue really isn’t the best option for you. There are many varieties of grasses that do well in southern climates, but Fescues aren’t one of them. If you are in a northern climate or the transitional zone, then Fescue might be a good option to consider. Because of the hardiness of this grass, it will work well on its own in certain areas of your lawn and also play nice with other varieties of grass. Mixing in Fescue grasses will help other varieties of grasses you already have in your lawn, perform better, and they might even fix problem shady areas on your lawn. ***** Southern Sod: Three Types of Grass that Grow Well in the South You may not realize that different types of grasses, just like other plants and shrubs, have different needs and some varieties are more suited to some climates than others. There are grasses that grow better in moderate or moist climates and then other types that do much better in hot, dry locales. If you live in a southerly climate, then here are three grasses that grow well in your area. 1. Bermudagrass Bermudagrass can be both a blessing and curse. It can be uncontrollable and can invade your flowerbeds and produce an uncontrollable amount of grass seeds. All of this stress and aggravation is worth it though, especially if you have neither the time nor the inclination to nurture your lawn. Bermudagrass can survive for decades with very little care and can also work well as a winter lawn in place of perennial ryegrass. This grass is tough and hardy and is often used on roadsides in the south because of its ability to stand up to real wear and tear with little maintenance. Bermudagrass needs a warm climate. It is both drought and wear resistant. It is fast growing and the comma Bermuda variety is quite cheap. It does need full sun to thrive and has a very low tolerance for shady areas. Don’t plant Bermudagrass if your lawn does not get a great deal of direct sunlight. 2. Centipede Like Bermudagrass, centipede is quite low maintenance and does not require frequent mowing or fertilization. It does not, however, grow quickly and it cannot withstand heavy traffic in the way that Bermudagrass can. Centipede is a tough grass variety that is particularly suited to areas in the lower South and where the soil is quite acidic. This variety of grass can take root where many other grasses have failed. Centipede grass can grow in some shade, but you will get best results if it is full sun or almost full sunspots. Centipede grass should be fertilized in the spring with low-nitrogen fertilizer. You need to make sure that your fertilizer does not contain phosphorus. The ideal mix to look for is 15-0-15. The ideal pH level for centipede grass is between four and a half and five and a half. 3. Zoysia Zoysia is a very dark and dense turf and it the most tolerant of cold of the entire southern climate suited grasses. The ideal pH level for this variety of grass is between six and seven. Zoysia is quite slow to take root if grown right from seed. You can bypass this difficultly by laying sod, rather than growing the grass right from seed. If you decide to go with sees, then you will have to have a great deal of patience. Zoysia does best in full sun, but there are some sub-varieties that can do well in the shade. The Emerald Zoysia variety has a high shade tolerance. Zoysia also has somewhat of a drought tolerance, though you will need to stay on top of the water level and make sure that you water your grass if the drought lasts longer than a week. Zoysia can deal with some dry spells, but not really lengthy ones. Zoysia grasses should be fertilized in both the spring and the fall. This variety of grass is the most attractive of the warm season grasses, but it comes at a price. Zoysia grass takes a great deal of care and nurturing on your part to achieve the luxurious look it is known for. If you don’t have the time or energy to devote to this type of grass, then you should probably consider planting one of the other varieties of warm climate grasses. There are some other warm climate grasses that will do well if you live in a southern climate. There are also some tall fescue varieties that can do well in southern areas too, especially those that are resistant to droughts. At your local garden center, they should have a mix for your area. Grass companies have spent a great deal of time and money researching the best mix for your area. If you don’t have the time or want to do extensive research into the specific kinds of grass that are best suited to your land, then one of these grass seeds mixtures may be your best bet. ***** Fertile Ground: Five Basic Rules to Applying Fertilizer to your Lawn The right fertilizer can make all the difference in your lawn’s appearance and texture, but applying the wrong product or applying the fertilizer in the wrong manner may seriously damage your grass. Here are five basic rules that you should keep in mind when planning to apply fertilizer to your lawn. 1. Choose the Right Fertilizer Because there are so many different soil variations, there are many different varieties of fertilizer. Before choosing a fertilizer for your lawn, you should check the pH level of your soil. You can do so by sending a soil sample off to a lab for analysis or you can get do-it-yourself soil test kit at your local home or garden center. Once you know the levels in your soil, you can fix a fertilizer with the right balance of elements to correct the nutrient levels in your soil. You can use organic matter to fertilize, but it will be slow releasing and will take some time to adjust the nutrient levels since it is all done naturally. If you choose to buy a non-organic fertilizer (which most gardeners do), then you need to keep three letters in mind: N, P and K. These letters stand for nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K). All three are essential to good growing conditions and should be present in the right balance in your soil. Nitrogen gives grass its deep green color and also encourages growth. Phosphorous is responsible for promoting root growth. Finally, potassium connects to the stress resistance of the grass. On the bag of fertilizer you choose there will be three numbers – these numbers represent the percentage of each element in the fertilizer mix. The numbers will always be presented in the order N-P-K. When you choose a fertilizer mix, you need to know the nutrient levels in your soil area and you also need to know what kind of a mix your variety of grass requires. 2. Know When and How Often to Fertilize Different varieties of grass have different fertilizer needs. For some grasses, you will only need to fertilize in the fall. The fall is the ideal time to fertilize because the grass can store energy for the long winter ahead. Fertilizing in the spring can sometimes encourage more growth than the grass roots can keep up with. There are some varieties of grass that require fall and spring and there are other types that require fertilization anywhere from four to six times during the growing season. You need to determine what kind of grass you have and then research how often it requires fertilization. 3. Measure Your Lawn Space You need to make sure that you know that size of your lawn. When measuring how much fertilizer you need make sure that you are only figuring out how much lawn you have. You need to subtract the size of your house, driveway and any planted drives from the size of your property to get the size of your lawn. The standard ratio of nutrients to land space should be listed on the side of the fertilizer bag. 4. Apply the Fertilizer Evenly You want to make sure that you are applying the fertilizer evenly across your lawn. You do not want to end up with too much or too late in any areas. You should use a fertilizer spreader and if you do not own one, you should see about borrowing one from a neighbor or renting one from your local garden center. If you are unsure of what setting to use on the fertilizer spreader, you should consult the bag of fertilizer. Most fertilizers have the settings for the most common spreaders listed on the back of bag. 5. Plenty of Water You should water right after you apply the fertilizer –within at least 24 hours. Water is needed to activate the fertilizer and to prevent the fertilizer granules from burning your lawn. Many people fertilize just before they expect it to rain, but you need to make sure that enough water makes it onto your grass within 24 hours of fertilizer application. This will ensure that your lawn sustains no damage during fertilization and that you get the lush, green color that you expect. ***** Tis’ the Season: Why Grasses Only Grow in Certain Climates You may already be aware that certain types of plants are best suited to certain climates, but grasses? Are grasses only suited to certain climates? Isn’t grass just grass? What does it matter where I live? It is in fact true that different types of grasses can only grow in certain climates. Because different varieties of grass require different things, not all types of grass will thrive or even survive in all climates. Just like shrubs and flowers, different grasses have different needs and your climate may not be able to provide what certain varieties need. When choosing a grass mix for your lawn you need to keep many things in mind, including your climate, moisture level, soil mix and amount of sunlight. The first thing you need to consider is whether you in a warm, cool or moderate grass growing regions. Places lie in the north are classed as cool growing zones, whereas as southern regions are warm growing zones. There is also the area in the United States known as the transitional zone which has warmer summers than cool growing zones, but cooler winters than those common in the warm growing zone. Bahia and Centipede are examples of grass varieties that are suited to warmer climates, whereas Fescue grasses do better in moderate or cooler growing zones. If you live in a very warm southerly climate or a cold northern spot, then it will be much more difficult for you to grow many varieties of grasses. Most grass varieties are not suited to these real extremes in temperature and moisture. Different soil components also contribute to the types of grasses that will grow in your area. Some grasses do better in soils that are rich in clay and organic matter, whereas others strictly grow in dry, sandy spots. You may want to perform a pH test on your soil to check the nutrient levels and soil composition. Grass varieties also differ in terms of moisture. Some grasses are more suited to damp or wet climates, whereas other types thrive in dry climates and are drought resistant. If you are in a drier climate, then it is important that you choose a grass that is able to withstand long periods without rain. There are some grasses out there that become dormant during droughts, but which come back to life again after watering. These are good choices for climates that see very little rain during the summer months. Many seeds mixes are a combination of different grass types. Mixing grasses in this way will help improve the color, texture and overall strength of your lawn. Because some grasses are hardier than others, a mix will give you an overall look and feel that one single variety of grass may not. No matter what your grass needs, you should be able to find or create a grass seed mix at your local garden center that is just right for your specific needs. You also need to be aware of how many hours of sunlight your grass can expect to get. Many grasses need at least half a day of direct sunlight, whereas there are some, like Fescue, that can survive in partial shade. Different grasses have different tolerance levels for shade so be sure to take this into consideration when choosing a grass type for your law. When choosing a grass, you also need to keep in mind how much effort you’re willing to put into your lawn care. Some varieties of grasses require little care, but many need a lot of patience and nurturing to really thrive. If you haven’t the time or patience, then you want to choose a no-fuss variety that may not look as good or feel as good as other grasses, but will take very little time or energy on your part to grow. Choosing a grass that it suited to your climate is one of the most important steps on the way to a healthy vital lawn. If you seed or sod with a grass that is suited to your areas soil type and climate and care for it properly, you will be rewarded with a dazzling front and back lawn that will be the envy of your neighborhood. ***** Five Tips to Maintain a Healthy Lawn while Landscaping Landscaping your home can be an exciting and invigorating experience, particularly if you plan to do the work yourself. There is something that can get lost in this process though – a healthy lawn. To often your grass pays a price when your attention gets diverted to other sections of your garden. Here are a few suggestions of ways to prevent your lawn from suffering while working on your new landscaping projects. 1. Proper planning You will probably spend a lot of time planning the landscaping of your new garden. Don’t forget about your grass when planning your new layout! While water features and plants are more exciting than the location and shape of grass, it is these green areas that will give your garden its unity and allow you the space to enjoy your new creation. Grass many seem a secondary consideration, but proper planning ahead of time can save a lot of stress on your grass in terms of cutting and moving. 2. Be Aware of Wear and Tear Landscaping often involves a lot of moving of soil and stones and plants so you want to think ahead and consider what spots on your grass will receive the most traffic. Some grasses stand up to wear and tear better than others so you need to figure out what type of grass you have and how it might fair. Try to reduce the stress on your grass by limiting the amount of traffic that goes across it. You could even lay down boards on the spots that you anticipate the most traffic going through. This may mush up your grass a bit, but will protect it from any major damage. If you do lay down boards, you’ll want to make sure that you list them up for mowing and watering so your grass gets all of the care it needs. 3. Continue Your Usual Maintenance After spending hours in your garden landscaping, the last thing you probably want to do is cut the grass. It is important that you be consistent in your maintenance throughout the landscaping process. By staying on top of things like length and weeds, you may save yourself valuable time later on. Though it may be the last thing you want to do after a long day slaving away in the garden, your grass still needs the usual maintenance. 4. Try a Little TLC If you do neglect your grass while working on your landscaping project, then be sure to give it lots of TLC when the project is over with. Grass that has been ignored can often be brought back to it original state with a little care and attention. You’ll need to be consistent with your mowing and watering and you might also need to apply fertilizer depending on the state of your grass and the time of the year. You’ll also need to address any weed problems that have crept up while your attention was focused elsewhere. If you have neglected your grass to the point that it has brown spots, then you will need to try to bring that grass back to life through a lot of watering. You can also apply sugar to these brown spots to get the microbes active again. If the damage is too extensive, then try encouraging new growth by spreading grass seed. You can lay new sod if there is no chance for your grass after the landscaping process is over. 5. Water, Water Everywhere Water can work wonders on neglected grass. When working on your landscaping project, be sure that you are giving your new plants enough water, but don’t forget about your grass. Consistent watering can often revive grass that has long been neglected in favor of other gardening projects. Grass that has lost its lush texture and rich color can be revitalized simply through watering in many cases. Watering while the grass is under the stress of landscaping can also really be beneficial. By ensuring that your grass is getting the nutrients and moisture that it needs, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of time in the long run and guaranteeing that your newly landscaped garden looks perfect right down to each blade of grass. ***** Green Bag It: How to Compost your Grass Clippings Composting your grass clippings is not a difficult process, though it may require a bit more work than you might think and these clippings can sometimes cause problems in your compost pile if not properly composted. Taking a few simple precautions will prevent your grass from turning into a smelly and slimy problem.

Grasscycling is the easiest way to deal with your grass clippings. With grasscycling, you just live the grass clippings on the lawn. If you lave grass clippings where they fall naturally from the mower, they will act like any other natural fertilizer. This will save you money on fertilizer and time on bagging or moving grass cuttings. Any grass mower can become a grasscycler – all you need to do is remove the grass catcher from your lawn mower. You will need to make sure you are mowing when the grass is dry to prevent the old clippings from clogging up your lawn mower and keep the blade of your mower sharp. Let the grass clipping lie like this is the simplest way to deal with them, though it may not be practical if you have young children or pets.

If the idea of grasscycling does not appeal to you, then here is the proper way to compost your grass clippings.

Your freshly trimmed grass has more moisture and a much higher nitrogen level than most other garden materials. Freshly mowed grass can often clump together and this is a problem because there is no room for oxygen to get in. If you compost your grass clippings like this, you may find that you have a serious odor problem to deal with. If you follow the following process, you should be able to reap the benefits of adding fresh grass clippings to your compost and also avoid any sort of odor problem. Grass can also develop a white mold if there is no air getting in.

To start with, you want to add high carbon materials (also referred to as browns) to your compost pile. These types of materials include wood chips, leaves and broken up sticks. Adding browns to your compost will prevent the grass clippings from clumping up the compost and will help oxygen circulate. You want to alternate your layers – a layer of grass clippings and then one of browns.

You can also get the oxygen in your compost pile circulate by aerating it. Aerating or oxygenating your compost pile involves the turning of the material. If you are going to be adding grass clippings to your pile then you need to make sure that you are aerating your compost pile on a regular basis. If your pile is mainly made up of grass clippings then there is nothing for the gas has nothing to ignite and the pile turns into a disgusting slimy mess.

If you are going to be continually composting your grass clippings then you are going to have more grass clippings than other materials in your compost pile. What is the solution? The solution is obviously multiple compost piles. You’ll go through a process all summer where you are rotating between the piles and then consolidating piles as they become more manageable.

If you do not want to have two or three compost piles on the go, you can also try baking your grass clippings in the sun for a day before adding them to your compost pile. You can spread them on your driveway or any other flat surface for at least a day to prevent the clippings from souring up your compost pile.

If you have recently applied pesticides or herbicides to your lawn, then you do not want to add those grass clippings to your compost pile until the rain has washed them clean. You really need to be careful about adding clippings to your pile that have come in contact with chemicals like these.

Another tip that you might find useful is to add lime to your compost pile (or grass heap if it’s mainly made up of grass). This will kick start the decomposing process and prevent mold from forming and your pile from developing a nasty odor.

Follow these simple guidelines and you should have no problem turning your old grass clippings into compost that will benefit your whole garden.

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