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Watering Trees and Shrubs: How to Care for Landscape Plants
For much of the country, it has been very wet as of late. However, as summer begins, the likelihood of a prolonged dry spell seems probable. The recent rain has allowed trees and shrubs to grow well and produce lots of leaves. If the rain stops for an extended period of time, some plants may drop some of the extra leaves as the plants adjust to the drier weather. Depending on the extent of the dry weather, a few leaves dropping should not be
Controlling and Getting Rid of Grubs in the Lawn
If you had a problem with grubs in your lawn last year, this is the time to apply a preventative grub control treatment to keep them from becoming a problem again this year. Waiting until activity is seen to start getting rid of the grubs in your lawn could mean you need a major lawn overhaul. In some cases, it is not as much from the grubs feeding on the root system of your lawn, but from raccoons, skunks, armadillos, or ot
During a Drought, Check Your Sprinklers and Water Efficiently
Most of us don’t think about watering our lawns in the spring; we generally rely on Mother Nature to do that for us. If you are fortunate to have an automatic sprinkler system, you may have delayed the start up process since the lawn might look good right now. Unfortunately, that is not true across the entire country. As you can see from the most recent Drought Monitor map, the west coast and some of the east coast are experiencing very dry weather.
Weed Identification Guide: These Weeds Are the Worst
What are the worst weeds to have in your lawn? That is a difficult question to answer for the entire country, as certain weeds grow better in some areas than others. There are a few that seem to grow just about everywhere, so for now I’ll discuss them—and how to control them—in a brief weed identification guide. These are listed in no particular order, except being the ones I thought of first. 1. Wild Violet
Outdoor Ant Control: Killing Ants in the Lawn
Do you have an ant problem in your yard? The following question came from a reader through Spring-Green’s Ask the Lawn Care Expert Q & A. Read to learn how Harold suggests removing an ant problem in your yard. “Dear Lawn Care Expert, I have patches of slightly dry, yellow grass amongst healthy green grass. When I dug up one of the yellow patches, there was a large amount of ants underneath! Can the ants damage the grass roots? What chemicals can I use to best treat this prob
When You Should Core Aerate and Reseed Your Lawn
What Is Core Aeration? You may have heard about core aeration from a local lawn care company or have read about the procedure in gardening publications. Simply put, core aeration is a process where a machine travels across a lawn or turfgrass area and removes and then deposits plugs of soil and thatch back onto the lawn. This process opens up the lawn to provide more air, water, and nutrients to the root sys
Weed Control Simplified: Kill Your Weeds, Not Your Lawn
It’s warming up and lawns are growing once again, which unfortunately means the weeds are, too. Nothing detracts from the aesthetic beauty of a well-maintained lawn than seeing a bunch of puffball dandelions spread across it. Some people may like the bright yellow dandelions, but the flowers quickly turn into puffballs and spread seeds throughout the neighborhood. It can take as a little as a day to go from flower to puffball! When I go t
Overwatering Your Lawn Can Lead to Brown Patches in the Grass
Many customers equate a brown spot in their lawn as the lawn needing more water, when actually the opposite is what is often required. Too much water saturates the soil, filling up all the air space between the soil particles with water. This results in an anaerobic condition; basically the plant drowns, as it does not have enough oxygen to survive. How Do Sprinkler Systems Overwater the Lawn? Having a sprinkler system is great
How to Grow Grass in Shady Areas
Does your lawn look like the picture below? Is it thin, bumpy, and looking overall just bad ? Finally, are there a number of trees shading the ground underneath? Trying to grow grass in a shady area can be a challenge even for the most hardcore lawn enthusiast, let alone the weekend warrior. Follow these steps to better your chances of growing grass in the shady areas of your lawn. The first thing to understand is that there are situatio
How to Transplant a Tree the Right Way
In a past career, I worked at a tree nursery and dug many trees for transplanting. It is not an easy job, regardless of how fit you feel you are. I was fortunate to learn how to “ball and burlap” trees from some very excellent workers at the nursery, so I feel qualified to let you know how difficult it is to “ball and burlap” a tree. Before you think about how to transplant a tree from one location to another, really consider your abil