Archive → May, 2009

Benefits of a Healthy Lawn

30 May, 05:11, by spencer Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

A nice healthy lawn can be enjoyed by you, your family, and everyone else in the neighborhood. Having a well taken care of lawn can be fun to play on, good for the environment, and give your home and neighborhood increased aesthetic value. Each of the hundreds of thousands of blades of grass in your lawn contributes to a healthy lawn.

Fun Lawn Facts

625 square ft of lawn produces enough oxygen for one person. A 5000 sq ft lot produces enough oxygen for 8 people. (Scotts: Lawns: Guide to a beautiful lawn. Christians).

Lawns cut down on pollution and noise. 1 acre of grass can break down 100 of pounds of pollutants including “sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen fluoride, nitrates and other greenhouse gases.” (Solve global warming, cap and trade, and urban growth boundaries from your own back lawn.)

Grasses provide air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. Even if the sidewalk gets over 100 degrees, grasses stay at regular temperature of 75 in the summer.

What are other benefits of a healthy lawn?

Healthy Lawns are beautiful. Just looking at a freshly cut and edged lawn can be as refreshing as looking at a work of art. (Make sure to get a lawn chair, a glass of lemonade, and enjoy the view.)

They are safe for kids and pets. If lawns where bad for you, they would come with a warning label. Pets and kids love the out doors. Inside things can be static and unchanging but outside the world is always changing. Plus there is a lot more to see and bark at.

They’re great for parties. Did you run out of room inside? Or, maybe you just didn’t want to keep the whole house spotless, well move the party outside and let everyone enjoy your lawn with you!

These lawns are also durable. People might complain about getting walked all over, but your lawns never do.

They are a good place for insects and microorganisms to live.

They prevent erosion. Grass roots thickly penetrate into soil and hold it together.

Lawns help to clean dust particles out of the air. (Jupiter has fierce storm because it does not have adequate amounts of lawn.)

Lawns help me get in my regular ½ hour of exercise each week!

If you have questions on where to by a rolling lawn aerator please visit our site.

Six ways to do Lawn Repair

29 May, 05:00, by spencer Tags: , , , , , ,

To tune up your lawn it is good to do the following. One or more of the following may be applicable. How the lawn should be repaired really has a lot to do with what is causing the problems.

These are some things that can help

Thatching- especially if you have cool weather grasses, moss instead of lawn, or a lot of dead material in your lawn. Experts recommend thatching cool weather grasses once every 3 years.   (For on dethatching a lawn.) 

2) Aerating- this helps to soften hard soils. It also allows deepen penetration of air water and fertilizer into the soil. The main purpose of aeration is to allow roots to go deeper and eventually create thick, self-sustaining turf.

3) Regular mowing- never mow more than 1/3 of the blade at a time. The general rule is mow high, mow often. For more information see our article on mowing. Mow more frequently during peak growing seasons and less frequently during slow grow seasons.

4) Fertilizing often also helps maintain a thick healthy turf. With the advent of slow release fertilizers, one can usually get away with fertilizing every two months during periods of active growth. In the northwest, this would be about 4 times a year.

5) Top soil or topdressing is also a good idea, especially when the soil is lacking in organic material. It can also be very good to use when you are over seeding.

6) Over seeding. With cool weather grasses this is best to do in the spring or in the fall. With warm weather grasses it is best to over seed in the late spring or early summer. If it never gets cold where you live, we can overseed any time the grass is actively growing. The most important thing to remember when overseeding is to water your lawn daily and keep the grass seed and seedlings wet. This will affect the germination rate of the new seed.

What is a liquid lawn aerator?

How to Properly Mow a Lawn

28 May, 05:25, by spencer Tags: , , , , ,

Is your lawn a cut above the rest? The best way to drive your neighbors green with envy is to have healthier and greener lawn. To really make them change color, mow your lawn a half an inch higher than theirs and mow it more often. There are two mistakes most people make and some even do both. Most people mow their lawn to either too short or they don’t mow it very often.

A lot of people mow short so they won’t have to mow as often. Mowing a lawn to short is detrimental for two reasons. First, roots don’t grow very well when the grass is to short and second the grass can get burned or dried out very easily. Mowing the grass to short can also make it appear yellow. A short lawn will also respond slower to fertilizers.

Mowing a lawn infrequently allows the grass to get to long. Long grasses expound more energy on shoot and less on roots. In addition grass is less dense because each plant takes up more room. When you do mow the lawn short, the ending result is a lawn that looks sparse or patches and this is a perfect invitation for weeds.

Most grasses need to be mowed at a height of between 2 and 3 inches. (nearly 80 percent of lawns.) The generally rule with mowing is mow high and mow often. Never mow more then 1/3 of the blade at a time. Sometimes this may require you to mow twice a week, but following this rule is one of the best ways to keep your lawn and prevent weeds from invading.

Additional tips:

For cool weather grasses, Leave them a little longer in the summer. These may help your lawn retain moisture.

Another tip is to sharpen your mower and change the oil at least once a year. Having a sharp blade helps you prevent lawn diseases and change your oil helps your engine run longer. Some older engines should be checked for oil every time they are used. We suggest once a month.

Another tip is to mulch and not bag clippings on the lawn. Since clippings are 95% water they break down quickly and can serve to fertilize you lawn. If you are cutting more than 1/3 of the blade, always bag. This is why we suggest mowing more often, because doing this might make mowing a lot faster.

Dog lawn repair: Man’s best friend, or is it?

28 May, 04:58, by spencer Tags: , , , , , , ,

What’s worse, land mines or acid rain? I knew a guy with a 400 square foot back yard who bought a Great Dane as a puppy six months ago and couldn’t understand what had ruined his small lawn. With dogs, it is usually always compaction, over fertilization (acid), or pH imbalances caused by ovulation in addition to regular dog behavior (digging holes).

This guy had a problem with lawn compaction. The weight of the energetic Great Dane compacted the root system to the point that the grass just could not grow anymore. Lawn repair for compacted lawns involves the use of mechanical aeration and sometimes soil additives like gypsum and peat moss.

The next problem caused by dogs is over fertilization. Have you noticed the grass closest to the rear and front door are always hit the worst? Dog urine contains urea, a powerful nitrogen fertilizer with an N-P-K of about 46-0-0, which means it is almost pure nitrogen. Too much fertilizer makes soil acidic and burns it. You can solve this problem a number of ways. There is now an additive you can give your pets to neutralize their urine, you can train them to pea on rocks and bark dust instead of grass, or you can pour a bucket of water over the fertilized area.

Ovulation is only a problem with some female dogs. It is a lot more acidic then Urea. To repair the lawn and get rid of pet spots, just scrape the surface, and reseed. Make sure to water regularly for at least 3 weeks or until the new lawn is established. When reseeding, add topsoil (or peat moss), grass seed, and a little bit of starter fertilizer. Adding sweet soil or lime to the area may also help the grass to become established faster. Spots can take anywhere from 3 to six weeks to fill in. If some spots fill in and some don’t, this could means that the soil in that spot is to acidic and you need to wait a little longer to replant.

Pet stores have recently started selling acid reducing sprays for lawns and water additives. How have these things works for you?