The joys of summer are plenty. One benefit of the summer time is
being able to enjoy the lush, green lawn. Have you been thinking inside
the heat of the summer a lush lawn is expected? The steps below
regarding lawn maintenance and care will assist you to get to be the
envy of the neighborhood.
Lawn Maintenance – Watering
Normally lawn maintenance in Michigan requires some type of watering
schedule. All depends upon the amount of precipitation containing
fallen and the previous climate. Per week typically your lawn requires
one to one and half inches of rain per week. You will need to watch out
for grass that’s turning yellow-brown simply because this may mean you
need to increase this.
Try watering your lawn each day preferably by ten o’clock every day.
This will assist to relieve water evaporation allowing more water to
soak in to the lawn. Avoid watering your lawn later in the day since
the hazards of fungi and disease increase at night.
Lawn Care – Mowing
In the event the heat with the summer season is among us it’s always
best to trim your lawn for a longer period than you normally wood during
cooler months. Grass which is longer will assist you to shield the
roots in the steaming sun’s rays. Many professional lawn care
specialist would recommend a height between three and three and a half
inches.
Avoid mowing your grass on days rich in heat indexes. This can
causes it to become dry and turn colors. If you should cut it during a
period of extreme heat focus on doing this within the cooler parts
through the day and not smack dab in the center if the heat reaches its
peak. Attempt to determine an excellent lawn mowing schedule which has
you reducing your lawn once weekly.
Lawn Fertilization – Feeding
Your grass will grow significantly better with a little bit of food
in the form of fertilization. Homeowners can decide a chemical as
granules or liquid. Fertilizer was designed to embark on in phases to
create better results along with a healthier lawn. Follow the schedule
laid out by the manufacturer when applying fertilizer. This is
something you will need to begin early in the year season and continue
to the fall.
Lawn Maintenance – Seed and Repair
Repairing and adding seed in your lawn is a common issue contained in
lawn care. Local plumber of the season to achieve this influences
spring or fall. If you are able to agree to regular watering in the
lawn summer seeding could be okay. There are several kits open to patch
the lawns that provide homeowners fantastic results. You’ll need to
get caught up with watering and maintenance to have any new growth to
have success.
Pay attention to the little details when caring for your lawn. A
whole new landscape design can be as crucial that you your yard because
grass itself. Homeowners must maintain a delicate balance to ensure
their house to keep charm of the entrance. It won’t be easy but can be
achieved. If gardening and lawn maintenance isn’t look you can contact a
specialist lawn maintenance company. They will put your lawn on the
schedule of fertilizing, watering, re-seeding and mowing that is perfect
for your lawns exact needs.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Tips On Maintaining A Healthy Lawn
When a home has a well maintained lawn if not only looks beautiful
but also draws attention. It becomes a place that your guests and
family will gravitate toward. You will find that instead of your
kitchen be the one area in the home that is the center of activity that
the area outside will be where your friends and family will want to be.
A lawn that is cared for lends itself to lounging, the stage for
parties, games and a variety of other entertaining options. A home on
water or a home with a bonfire pit often becomes the home which is
utilized for all the fun gatherings amongst friends.
In order to maintain a healthy lawn that looks and feels like a space people want to be it will take a lot of hard work. Often people find they are so busy in the spring, summer and fall that hiring out the lawn maintenance chores is often a more practical and cost effective item to budget in. Professional landscapers are not only available for landscape design and landscaping installation but can also be hired to maintain the lawn year round. Let them spend the countless hours making your home’s lawn the envy of the neighborhood, your friends and family while you are able to reap the benefits a beautiful landscape offers.
If hiring a professional is not within your budget or if you prefer to work in the yard yourself the benefits to having a lush lawn are not the only ones you will be receiving. Many professionals in the health field will advise that gardening helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It allows for time in nature which helps reduce stress and keep individuals moving and fit. The following tips may help your lawn to stay updated and desirable along with keeping you, the homeowner, happy, healthy and stress free.
Knowing your lawn type
Not everyone who enjoys gardening and lawn maintenance is an expert. This is why before you begin taking on all the lawn cores you need to get to know your lawn and landscape. There are a variety of grasses that can be chosen to be the base within your landscape. The right grass seed will give the lawn a whole new look and feel. The type of grass you pick will allow you to properly maintain your lawn and allow you to make the future arrangements, such as fertilizing and proper watering, to maintain the lawn and keep it beautiful. Just remember with the variety of lawn seeds comes a variety of prices. It is important for homeowners to create a budget, set preferences for feel and color and take in to account the time and temperature needed to grow the seeds verse the time and temperature of your area. Before you purchase anything consider the above and you are guaranteed a choice that the results will leave you pleased.
Starting with a healthy base
The lawns soil is critical to the success of your lawn. Without a solid foundation for your seed you are wasting time and effort as well as funds. You will want to start with a healthy base soil that has the texture, essential nutrients and acidity balance needed for perfect soil. Determine the quality of soil you currently have with a basic soil test. From here you can improve the quality of your soil using organic compost, manure and grass and leave clippings.
Creating balance with fertilization
In order to keep the nutrients needed for a healthy lawn it is important to provide fertilization to your grass. There is a balance that needs to be created. Over fertilization can lead to issues and over fertilization can too. The key ingredients to healthy soil, thus a healthy lawn, are the right balance of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. It is best to seek advice from professionals if you are having issues or want clarity when it comes to the nutrients needed in your soil. This is true for landscaping plants and bushes that enhance a lawn as well.
These few basic tips should have you well on your way to a terrific base product for entertaining your family and friends. Lawn maintenance and upkeep is not overly difficult if the right balance of time and energy is given to the task at hand. Once you have a base lawn the landscape design will fall into place. Your lawn will become the outer layer you desired as a base on the canvas of your home.
In order to maintain a healthy lawn that looks and feels like a space people want to be it will take a lot of hard work. Often people find they are so busy in the spring, summer and fall that hiring out the lawn maintenance chores is often a more practical and cost effective item to budget in. Professional landscapers are not only available for landscape design and landscaping installation but can also be hired to maintain the lawn year round. Let them spend the countless hours making your home’s lawn the envy of the neighborhood, your friends and family while you are able to reap the benefits a beautiful landscape offers.
If hiring a professional is not within your budget or if you prefer to work in the yard yourself the benefits to having a lush lawn are not the only ones you will be receiving. Many professionals in the health field will advise that gardening helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It allows for time in nature which helps reduce stress and keep individuals moving and fit. The following tips may help your lawn to stay updated and desirable along with keeping you, the homeowner, happy, healthy and stress free.
Knowing your lawn type
Not everyone who enjoys gardening and lawn maintenance is an expert. This is why before you begin taking on all the lawn cores you need to get to know your lawn and landscape. There are a variety of grasses that can be chosen to be the base within your landscape. The right grass seed will give the lawn a whole new look and feel. The type of grass you pick will allow you to properly maintain your lawn and allow you to make the future arrangements, such as fertilizing and proper watering, to maintain the lawn and keep it beautiful. Just remember with the variety of lawn seeds comes a variety of prices. It is important for homeowners to create a budget, set preferences for feel and color and take in to account the time and temperature needed to grow the seeds verse the time and temperature of your area. Before you purchase anything consider the above and you are guaranteed a choice that the results will leave you pleased.
Starting with a healthy base
The lawns soil is critical to the success of your lawn. Without a solid foundation for your seed you are wasting time and effort as well as funds. You will want to start with a healthy base soil that has the texture, essential nutrients and acidity balance needed for perfect soil. Determine the quality of soil you currently have with a basic soil test. From here you can improve the quality of your soil using organic compost, manure and grass and leave clippings.
Creating balance with fertilization
In order to keep the nutrients needed for a healthy lawn it is important to provide fertilization to your grass. There is a balance that needs to be created. Over fertilization can lead to issues and over fertilization can too. The key ingredients to healthy soil, thus a healthy lawn, are the right balance of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. It is best to seek advice from professionals if you are having issues or want clarity when it comes to the nutrients needed in your soil. This is true for landscaping plants and bushes that enhance a lawn as well.
These few basic tips should have you well on your way to a terrific base product for entertaining your family and friends. Lawn maintenance and upkeep is not overly difficult if the right balance of time and energy is given to the task at hand. Once you have a base lawn the landscape design will fall into place. Your lawn will become the outer layer you desired as a base on the canvas of your home.
Landscape Design Combining Elements
Landscaping
the yard is one of the things my husband has expressed very little
interest in. He just does not understand why we dump money into making
the yard something other than what it already is. With a river behind
our home he feels it is our duty to let nature take over and protect
itself. Let the land lie as it will is his yard maintenance motto.
I however, do not feel the same way. As he tackled the inside of our home when we moved in I went to work on the outside. The first thing I did was remove the ant infested railroad tie border that was a make shift flower bed and pull everything that was planted out. The people before us had tiny “gardens” all over the yard. It was easy for me to remove them. I knew it needed an updated badly and I was the girl for the job.
The river bank was full of overgrown seedling trees and nastiness. In cleaning the area up by the river bank my main goal was to utilize what existed as much as we could. I wanted to keep the larger scale trees and new tree growth in place. A natural environment is one that will protect the bank area from eroding better than any man made wall plus it look one hundred percent better. In managing the erosion that will naturally take place we began taking boulders that were about the yard and placing them on the edge of the river. In doing this they are molding the ground around them and holding it in place.
The house had a lot of areas of blandness. The garage lacked any sort of bushes or shrubs to balance and hide the brick that formed the foundation. In order to create spaces that are visually interesting and had balance I choose to plant alternating green and purple flowering bushes. They really made the garage blend into the house and not look so separate.
Now that the garage and river banks were taken care of we had to think about the front and back yard landscaping. I was sure I wanted items in the garden that were irregular and not formed in shape. I like a bit of the fantasy, flowing look when it comes to plants and shrubs. I immediately gravitated towards a border that incorporated multi-leveled logs standing vertically. This really ties into the natural element of the river. I then choose some large landscape boulders and place them in various places within the bed to tie in with the river side of the house. Shrubs were planted that were free forming and daisies were added for color and ground cover for filler and the garden was completed.
The back yard was simple. I took the rock element and carried it into a fire pit arena. It turned out beautifully and allowed us to do away with the three flower beds that basically eliminated any space for the kids to play within the boundaries of the yard. I added several benches made from wood around by the river and fire pit as accents. It is a very cozy landscaped space.
To add some fun and flair to the landscaping I place tiki torches around the deck area in the summer and solar ground lights in the path to the fire pit. It adds a bit of metal into the landscape design breaking up the green around us. It has grown on my husband as the summer’s progress and he has even taken to a bit of landscaping on his own with the installation of a boat ramp that blends naturally into the river. That is truly is only contribution as I still find myself mowing and weeding the yard every weekend as he tends a fire and jumps in the boat for some river time.
I however, do not feel the same way. As he tackled the inside of our home when we moved in I went to work on the outside. The first thing I did was remove the ant infested railroad tie border that was a make shift flower bed and pull everything that was planted out. The people before us had tiny “gardens” all over the yard. It was easy for me to remove them. I knew it needed an updated badly and I was the girl for the job.
The river bank was full of overgrown seedling trees and nastiness. In cleaning the area up by the river bank my main goal was to utilize what existed as much as we could. I wanted to keep the larger scale trees and new tree growth in place. A natural environment is one that will protect the bank area from eroding better than any man made wall plus it look one hundred percent better. In managing the erosion that will naturally take place we began taking boulders that were about the yard and placing them on the edge of the river. In doing this they are molding the ground around them and holding it in place.
The house had a lot of areas of blandness. The garage lacked any sort of bushes or shrubs to balance and hide the brick that formed the foundation. In order to create spaces that are visually interesting and had balance I choose to plant alternating green and purple flowering bushes. They really made the garage blend into the house and not look so separate.
Now that the garage and river banks were taken care of we had to think about the front and back yard landscaping. I was sure I wanted items in the garden that were irregular and not formed in shape. I like a bit of the fantasy, flowing look when it comes to plants and shrubs. I immediately gravitated towards a border that incorporated multi-leveled logs standing vertically. This really ties into the natural element of the river. I then choose some large landscape boulders and place them in various places within the bed to tie in with the river side of the house. Shrubs were planted that were free forming and daisies were added for color and ground cover for filler and the garden was completed.
The back yard was simple. I took the rock element and carried it into a fire pit arena. It turned out beautifully and allowed us to do away with the three flower beds that basically eliminated any space for the kids to play within the boundaries of the yard. I added several benches made from wood around by the river and fire pit as accents. It is a very cozy landscaped space.
To add some fun and flair to the landscaping I place tiki torches around the deck area in the summer and solar ground lights in the path to the fire pit. It adds a bit of metal into the landscape design breaking up the green around us. It has grown on my husband as the summer’s progress and he has even taken to a bit of landscaping on his own with the installation of a boat ramp that blends naturally into the river. That is truly is only contribution as I still find myself mowing and weeding the yard every weekend as he tends a fire and jumps in the boat for some river time.
Landscaping Tips For The Frugal Landscaper
I am so frugal. When we started to think about landscaping our newly
purchased home I started to panic a bit. We had just dropped our life
savings into a deposit on a beautiful home situated on the Huron River.
The last thing I was thinking about was spending more money on
professional landscaping. However, to my husband this was an important
piece of the puzzle. A new house needed a unique landscaping design and
that was all he could think about. With that driving me I decided I
would meet him half way. I would look into hiring a landscaper as long
as I could pay him for his overall design and plant layout as long as we
would proceed with the labor aspect on our own. This would save us a
great deal of money but not sacrifice the look my husband sought in
hiring a professional.
We hired a local company that was accustomed to working with plants native to the area. They had landscaped Michigan lawns for quite some time. I knew if anyone would lead us into a design we would love with minimal maintenance it would be an expert that was familiar with the plants that grew in our area. The company we used understood our goal from the start. They offered many professional ideas and money saving tips. After everything was said and done the landscaping on our home cost around six thousand dollars, not bad I didn’t think for the results we received. Below are some tips provided to us by our professional landscaper. It helps to remember that a bit of sweaty equity will help to save on labor costs which can truly be the expensive part of landscaping.
Landscaping Tips For the Frugal Do It Yourself Landscaper Like Me:
We hired a local company that was accustomed to working with plants native to the area. They had landscaped Michigan lawns for quite some time. I knew if anyone would lead us into a design we would love with minimal maintenance it would be an expert that was familiar with the plants that grew in our area. The company we used understood our goal from the start. They offered many professional ideas and money saving tips. After everything was said and done the landscaping on our home cost around six thousand dollars, not bad I didn’t think for the results we received. Below are some tips provided to us by our professional landscaper. It helps to remember that a bit of sweaty equity will help to save on labor costs which can truly be the expensive part of landscaping.
Landscaping Tips For the Frugal Do It Yourself Landscaper Like Me:
- The first tip is to reuse freebies from around the area. An example of this is asking a farmer if after he tills the field you can come in and collect the rocks. This relieves the burden from the farmer and you are able to use the rocks to create natural landscaping. Another tip is to talk with friends and neighbors who find themselves thinning their gardens. They are happy to pass of the extra seedlings and over grown plants. We were able to score five large Hostas from our neighbor.
- Buying plants and shrubs that have not yet reached maturity is a terrific way to save money on landscaping. Purchasing plants that are small, one gallon plants for instance, rather than three gallon plants you can save yourself upwards of twenty dollars depending on the species.
- Be smart about using the natural resources. As I mentioned we have a river running through our back yard. The landscaper recommended using water pulled from the river using a beautiful pump and water plants and shrubs using this method instead of pulling water from our home faucets. This saves in several ways. One is the water has not gone through the softening process so there is no salt being added to the landscaping possibly causing issues and it is cheaper to not have the softener running continually.
- Another area we saved on is fertilizer. The landscaper recommended we begin composting and using the leftover materials to fertilize and mulch around the root systems of our new landscaping. Another thing he explained is the ways in which our waste could help rid the area of nuisances such as ants. By using the grinds from coffee in the landscaping ants were naturally detoured.
- He also offered a tip on using different plants to ward off bugs. Mosquitoes, which we have plenty of throughout the summer, are detoured by marigolds, catnip, horsemint, ageratum and lavender. Many of these plants are native to our area and grow easily in the soil provided by our natural landscape. That is a bonus for this cheap chick; I did not have to purchase soli for the landscape design!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)