Turf Tips for Mid Fall

When summer turns to fall, cooler temperatures, more frequent rain storms and a few other changes follow along. In order to maximize turf performance and recovery from summer stressors, consider these management actions:

Lawns, Kids & Pets

Many families that have a lawn to care for also have children and pets. Are they mutually exclusive? In short, no. However, if you want the 3 of them to thrive and the kids/pets to be safe, there are some common sense guidelines to follow.

Watering During Turf Establishment

If damage from voles, skunks, ice, cold temperatures or other factors have left your lawn a bit on the thin side, mid-spring is a good time to thicken up the stand.

The Word is WAIT

If ever there was a year for cabin fever, it’s 2021. In mid-March, all Midwesterners are ready to do something outside in the lawn, landscape, veggie garden, patio…anywhere but inside. Add to that the feelings of enduring COVID-19, and the need to do something outside is almost at a fever pitch.

Mulching – Timing and Products

Weeds are a given.  They’re a true guaranteed item in a field of gardening and lawn care variables.  In lawn care, common sense turf practices and herbicides can be used to create a relatively weed free part of the landscape.  In landscape beds, we turn to mulch. The key to mulch effectiveness is to apply…

Follow Up Care for Newly Planted Trees – Mulching

Mulching If a little is good, much more is better is not a good mantra for mulching.  For the overall sense of proper mulching technique, take a cue from Mother Nature.  In a forest or natural setting, you’ll commonly see a 2-4 inch layer of fallen leaves, stems, fruits and bark, often referred to as…

Yellow Nutsedge

“What is this grass growing in my flower bed?” is a question I hear quite often now.  Rolling the stem between my fingers quickly determines this isn’t grass at all but the infamous yellow nutsedge.  Sedges are grass-like perennials that have triangular shaped stems.   If they grew at the same rate as turfgrass, many lawn…

Weeds in Perennial Beds

They seem to pop up everywhere – weeds.  New beds, old beds; it doesn’t seem to matter.  At this point in the season, a little moisture encourages growth of tons of weeds.  Seeing these weeds makes you wonder several thoughts. Where did they all come from? Why are they growing as well or better than…

The Best Way to Remove Problem Trees

Seedling trees come up in the oddest places, and in some cases, totally unnoticed.  In the neighborhood I drive through, I observed a mulberry tree growing up through a shrub rose.  The mulberry thrived, gradually completely shading out the rose.  Eventually the rose owner noticed the mulberry and tried to remove it, resulting in the…

Unwanted Grass

Grass is usually a good thing; in lawns that is.  However, if you’ve got grass anywhere else – a veggie garden, a flower bed, in groundcovers – then it’s a weed.   Grass can get to the unwanted location through bird transfer, through misapplied seedings or through spreading.  The rhizomes pictured here show this undesirable…