Lawns
Due to a very wet spring followed by the summer heat, you could be seeing browning spots or large dead areas in your lawn. How to best rejuvenate your lawn: First, we need to start with the soil. A soil analysis of your lawn will guide us in using the right products, not guessing. To get a lab analysis of your soil, pick up a soil sample bag at any of our three locations we will send out the sample to be analyzed. We can address your specific needs based on the result of this testing. Good soil is the essential beginning to a healthy lawn.
Keeping a strong and healthy turf helps eliminate the need for weed controls. Typically, this time of year most people are deciding on doing one or two applications of fertilizer for the fall. Two applications is the best plan, and the first application should include a high first number fertilizer(MGC 27-0-6 slow release is what we recommend). This will feed the lawn for approximately six weeks. Then you would follow up with a second application of MGC 27-0-6 which needs to be applied no later than November 1st or frozen ground. This will put the lawn to bed for the winter. The other thing to address is if you have turf you need to reseed. If so, fall is a great time to do this work. One reason is less competition from the weeds. Due to the cool weather the weeds will slow down in their growth. The warm days, cool nights and steady soil temperature during fall will help the seed germinate. A good rule to remember is that grass seed needs good contact with the soil, warmth and moisture. If you have a small amount of weeds in your lawn, you can apply a fertilizer with weed control in mid-August to mid-September and then approximately 6 weeks later reseed.
Deer Control
This time of year the deer start getting aggressive. They like to rub their antlers on the small trunks of trees and eat your plants as the forest food starts to dwindle. There are multiple options for protecting the trunks including something as simple as paper or plastic wrap. There are also countless numbers of deer controls on the market. They typically come in ready-to-use sprays, concentrates, and granular form. Deer controls are all natural and have nothing in them that will harm animals, children, etc. We have learned that rotating your products between two or three different repellents will help keep the deer away. By doing this they don’t get used to the same scent or taste.
There is also the option of putting a more permanent barrier up. We have light netting, heavy netting, vinyl coated wire and welded wire available to fence your property. For open areas it is recommended to use at least six to eight-foot fencing, and around the foundation most people can get away with at least five feet depending on how large of a foundation planting you have for them to jump into.
Garden Maintenance
Fall is a great time to cut back perennials and plant your daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, and all those beautiful bulbs you see in the spring. It is also a great time to plant trees and shrubs. It is important to clean up all the dead plants and leaves after pruning. By leaving the debris in the beds, any insect or disease can hibernate there all winter and pop up in the spring. Diseases can winter over on plant tissue that is not allowed to be frozen. When planning your vegetable gardens, crop rotation is a wise choice because tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and peppers carry similar diseases. Investing in soaker hoses is a great idea so the plants don’t get watered overhead, keeping the leaf surface as dry as possible helps with disease control.
Fall and Winter Equipment Service
Last but not least, bring your leaf blowers and snow blowers in for servicing before the rush. If it’s time for a new machine or if the raking and shoveling is breaking your back, we carry Little Wonder and Stihl leaf blowers, as well as Toro snow blowers.