Wednesday, June 22, 2011

How to Take Care of Your Lawn

Lawns are great elements of homes. They are what people living in apartments and large buildings are giving up. Some might say that lawns just waste very valuable space, but a lawn provides more than aesthetic additions to a nice home. There many time-tested, age-old activities that can only be done in a lawn, and if you care for your children, or the people you live with, it is best not to deprive them of such priceless joys. A lot of people who might have the space and money to have a lawn are quite hesitant with keeping one. The efforts needed to take care of a lawn seem too hard to handle. But with the right know-how, this can actually be an easy task to take care of.

Establishing Your Lawn

There are many ways of establishing a lawn, and the one you use depends so much on the situation of your lawn, whether it is new or an existing one that needs to be refurbished. For existing lawns, that just need to be revamped, you only need to aerate it or add more seeds. This can easily be done by means of an aerator - a machine that digs holes in the ground making air more available to the soil. This can be brought in garden and landscaping supplies store, online. Once aerating is done, you can then spread your seeds. Much care is needed at this point since if you do not use enough seeds, your lawn would not be as think as you want too, if you use too much, the grass may overcrowd and end up growing irregularly. It is important to use a spreader when doing this as doing it by hand causes uneven coverage.

The process is quite similar when you are starting from scratch. The difference is you need more planning as to which parts of your lot would be covered with grass, which ones would be covered by stone or concrete. Of course, more seeds or grown grass would be needed since your lot would still be bare. It is good to consult with a landscaping architect when you are on this very early stage of lawn care.

Feeding Your Lawn

A great part of lawn care is providing your grass area with the right nutrients to is as green and as lively as possible. During the initial stages of lawn care, you would need starter fertilizers, that help seeds germinate quickly, so that they spread fast and cover your lot easily. But once the grass has covered your lot enough, you need to change your fertilizer. Usual lawn care requires only about four fertilizer applications every year. Usually after every two months during the growing seasons. It is important not to use too much though, because excessive fertilizer would make the grass conducive for fungus growth and weaken the grass.

Hydration

Grasses are basically plants, and they cannot live without water. More than fertilizers, grass need water to grow well and watering takes up the bulk of lawn care. While doing it manually by using a hose seems to be cheap, it actually could make you waste more water. It is ideal to have automatic sprinklers installed to make sure that you grass gets watered at the right time and the right amounts; you would be saving a lot on your water bills if you do not skimp on your watering system, you would also be saving a lot of time and effort when you have automated and programmable sprinklers.

Controlling Weed

Of course you want your lawn to grow grass that you intended to grow. It is annoying to find stray shrubs that could rob your lawn off nutrients and not to mention aesthetic space. You want your lawn as smooth and even as possible, without strange plants sticking up. You may manually remove weeds, but this process would only work temporarily, thus you may benefit from weed killers, just make sure you do not put too much that they kill your own grass.

Keeping Your Lawn Trimmed

Mowing is critical to keep a good lawn. You should mow your lawn whenever the grass is too long. However you should take care to set your mower at a right height so that it would not scrape your lawn and remove grass. Mowing also helps your grass grow healthily as it trims dead grass blades and allows the rest of your turf to get enough sunlight.

Lawn care can be simple and easy if you know what you need to do to keep a good lawn. To know more about lawn care, you may simply consult with your local lawn care experts and read about lawn care tips online and on print.
Source: Free Articles

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Lawn Care For Your Home

A well maintained lawn proves to be the ideal spot to spend one's evening or early mornings and enjoy the fresh air and smell of the green grass. The kids can play exciting games in the lawn and a pretty lawn also proves to be a perfect location to host parties and get to gathers.

We see that many of the apartment owners in the western countries have their own lawns. It is extremely essential to maintain the lawn as an unkempt lawn can look very ugly. One should trim the grass once every week with a lawn mower. People also go for apartments with pretty lawns as they can while away their time there.

It is very much necessary to take proper care of the lawn. For example after the rainy season the lawn may become untidy. Too much trampling in the wet lawn can hamper the growth of grass and also cause dirt spots or brown spots. Use fungicides in the case of the grass being infected with fungus disease and also spray the lawn with insecticides if the lawn is infested with a lot of insects. Always ensure that the grass is watered every single day and the lawn falls under direct, natural sunlight. If there are chances of the lawn getting less sunlight, then one can shift to a lawn requiring less sunlight in the first case.

If the lawn is wet one should not mow it as this can trample the roots. One can water the lawn with a manual sprinkler or use automatic sprinklers. There are many types' sprinklers available in the market and one should find out the type of sprinkler system needed for a particular lawn. Also while using fertilizers or fungicides one should take care not to overdo it as the fertilizers contain nitrogen that can damage the roots permanently. Also during summers, it is prudent to water the lawn more often as the water evaporates at a faster rate than in winter.

Hence we see how keeping a well maintained lawn is appreciated by everyone. One can enjoy walking barefoot on the lawn and the kids enjoy playing in it in their free time. A lawn should be well looked after throughout the year and one can not afford to neglect its maintenance and care. The lawn proves to be one of the safest of places for the kids to play. But it is very necessary to keep the mowers and other equipment away from the kids when the kids are playing in the lawn. Also while maintaining the lawn look out for any sharp objects that can be present in the grass and dispose them off immediately. 

Source: Free Articles

Friday, June 3, 2011

Lawn Care Services for Homes

Residential lawn maintenance involves sprucing up and looking after greens in and around homes and residential communities. The goal is to make the lawns grow green and healthy, as well as keep them safe for children, pets, and people.

Pest Control

Fleas, ticks, and ringworms are serious health hazards. Flea infestation of pets and inside the homes is a serious problem. Ringworms are a threat to the health of children and adults alike. Some insects are a nuisance when it comes to the grass and shrubs. Mole crickets, spittle bugs, bill bugs, webworms, and chiggers damage plants and render waste the entire work of planting and tending to shrubs, flowering bushes, and trees. Prevention is better than cure; lawn care services prevent and eliminate harmful pests from lawns.

Often, pests and insects move from gardens into homes through undetected cracks and ingresses. Lawn care services pest-proof homes by creating a barrier to the entry of crickets, fleas, spiders, and other insects.

Nutrient Application

All fertilizers are not equally safe or effective. Providers of lawn care services understand the relevance of particular nutrients for different types of trees and shrubs. Lawn care services seldom involve simple application of nutrients to plants. Many fertilizers leach into the soil and pollute the groundwater or a nearby water source. To prevent this, a lawn care services company must inspect the lawn to select the best spots for fertilizer application.

Plant Care

Plants require more care than you think. Large trees are particularly vulnerable to fungal and bacterial disease, desiccation, and nutrient deficiency. A professional lawn care company will assess the kind of service your lawn plants require and provide a cost estimate.

Weed Elimination

Weeds creep into flower beds, grass, and potting, and compete with plants for nutrients. Parasitic weeds may destroy plants and other types of weeds prevent the sunlight to reach the plants. It is recommended that you call professional lawn care services for weed elimination. Incorrectly used weed killers can cause damage to the plants and make the soil toxic.

Hiring a professional lawn care company is the best way to spare your weekends from difficult mowing jobs. Professional maintenance prevents the danger from pests or poor plant nutrition, and provides a clean, well-maintained look to the garden.
(ArticlesBase SC #4794700)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Vital Hints and Tips for Hedge Cutting and Hedge Pruning

Hedges are commonly used in defining garden boundaries and limits, but at times hedges have been grown and modified to shape up in to green structures which could resemble an iconic figure, a piece of art or even you could find a name carved out of planned placement and trimming of hedges.
Hedge trimming does require a special set of garden equipment and gear. Most importantly you need to go for hedge shears, garden stakes of varying sizes, strings, gloves in case of thorny hedges, safety glasses to protect your self from flying twigs and particles. If your hedge pruning requirement is on a smaller scale, you could do it manually with a set of gardening shears. For large scale trimming requirement it would be best to invest in a powered trimmer which use rechargeable batteries or electric trimmers.

It helps if you have basic knowledge on plants and hedges. There are a lot of factors on which hedge trimming depends on such as

  • Type of the hedge – Evergreen or deciduous shrubs
  • Age of the hedge – Young Hedge or Old & Matured Hedge
  • Purpose of pruning or trimming of the hedge – maintaining the garden limit or beautifying the garden
  • Season/ Time of undertaking the trimming activity – Before summers or winters

Ideally, trimming of young hedges is done after 3 weeks of their planting. This enables to shape and grow up well especially laterally. New hedges should be trimmed off just above a few inches off their top, in order to encourage new and lateral growth. In case you are undertaking trimming of established hedges you need to study their shape and opt for trim accordingly. For leveling hedges, you should seek the aid of a stick and rope to ascertain the desired level, else you may trim off more than required leading to a messed up looking hedge. In case of shaped hedges, detailed study is essential for only the outgrowth has to be trimmed else you will land up with a distorted shaped hedge which gives your garden an untidy look.

It is recommended to cut hedges during mid or later summers, which gives them enough time to grow back before the winter sets its. Hedge trimming activity has to be spaced out regular intervals, else you may land up with an over trimmed hedge front which is not desirable by you on any count.

Keeping in mind so many points and tips while undertaking hedge trimming could become slightly complicated and difficult affair especially if you have no one to mentor you over the same. At such times, you could always enlist the services of garden maintenance people who offer to do the same for you at nominal cost. They arrive at your garden site on the predetermined time, undertake the hedge trimming activity and even dispose of the clippings for you leaving your garden immaculate and neat at all times.

Do log on to the Internet and check out many garden maintenance and allied service providers you offer to do an impeccable hedge trimming task for you. You could always ask for quotes from a couple of them and compare them before choosing a final one. At this point asking for referrals also helps in choosing the most suitable garden service provider. If you really like the hedge trimming task undertaken by them, you could always fix up the next scheduled visit for the same.
(ArticlesBase SC #2863255)