Lawn and Garden Care: Getting Ready for the Summer Time Holidays
Lawn and garden care can be a daunting task if you’re not up on weed and pest identification, fertilizer schedules and when and what to prune. We can help with giving you professional advice to give your lawn and garden a boost, making the neighbor’s green with envy! Read on to learn how to get your “Lawn and Garden Care” looking its best in Bergen County.
What’s that weed and how do I get rid of it? That’s a question we get asked a lot. Chickweed, creeping Charlie, carpetweed and other nuisances can take over and leave your lawn looking neglected. Did you know your weeds tell a story? They let us know what’s missing in the soil! That’s right. Lawns hold secrets! For instance, chickweed can be a sign of low calcium and phosphorus. Creeping Charlie may indicate high calcium and poor drainage problems.
Weeds love to grow in compacted soil. That’s why they’re always prevalent near the edges of a driveway where the tires may miss the pavement. We recommend aeration for your property. Aerating loosens the soil so oxygen, water, and nutrients can infiltrate the root areas. We reclaim the soil by treating it to produce sound, healthy roots.
A Consistent Lawn and Garden Care Treatment
A lawn fertilizer regiment of six visits a year to treat the lawn, along with treatments for your trees and shrubs will keep the lawn and garden green and healthy. Lawn and garden care maintenance treatments will keep your raised garden beds free of weeds and the bushes thriving for years. Keep on keeping on is the key. After a year to two years’ worth of lawn fertilizer treatments, your lawn could compete with a neighboring golf course, no doubt. But it doesn’t happen overnight. It will take time to bring the soil up to a healthy balance of nutrients. We believe in starting with the foundation of your garden and working up!
Turf Treatments Regiment Keeps It Green
Six visits consistently help the soil recover. Why so many treatments? A turf treatment timed precisely will keep the soil in check, thus not allowing a decrease in the nutrients needed for that time of year. For instance, in the early spring, when the annual and broadleaf weeds are emerging, we use a slow release fertilizer (as not to shock your lawn from a long winter’s nap but to energize it). We also add a pre-emergent for crabgrass and broadleaf weed control. Better nab them while they’re emerging to decrease their spread later! In the fall, we apply a winter fertilizer to help build the root system while the plant is in dormancy. What you don’t see is the roots are still growing under the surface. We want a healthy root system to get established to help defend against drought in the coming season. So each treatment is specifically designed to help the plant thrive for the upcoming time of year.
Get Your Lawn and Garden Ready for Memorial Day, Father’s Day & Independence Day
Before you pull out the BBQ and put on your chef hat, take a walk through the garden. Now that you’ve gotten rid of the weeds in the lawn, do you have patchy spots where the grass isn’t growing? Lawn reseeding may be necessary before more weed seeds find a place to call home. Grubs also leave similar landmarks in the garden. Lifting up the sod in that area will be the big reveal. If you find grubs eating on your grass roots, you may have a problem! Grub control treatments on a regular basis can eliminate those brown patches that never green up.
Are you seeing your hostas disappear overnight? Who’s been eating your hostas? Uh-huh. Bambi has arrived. To discourage Bambi from picnicking in your garden, call us for deer and pest control services.
Crisp edges and Seasonal Color
Other maintenance includes lawn edging between the grass and your garden bed. Edging looks crisp and gives a neater appearance for all those outdoor activities coming up. Similarly, planting bare spots in the garden design with flowering perennial plants and annual flower gardens can make the outdoors more festive around your pool and outdoor kitchen area. We have a landscape designer on staff with plenty of garden ideas to fill your garden and pots to the brim and get you ready for all the holidays coming up.
Keep Your Shrubs and Trees Growing
Seeing pests on your shrubs or trees can be a little unnerving. Assuring the shrubs and trees reach their optimum level will give them longevity and help increase the investment you’ve made in your home. The seasons play havoc on your shrubs whether it be wind and snow storms that break limbs, pest infestations through wildlife or a lack of nutrients in the soil from a stormwater deluge. A regular fertilizer treatment in the spring around the root zone will enhance the soil’s nutrients to supply to the shrub. A seasonal shrub and tree pruning to remove dead, damaged and diseased will not only give them rejuvenation but keep it from potentially getting pests.
The Final Touch for your Lawn and Garden
Lastly, remember after all the weeding is done in the garden bed, add an overall two-inch layer of mulch to freshen the bed and retard weed growth. A mulch layer will also help retain moisture for your plants. Spread it evenly but not up against the trunks of the plant or heaped up like a cupcake. Leave a few inches between the trunk and the where the mulch starts.
Lawn and Garden Care Maintenance Summary
After reading this, you can be the expert in your garden too. Here’s a summary of what you’ll be doing:
- Take a walk through the garden and examine your lawn
- Apply a consistent fertilizer treatment schedule to your turf 6x a year
- Aerate
- Apply pest control as needed
- Reseed
- Edge the lawn
- Plant seasonal color
- Fertilize Trees and Shrubs
- Prune out dead, damaged and diseased limbs and shape
- Apply a carpet of mulch to the beds
Schedule your lawn and garden care maintenance contract today by clicking here.