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4 Spring Lawn Care Tips

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Just mowed lawn.Spring is here, which means the smell of fresh cut grass is in the air! Chances are you have questions about taking care of your yard, lawn and garden. From picking the right seed to watering, I’ve got the answers. It’s time to break out that fertilizer, lawnmower and other equipment to create the ultimate lawn.

Repairing your lawn

If only it were as easy as lightly raking your lawn when spring arrived, sigh. Unfortunately, one of the most common problems facing our lawns today is uneven ground. And low spots can cause poor drainage, which can result in bad growing conditions for grass and other plants. What you need to do is grab a shovel and cut away any areas that are raised. Another issue that can plague our beautiful lawns is soil compaction. This occurs when soil is densely packed, making it diffiult for grass to take root and easy for weeds to take over. Test your soil by sticking a garden fork into the ground. If the fork cannot penetrate two inches, your soil is most likely compacted. You must loosen the soil with an aerator designed to remove small plugs of soil.

Planting grass

Once you’ve figured out all the problem areas of your lawn, you may need to reseed parts that are brown or bare. Planting new grass can dramatically change the appearance of your lawn. Before buying seed, figure out which varieties will work best in your particular region and climate. Also, consider the amount of sunlight your backyard receives. If you’re seeding a large area, it’s best to use a broadcast spreader. However, smaller areas can be seeded by hand. Once the seed is planted, it’s important to water it regularly and fertilize. Wait until grass is three to four inches high to mow.

Continue fertilizing grass

Now that you have rejuvenated your lawn, it’s best to encourage growth and discourage weeds from growing. You can do this by applying a combination of fertilizers and herbicides. When applying these products, take into consideration where you live and your weed problem. Fertilizer can help grow lush, thick grass. However, when used improperly it can actually damage the grass. Herbicides must also be used with care. It’s best to apply a pre-emergent herbicide before the seeds germinate in the spring. Keep in mind that if you use this treatment you cannot plant new grass.

Properly mow lawn

It may surprise you that there is actually a proper technique to mowing your lawn. Cutting your grass too short can be harmful to your lawn. And mowing with a low blade can remove important nutrients that are stored in leaf blades. Therefore, it’s always better to cut your grass at the tallest height recommended for your grass type. See below:

  • Common bermudagrass: 1-2 inches
  • Fescue: 2-3.5 inches
  • Kentucky bluegrass: 2-3.5 inches
  • St. Augustine: 2-4 inches
  • Zoysia: 0.5-1.5 inches

A little bit of lawn maintenance now will ensure that your yard looks healthy all summer long. It’s critical to properly clean, fertilize and mow your lawn early in the season. Follow these spring lawn care tips for the best results possible.

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Ann Michaels is a freelance writer and lawn advocate. Her favorite hobby is making her yard look as beautiful as possible, which is why she buys religious garden statues from Saint Francis Garden to improve the overall look.

How to Come Up With Amazing Ideas for Your Garden

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For many of us coming up with a layout for our garden is a speedy and routine process. In most cases we will go with the normal design conventions that gardens tend to feature (a patio, a lawn and perhaps some flowers around the edge) and will be happy to keep our garden pretty much the way it was when we moved into the property.


Of course doing this though means that we won’t be taking full advantage of the space, and would mean missing out on many of the great opportunities that a garden presents. Here then we will look at some ways that you can come up with a garden design that will be more creative and that will help you to take full advantage of the space.

Look Around

Of course the first thing you can do to get ideas for your garden is to look around other gardens. This will mean visiting friends, looking around garden centres, or just browsing images of gardens online in order to get a feel for the kind of thing you like and that you might want for your garden. You may find a garden that you want to practically replicate for yourself, or you might just spot particular features and items that you want to use instead. Either way, this is a great place to find inspiration.

Use a Mood Board

(moj) FLAJER / (my) flyer

In any interior – or in this case exterior – design, a mood board can be a very useful tool for coming up with a design you’re happy with. Essentially a mood board is a collage that you create by taking images, photographs and words and attaching them to the page. This way you can start to come up with a general ‘theme’ that you want for your garden and start to get an idea of the colours, the features and the ‘style’ that you want to employ. If nothing else this is a great way to communicate to your landscaping contractors the kind of feel you want for them to work from.

Research

Researching what’s possible in a garden and the kinds of additional features and things you can get for them is another way to expand your horizons and to come up with new ideas. For instance you may never have heard of the ‘office pod’ which is essentially a pod that you can place at the end of your garden to create an enclosed working space. It’s very modern and very cool and completely changes the way you view what’s possible in your garden. Likewise researching the plants you can grow in your climate and your soil can help you to get a realistic idea of what you want to grow in your garden.

Sketch

Less involved than a mood board but just as useful is to simply sketch out some ideas, and as you start to find the features and the items you want for your garden you can use a sketch to come up with an actual layout and a plan for where you want them all and how they’ll work with your larger design.

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Sharon King is a home improvement expert and says that it is a great idea to try new things while designing. She also says that you can take help from landscaping company while designing your garden.

Why You Don’t Want Ants in Your Garden or Lawn

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Ants are generally a big nuisance. They get into your sugar bowl; they readily collect where there’s a spattering of juice; and they spoil your favorite desserts. Ants – you really don’t want them inside your home; but what about outdoors? Well, they’re outside, so leave them be, right? If you are an avid gardener, you know that ants are tiny machines of destruction. They can readily destroy your most prized plants and infest your lawn to the point that you can no longer have picnic outdoors or have your kids play in your backyard.

Ants Create Numerous Mounds

So, how can ants wreck your yard? To start with, allowing an ant colony to firmly establish itself in your yard or lawn is not a good idea because these insects can easily overrun your space in a matter of weeks. If you don’t pay attention to your ant problems, you could end up staying indoors all the time. You won’t like to go outside and enjoy your plants because as soon as you step onto your yard, you might accidentally tread on one of their mounds. That’s not a pretty picture, especially if you’ve just disturbed a large group of red fire ants. These kinds of ants won’t just crawl all over you; they’ll bite you – and a fire ant’s sting is painful and very itchy. So, instead of being able to enjoy your garden, you would think twice about venturing outdoors in case you step on one of their mounds. What if you have kids? You certainly wouldn’t want your children playing in a yard crawling with fire ants. In addition to this, mounds are unsightly and they affect plant growth and development.

Ants Sting

As mentioned, ants sting when disturbed. The injury is typically itchy, inflamed and painful. Sometimes, minute pustules or blisters form on the site of the bite. Although ant bites readily resolve in time, some people are hypersensitive. It is also exceedingly rare for fire ants to attack humans. They usually just sting when they are bothered. However, there have been exceptional instances when fire ants have harmed people. Babies, the elderly and incapacitated individuals could be target of ant attacks, particularly if there is an extensive infestation in a specific area.

Ants Could Kill Plants

Are your prized orchids swarming with black ants? Have you noticed that your zinnias are failing to bloom because the buds are teeming with ants? Are your dahlias no longer blooming? Many kinds of ants are attracted to the sweet nectar produced by flowers. Some people say that ants are harmless because they don’t eat flowers. Well, this may not be entirely true. Based on my experience, the black ants that swarmed all over my beautiful ground orchids also brought with them lots of aphids. Ants farm these creatures because they eat the honeydew produced by aphids. Aphids cover stems or leaves, and they deter plants from absorbing sunlight. Black mold also form on the parts that also get coated in honeydew, which further prevents sunlight absorption.

In addition to farming and protecting aphids, ants affect plants’ root systems too. These insects don’t eat roots, but they damage these when they burrow or create tunnels under the ground. Ants’ underground activities pull the soil away from the roots which means that these won’t be able to absorb water well.

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Claire Brent is a freelance blogger who often writes about pest management. She covers many issues, including termite and ant control, diseases caused by insects, green pest control methods, and other pest-related issues. She also provides material for Preventive Pest, a company that provides solutions to difficult pest problems.

Buying Garden Furniture On The Internet

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Choosing the right garden furniture is critical to getting your garden looking the best possible way. Make sure that the colour tones fit well with your overall garden look. Today’s garden furniture is a far cry from the earlier versions. Make sure that the garden set or seating blends in with your current theme.

Buying garden furniture can be easy if you know what you are doing and know where to look.The first thing you need to do is research garden furniture onlineA great review site can be found at B&Q Garden Furniture. At garden furniture review sites you will find a lot of information about choosing the correct furniture, style, color, bench, lounger etc, where to go and how to get the very best deal along with all the latest news and resources.

A large amount of different materials are currently used in todays garden furniture. These days the sky is the limit to what you are able to expect. Carefully consider what you want and dont forget to remember about aftercare. If you want wooden furniture make sure that it is treated correctly and always cover it up or take it indoors after use. Make sure that your furniture is covered up no matter how well it has been treated.

The style of your garden furniture is always more important than comfort. Cushions of all shapes and styles are available seperately to make you comfy.Garden benches, love seating, sun loungers and many others are readily available when buying garden furniture to suit your outdoor space. Garden tables of all shapes and sizes are also available. Outdoor patio furniture is available in many colors and you will not have a problem in finding what you want. Choose a few pieces that you like and match them to your surroundings.

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