Posts Tagged ‘lawn care’

The Art Of Pruning

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

One of the most essential features in horticulture is pruning. Pruning means trimming and cutting of trees and plants at regular intervals to allow the plant for its prolific growth and at the same time make it look more aesthetic. Pruning is both an art a well as a skill which needs to be mastered well. Pruning is an art, because it cannot be done just any way you like. The plant may suffer in pruning instead, and hence it should be done at the right places only. Pruning is a skill because it has to be done precisely as well as correctly so that after cutting the tissues should heal properly too.

Regular pruning to remove damaged or diseased parts:

Removing any branches damaged due to weather or disease can be done by pruning. Crowns of trees need to be pruned at regular intervals to allow enough sunlight to circulate around all the parts of the tree. Some trees need not grow to very great heights and they have to be pruned to reduce unwanted height. Size of the tree should not be reduced greatly and pruning should be done just to remove the unwanted parts. Branches themselves sometimes obstruct other branches and hence such branches should be pruned.

Glitch Free Bermuda Grass Lawn Care

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Anyone wanting a lawn that is heat and drought tolerant should consider Bermuda grass. It’s a weed and wear resistant turf that has minimal watering needs. Combined with it’s fine to medium blades it’s a near ideal choice for southern home owners packing plenty of kids and pets to put it to the test.

Considered to be an easy to care for strain it will flourish with even a modest amount of maintenance. For instance, as it emerges from any dormant period, running over your lawn with an aerator will be beneficial. As will dethatching if needed. Both will help water penetrate deeper into the root zone rather than running off.

Despite it’s reputation for drought resistance, if you water it regularly Bermuda grass will take off. Naturally you’ll want to water deeply at about an inch each time to stimulate the development of deep roots. Doing so will enable your lawn to withstand dry periods that much better.

Did I mention Bermuda grass loves sunlight? To thrive it needs full sun for most of the day. So don’t go planting this sun loving strain in the shade and expect lush success. Yet given plenty of sun it will give you a nice tight turf that can withstand wear better than most grasses.

How To Turn Fish Into Fertilizer

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Organic growers are more careful about what and where their liquid organic fertilizers come from. Hence, this article discusses how liquid fish emulsions are made. First of, they are mostly made from the Menhaden fish which is not considered a human food source. However this fish is used for making oil and animal feeds. The waste from the production of this fish into oil or animal feed is the ingredient used for making liquid fish fertilizers.

The process of making liquid fertilizer starts with cooking the fish and pressing out the oils and liquids. The solids are made into fishmeal, animal feed, and other products. The oil, which is literally worth its weight in gold, is skimmed off. The liquid is boiled down until it thickens, making fish emulsion.

A small amount of phosphoric acid is added to the fish emulsion to lower the pH. Lowering the pH makes the liquid fertilizer more acidic, which prevents it from decaying and fermenting into gas. Before phosphoric acid was added in the manufacturing process, containers of fish emulsion were known to burst from fermentation. Because the amount of added phosphoric acid is so small (less than one percent by weight), the product is still considered organic.

Think Of Placing Lawn Jockey Statue In Your Lawn

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

There are many diverse sorts of lawn decorations that may be used to add beauty and interest to your lawn. One of the most renowned sorts of lawn decorations that are commonly utilised is the lawn jockey. The lawn jockey is a small statue of a man that’s dressed in jockey style clothing. Today most of the lawn jockey statues that you’ll see are white but in the past that was not the case.

The lawn jockey commonly has a hand held up. In the hand of the lawn jockey is sometimes a lantern or a metal ring. A lawn jockey statue may be constructed of a variety of various materials including concrete, aluminum and cast iron.

Due to the fact that in the past, numerous lawn jockey statues were not white, they have come to be quite a controversial topic. Numerous think of the statue to be racially insensitive. The designs of the newer lawn jockey statues have aided to ease these tensions somewhat and as a result, the lawn jockey has still remained a very renowned lawn ornament.

Solar Powered Landscape Lighting: Cordless Decorative Lighting

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Solar powered landscape lighting is a way to decorate and to light up your landscaping without the use of any wiring. More and more garden enthusiasts opt for solar powered landscape lighting instead of other landscape lighting options. Never again will you have to worry about long and unsightly wires in your garden, if you opt for the solar landscape lighting.

Solar powered landscape lighting is cost-effective and environmentally friendly, due to that it uses natural solar energy to operate.

Solar powered landscape lighting will allow you to safeguard your children and pets from getting an electric shock, while being in your garden. The lighting wires will never get damaged by animals, since there will be no wires. No wires also mean that this type of lighting can be easily relocated throughout your garden in the future.

Why do more and more gardeners opt for solar powered landscape lighting?

1. Solar powered landscape lighting has no boundaries in choosing the design of your landscape lighting. Solar powered landscape lighting units include floodlights, spotlights, flashlights, garden lights, step lighting, wall lights, hanging path lighting, deck lighting, tube lights, light strings lantern lights, and even amazing floating pool lighting.

The Better Ways Of Ridding Your Lawn Of Lawn Weeds

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Lawn weeds are the bane of many homeowners. No matter how hard you try it may seem as if there is no way to win the war with lawn weeds. There is something that may aid you; nonetheless. That is in comprehending more as regards lawn weeds, why they grow and what you can do to assist keep them at bay.

One of the most common sorts of lawn weeds is known as couch grass. This is a perennial type of weed that’s commonly found in borders and beds. It features underground stems and may be very hard to eradicate. One method that can aid with receiving rid of this type of weed is continual hoeing. This method functions to get rid of the root system. Make certain that you remove everything because if you leave even a little part, it’ll instantaneously spread into more weeds. Close mowing can similarly help to get rid of this sort of weed.

Other types of lawn weeds include creeping buttercup. While the name might sound nice enough, it may be quite aggressive and may speedyly take over a large area of your lawn. Most frustrating is the fact that mowing will not affect this type of weed. It spreads by employing runners. A simple weed killer can assist to control this sort of weed.

How Do Improve The Performance Of My Lawn With Lawn Aeration?

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Lawn aeration involves puncturing holes into the soil so that the soil can have a good prospect of receiving principal water and sunlight.

Whether or not the soil where you live is to a considerable degree compacted then the lawn could in all likelihood gain from lawn aeration more often. Lawn aeration is a technique that may be vital to having a healthful lawn and yet is a technique that numerous people overlook. Frequently, lawn aeration may speedily and effortlessly take care of lawn difficulties. whether or not you live in an area where sandy soil is prevalent then theres a good prospect that you wouldnt require lawn aeration as much as you would Whether or not you lived in an area where the sun had some clay.

It could be that this is not the case. Lawn aeration may equip you with a great deal of gains. Still, even sandy soil may gain from lawn aeration and had better be aerated once a year or so. In areas where the soil is comprised of heavy clay and/or where the soil is to a considerable degree compacted, it can be advantageous to aerate the soil several times per year. Even if you have noticed that you have serious difficulties with weeds that you have not been competent to get under control then employing lawn aeration can be competent to support.

Cutting Half An Acre of Grass

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

For most people, a walk behind mower is all that you need to cut your lawn. This is because most people in North America are cutting lawns that are less than half and acre in size. If you have a larger grass area to cut, then you might look into another type of mower, such as a riding mower, or zero turn mower.

In 2009, Consumer Reports produced the largest ever study on all kinds of lawnmowers. This study reviewed up to 50 of the most common types, sizes and brands of mower. They looked at how well grass was cut, track width, useability and maintenance records from their readership.

Many people have said online that this was the best study ever done on lawnmowers – even though no study or review is perfect; including this one. The biggest complaint was that CR failed to talk about the noise levels of the lawn mowers or which ones meets California’s very strict new emissions requirements.

However, you don’t have to go and read the whole report because it’s all on the web. The key take away is that more money won’t necessarily get you a better mower. Price had very little relationship with quality, grass cutting ability or longevity.

Getting Rid of Pesky Moles and Gophers

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Have you ever walked out into your yard and stepped into the grass and had your feet sank down a little? It’s not because it was muddy or wet, but because the ground isn’t as solid as it should be. You see little hills throughout your yard and there appear to be tunnels under the ground. Is it the work of some elaborate plan to destroy your yard? There are spots all over the place where the grass has died or turned brown and your yard just looks terrible. This is undoubtedly the work of moles or gophers.

These annoying little vermin can totally demolish your yard. It has nothing to do with the care that you give your lawn; moles and gophers don’t just move in on people who let their yards go. It can happen with any yard, anywhere; and while that may sound somewhat overwhelming realize that you’re not in this alone. There are millions of yards around the world that are affected by these rodents every day. They can do damage in excess of what most people think is rational, and at other times, you barely know that they’re there. Believe it or not, there’s no rhyme or reason to why they move in or not and that knowledge might be extremely distressing.

Roses: A Guide to Care and Treatment

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

If you happen to notice small circular black spots, your plant probably has what is known as the Black Spot. The spots have fringed edges, and are a sign of a disease. Artificial sprays may be used to treat the spots, but the affected leaves should be removed from the plant, as remaining leaves will allow the disease to spread to the rest of the plant.

If you notice that the leaves on your rose plants start to curl and turn purple, you should check the leaves and canes for a white powder, as these may be signs of a fungal infection known as powdery mildew. Spread by the wind, it may cause the canes to become stunted or malformed. Treat using Funginex or Benomyl.

Known as rust, this disease is characterized by orange-red blisters that turn black in fall. It can survive the winter and will then attack new sprouts in the spring. Collect and discard leaves that are infected in fall. A Benomyl or Funginex spray every 7-10 days may help.