White Easter

Last December we had a green Christmas, this spring we have a White Easter.

The last week or so has been reasonably warm and when I pass by the village of York, there is a beautiful sloping lawn facing south. This lawn is really starting to green up. The fact that it faces south means it is getting the most of the sunshine in warming up the soil. The fact that it slopes down to the road, I believe also contributes to its ability to capture the warmth from the sun. When the soil gets warm, the grass starts to grow. When the grass starts to grow it becomes green.

How can you get your lawn to green up sooner in the spring? Moving it to the south side of the house may not be an option.

Two things you can do.

One – make sure to feed it late in the fall. A late October or early November feeding will help your lawn to green up earlier. The lawn food is taken into the root system at that time of year. It does not produce growth, but is stored in the roots. Come the spring, it is ready to be used immediately by the turf grass plants.

Two- the last cut in the fall should be short. Lower your mowing height to1 ½ to 2 inches. The lower mowing height will help to reduce the risk of winter and early spring diseases. It also means that in the spring, the soil will be able to warm up quicker than if you have long shaggy grass.

Wrist Shots in the Grass

I was looking along the edge of the driveway to get rid of the gravel that the generally ends up in the lawn after the winter. Most of it comes from the snow plow when it is clearing the drive. Some years it is worse than others. This year we only had one big snowfall that needed plowing.

Most years I try to move it off the lawn when the snow starts to melt. It is easier to shovel some gravel and some snow and throw it onto the driveway than to try to rake or get it off when all the snow has melted. Once the snow is melted, a good raking will sometimes do it, but that’s a lot of work. Some times I’ve used a flat shovel to scrape it back onto the driveway, but that’s a lot of work, too. The odd time I’ve sat down and picked them out by hand.

This year I happened to have my son’s hockey stick in my hand and I found I could use the hockey stick to flick the gravel back onto the driveway. As I said there wasn’t a lot of gravel this year, so maybe that’s why it seemed to be an easier job. A flick or two, here and there was all I needed to get the lawn cleaned up. I thought this is a great idea. And it did a good job all along the driveway.

The last spot was the gravel from the county road (which is also gravel). There the gravel was much worse and the hockey stick didn’t work as well. Or at least, it took a lot longer. So, I gave up, no, I decided the lawn along the roadway was not as important and would do just fine with a little bit of gravel along the edge.

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Snowdrops

The sun was bright this morning and it was filtering through to the snowdrops that were blooming under the redbud tree. These are the first signs of spring in our garden.(other than the robins that showed up a few weeks ago.)

I don't have a lot of these dainty bulbs. Actually, this is the only spot in my garden, but they are always the first to bloom in the beds. From here on in the other spring flowers will come along in their proper order and sequence. . . . all in good time.

Do I need to rake my lawn?

Raking is good for the lawn. Raking is mainly a grooming exercise. And it can be exercise. Plus it gives you sunshine and fresh air (unless you like raking in the rain). Raking removes the dead grass blades. Once the dead blades have been removed, the lawn will look greener, even though you have also removed some green grass blades.

Raking is also a “pruning”. Just as trimming a forsythia bush will stimulate growth, raking a lawn will prune stems of grass and will also stimulate growth.

Is it absolutely necessary? No. The lawn will not look as green until more new growth starts, but the lawn will still survive. My lawn is huge and I never have time to rake, I don’t like raking, and so I don’t.

Dethatching is a form of mechanical raking. Generally, I find mechanical dethatching to be a little unnecessary. Many people see the dead grass blades from the winter and will say “My lawn has a lot of thatch.” As lawn experts, we call that dead grass blades. Thatch to us is that layer of stems, roots and other stuff between the green part of the lawn (the grass blades) and the soil. Some thatch is good as it insulates the soil from extremes of temperature and reduces moisture loss. Too much thatch (TMT) acts like a thatch roof and can prevent water from penetrating the root zone. TMT also provides protection for insect pests and can increase disease incidence. TMT accumulates because of the lack of oxygen and the proper micro organisms to break it down. Rarely is TMT caused by not removing the clippings. Return clippings to the lawn as this will better utilize the nutrients in the clippings and increase microbial activity.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

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Signs of Spring- besides robins

This morning, I caught a rabbit feeding on the lawn. Now when I say “caught”, I mean visually not literally. I wouldn’t mind catching one literally, as they are multiplying like “rabbits.” The bad part of course, is that they like to eat my plants. Last year, they kept taking the tops of the lettuce plants and nibbling on the swiss chard. During the winter, they will “prune” certain plants, like the spireas, euonymus, and burning bush.

Now, this particular rabbit was nibbling on the grass on top of the septic tank. I guess the saying about the “grass being greener over the septic tank” is true (a la Erma Bombeck.) I guess the warmth of the septic tank is causing the grass there to just start to grow with tender new shoots. And of course, Mr. Rabbit, knows a tender salad sprouting when he sees one.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

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Vole Damage

We are getting calls from people who are unhappy with the pathways and runways that they are finding in the lawn as the snow disappears. Are they moles? Actually they are "Voles." Voles are basically the proper name for field mice. During the winter, the voles are able to run around the whole lawn under the protection of the snow. During the summer, they tend to stay in the bushes or in the fields where there is more cover. Where snow is piled up, the snow acts as a giant inflatable building which protects the voles from predators.

If you live in near a field, you are more likely to have problems with voles. The voles will migrate from the field to the lawn and the protection of the snow piles.

How do you get rid of the voles? Once the snow cover is gone, the voles will go into hiding again. If they go back to the fields, that's great. They may take up residence under the shed or under the protection of a dense shrub. So, normally, there is not a lot to do to get rid of the voles.

As far as the lawn goes, most of the lawn will recover. Often the pathways are on the surface and the grass roots will recover and grow back. There may be the odd spot that will not. We recommend that you sprinkle a little topsoil and some grass seed to speed up the recovery process. That can be done starting in early April.


If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

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Global Warming

It is supposed to get warm this week and a lot of snow is melting very quickly. Which got me to thinking about all the attention "Global Warming" has been getting lately. Not that you would have noticed with the record cold temperatures last week.

So do lawns help with global warming? Maybe or maybe not, but they can keep the area around your home cooler. Certainly at least compared to pavement and asphalt.

Temperature Moderation - Turfgrass reduces temperature heat extremes by natural transpirational cooling. The front lawns of just 8 average houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons of air conditioning. The average home-size central air unit has a 3 to 4 ton capacity.

Bird Seed and the Lawn

I usually try to place my bird feeders in the garden depending on what kind of seed they contain. I am down to only 3 kinds of feed lately.

I like whole unshelled peanuts for the woodpeckers and chickadees. I have a metal peanut feeder which works great. But I also use some onion netting as well. I saved a couple of netting bags from the small white onions or from a garlic netting bag. I put the peanuts in the netting, tie up the end and hang the bag in a tree or bush. It does bother me when the small downy woodpecker laboriously pecks a hole in the peanut shells, only to be chased away by the bully bluejays once the peanuts are accessible.

I keep the feeder for the niger thistle in a spot that hangs over a lawn area. Last year, the seed sprouted in a pathway/garden area and I had to keep pulling them out. In the lawn, they won’t grow to any height once the lawn mower starts its regular rounds.

Black sunflower seeds seem to disappear over night. When the birds are ravenous, I could be filling the feeders every other day and still not keep up. The goldfinches, sparrows, purple finches, chickadees, bluejays, cardinals and morning doves all flock to the feeders. I don’t mind if these feeders are situated over certain garden beds. In these beds, I don’t mind if a sunflower or 2 or 3 sprouts up later in the spring.

In fact I usually save some of the sunflower seed to sow in the garden. A handful of bird seed bought at bird seed prices only cost pennies. A package of sunflower seeds is a couple of dollars at a minimum. If I feel extravagant I will splurge on a couple of packages of the fancy sunflowers, but for a mass planting, the bird seed variety is good enough for me (and the birds that do come along late in the summer to feed on the seed) 

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care- get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home

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or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

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