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Essential Things You Must Know About Growing Hydrangeas in St. Louis

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 02:21:12 GMT

Essential Things You Must Know About Growing Hydrangeas in St. Louis

If you’re a garden enthusiast, who adores indulgent and elegant shrubs, most likely you’ve already heard of hydrangeas. They appear with soft, large blooms that are either saturated in blue, purple, chartreuse, or pink or are creamy-white – enough for maximizing the beauty quotient of all types of gardens. Once what was only popular in the Victorian era, today can be easily grown in the gardens of the Midwest, thanks to the appearance of new varieties of hydrangeas.

And the best part is that new cultivars are versatile in the shade to sun, have greater cold hardiness, and are tolerant to alkaline soils. It means you can grow these elegant beauties in most locations around your yard and accomplish different gardening objectives.

If reading till now has motivated you to go for hydrangeas, congratulations as you’re going to have bushes that would stand out from all the other ones in your garden.

But here the key question is what type of hydrangea should you grow especially when it has got a huge family tree? According to some sources, there’re more than 70 species of hydrangea. However, when it comes to the U.S., only a small number of species can be commonly grown in our gardens. In this post, we’ve rounded up four major species that you can consider planting whether you live in Mehlville, Oakville, or any other part of the St. Louis region.

Different Types of Hydrangeas You Can Grow In St. Louis

Here, we’re going to discuss the species along with a couple of commonly grown types of each to help you make an informed decision.

Panicle Hydrangea

Perhaps the most commonly found variety in the gardens of St. Louis, Panicle hydrangeas have very high cold tolerance and are hardy to zone 3. In midsummer, you’ll see chartreuse or white flowers that turn tan or pink over time. As these grow wide and tall, it’s important to leave enough space when planting. If you want to grow hydrangea as your garden’s focal point, Panicle hydrangeas would be a great option due to their vase-shaped blooms and big footprints.

Here’re the most preferred cultivars of Panicle hydrangeas.

Limelight

This time-tested classic can be used for a wide range of purposes – from an eye-catching specimen and privacy screens to showy flowering hedges, among others. You’ll see large, football-shaped flowers in gorgeous celadon green that adds a fresh feel to your garden. When matured, the flowers turn red, burgundy, and pink that remain through colder months.

Little Lime

While it’s a miniature form of the popular ‘Limelight’, it adds a solid visual appeal to any garden. During summer, there’ll be lime green flowers that turn rich pink with aging. Being small in size, ‘Little Lime’ can be easily grown in containers, meaning it could be a perfect fit for container gardens and smaller landscapes.

Quick Fire

If you want to grow the earliest bloomer in the Panicle hydrangea family, simply go for ‘Quick Fire’. It blooms around a month earlier than other Panicle hydrangeas and produces pure white flowers that turn pink and in the fall, they become highly dark rosy-pink. The foliage also turns spectacular gold and burgundy at the same time.

Smooth Hydrangea

If you want to light up the shady areas of your garden, Smooth hydrangea is what you need to go for. You’ll get beautiful soft, dollop flowers that sometimes start to droop. It’s hardy to zones 4 to 7 and can easily tolerate hotter climates. Its lime-green flowers turn gorgeous creamy-white and in the fall, they change to a tan hue. The dark green leaves are usually thin and heart-shaped and switch to butter yellow hues during fall. The most common types include:

Incrediball

A stunning and reliable deciduous flowering shrub, the Incrediball hydrangea is hardy and appears with larger flower heads and stronger branches than those of its popular sibling ‘Annabelle’. You’ll see rounded, large lime-green flower clusters that age to gorgeous white. During late summer, they return to pale green and in fall, turn to a tan hue. Due to Incrediball hydrangea’s high attractiveness, you can use it to fulfill a number of gardening objectives – from including it in foundation plantings to using it as a specimen plant.

Annabelle

Annabelle hydrangea is a proven, dependable performer for any type of landscape. Every year it produces large, gorgeous blooms from sturdy, green stems. The combination of rounded, white flowers and dark green foliage is ideal for creating a stunning contrast. The blooms appear as pure white, turn to spectacular sage-green before becoming tan buff finally. As Annabelle hydrangea can be grown in almost any soil and with minimal maintenance, it can be seen all across the country. It’s one of the most preferred ornamental plants that gardeners use to beautify their landscapes in many different ways.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Native to the southeastern U.S., Oakleaf hydrangea with elegant large leaves is a true delight for every gardener as it offers four seasons of interest. Usually, the leaves turn colors of gorgeous red, yellow, orange, and burgundy during the fall when planted in sunny areas that experience a little shed in the afternoon. In spring, you’ll see oak-shaped leaves, which are followed by flowers in white panicles during summer. In autumn, Oakleaf hydrangea sheds its leaves, which reveals its exfoliating bark in cinnamon color to beautify your winter garden. While areas, where summers are hot to some extent, are ideal for Oakleaf to bloom, it also has enough cold hardiness. One notable benefit of planting this species is that it can easily thrive in dryer areas compared to its cousins.

Here’re the most commonly found varieties of Oakleaf hydrangea.

Snowflake

This deciduous shrub appears with outstanding double-flowered blooms and offers interest almost the entire year. You’ll see big, conical flower heads along with layers of double blossoms. As the florets continue opening on every flower panicle during the entire summer, you’ll enjoy a much longer bloom season than single varieties of Oakleaf hydrangea. It can also be used for different purposes – from combining with other perennials or shrubs to using it as your garden’s focal point.

Sikes Dwarf

Due to its compact size, Sikes Dwarf has emerged as the perfect option for container gardens and smaller gardens. The beautiful broad foliage flaunts conical blooms in ivory color. The flower clusters, which contain sterile florets, become light pink as they mature. It has an irregular rounded shape and demonstrates an open plant habit.

Little Honey

Another compact variety of Oakleaf hydrangea, Little Honey produces cone-shaped flower heads of white blooms, which are small than those of other Oakleaf varieties. In spring, you’ll see golden-yellow foliage that turns chartreuse green during summer and in fall, it becomes red.

Alice

This is one of the largest varieties of Oakleaf hydrangea and produces an abundance of large white flowers. The flowers turn rosy pink as they age before becoming tan finally during late summer. Due to its bigger height and width, it’s an ideal option for larger gardens. As it appears with a unique leaf shape and foliage texture, you can consider planting it in a cluster to appreciate its presence in your garden.

Bigleaf Hydrangea

This is a longtime favorite of homeowners and can be commonly seen in lots of gardens. The extremely showy varieties of Bigleaf appear with intricate pink, mauve, or blue mophead or lace-cap flower heads. The stunning variations in color create mesmerizing effects that are enough for creating a magnificent garden. However, note that late spring frosts may be damaging for some cultivars of Bigleaf hydrangea. Therefore, when planting them, it’d be wise to choose areas that are protected from exposure and harsh winds.

The most preferred cultivars of Bigleaf hydrangea include:

Lemon Daddy

A compact variety of Bigleaf hydrangea, Lemon Daddy appears with yellow to chartreuse foliage. In summer, you’ll see large, rounded clusters of white flowers that turn light blue or pink as they age. Thanks to its compact yet stunning appearance, you can use Lemon Daddy in different ways – from using it as an accent plant or in a foundation planting to creating a hedge.

Endless Summer

While it may appear similar to other Bigleaf hydrangeas, it’s the flowering pattern that makes Endless Summer different. It can flower on new growth and mature wood, which allows it to produce flowers during the entire growing season. In the early summer, Endless Summer shows first blooms and continues to produce them until the first frost, if regularly deadheaded. You’ll see an abundance of large, showy flowers in lavender, blue, or pink that make this variety a perfect garden addition in many ways.

Blushing Bride

As the name implies, this variety appears with stunning semi-double florets in pure white that turn Carolina blue or blush pink as they age. It produces large, round-shaped dollops of blooms, adding a gorgeous touch to your garden. Thanks to its elegant pure white color, Blushing Bride experiences a wide range of uses – from using in wedding bouquets and hydrangea centerpieces to creating a focal point in the garden.

Mini Penny

It’s a remontant mophead variety that produces blue or pink blooms along with small, bright dark green foliage. This repeat bloomer has a compact, tight habit and blooms from spring to summer, which can be extended to fall with the removal of spent flowers. Mini Penny comes with mildew and disease resistance, which makes it a preferred option among gardeners looking for Bigleaf hydrangeas with superior performance.

How to Take Care of Hydrangeas

Now that you’re aware of different varieties of hydrangeas that can be grown in the gardens of the St. Louis area, it’s time to understand how to take care of these beauties in the best possible manner. Here, we’ve jotted down the key lawn care tips associated with hydrangeas.

Water

To maintain the optimum health of hydrangeas, regular watering is a must. They require moist yet well drained soil to grow. Therefore, it’d be better to water to keep the soil moist all the time instead of keeping it too wet. Note that levels of water differ depending on the type of hydrangea and its location. So, in case of doubts, it’s best to consult your local lawn care service provider. However, if you observe that the foliage has started to wilt, the plant will typically need water.

Fertilizer

If you’ve got rich soil, it may not be required to apply fertilizers for hydrangeas. Remember that adding too much fertilizer won’t cause the hydrangea to bloom. Moreover, each variety appears with different needs and different application timing of fertilizers. So, it’s advisable to do a soil test first by contacting a lawn maintenance company to determine the exact requirements.

Pruning

Though hydrangeas require minimal pruning, you shouldn’t apply common shrub trimming methods to them. This is because depending on the type of your hydrangea, the methods may slightly differ. If you want to reduce the plant’s size, it can be done by removing a few older canes. However, you can prune

in the spring if you observe that the branches’ tips have died during cold winters. It’s important to understand that if you follow an incorrect method of pruning, it may cause the hydrangea to produce fewer blooms.It’s important to note that regardless of the type of hydrangea you choose, fertile soil is a must to promote healthy growth. Therefore, be sure to apply common lawn care tips such as flower bed cleanup, lawn mowing, mulching, etc before planting hydrangeas.

You may have also heard that it’s possible to change the color of hydrangeas. Though it somewhat depends on the cultivator, you can change the color by tweaking the soil pH. Alkaline soil will cause the plant to produce pink flowers while acidic soil will cause it to produce blue flowers. To increase the alkalinity of the soil, add hydrated lime to it during spring. To increase the acidity, add aluminum sulfate to it during spring.

Wrapping Up

Hydrangeas are not only resistant to most diseases and pests but are quite hardy and easy to grow as well. And with a huge number of varieties available, you can rest assured of being able to find one according to your preferences. And be sure to explore the varieties we’ve mentioned above so that you can focus on growing the hydrangea instead of finding the right one.

Your Ultimate Guide to Azalea Bushes in the Midwest

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 02:00:50 GMT

Your Ultimate Guide to Azalea Bushes in the Midwest

Are you thinking of brightening up your yard? Are you planning to plant flowering shrubs that would help your garden display an outstanding blaze of color? If your answer is a resounding “yes” to any of these, opting for Azalea bushes would probably be your best option. These shade-tolerant plants produce brightly-colored flowers, making your lawn the most beautiful one in the block.

In this guide, our aim is to provide you with a solid understanding of different types of Azalea bushes that you can grow successfully in the Midwest. Whether you live in Oakville, MO, or any other part of St. Louis County, we hope that this guide will help you leverage the true potential of these fascinating perennial plants.

Different Types of Azaleas to Grow In the Midwest

While people in the South enjoy a broad variety of Azaleas offering different flower color variations, sizes, and shapes, those, who live in the Midwest region, experience limitations. This is because many varieties of these beautifully colored plants lack cold hardiness. Only a small number of Azaleas that appear with outstanding cold hardiness can be successfully grown here.

The following is a list of sixteen varieties of Azaleas that are most commonly grown in this region. Note that in order to be successful in your effort, it’s a must to choose appropriate sites and follow some specific gardening and lawn care procedures. We’ll discuss them in detail in the next section.

Let’s get started with the varieties of Azaleas.

1. Encore Autumn Amethyst

Azaleas that belong to the Encore series like ‘Encore Autumn Amethyst’ would be ideal if you want to enjoy multiple blooming periods. While most Azaleas typically bloom only in the spring, Encores produce blooms in the fall, summer, and spring. It means you can rest assured of having blooms, which are showing for two to three months. With many Encore varieties available, you’ll likely find the perfect hue to match your landscape. Remember to eliminate spent flowers quickly to encourage further flowering, which will attract pollinators to the landscape throughout the season.

2. Fragrant Star Azalea

Considered by many as the most fragrant variety of Azaleas, ‘Fragrant Star Azalea’ produces pure white flowers having very strong fragrance along with pointed petals covering the shrub in mid-spring. Though it’s a polyploidy form of the famous ‘Rhododendron Snowbird’, ‘Fragrant Star’ appears with thicker leaves and bigger flowers. You’ll see amazing clusters of scented white flowers at the branches’ ends, which appear from unique pink flower buds, along with bluish-green foliage during the entire season. Quite a cold hardy and heat tolerant shrub, “Fragrant Star” is a multi-stemmed deciduous Azalea and experiences upright spreading during growth.

3. Gibraltar Azalea

One of the stunning varieties of Azaleas, ‘Gibraltar Azalea’ is a medium-sized deciduous shrub that produces exceptionally beautiful yellow and bright orange flowers covering open branches during mid to late spring. Its slightly fragrant funnel-shaped flowers emerge from deep crimson buds along with beautiful green foliage during the entire season. Offering exceptional mildew resistance, this variety would be ideal if you want to flaunt an enviable flora display.

4. Rhododendron ‘Rosebud’

A compact, small evergreen Azalea, Rhododendron ‘Rosebud’ produces outstanding rosy-pink funnel shaped flowers during mid to late spring. When the buds are about to open fully, the ‘Rosebud’ flower looks like a rose that’s about to open. This incredibly cold hardy variety is one of the most popular double-flowered Azaleas and offers massive flowering, which can remain up to six weeks while hiding branches and the foliage containing mid-green, glossy leaves.

5. Rosy Lights Azalea

A remarkably cold hardy variety, ‘Rosy Lights Azalea’ is a compact, scented deciduous shrub that produces deep rose-pink flowers. You’ll see amazing clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers at the branches’ ends during late spring to early summer, emerging from distinguishable cherry red flower buds. It offers olive green foliage comprising narrow leaves, which become purple in the fall, during the entire season.

6. Rhododendron ‘Windbeam’

Offering exceptional cold hardiness, Rhododendron ‘Windbeam’ is a famous small-leaved Azalea hybrid that produces stunning apricot pink flowers. The color of the flowers changes to pure white before becoming light purplish-pink. The foliage consists of fragrant, small olive-green leaves that become bronze-green during fall. If you’re looking to grow a tough and reliable performer having heat and sun tolerance, ‘Rhododendron Windbeam’ would be a perfect option to enhance the beauty quotient of your lawn.

7. Roseshell Azalea

Highly adored for its outstanding floral display and soothing fragrance, Roseshell Azalea is a showy deciduous shrub that produces rose pink, funnel-shaped flowers during mid to late spring. You’ll see large clusters of flowers along with decently protruding stamens, during or before the leaves emerge. The foliage contains blue-green, smooth leaves that turn eye-catching hues of purple during fall. With remarkable cold hardiness and tolerance to high pH, ‘Roseshell Azalea’ is one of the highly popular perennial plants in the Midwest region.

8. Rhododendron ‘Karens’

With remarkable cold hardiness and slight fragrance, this semi-evergreen, compact Azalea is ideal for creating a stunning landscape. It produces reddish-purple, funnel-shaped flowers in clusters during mid to late spring. The foliage comprises olive green, glossy leaves that turn coppery and wine-red hues during winter and fall. Whether you want to light up your entryway or create a perfect spot for hummingbirds and butterflies to adore the showy, voluminous flowers, Rhododendron ‘Karens’ will become your favorite in no time.

9. Royal Azalea

One of the most sought-after deciduous Azaleas, this variety produces gorgeous pink flowers during mid-spring. There’ll be eye-catching clusters consisting of trumpet-shaped, aromatic flowers at the branches’ ends emerging from distinguishable pink flower buds. During the entire season, it offers dark green foliage of narrow leaves that turn a stunning red during the fall.

10. Rhododendron ‘Klondyke’

If you’re planning to make your ablaze with color during mid to late spring, you should go for Rhododendron ‘Klondyke’. This medium-sized Azalea produces funnel-shaped flowers colored in glowing golden-yellow along with a red tinge on the outer side. Its coppery-red leaves, which form attractive foliage, turn deep bronze during fall creating a spectacular display.

11. Rhododendron ‘Golden Lights’

This deciduous Azalea appears with remarkable cold hardiness and attractive fragrance. It produces outstanding large clusters consisting of orange buds that turn gorgeous funnel-shaped, golden-yellow flowers during late spring to early summer. The foliage containing olive green, narrow leaves offers better resistance to mildew compared to some other hybrid Azaleas.

12. Cannon’s Double Azalea

A deciduous, bushy variety, ‘Cannon’s Double’ Azalea produces large clusters of multi-layered petals during late spring consisting of stunning cream, pitch, and pink blooms that emerge from pink buds. This outstandingly contrasts with the foliage of dark green leaves that appear with red-bronze highlights during the fall. Whether you want to use it for massing in your shrub borders or as a hedge plant, it’ll be a perfect option requiring minimal maintenance.

13. Irene Koster Azalea

If you want to have a huge display of funnel-shaped, sweetly fragrant blooms, extremely popular Irene Koster Azalea could be one of your best options. It produces extremely beautiful rose-pink flowers flaunting a yellow flare with deeper markings, emerging from buds having dark pink stripes. From privacy screen and mass planting to hedging and keeping it as a specimen tree – it’d help you meet a wide range of objectives.

14. Arneson Ruby Azalea

A deciduous Azalea having an upright habit during growth, ‘Arneson Ruby Azalea’ produces wavy-edged, strong red flowers during midseason. You’ll see ball-shaped clusters consisting of blooms in perfectly saturated red in this relatively slower grower. Its bright green foliage turns a stunning hue of red during the fall.

15. Golden Flare Azalea

During mid-spring, ‘Golden Flare Azalea’ gets covered in outstanding trumpet-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers having creamy white overtones along with a salmon blotch at the branches’ ends, emerging from distinguishable salmon buds. This deciduous shrub appears with green foliage comprising narrow, glossy leaves. You can use this multi-stemmed Azalea for different purposes including low screening, massing, and foundation plantings.

16. Mandarin Lights Azalea

‘Mandarin Lights Azalea’ is a deciduous shrub that produces deep orange flowers during spring. You’ll see eye-catching clusters of slightly fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers in tomato-orange color. Its green foliage comprises narrow leaves that turn a stunning purple during the fall. The bright foliage is a perfect choice to use for shrub borders, mass plantings, or as a gorgeous accent plant.

Tips to Grow Azaleas in the Midwest

Azaleas prefer fairly mild, humid weather along with cool summers. However, since the Midwest doesn’t have a mild climate, Azaleas aren't well adapted to the region, especially in Oakville, MO, or other areas in St. Louis that experience extreme temperatures in winter and summer. But it doesn’t mean you should shelve your plans of growing Azaleas in St. Louis. You just need to follow certain tips to grow these plants the right way.

Choose the Right Location

When trying to grow Azaleas in the Midwest, choosing the right site is extremely important. It’s best to opt for a north or east-facing slope to keep the plants away from the direct afternoon sun and southwest winds. Since they need wind protection, planting them next to buildings or slopes that offer adequate barriers would be wise. You may even plant them in the shelter of evergreen trees and shrubs like juniper, pine, or spruce that will offer exposure to morning sun and protection against the harsher direct afternoon sun. However, you should avoid planting your Azaleas against a building foundation with a southern exposure as the site becomes too hot in summer and has to withstand winter winds.

Check the Soil’s pH Level

In recent years, some lawn owners prefer to allow their crepe myrtles to grow into their natural shape, which often leads to crepe myrtle bushes. If you too want this look, remain assured that it’ll still look beautiful and bloom as long as you fertilize and water it properly. And you’d need to perform a minimum amount of pruning to maintain strong branches and trim back as required.

Soil Preparation and Planting

Good drainage of the planting bed is critical for your Azaleas to thrive. You should dig out an 18-inch deep bed that’s 30 inches wide at the least. Your plants should be at least 18 inches from the bed’s edge and 3-4 feet apart from each other.

You should dig the planting hole a few weeks before purchasing the Azaleas. This will give you adequate time to amend and prepare the soil and let it settle. Azaleas flourish in soils that have been amended a lot with organic matter, such as peat moss and compost. If you have heavy clay soil, you should invest a few additional hours to mix a lot of organic matter with the native soil. However, you should avoid using compost or performing mulch installation with mulch that hasn’t turned into a medium-graded, dark colored material. Avoid using leaf mold as well since it would make the plants get settled too deep inside the hole over time as the leaf mold breaks down. This could pave way for water getting collected at the hole’s bottom and triggering a root rot, where the roots and stems of your Azaleas get affected by a fungal disease.

It’ would also be wise to check whether or not you need to perform landscape edging, lawn mowing, or flower bed cleanup before planting Azaleas.

Closing Thoughts

As you can see, Azaleas can prove to be very rewarding ornamental trees as long as you can provide them with the appropriate growing conditions. Unfortunately, many homeowners stay away from growing these stunningly colored plants due to the common perception that says Azaleas are difficult to grow. The reality is when you’ll apply the knowledge gained from this guide, you’ll most likely have a much greater success rate. Just remember that both rhododendron and Azalea fall under the Rhododendron genus. Though both of these flowering shrubs are highly similar, they come with some technical differences. For example, Azaleas are more often deciduous and they usually have smaller branches and leaves while rhododendrons are commonly evergreen and appear with leathery, bigger leaves.

At Kozeny’s Lawn Service, we’ve seen that many lawn owners, especially those who’re new to Azaleas, struggle to grow these shrubs successfully. If you too are finding it difficult, feel free to contact us today and we’ll be happy to help you succeed in your endeavor.

Your Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide to Crepe Myrtle Pruning And Trimming

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 01:49:18 GMT

Your Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide to Crepe Myrtle Pruning And Trimming

Crepe Myrtle (also known as Crape Myrtle) is one of the most beautiful ornamental shrubs and trees that you can have on your lawn. Whether you live in Oakville, MO, Mehlville, MO, Affton, MO, Arnold, MO, or any other part in St. Louis County or Jefferson County, you’ve surely found pleasing crepe myrtle trees featuring attractive barks and elegant flowers. Another notable thing about this year-round tree is that you can have smaller crepe myrtle bushes to towering crepe myrtle trees to match your lawn’s aesthetics. Apart from the lively summer colors offered by crepe myrtles, they also bloom in heat and humidity and offer drought tolerance. In short, there’s no reason not to fall in love with the long blooming crepe myrtle trees.

Unfortunately, while many homeowners plant crepe myrtle trees, a few of them correctly prune them. And when talking about pruning crepe myrtles, it’s strongly advised to leave them alone instead of pruning them incorrectly.

As a leading lawn care service provider in St. Louis County, we frequently receive queries about what should be the right way to prune and trim crepe myrtle trees. Instead of answering them one by one, we decided to create this ultimate guide on crepe myrtle tree pruning and trimming so that all our homeowner friends can have a handbook that they can readily refer to.

What Is The Right Time To Prune Crepe Myrtle Tree?

Many lawn owners and some inexperienced lawn service providers think that the fall is the right time to prune a crepe myrtle. However, if you prune your crepe myrtle tree or crepe myrtle bush during that season and the temperature starts to increase after that, the trees may actually start growing. The new growth will be very vulnerable to freezing temperatures. And if another cold snap comes around, it could severely damage the health of the tree. So, ideally, you should prune crepe myrtles in mid February to save them from winter injury.

How to Prune and Trim Crepe Myrtle Tree the Right Way?

Pruning of a crepe myrtle requires a couple of simple gardening tools. These include:

• Bypass pruners (for smaller stems and branches)

• Loppers (for medium-size stems and branches)

It’s also advisable to wear gardening gloves to avoid cuts and scrapes and protect the existing ones from infection.

Step-By-Step Process to Prune Different Crepe Myrtle Trees

Before you delve deeper into the steps of pruning, you should decide what kind of look you want your crepe myrtle to have. You need to choose from single-trunk crepe myrtle tree, multi-trunk crepe myrtle tree, and crepe myrtle bush.

How to Prune a Single-Trunk Crepe Myrtle Tree?

First of all, eliminate any additional stems that are protruding from the ground along with any suckers. Also, be sure to remove the basal sprouts that may have emerged from the plant’s base. Then, choose a leading single trunk for your crepe myrtle tree and prune away all other side branches that might compete with it. It’s important to keep in mind that if you want to follow this method, you need to start when the tree is in its young stage. This is because you most likely won’t be able to prune an established crepe myrtle tree to this style.

How to Prune a Multi-Trunk Crepe Myrtle Tree?

Step #1

A well-structured, healthy crepe myrtle tree should appear with only a couple of main trunks to promote a graceful appearance. Trees with having an odd number of trunks are visually more appealing than those with an even number of trunks. First, choose some of the trunks that are growing healthy and straight, and have an adequate space to grow. Prune all the suckers from the bottom and any other trunks. It’ll help you not to have a dead stub that not only looks ugly but potentially invites diseases and insects as well.

Step #2

In case your crepe myrtle tree bloomed last year and the seed clusters weren’t removed, you should see them at the heads of at least a few stems from the last year. When pruning your crepe myrtle tree, remember to trace down from a stem’s top to the area where it joins a branch. Now, make a cut around 6 to 12 inches over the intersection.

There’s also another technique to choose the area where to make the cuts. Hold a stem’s tip and bend it over and make the cut exactly at the point where you see the stem is starting to bend.

If the upper branches grow in different directions, they’ll look pretty. Therefore, prune off any of them that’s growing and occupying the area of another branch. Remember to make the cut a little above a bud, which faces the direction that you wish the new branch to grow. Also, cut off the limbs that may rub against each other. This is because the branches may wound each other due to growth and strong wind movement. It’d also be wise to eliminate additional branches in your crepe myrtle tree’s interior to promote better sunlight penetration and air circulation, which will lower the chances of diseases such as powdery mildew.

Step #3

While thinning of the limbs every couple of years will promote new blooming and growth, you need to prune only the limbs which have a diameter of less than the width of a pencil. If you keep them as it is, it’ll lead to poor new growth, which will make it difficult for your crepe myrtle tree to support flowers.

How to Prune a Crepe Myrtle Bush?

Mistakes to Avoid When Pruning a Crepe Myrtle Tree

Crepe myrtle tree pruning may seem like one of the easiest jobs when it comes to crepe myrtle tree care but it can cause some serious damage to your beloved plant if done wrong. We’ve seen many lawn owners feeling panicked after they’ve made some wrong cuts and realized that they’ve just destroyed the natural shape of their crepe myrtle tree.

Here’re the most common tree trimming mistakes we frequently observe to help you understand what you must try to avoid.

Understand “Crape Murder”

“Crape murder” refers to over-pruning, as well as, cutting the tops away. While some unprofessional lawn service providers or inexperienced homeowners prefer to use this technique because it’s simple and quick, it may harm the plant severely. There’re two reasons for which we do NOT suggest this. First, even if this technique helps to create bigger blooms, they may droop from the new branches and break. Second, if you do this year after year, it’ll promote a knobby growth at the location of the cut, which is not only vulnerable to diseases but ruins the beauty of a crepe myrtle tree as well. And remember that over-pruning may stress a tree. This is because removing branches heavily means you’re taking away stored resources, which will lower the photosynthetic capacity of the tree and impact its growth. Another reason cited by some inexperienced lawn care service providers is that “crape murder” promotes controlled growth, which isn’t true at all. Even if the trunk survives after the incident, it’ll produce a lot of fresh bushy growth at the locations of the cuts. As a result, the tree will eventually require more maintenance than ever before.

Incorrect Pruning Cut

A correct pruning cut reduces the damage that occurred to your crepe myrtle tree and helps it to heal faster. On the contrary, an incorrect cut such as cutting very far from the trunk or cutting extremely close to the trunk might cause severe damage to the tree. Both of these may lead to decay, which’s extremely bad for any tree. Additionally, if you leave the tree with improper cuts, the tree will become highly susceptible to pests and diseases. When making a cut, it’s also important to maintain a steep slant. It’ll ensure that water won’t sit and be soaked by the raw wood, which may lead to decay.

Pruning of Incorrect Limbs and Twigs

You should remove limbs and twigs, which are growing toward your crepe myrtle tree’s center or touching each other. It’ll save the bark from getting damaged because on windy days the limbs may rub against each other. Additionally, if you see that your tree is having small limbs that might hang out over your lawn or walkway over time, you should cut them off right now. It’ll help you or your hired lawn care service provider to perform lawn maintenance tasks such as mowing easily and make it less traumatic for your tree as well.

Pruning during the Improper Season

Crepe myrtle trees are very resilient and you can plant them in almost any season including the summer. However, be sure not to prune heavily during their growing season. It may trigger a risk of making the tree starve by eliminating too many leaves. While crepe myrtles are sun-loving trees, an already stressed tree from over-pruning might make it less resilient when there’s a scarcity of water. Additionally, if you cut off too many branches, which shade the bark, may expose the growing tree to the scorching sun that may hurt the plant.

Improper Topping

Tree topping simply refers to the cutting off your crepe myrtle’s top. While this may sound like a simple task, it often generates unnecessary stress to the tree. Most of the time, lawn owners and lawn service providers use this technique when a tree spreads out of its allotted space. Since crepe myrtles are available in various sizes, it’s advisable to review the space that you can make available for the tree before buying it to avoid unnecessary topping. Ideally, you should talk to one of your reputable lawn care service providers that regularly deal with crepe myrtles in order to choose the right location. Remember that crepe myrtles require well-drained soil, a sufficient amount of airflow, and lots of sunlight. You figure these things out at the beginning and you’ll most likely never need to think about anything like “crape murder”. Even if you need a drastic reduction in the size of your matured crepe myrtle tree, crape murder is never a good option. This is because it’ll result in an unhealthy, ugly tree.

Using Unsharpened Tools

When it comes to crepe myrtle shrub trimming or crepe myrtle tree pruning, very few people actually think about the sharpness of the tools that they’re using. However, the reality is, using unsharpened pruners or loppers can cause severe damage to the tree. It may lead to improper or rough cuts that may shred the bark, which may result in bigger wounds.

Apart from these, there’s one more important thing that you should always keep in mind when it comes to pruning your crepe myrtle tree. For these trees, pruning isn’t necessarily required for blooming. The last year’s seed heads can remain on the tree all year and you’ll still get a sufficient amount of blooming in the present year. So you should prune without damaging the plant’s overall health. Pruning without any proper objective will create unnecessary stress for the plant. When you prune a crepe myrtle tree using proper techniques and the right tools, it’ll help you get a multitude of benefits including enviable beauty, controlled growth, and better health and vitality.

Closing Thoughts

And finally, heavily improper pruning takes professional expertise, patience, and time to fix. And in the worst situations, it sometimes causes irreversible damage to the tree. So, prune your crepe myrtle tree when you actually need to do it. Just be sure to keep the above steps in mind, use proper pruning techniques, and your crepe myrtle tree will keep on exuding outstanding beauty for years!

Essential Things You Always Wanted To Know About Sod Installation

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 01:49:17 GMT

Essential Things You Always Wanted To Know About Sod Installation

Does your neighbor’s verdant lawn make you feel jealous? Do you wonder how they’ve achieved it? Most likely, sod installation would be the answer. When it comes to rejuvenating the lawn, many homeowners in Oakville, MO, Arnold, MO, or other parts in St. Louis County, MO, usually prefer to plant grass seeds. So, you may ask “why should I go for sod installation?” The answer is sod lets you enjoy some distinct advantages over the traditional method of seeding your lawn. If you’re planning to install sod and want to take the DIY route, this guide would act as your most useful companion throughout the process. Here, we’ve included answers to the questions that you may possibly have about sod installation.

What Is Sod?

Sod, also known as turf grass, refers to grass which has been already planted. Sod is usually available in rolled up pallets where grass and soil are held together by a biodegradable material or root system. Three of the most common types of sod that are grown by lawn service providers in Missouri include Zoysia, Fescue, and Bermuda.

Key Benefits of Sod Installation

While sod installation involves much more yard work than seeding the lawn and is a considerably expensive affair, many homeowners still prefer this option and there’re reasons behind this. Let’s take a look.

Much Healthier

Professional lawn maintenance service providers grow sod. They use high-quality seeds and appropriate techniques to come up with superior soil which’s as healthy and green as possible. Therefore, sod eventually becomes a well-nurtured and highly mature plant.

Instant Results

When you plant grass seeds, it takes many months and hence, you’re left with a bare lawn in the meantime. On the contrary, sod installation lets you have a beautiful lawn filled with fully grown green grass instantly. With proper yard work, you can start using the newly sodded lawn within a couple of weeks.

Cost-Effective Option In The Long Run

Sod installation typically costs significantly more than seeding your lawn. However, the process of growing grass from seeds comes with several additional costs associated with it over time. These lawn maintenance works generally include weed control, overseeding, extra fertilization, etc. So, if you compare long-term total investments for both options, the sod comes out as a more cost-effective one.

Soil Protection

Since sod is sold as a thick slab of grass, it greatly helps to safeguard the soil underneath. It regulates erosion, dust, and mud to a great extent, thanks to its maturity. This may make sod installation a better option if you’ve many children or pets running around on your lawn or lots of outdoor activities going on it regularly.

Weed Prevention

Because sod is grown by professional lawn service providers, you can rest assured of having zero weed in the new turf. Weed seed germination is also discouraged by the density of a sod.

Heat Reduction

Unlike artificial turf, bare soil, etc that become really hot in the summer, a sod is created to cool the air by absorbing heat. Apart from heat reduction, it also absorbs carbon dioxide, which reduces greenhouse gases.

How to Install Sod

Installing sod isn’t only a significant investment but a strenuous job as well. However, you’ll be amazed to see a beautiful lawn filled with a new coat of green grass. If the above-mentioned advantages of sod have inspired you to install it, here’re the steps that you need to follow.

#1 Choose the Right Kind of Grass

Selecting the right type of grass for your lawn is essentially the first step of sod installation. You should never select a grass that’s just visually or aesthetically appealing. Make sure that the chosen grass fits the climate and environment you live in. As different types of grass require different amounts of maintenance, you should select one that you can conveniently take care of. Some homeowners prefer to lay sod over their existing lawns while some others remove the existing lawn before sod installation. If you belong to the former league, be sure to check the visual differences between grass textures, colors, and various other physical aspects to match the existing lawn.

#2 Measure the Installation Area

#3 Perform a Soil Analysis

The overall health of your lawn and the grass will essentially be determined by the health of your lawn’s soil. Therefore, to ensure better grass quality, you must understand soil’s health so that appropriate lawn maintenance works can be carried out. Surely, regular fertilizing of the lawn is a wise decision to ensure the grasses are receiving adequate nutrients but a soil analysis would help you understand exactly which nutrients you’d need to provide the lawn with. By doing a soil analysis before sod installation, you’ll be able to pinpoint the nutrients you might require after the sod is installed.

#4 Prepare the Soil

Proper site preparation plays an extremely crucial role in successful sod installation. It’ll become easier for fresh grassroots to penetrate evenly and deeply, which will eventually make your lawn denser. A dense lawn is also more capable of resisting diseases and insects and fighting weeds off. First of all, remove all debris, rocks, and poisonous weeds from the installation area. If you find the soil isn’t compacted, consider having lawn aeration done. If you’re removing existing grass, use a roto-tiller or sod cutter to get rid of their top layers. Then fix the drainage problems of the site by grading to ensure the water can move away from driveways and sidewalks and doesn’t puddle in low areas. Some steps are needed to be taken based on the soil analysis results. If the results indicate that the soil has a high pH level, consider adding pine needles, composted oak leaves, etc. And if the results show a low pH level, you’d need to add wood ashes, lime, etc to the soil. If you find soil clods having a diameter of more than 2 inches, break them up. Use good quality topsoil to fill low areas. Since plants depend on topsoil for water and other essential nutrients, it’s a must to use the right mix. The right mix will provide the grasses with adequate nutrients, allow sufficient air to reach the roots, and facilitate good drainage – all of which together will create a perfect place for grasses to grow.

#5 Schedule Sod Delivery

Now that you’ve prepared the site, it’s time to have the sod delivered. Try to conduct the sod installation process the same day it’s delivered. Understand that sod rolls/slabs are breathing, living entities and hence, schedule delivery so that you can lay it out quickly. Fresh sod appears with moist soil along with dark green grass blades. If you cannot install farm fresh sod immediately, identify a place in the shade where you can preserve it. Be sure not to keep the sod in direct sunlight or under a tarp.

#6 Lay the Sod

Ideally, you should lay the sod on an overcast, cool day to reduce plant stress. If you need to perform sod installation in high temperatures, moisten the surface of your installation area before starting the process. Maintain a straight line to lay the sod strips with their ends staggered in a brick-laying design. Make sure that all the pieces of sod rolls fit together tightly. If you find irregular areas, use a sharp spade or unity knife to cut the sod to fit them. Finally, once you’ve placed the sod, remove air pockets by using a sod roller.

#7 Water the Sod

Be sure to water the sod installation area thoroughly on the day before the process takes place. Newly-laid sod should be watered immediately within half an hour of installation. Then water it daily to provide it with adequate moisture to survive. Short watering in the morning and in the late evening be even better. Continue this for about two weeks following installation to ensure the sod is firmly rooted. If you’re unsure, lift a piece of your new sod and see if the ground underneath is wet or moist. If it’s, you can stay away from watering but if you find dry ground, you should water the newly laid sod. Note that, overwatering for a prolonged period of time will significantly damage the lawn and it may end up having rotting roots and diseases.

Sod installation can be performed in almost any season of the year. However, the ideal time to lay sod is early fall or late summer when grasses continue to grow and temperatures remain cooler. If you choose warm-season grasses like Bermuda, Zoysia, etc, which remain dormant in the winter, spring would be the preferable time for installing sod. You should try to avoid summer for sod installation as the additional water needed for the process may lead to diseases.

Mistakes You Need To Avoid When Installing Sod

Undeniably, sod installation offers a multitude of advantages and saves you from the difficulties associated with seeding your lawn. However, during the process, many homeowners end up making some common mistakes that cost them their desired lawn. Take a look at the following mistakes and try to avoid them so that you can have a truly enviable lush lawn.

Choosing Low-Quality Sod

While buying a cheap sod may sound like a good option to save costs, it’ll eventually cost you much more in the long-term. For instance, if it appears with weeds, you might have to spend hours every day to eliminate those plants. On the contrary, a high-quality sod, purchased from a reputable seller, will require minimal effort to maintain.

Delaying Sod Installation

When you’ve got the sod delivered, make sure that you complete the installation process the very same day. Ideally, you should ask your local sod seller to deliver the product in the morning. It’ll help you get sufficient time to perform sod installation. If you cannot make it the same day, follow the sod storage instructions we mentioned above. And remember, turfgrass cannot live for an indefinite period of time in folds or rolls. It’ll eventually begin to overheat and get decomposed. It simply means, you should never store the sod for several days. Try to lay it at least the next day after it’s delivered.

Not Giving the Sod Time to Get Established

After sod installation is done, it’ll take around four to five weeks to firmly hold the ground. If you start using the turf heavily almost immediately after the installation, it’ll hinder the growth of the grass that’ll result in an imperfect and uneven lawn.

Mowing the Lawn Immediately

Even if long grasses make you feel irritated, stay away from mowing the newly laid sod whenever you find them. If you cut them right away, it might severely damage the sod. Ideally, you should wait for a minimum of two to three weeks before mowing your lawn to help the sod root properly.

Overlapping Sod Rolls

During installation, you may find it tempting to overlap the sod rolls to get full coverage but you’ll end up having a bumpy lawn. Therefore, make sure that you’re laying the rolls side by side without any gaps. It’ll automatically let you have full coverage from the sod.

Summing Up

While sod installation is a fairly straightforward process, there’re several steps that you need to follow to achieve a wonderful, green lawn. Ideally, you should hire a leading professional lawn service provider to install sod and maintain it. At Kozeny’s Lawn Service, we offer sod installation services throughout Arnold, MO, Oakville, Mo, and other nearby areas. Our professional sod installers will ensure perfect installation and provide you with suggestions on watering and fertilizing to maintain your new lawn. If you want to know more about our sod installation services, feel free to get in touch with us today.

Spring Time Lawn Care in St. Louis MO

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 01:49:17 GMT

Spring Time Lawn Care in St. Louis MO

It’s needless to say that every homeowner desires to own a lush and healthy lawn. It not only enhances the beauty quotient of the property but offers a great place for everyone in the family to enjoy. With Missouri belonging to the U.S. transition zone, people residing there often have to wait for spring – when weather fluctuations settle down – to start lawn care . You may not need to focus on this during the cold winter months but once the temperature starts warming up in spring, you’ve to make it a priority, as long as you live in Oakville , MO, Mehlville, MO , or any other part in the city of St. Louis.

If you don’t perform appropriate lawn care in spring, it may have significant repercussions later on. Proper spring lawn care will help your lawn experience healthy growth in the summer. While spring lawn maintenance may take only a couple of days but each step is an effective long-term investment. This is because they’ll ensure that the lawn looks great throughout the year.

At Kozeny’s Lawn Service , we frequently receive many queries from homeowners in Mehlville, MO, Oakville, MO, and adjoining areas on spring lawn care . Instead of answering the questions individually, we decided to create this detailed handbook on the topic to help them out.

Essential Spring Lawn Care Tips In St. Louis

Lawns in St. Louis appear with special requirements during spring and if you fail to address them, you’ll fail to have that picture-perfect lawn you always wanted. Let’s take a look at the key treatments you must get done during this time.

Property Cleanup

Thorough property cleanup and y ard cleanup is essentially the first step in spring lawn care . Even if some leaves have been cleaned up during winter, there are some trees that shed leaves during spring. So, inspect the lawn thoroughly to find out any layers or significant piles of leaves or any other kind of debris. If found anything, remove it because they’re the breeding grounds of diseases. Also, be sure to pick up any fallen twigs or branches and clean any pet messes. And see if things like thick branches or stones are hiding in your overgrown lawn. Raking is a crucial part of yard cleanup . Even if you don’t find a single leaf pile, you should do it to control thatch. You’ll be able to remove the additional layers of grass that died during the winter by raking the grass deeply. By removing thatch build-up and leaves, you’ll help the grasses to grow healthy and strong. Remember to do the raking when the lawn is fully dry. If you do it over wet grasses, it may tear them from the roots, which may leave you with bare patches. For many lawn owners, property cleanups seem to be an unpleasant task. This is because you’d need to remove different types of litters deposited by thoughtless individuals during winter. If you too belong to this league, consider hiring a top-tier lawn care service provider for the job.

Lawn Mowing

Lawn mowing is one of the most crucial tasks when it comes to spring lawn care . While the first mowing makes a lawn highly attractive, regular mowing thereafter toughens the grasses for different stresses later on. However, it’s crucial to understand some fundamentals to properly mow your lawn. First of all, lawn mowing should be done when the height of the grass level remains between two and three inches, And a balance needs to be maintained between grass that’s too long and grass that’s too short. As there’re different recommended lengths for different types of grasses, you should check the range where your grasses fall in. However, you shouldn’t be cutting over one-third of the grass when performing lawn mowing . If you’re using a traditional lawnmower, be sure to regularly sharpen the mower blade. If you’re interested to use alternative mowers, you can try an electric mower or a reel mower because they’re more environmentally friendly options. Also, when mowing the lawn, if you follow the same pattern every time, it may lead to having small ruts in the yard formed by mower wheels. So, change the pattern to keep the grasses from being beaten by the blades in the same direction every time. Try to use a back-and-forth motion rather than mowing the lawn in a circular pattern. It’d help to ensure that you’re evenly cutting the grasses. Finally, since lawn mowing is a time-consuming and tiring job, you may want to leave the yard immediately when you’re done. But spend some more minutes to sweep up the grass clippings and spread them on the yard. They’ll act as fertilizer and provide the soil with additional nutrients by breaking down into it.

Shrub Trimming
Shrub trimming is the right chore for early spring because most shrubs remain dormant during this time. It also becomes easier to see the actual shape of the shrubs when there’s no foliage. While some shrubs may not essentially need to be trimmed but the process can help them in terms of improving their structure and shape. Unlike what some people may believe, trimming isn’t harmful to shrubs. Instead, it can help promote their longevity and health. Before you start shrub trimming, thoroughly inspect the lawn and identify what you should actually remove. Trim any diseased, dying, or dead branches. If you’re trimming diseased ones, be sure to cut well below the infected areas. Then trim back to the original stem, cutting the branch to the source as close as you can. Keep in mind that each shrub should be identified before you start trimming. This is because some early-flowering shrubs shouldn’t be trimmed during spring. If you do, you’ll most probably remove the dormant buds, which simply means there’ll be no flowers. So, if you cannot identify a shrub, take the help of a local lawn care service provider . Never go for shrub trimming during wet or damp weather as it’ll spread lots of diseases. If you’ve ornamental grasses on your lawn, tie their tops first to facilitate an easy and quick trimming. Regardless of the tool you use for shrub trimming, be sure to clean it first with soapy, hot water to prevent spreading diseases. And when you trim a diseased branch, clean it again before trimming the next shrub. Finally, some kinds of shrub trimming jobs are better left to professionals. For instance, if the shrubs or their branches are near utility wires, you should never take the DIY route. If the job needs power equipment, trained professionals would be the best persons to handle it effectively.

Mulch Installation

Mulching is another crucial spring lawn care element when it comes to having a beautiful-looking lawn. Mulch can be of a wide range of materials – from plant debris and fallen leaves to wood chips, compost, rotten manure, among others. If you can perform mulch installation properly, it’ll provide the lawn’s soil with nutrients and limit its compaction. It also increases soil fertility slowly and may enhance the availability of micronutrients already present in the soil. In spring, it warms the soil, allowing you to plant significantly before the soil would be ready in general. However, there are some key things that you need to keep in mind to make the most out of mulch installation. First of all, an excessive amount of mulch (a layer having a depth of over three inches) may bury and suffocate your plants by preventing oxygen and water from reaching their roots. Therefore, maintain a layer with a depth between two to three inches. Also, stay away from mulching around the trunks of shrubs and trees as that may encourage wood-boring insects. When it comes to purchasing mulch, there are several factors that you may need to consider. These often include ease of application, cost, availability, and how it looks on your lawn. However, perhaps the most important thing among these is whether or not the mulch you’re purchasing is natural. Natural mulches typically mimic nature and actually provide the soil with organic matters. Among organic mulches, brown hardwood mulches have emerged as the preferred option for many lawn owners. There are two reasons behind this. First, these are basically wood chips containing wood waste that are mixed with non-toxic, water-based dyes. And secondly, they remain brown rather than fading to gray, which acts as an accent color when it comes to landscaping. Another advantage of using brown hardwood mulch is they boost plant health and fight back weeks without being noticed. And if you see them from a distance, they’ll look much like the natural soil.

Weed Control

While weeds like crabgrass start to germinate in spring, it’s possible to manage and remove their presence. There’re many homeowners who find it really difficult to eliminate crabgrass. This is because, unlike taller weeds, crabgrass can hold up well even if a lawn experiences high foot traffic. There are two different things you should keep in mind. The first one is if you can stop the seeds of crabgrass from germinating, you’ll be able to stop the plant. The second one is if you want to prevent germination, you’ve to remove crabgrass at the appropriate time, which means timing plays a very crucial role here. Use a spring pre-emergent herbicide before the soil temperature remains between 55 and 60 degrees F because this is the ideal temperature for crabgrass seeds to germinate. These are readily available in local supermarkets and need to be applied 10 to 14 days prior to the germination period of crabgrass seeds.

Use of Fertilizers
While fertilization may not be an essential part of spring lawn care , your lawn can benefit from the application of a light fertilizer during this time. Choose fertilizers that contain lower nitrogen or slow-release nitrogen to prevent fresh spring grasses from burning. Try to fertilize before a spring rain to make the most out of the process. In case you miss a spring rain, spray your lawn lightly after applying a fertilizer to clean the leaves and help the nutrients to move into the root system. It’ll help you lower bug infestations and weeds during the coming summer months.

Overseeding

While the concept of overseeding is pretty straightforward, its importance cannot be overstated. If you observe brown spots or bald patches on the lawn, overseeding can help you make those areas green again by promoting the growth of new grasses. It’ll not only ensure that the entire lawn gets filled with thick grass but your lawn will be able to fight off damages from insects as well. So, the process will ensure that your lawn remains healthy and lush throughout the year. However, it’s important to note that lawn overseeding isn’t required for every kind of lawn and the process is usually performed when a lawn has “bunch type” grasses. If you need to perform lawn overseeding, make sure that the grass seeds are distributed evenly. Note that ensuring correct lawn overseeding to achieve positive results often becomes a challenge for many lawn owners. This is because various other processes remain associated with lawn overseeding. Therefore, it’d be best to hire a top-tier lawn care service provider such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service to perform the job.

Closing Thoughts

In addition to these, proper watering is a must for spring lawn care . Keep in mind that the appropriate time to water a lawn is when there’s an actual requirement of it. Just step on the grasses and if they don’t spring back your footsteps, you may go for giving them a sprinkle. While spring lawn care is certainly an enjoyable task, the process needs knowledge, patience, and appropriate timelines to get things done. We completely understand that if you’re an inexperienced individual, performing all the above process might become a truly uphill task for you. That’s why our team of expert lawn care professionals is ready to help you. For any kind of spring lawn maintenance task, feel free to contact us today. And we’ll help you achieve that lush, enviable lawn you’ve always admired in television and magazines.

Lawn Care Equipment Safety – Things You Must Need To Know

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 01:25:38 GMT

Lawn Care Equipment Safety – Things You Must Need To Know

For some homeowners, lawn care is an essential task they must perform on a regular basis while others do it as their pastime. Regardless of which league you belong to, a good number of different types of lawn care equipment are required to take effective care of your lawn. Using the right equipment for the

task would not only make lawn maintenance convenient but help you get a lush, healthy lawn as well.

Though lawn care isn’t considered hazardous by most homeowners, the CPSC or Consumer Product Safety Commission throws a different light on it. According to it, each year over 230,000 people are treated for injuries associated with lawn and garden tools. And these are typically triggered by failing to use safety equipment, neglecting to wear protective gears, using slippery or wet footwear, among others.

Fortunately, a lot of these accidents can be avoided by prioritizing safety in your lawn care regimen. In this post, we’re going to discuss how to maintain the utmost safety when handling common lawn care equipment so that you can take care of your lawn in a hazard-free way.

Lawn Care Equipment – Essential Safety Tips

Before delving deeper into the tips, we think it’s important to take a quick look on different types of lawn care tools. There’re two types of tools commonly used in lawn maintenance. The first one is simple, low-tech hand tools such as rakes, shovels, pruning shears, etc. And the second group is power

tools such as lawn mower, lawn aerator, grass trimmer, leaf blower, among others. While the first group of tools can be safely used by following some general precautions, you’d need to follow some specific guidelines when using power tools. We’ll start with safety precautions for power tools and then move on to the general guidelines.

How to Safely Use Powered Lawn Care Equipment

Lawn Mower

When it comes to effective lawn care, lawn mowing is one of the essential tasks that need to be performed. Lawn mowers are highly powerful tools and account for a significant percentage of injuries every year. The sharp blades of the tool rotate at a high speed triggering a potential risk of accidents. Additionally, they can send bacteria and dirt deep into a wound, if you’re suffering from one, increasing the risk for infection. Keep the following tips in mind when performing lawn mowing to stay safe.

Keep the mower in good working condition. If you’re using it after a long-time, be sure to have it serviced.
If you want to inspect it, make sure the motor is turned off.
Always use a broom handle or stick to remove debris.
Read the lawn mower manual before you start using it. It’ll help you stay away from adverse practices.
Never add fuel when the mower is hot or running. Instead, do it before starting the engine. If it’s
a battery-powered one, charge it fully prior to using. If you use an electric one, make sure the cord isn’t frayed.
Never use it under the influence of alcohol or drugs that may impair judgment.
Stay fully focused. Never talk on the phone, text, or listen to music when doing lawn mowing.
Never use feet and hands to touch the blades even when the motor is off.
Don’t leave the lawn mower unattended when it’s running. If you’ve to walk away from it, shut the engine off.
Wear safety glasses and earphones to safeguard the eyes from flying debris and the ears from the adverse effects of the mower’s noise.
When mowing slopes and hills, don’t pull the mower towards you. Mow up and down instead of side to side. It’ll stop the tool from tipping over.
Never allow extra riders if you use a riding mower.

Hedge Trimmer

Hedge trimming is an essential task to keep the bushes even. Though hedge trimmers are easy to operate, they can cause serious damages if you don’t follow safety precautions. It isn’t rare to get the hands and body parts of the operator injured when using a hedge trimmer. Since you need to hold this tool for long periods, hedge trimming often becomes a tiring task. So, try to use a lightweight, portable trimmer with padded handles to stay comfortable throughout the task. Here’re the safety tips you should follow.

Clean the workspace as much as you can. From garden hoses and lawn debris to kids’ toys and dead and loose branches – remove any unnecessary thing that may obstruct your view of the bush.
Wear a standard set of safety equipment. These include safety glasses, non-slip boots, work gloves, long sleeves, and long pants.
Hold the trimmer firmly on the ground when starting it. If it comes with a pull-start engine, don’t wrap the starter cord around the hand. Instead, use the handle to start it.
If you’ve got an electric hedge trimmer, never use it in wet weather. If you do, not only it may start malfunctioning but give electric shocks as well.

Lawn Aerator

When it comes to helping your lawn absorb essential nutrients, lawn core aeration plays a crucial role. But core aeration is not only a time-consuming and fatiguing process but needs professional expertise as well. The process involves jabbing steel equipment into the ground, which essentially leaves several safety concerns such as damaging your own feet. Homeowners, who perform DIY lawn care projects, sometimes inadvertently damage cables, septic lines, and irrigation systems that eventually bring unnecessary expenses. These are the main reasons why lots of homeowners prefer to hire a reputable lawn care company to do this job. If you still want to take the DIY route, keep the following tips in mind.

Keep your feet and hands away from rotating or moving parts.
Wear safety equipment including earphones and boots.
While operating, firmly hold the aerator handle with both hands.
Don’t use it on hard surfaces such as concrete.
Replace any broken or damaged tines to avoid overloading the aerator.
Don’t tilt the machine to expose the tines when they’re rotating.
Clear any objects out of your way when working with the aerator.
Make sure the aerator doesn’t become jammed with debris and dust.

Weed Trimmer

If you want to reach the spots that you cannot by performing lawn mowing, you need to use a weed trimmer. It lets you cut tall grass and weeds that can be found in corners and edges. Though weed trimmer is a lightweight tool, it can be highly dangerous if you don’t take proper safety precautions.

Whether from flying debris and rocks or the trimmer head’s strings – danger can come in different forms and can harm both the operator, as well as, the bystanders. Here’re the safety tips you need to follow

when using a weed trimmer.

Remove stones, debris, sticks, and other obstacles from the site prior to trimming.
If you use an electric trimmer, make sure there aren’t any cuts or scrapes in the extension cords.
Never operate an electric trimmer in wet weather or around water puddles.
When using, make sure the trimmer string doesn’t come into contact with communication lines and electrical wires.
Protect yourself with safety glasses, hard boots, earphones, gloves, long-sleeve shirts, and long pants.
Never leave a trimmer unattended, whether electric or gas-powered, while running.
Before you start trimming, make sure all bystanders and kids are out of your way.
If you want to use an edging blade, make sure the trimmer is designed to accept it.

Leaf Blower

A leaf blower is a perfect addition to any homeowner’s lawn care equipment. This versatile power tool not only helps you clear a ton of leaves quickly but can be useful for clearing light snow, sandy decks, dirty walkways, etc as well. While a leaf blower certainly makes lawn care much easier, it also comes

with several safety concerns. The use of leaf blowers without safety measures may lead to cuts, bruises, eye injuries, hearing loss, breathing problems, among others. Follow these tips to use your leaf blower safely.

Read the product’s manual before you start using the leaf blower.
Remove loose clothing and tie back long hair when operating.
Wear noise-canceling earphones, especially when using the blower for longer periods of time.
Use a dust mask to reduce the pollutants you might be inhaling.
If you need to use an extension cord, make sure it’s an outdoor-rated one.
Don’t use it while on a ladder or roof. In case you’ve to, make sure you’re safely tied off and have secure footing.
Make sure the blower is completely shut off before you change attachments or clean it.

It’s also important to understand that the quality of power tools commonly used in lawn care varies drastically. While you don’t need to buy the best models, it’s always a good decision to buy high-quality tools. Such a tool not only works more efficiently but is less prone to cause damages as well. Ideally, you

should buy these tools from reputable brands to stay assured of the quality. And it’ll also be easier to get replacement parts if you need them.

Lawn Care Equipment – General Safety Tips

Here’re the safety tips you should follow when operating any kind of lawn care equipment.

Since a huge number of lawn care injuries are caused by not being adequately protected, you should wear protective clothing including boots, gloves, etc when doing lawn maintenance work.
You can also consider having a couple of special sets of clothes similar to uniforms that you’ll only wear during such work.
When performing lawn care duties, you should never let kids or animals around you.
Before you begin any kind of lawn work, it’s important to walk over the property and remove any unnecessary objects that may obstruct your work.
If the lawn is near walkways or roadways, it’d be wise to wear reflective vests.
Always keep all pesticide and fuel containers away from any heat source.
When using chemicals, always stick to the recommended amount. The excess application may bring some negative impacts instead of doing any good.
Never start gas-powered equipment in a garage or shed. The accumulated carbon monoxide can trigger extremely serious physical ailments.
Exposed wires of any electric lawn care equipment are serious hazards. Replace damaged cords as soon as possible.
If the lawn work you’re doing requires a ladder, make sure it’s firmly placed on a flat surface.
Always lock any doors that might open towards the ladder.
Store all your lawn care equipment in safe, enclosed areas after each use.
Clean all the tools thoroughly after each use. If you find anything that’s damaged or needs to be replaced, be sure to complete the repair or replacement job before using it again.
In case an injury occurs, stop whatever you’re doing immediately and treat it first. If you need professional help to treat the injury, either go to the emergency room or call 911 as soon as you can.

Closing Thoughts

Creating a lavish lawn and keeping it in excellent condition throughout the year is no easy task. While the above-mentioned lawn care tools can greatly help you in accomplishing this task, you also need to have adequate expertise to leverage their full potential. As we’ve mentioned earlier, severe injuries

from lawn care equipment aren’t uncommon. And a huge percentage of these typically happen due to improper handling and neglecting to follow adequate safety measures. While the safety measures we mentioned above will definitely help you avoid most of the injuries to a great extent, you should always

leave the job to experts.

At Kozeny’s Lawn Service , we’re committed to providing the best lawn care service in Mehlville, MO, Oakville, MO, Arnold, MO, and other areas in St. Louis along with low prices and outstanding customer service. If you want to know more about how you can make your lawn maintenance breeze, contact us

to talk to one of our experts and to get free lawn care and landscaping estimate .

A Definitive Guide to Fall Weather Lawn Care in St. Louis, MO

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 01:16:28 GMT

A Definitive Guide to Fall Weather Lawn Care in St. Louis, MO

Do you want your lawn in St. Louis to be gorgeous enough that transforms into the envy of your neighbors? Do you want it to be healthy and lush throughout the whole year even when it’s freezing out there? If your answer is a resounding “Yes” to any or both of these, you’ve come to the right place. At Kozeny’s Lawn Service, we’ve been frequently receiving queries from Oakville, Mehlville, and South County St. Louis lawn owners about how to take proper lawn care to make it prepared for the upcoming winter.

Instead of answering those questions through different posts, we decided to create this guide on fall weather lawn care to help our lawn owner friends maintain the best health of their yards even in the chilling temperatures of St. Louis.

The Importance of Lawn Care in Fall Weather

The transition from late fall to winter means your lawn grasses going into dormancy because the snow keeps them insulated during the colder months. It’s also the time when common lawn diseases such as red thread and pink snow mold start, grow during the winter, and finally, appear in spring. It means, if you want to come out of the winter with a luscious lawn, you must focus on appropriate lawn care during the fall weather.

Essential Lawn Care Steps During Fall Weather

Don’t let all your hard work done for your lawn during spring and summer going in vain by neglecting it during the fall. Follow these lawn care tips to help your yard grow stronger and healthier. These might be done on your own but it’s best to hire a reputable lawn care service provider such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service to handle them with utmost efficiency.

Let’s delve deeper into the steps.

Carry Out Lawn Aeration

Lawn core aeration is one of the most important parts of preparing your lawn for the upcoming winter. The perfect time for aerating your lawn is early fall. Though different methods of aeration are there, the most effective one is core aeration. Lawn aeration comes with the objective of opening up the soil in the lawn so it can absorb water and air in a better manner. Consistent foot traffic or regular irrigation may result in soil compaction which makes it difficult for turfgrass roots to perform their job. By performing core aeration, you’ll be able to improve soil composition while maximizing its absorption of essential components. Though you can perform this at different times of the year, doing so during the fall weather would be a prudent decision. There’re two main reasons behind this. First, it’ll prevent the lawn from being compacted as it’ll most likely receive minimum foot traffic during the colder months. And second, the soil won’t be drying out due to the cooler temperatures. Core aeration gives the best output when seeding and fertilizing programs are performed afterward.

Apply the Right Fertilizer

As Missouri remains in the transition zone of the country, temperatures heavily vary throughout the year here. As a result, our residents often tend to grow different types of grasses in their yards. Some lawn owners choose between cool season grasses and warm season grasses while some others prefer to have a combination of both. If your lawn has warm season grasses such as Zoysia and Bermuda, the fertilizing program should stretch between July and August. And if you’ve got coos season grasses such as Bluegrass and Fescue, you should fertilize between September and November. Be sure to apply a special winterizing fertilizer when you perform the last application during cooler temperatures. It’ll not only make the grasses hardier making them ideal for the winter months but help you to get a lush lawn in the springtime as well.

Perform Mowing

Similar to core aeration, mowing is also an important part of the lawn care regimen in South County St. Louis, Mehlville, Oakville, and other areas in Missouri. If you live in an area where the weather remains comparatively mild and the temperature doesn’t drop excessively, blades of your turfgrass may continue to grow during the colder months and need regular maintenance provided through mowing. But if the temperature drops too much in your area, it’ll significantly delay the growth of the turfgrass. You may also find moisture and even frost sometimes to be formed on the grasses’ individual blades. These are the key reasons we always suggest mowing to be included as part of the fall weather lawn care. When it comes to mowing, you need to be careful about how short the grass should be cut. Leaving it significantly long would result in an unkempt lawn while too short of a length might leave the lawn exposed to external elements affecting its growth negatively in the winter months. Though three inches is often considered as a benchmark, you should stick to the recommended length of the specific type of grass you’ve got.

Dethatch the Lawn

Thatch refers to the layer comprising both living and dead grass roots, stems, and shoots that can be found between the soil surface and the grass blades. While some amount of thatch benefits the soil by protecting it from extreme temperatures, too much of it may become a problem. You may start experiencing higher pest problems and diseases along with a reduced amount of nutrients reaching the grassroots and soil. You can easily find out whether or not the soil is having a thatch problem. Just try to poke a finger through to it and if it feels too difficult to do so, it’s probably the time to dethatch the lawn. Dethatching eliminates the thick layer of organic components making way for essential nutrients to the soil. If you’ve got cool season grasses, you should dethatch the lawn in early fall. And if there’re warm season grasses, early summer would be the ideal time. Though dethatching is an easy task, it requires a specialized dethatching rake for small lawns or a power rake handle large lawns. Therefore, it’s best to hire a top-notch lawn care service such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service to make the process a hassle-free one.

Fight Weed Growth

Whether you’re having cool season grass or warm season grass in your lawn, the fall weather is probably the best time to treat weeds. Fall treatments help you get rid of both perennial and annual weeds. Using chemical herbicides is the simplest and most effective method to accomplish this goal. To kill the weeds that will be growing already, consider using a post-emergent herbicide in the late fall. And if you want to take out the weeds that haven’t sprouted yet, application of a pre-emergent herbicide in the early fall would give you the best results. While herbicides usually work best around 500F temperature and above, you should talk to your local lawn care company if you aren’t sure of the proper timing.

Mulch the Lawn

When it comes to mulching, many people consider it as a task to be done in the springtime. However, the fact is mulch installation in the fall can offer a plethora of benefits in terms of preparing your lawn for the winter. First of all, you can control the amount of weeds, which can germinate in both fall and winter, by suppressing them using mulch. The mulch restricts the exposure of weeds to the sunlight. Secondly, sometimes freezing temperatures cause damage to your garden plants’ fibrous root systems that absorb essential nutrients. By performing mulch installation, you can provide these fibrous roots with an insulating cover during colder months. Organic mulches such as fallen leaves, pine needles, etc help in retaining moisture by restricting evaporation and blanketing the soil. You can ensure the plants get a healthy start in the spring by incorporating mulch installation in your fall weather lawn care.

Consider Overseeding

Overseeding is another crucial aspect of lawn care in the fall. It refers to the process of spreading new grass seeds over the established turfgrass. By overseeding in the fall, you not only can fill in the areas of your lawn that have been weakened or damaged during the summer but have the grassroots established before winter as well. Additionally, as the grasses age, they start to lose their vigor. Overseeding lets you fill in the thin, damaged areas while providing new plants within those matured plants which ultimately help you get a dense thick lawn. It’s important to apply the appropriate grass seeds and in the right amounts to make the maximum out of overseeding. You should also have some knowledge of the kind of the existing turfgrass so the newly applied grass doesn’t create a mismatch in the lawn. If you aren’t completely sure of it, hiring a leading lawn care company such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service would be a prudent decision. You should also note that if the soil is compacted, overseeding may not be of any use. That’s why core aeration is often combined with fall overseeding to offer favorable growing conditions to turfgrass seeds.

Apply Topdressing If Required

If the soil of your lawn doesn’t adequate amounts of nutrients, the grasses may have bare patches. In that case, we’d recommend opting for topdressing that can be performed alongside overseeding and core aeration. Topdressing refers to the technique of spreading a fine coating of composted manure above the lawn. It helps new seeds from overseeding obtain the essential nutrients. It not only helps in preventing future soil compaction but increases the nutrient levels of the lawn as well.

Clean the Lawn Thoroughly

During most of the year, your lawn experiences heavy foot traffic due to various activities. It isn’t uncommon to see toys of your kids or pieces of your lawn furniture on the turf. Consider having a thorough cleaning before the start of winter. By doing this, you can make it easier for you or the lawn care professionals to perform procedures later on. Additionally, during the winter months, objects on the lawn can adversely affect grass growth by creating patches of soil. It’s important to understand that thorough cleaning of a yard is a strenuous and time-consuming job and hence, should be left to a professional agency such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service. This task typically includes property cleanup/yard cleanup, yard work, pruning shrubs, brush removal, leaf removal, shrub trimming, among others. Performing all these requires specialized tools and professional expertise that can only be offered by a reputable lawn care service provider.

Continue Watering Your Lawn

Lawn watering may sound like a child’s play but it plays a crucial role in the fall weather lawn care routine. In fall, you may find the grasses aren’t growing quickly and the leaves are changing but that doesn’t mean you need to stop watering the lawn. Fall watering significantly helps your lawn to recuperate from the stress of the summer and get prepared for the upcoming winter. Watering also becomes necessary if you fertilize the lawn as it’d help the fertilizer to get dissolved into the ground.

Additional Lawn Care Tips

In fall weather, the plants on the lawn start to get crisp with the months getting colder. If your lawn has cool season grasses, you should start to take care of them now. You can conduct soil testing to see whether or not any fertilizer needs to be added to the lawn. One simple yet highly effective method is to add seeds and help them receive adequate sunlight by keeping the lawn free from leaves. It’ll help the grasses develop a strong root system that’s essential for having a healthy lawn.

Wrapping Up

We hope these tips have helped you obtain a clear understanding of how to take effective lawn care in the fall weather. In fact, proper care during this time may help you experience a significant improvement in the lawn within just a couple of weeks. At Kozeny’s Lawn Service, we’ve been helping homeowners to transform their lawns into something truly enviable by others. If you are planning to start your lawn care and need some expert help, get in touch with us today and our team of professionals will take it from there.

Why Should You Hire a Professional Lawn Care Service Provider?

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:37:48 GMT

Why Should You Hire a Professional Lawn Care Service Provider?

Having a lush lawn is certainly one of the best ways to make your home stand out in the block. While maintaining a great looking yard might seem quite straightforward on the surface, it needs a great deal of professional expertise, time, and effort. Unfortunately, when it comes to lawn care, many homeowners hesitate to hire a top-tier lawn care service provider and join hands with someone unprofessional instead. Though it helps them save some money, the result doesn’t come out as expected and sometimes causes some serious damage.

As one of the leading lawn care companies in St. Louis County, we think it’s our responsibility to share the top reasons why hiring a professional lawn care service would be your best bet. Whether you’re a new homeowner looking to get a beautiful lawn or the busy type who finds it difficult to keep up with lawn care, this post would help you make an informed decision

Top 7 Reasons to Join Hands with a Professional Lawn Care Service

These reasons would help you understand why you should hire a reputable lawn care provider like Kozeny’s Lawn Service over unprofessional and uninsured persons. Let’s take a look at them

1. They Perform Quality Work

To keep a lawn healthy and beautiful, comprehensive knowledge is extremely important. Things like knowing the best time for fertilization and lawn aeration, difference between pest damage and disease and how to get rid of them, etc play crucial roles when it comes to proper lawn care. Unprofessional persons don’t have this level of knowledge and hence, they fail to properly complete the tasks needed for the well-being of the lawn. On the other hand, professional lawn care companies only employ workers who come with the experience and knowledge required to make a lawn shine.

2. They Use Quality Equipment

Proper lawn care needs certain pieces of professional-grade lawn care equipment such as rakes, aerators, mowers, etc which cost a lot. Without these tools, the tasks not only require considerably more effort and time but the results usually don’t come out as expected. Maintaining these tools cost a good amount of money as well. Unskilled and inexperienced lawn care companies often tend to buy residential or cheaper versions of the lawn care equipment and as a result, the performance fails to match the output of a reputable lawn care service provider. For instance, aerating your lawn with an aerator might take a few hours while using a hand tool will possibly take a few days and the output will be highly different.

3. They Do Much More than Just Mowing Your Lawn

Though some people think that lawn care only stands for pushing a lawnmower around to pull out the bad weeds, in reality, there is a lot more to it. While an inexperienced person will only stick to basic lawn care services, professional lawn care companies will do much more than that. For example, at Kozeny’s Lawn Service, our skilled workers provide services such as lawn mowing, lawn aeration, seeding, mulching, shrub trimming, yard cleanups that include leaf removal, debris removal along with a wide range of landscaping services. In addition, many lawn care companies have packages where they

schedule periodic visits. Here, their experts visit the lawn and carry out the required services in accordance with the plan you choose.

4. They save Your Lawn

Lawn care is an ongoing process which requires constant and careful attention. Inexperienced lawn care professionals appear with limited knowledge and they sometimes end up causing some serious damages to the lawn such as under- or over-watering or cutting the grasses too short. On the other hand, when you hire a top lawn care service provider, your lawn remains in the hands of experts who thoroughly understand how to avoid common hazards and how to deal with your specific lawn to keep it attractive and healthy.

5. They Are Licensed and Insured

It might be tempting to hire a lawn care company that’s cheaper but isn’t licensed and insured. First of all, it’s a requirement of the law to work with a licensed contractor. Secondly, hiring a lawn care service that’s insured and licensed means it’s an approved and qualified professional business. Remember that if a worker gets injured while taking care of your lawn and they’re not insured, you’ll get the bill. Additionally, if they damage your sprinkling system and the company doesn’t have insurance, you’d need to pay the replacement costs. On the contrary, a reputable lawn care company most likely appears with liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance which would ensure that both you and their employees remain protected in case something goes wrong.

6. They Are Certified

Many top lawn care companies have professionals who’re certified by NALP (the National Association of Landscape Professionals). Hiring such a company means your lawn is in the hands of professionals whose knowledge and skills have been proven and tested and hence, they’re much more capable than their non-certified, unprofessional peers.

7. They Increase the Value of Your Home

While hiring reputable lawn care service costs money, it can pay you off heavily if you decide to sell the property. According to a survey conducted by NAR (The National Association of Realtors), standard lawn care service is one of the top four projects that add value for prospective buyers. Remember that only professional lawn care companies have the ability and expertise to keep your lawn in such an immaculate condition that will significantly boost the curb appeal of your home.

Parting Thoughts

These are just some of the many reasons you should leave the difficult work of lawn care to a reputable lawn care service such as Kozeny’s Lawn Service. You are fully assured of a greener and healthier lawn when you trust our experts to take complete care of your lawn. Whether you live in Oakville, MO, Mehlville, MO, Arnold, MO, or anywhere in St. Louis County and want to hire one of the leading lawn care companies for your yard, contact us today and we will take care of the rest.

Your Ultimate Lawn Care Guide – Growing Different Types Of Grasses In St. Louis, Missouri

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 23:53:48 GMT

Your Ultimate Lawn Care Guide – Growing Different Types Of Grasses In St. Louis, Missouri

A beautiful lawn full of greenery is a feast for the eyes and certainly a dream of many homeowners. But while experimenting with different types of grasses is fun, it can also be highly time-consuming, especially if something goes wrong. If you are planning to fill your lawn with a plethora of green, this guide is for you. Whether you live in Oakville, MO, Mehlville, MO, or any place in St. Louis, this guide will equip you to accomplish your goal of getting a lush lawn with ease.

In our years of operations as a leading lawn care service provider in Saint Louis, we know the ins and outs of the area and thus, we decided to share our knowledge about different types of grasses through this guide. After reading it, you’ll surely be able to become the proud owner of the most beautiful lawn in your block soon.

So, let’s get started.

A Few Words on the Climate

Before you delve deeper into grass selection and growth, it’s important to understand the climate of St. Louis. Typically, common grasses are distributed into two categories based on the climate of the environment – warm season and cool season. The climate conditions are further labeled by the USDA based on other conditions such as aridity and humidity that can influence grass growth. These include warm/humid, warm/arid, cool/humid, and cool/arid. All four of these conditions are experienced by various parts of the U.S. and thus, a “transition zone” is designated by the USDA. For cool-season grasses, this zone is typically too hot in the summer and for warm-season grasses, it’s too cold in the winter.

Different Types of Grasses

Here is a quick look at what do we mean by saying “cool-season grasses”, “warm-season grasses”, and “transition-zone grasses” in the world of lawn care.

Cool-Season Grasses

Grasses that experience outstanding growth in the cool weather are referred to as cool-season grasses. These versatile grass types comfortably live in frigid cold winters, as well as, moderate summers. These grasses grow best when the thermometer stays between 65 and 800F, and provide you with a green, lush lawn.

Warm-Season Grasses

These grasses grow best in the scorching sun and in temperatures between 80 and 950F. Increase heat tolerance and salt tolerance together with low-water requirements make these grasses a great option for many homeowners looking to get a low-maintenance lawn.

Transition-Zone Grasses

Either cool-season grasses or warm-season grasses can be referred to as transition-zone grasses. Additionally, for lawns in the transition zone, no single type of grass does well in every weather condition. This creates a difficult situation for lawn owners when it comes to deciding whether to go with cool-season grasses or warm-season grasses.

What Types of Grasses Would Be the Best in St. Louis, Missouri?

St. Louis, being located in the center of the Midwest, is considered a transition zone that divides the Northern region and the Southern region. Though the hot and humid summers of the area direct to warm-season grasses, cool-season grasses survive the chilly winters relatively better. Missouri, being a transition zone, includes areas where hot summers become detrimental for cool-season grasses and frigid winters harm warm-season grasses. Here, we’ve outlined the most common types of grasses that would be ideal for lawn care in St. Louis.

Tall Fescue

If having a green lawn for a significant part of the year is your goal, Tall Fescue would be a prudent decision. With its wide, dark green blades, Tall Fescue stands out from other varieties. Since it’s a cool-season grass, you should plant it during high growth periods in the fall, as well as, spring. Though it comes with high durability and disease resistance, Tall Fescue may suffer from the hot and humid summers of St. Louis. Since it tends to bunch, periodic overseeding could be beneficial for it in terms of maintaining the density while avoiding a clumpy appearance. Notably, it’s drought-tolerant and doesn’t require lots of fertilization. This is the reason Tall Fescue doesn’t need regular watering and considered eco-friendly grass.

Zoysia

Well known for its ability to withstand heavy foot traffic, heat, drought together with a diverse range of other challenges, Zoysia is one of the top choices among lawn care enthusiasts in St. Louis. It can provide you with a dense, beautiful lawn without requiring much input from you. Though this warm-season takes more time to establish compared to some other varieties of grasses, it delivers a highly dense carpet of grass having a deep root structure. Zoysia effectively resists drought and conserves moisture. During short episodes of drought, it remains green. And it goes dormant if heat and drought persist. However, it greens up quickly with watering. It’s important to note that Zoysia comes with a dense growth habit, which may lead to developing thatch. Thatch is the thick layer of organic matter that can be found at the soil level. Therefore, aeration and dethatching should be done in early spring when it comes to the Zoysia lawns

Perennial Ryegrass

With its dark green blades, Perennial Ryegrass is a wonderful addition to almost any backyard. Though you can always use it as a standalone variety, it actually stands out when used together with other varieties. Despite being known as a relatively high maintenance variety, it continues to be one of the popular choices for people associated with lawn care. The biggest reason behind this is that it comes with a very uncommon quality – outstanding tolerance to the shade. Where other varieties will develop browned-off patches, Perennial Ryegrass will continue to grow effortlessly. Additionally, this cool-season grass greatly deals with harsh winter conditions while surviving heavy frosts with ease. If you’re looking for a grass that quickly germinates and establishes and provides you with a beautiful lawn without thatching, Perennial Ryegrass could be the variety you can check out.

Kentucky Bluegrass

A cool-season grass, Kentucky Bluegrass is one of the shallow-rooted grasses that delivers a dense, durable, and lush lawn. One major advantage of Kentucky Bluegrass over other cool-season varieties is that it spreads easily through rhizomes which help it recuperate from wear injury well. This characteristic also makes this grass an ideal choice for lawns where kids and pets keep on walking constantly. Even if the blades are pulled out, it can grow back because of the underground rhizomes. Notably, Kentucky Bluegrass comes with an outstanding cold tolerance which means it can withstand long episodes of chilly weather. Though it needs more maintenance than other varieties and may suffer from heat and drought, it can provide you with an exceptionally beautiful lawn – the reason that makes Kentucky Bluegrass one of the favorites for lots of homeowners in St. Louis. In addition, it’s a disease-resistant type of grass. So, as long as you properly maintain and water the lawn, you shouldn’t encounter any grass disease.

Bermuda Grass

If your lawn receives full sun, Bermuda Grass with its outstanding drought and heat tolerance would be an excellent choice. This warm-season grass also comes with a high ability to withstand heavy use and quick recuperation, which make it an ideal option for busy lawns. Notably, Bermuda Grass has an incredibly fast growth rate among all other warm-season grasses and it spreads by both stolons (above-ground stems) and rhizomes (below-ground stems). While this exceptional growth rate can make it hard to contain, it’s the main reason behind the high endurance of Bermuda Grass. Though it remains green throughout the winter in frost-free regions, most of its growing region turns brown and goes dormant. Ideally, you should plant Bermuda Grass in the spring when temperatures become consistently warm. It’s important to note that because of its exceptional growth rate, Bermuda Grass may require more maintenance compared to other varieties. When your objective is to get a durable, tough, and wear-resistant lawn, Bermuda Grass could be the ideal solution.

Fine Fescue

If you’ve got a shady backyard, Fine Fescue with its fine-textured would be an excellent option. This cool-season grass appears in a dark to medium green color and comes with the highest level of shade tolerance and the lowest requirements for fertilizer and moisture. And because of its shade tolerance, you can effortlessly add Fine Rescue to your Tall Rescue lawn. It’s also available in popular varieties such as Hard Fescue, Sheep Fescue, Creeping Red Fescue, and Chewings Fescue. Though Fine Fescue germinates and establishes quickly, it’s not recommended for busy lawns because of a slow recuperative rate. Notably, this eco-friendly grass can hold its green color when maintained properly. And the best part about Fine Fescue is that it can serve well both as a frequently mowed lawn and an un-mowed, low-maintenance lawn.

Lawn Care Tips – Taking Care of the Grasses

Now that you’ve got a good understanding of different types of grasses that can be grown in St. Louis, let’s take a look at some invaluable lawn care tips, especially for the grasses. While a truly green lawn can surely bring a precious touch into your home’s landscape, it takes time and effort to have the greenest lawn in the area. Here, we’ve compiled some simple yet highly effective tips that would help you accomplish this goal.

Adequate Watering

Though generally cool-season grasses require more watering than warm-season grasses, you’ll have to water the lawn with a garden hose occasionally. And remember that you should water it heavily when it’s actually needed instead of watering lightly regularly. Regardless of the type of grass you use for your lawn, simply follow the color. If you find that it has become less vibrant, it means it has started drying out and needs watering. Another important thing to keep in mind is that whenever you water the lawn, give the grasses an adequate amount of water so that the roots can grow properly and become deep, healthy ones.

Lawn Fertilizing

Fertilization is a must to keep your lawn lush, healthy, and attractive. Though how many times in a year you should fertilize the lawn will depend on its actual condition, in general, you should fertilize well-established lawns twice per year. Some lawn service providers also suggest that you should fertilize once in a year, especially if you’re applying other techniques of providing the lawn with required nutrients like leaving clippings for decomposing naturally. However, if you’ve got a newly established lawn, you may have to fertilize more frequently and when it gets to the desired look, following your regular fertilization schedule would be fine.

Lawn Mowing

For any type of lawn care, mowing plays a crucial role. While you need to give a higher amount of nutrients and more water to help the grasses grow reliably and remain healthy, lawn mowing encourages most varieties of grasses to grow thicker and get better coverage. Unlike what many people think that it’s best to keep the lawn short, short trimming may cause more harm than good. Ideally, you should mow as high as the mower you’re using will allow. It’ll allow the lawn to be more resilient to sun exposure, weeds, and pests. And you must stay away from lawn mowing when the ground is soaked by watering or rain as this mostly tend to trigger scalping or unwanted soil compaction. If the soil gets compacted, be sure to mow it before aeration.

Wrapping Up

In addition to the above varieties of grasses, you can utilize blends of various types of grasses based on your lawn care goals. However, it’s important to understand that not all grasses mix well with other seeds, so if you want to balance the benefits of a couple of different types of grasses, you should first talk to a professional lawn service provider before creating the blend. Finally, lawns aren’t just green patches of grass. Instead, every lawn comes with its own unique qualities and features and offers a plethora of benefits to the owners. Therefore, apart from doing your own research, you should contact a professional lawn care service with questions you may have to get the most out of your time and effort.

Lawn Care Tips to Make Your Garden Stand Out

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 23:38:09 GMT

Lawn Care Tips to Make Your Garden Stand Out

The Midwest is filled with people that take lawn care seriously. Having some green grass with your home is an unofficial part of the constitution for residents of Oakville, Missouri.

If you're a keen observer, you'll notice that everywhere you go in the South County – from Mehlville to Arnold, to Oakville, in fact, the entire St. Louis – you'll see beautiful and well maintained Zoysias, tall fescues, and immaculate green grass.

This is not rocket science neither is it magic, it's simply because most residents make lawn maintenance a priority. For those that don't have the time or expertise to do this, there are several lawn maintenance services available at their disposal that they can hire.

However, we've compiled these easy to follow tips that can make your garden stand out. Keep in mind that most techniques discussed here are best applied in autumn or spring. This period allows the grass to repair itself and grow all through the summer.

1. Remove Thatch, Weeds, and Moss

These annoying things can inhibit growth by blocking nutrients and air from reaching the roots. Lawn aeration is very important as it'll determine how lush your garden is, so you need to get rid of all weeds, moss, and thatch.

Lawn Weeds

Weeds can grow in almost all conditions and are found everywhere. There are several ways they make their way into your garden – they could be brought in by birds, pets, or other animals that enter your garden. Sometimes, your cloth or footwear could be the culprit.

Lawn weeds sometimes grow as flowers or seed heads, and you'll find several types in different lawns. The safest and easiest way to get rid of them is to pull the entire plant from the root. You can use a tool specially made for this, or it can be done by hand. However, if the weeds are too much, use a low toxicity herbicide to directly spray the weeds.

Lawn Thatch

Lawn thatch is a build-up of organic matter that forms a layer between the soil and the leaves. It is often made of root stems, grass, and dead leaves.

This build-up often creates a blockage that prevents essential nutrients and moisture from reaching the soil and the plant's root. It is very easy to identify areas affected by thatch as you'll notice a spongy feel on the ground. Also, you'll see dead and dull patches on the lawn caused by the absence of nutrients.

The best way to remove thatch is through scarification. This process involves removing mulch from your lawn by raking. There are several tools to get this done, and one of them is a lawn scarifier.

Lawn Moss

Moss is a non-flowering plant, and it's often a nightmare for lawn owners. You can find it in places that have low-quality turf, excess moisture, and shade.

If left untreated or undiscovered, the moss level will increase, and it'll significantly reduce the ability of the grass to grow.

If left undiscovered or untreated, the level of moss will increase which will reduce the ability of the grass to grow. Some conditions that allow moss to thrive are: the presence of clay in the soil, shade, drought, and large quantities of thatch.

2. Improve Your Drainage

If your lawn has poor drainage, it will be prone to waterlogging, and your lawn may not dry up for days. In addition, your lawn's health is at stake if you don't improve the drainage conditions.

There are two major causes of water build-up in lawns, and they are: the ability of the soil to absorb water and your garden's landscape.

Soil permeability

Soil compaction, several root layers, high clay levels, and thick areas filled with thatch can prevent your garden from absorbing water as it should.

Depending on how bad the problem is, adequate lawn aeration can enhance water and airflow, which will decrease surface build-up.

On the other hand, you can change the nature of the soil in your lawn to get the drainage level you want. This can be done by using the appropriate plants that suit the current soil type, or you can use organic materials to gradually adjust the soil.

Garden topography

Your lawn should be shaped in a way that it'll naturally channel water away. If there's a dip of any kind, water can accumulate in that spot, and it'll damage your lawn. Try to as much as possible to always prevent water logging in your garden.

If you notice this, try fitting drains and gutters to channel the excess water away. Also, you can reshape the area, adjust the gradient, or add wet plants that flourish in water to improve drainage.

3. Aerate

Lawn aeration is vital to your garden as it leads to increased penetration of water and air to the roots of the grass. Aeration is vital for plants as it allows them get the right nutrients they need to grow. Aeration also helps lawns that are often affected by water logging or drought.

You can perform aeration by creating tiny holes in the soil at specific depths and intervals. This can be done with a garden fork or aeration machines – there are even aeration shoes that you can use.

This process can be done in your lawn every few years, or you can treat small patches of grass individually

4. Over-seeding

The process of over-seeding revitalizes worn out and tired lawns. To do this, you have to cover the entire lawn with lots of seed mixed thoroughly with fertilizer. This way, you get to fill thin and damaged areas at the same time, improving soil color and decreasing the chance of moss or weed invasions.

Before you apply the seeds to the lawn, you need to scarify, aerate, mow and water the lawn thoroughly. You can buy spreaders to ensure the seeds are evenly distributed.

The moment the lawn is seeded, you need to keep it moist to improve germination. You also need to apply a top dressing to provide nourishment and protect the seeds. This process can be done yearly to ensure your lawn is healthy.

5. Feeding and Watering

You can find several types of fertilizers and grass feeds in any gardening shop. The type you need depends on the weather and soil type in your area. Each of them come with instructions you are meant to follow for best results, so ensure you follow their instructions to the letter.

Together, with feeding, it is also important to water your lawn. If your lawn is lacking water, it will start changing color, and the grass will stay flat when anyone walks on it.

The frequency and amount of watering depends on the prevailing weather condition and soil type in your area. You need to know this, so you don't overwater it. For best results, try watering your lawn at the start of the day when the temperature is cool.

With the above tips, you’re sure to have a healthy lawn as long as you maintain it regularly. Whenever you see surface debris like twigs and dead leaves, try to remove them. Also, cut any area that creates excess shade, and your lawn will look natural, lush and healthy.

Mulch Installation for Your Garden Bed

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 21:14:17 GMT

Mulch Installation for Your Garden Bed

Getting a perfect, healthy, and lush garden is what most homeowners desperately dream of. In the Midwest, spending time with family and friends during the pleasant months is what forms beautiful memories to be relished forever. But proper lawn care needs a huge amount of effort and time that requires a perfect blend of regular lawn maintenance, proper fertilization, weed control, and dealing with issues as soon as they arise.

If you live in Oakville, MO, Mehlville, MO, Arnold, MO, or anywhere in the St. Louis County, we’ve created this post for you to help you get enough knowledge on mulch installation. No matter if you are an avid gardener or have just taken gardening up as your latest hobby, you’ve surely heard about weeds, which are one of the most common things that can easily ruin the beauty of your beloved lawn. If you don’t get rid of weeds on time, they won’t take more than a couple of weeks to take over your garden.

In this post, we are going to discuss everything you may need to know in terms of mulching your garden bed. So, without further ado, let’s delve deeper.

What Is Mulch?

You can think of mulch as a loose sheet or covering that you place on the soil’s top not only to protect it from different detrimental conditions but provide it with a plethora of benefits as well. Mulch installation can surely go a long way in ensuring your garden continues with its perfect and attractive appearance throughout the season. But the catch is if you don’t know how to do it properly, you can end up triggering more issues than what you have started with.

Key Advantages of Mulch Installation for Garden Bed

When the weeds in your garden bed get suppressed by mulching, you get an attractive and neat looking lawn to enjoy throughout the season. Therefore, you can rest assured of having more productive plants as they don’t need to compete with weeds anymore. But it is just one of the many benefits that proper mulching brings your way. Though it’d depend on the type of mulch you use, here’s a comprehensive look at the benefits you can expect to get from the process.

Weed Control

Mulches act like a barrier that stops weeds from growing. They limit the amount of sunlight weeds can get, which restricts their growth and eventually, minimizes their impact on your garden.

Nutrients

You can use a diverse range of mulches for your garden – both organic and inorganic. From wood chips, shredded leaves, and compost to plastic mulch, landscaping fabric, and more – a significant number of materials can be used for mulch installation. Your garden receives more nutrients from these ingredients than those that aren’t mulched. These essential elements help your plants appear in their best possible overall health.

Improved Soil Health

Over time, organic mulches break down and contribute to your garden’s soil health. They help to open up clay soils and bind sandy soils. Additionally, mulches provide beneficial earthworms and micro-organisms present in the soil with food, thus increasing biological activity in it.

Moisture Control

Organic mulches help to absorb more amount of water. They lower the impact of evaporation and help to retain moisture in the soil.

Pest Control

Some kinds of mulches come with elements such as natural oils that act as a pest repellent. Therefore, your garden becomes healthier and generates more resistance to pests, which eventually lowers your cost for pest control.

Reduced Plant Stress

Mulch works as an excellent insulator by controlling soil temperature. It means the roots of your plants remain consistently warm in winter and cool in summer, thus preventing them from becoming “stressed.”

Prevention from Erosion

On play areas and pathways, soil erosion is a common incident resulting from heavy foot traffic. Since mulch comes with various layers of different materials, it behaves as a barrier and keeps your garden free from soil-related erosion hazards. It even makes your garden being less threatened during the rains.

Regardless of the type, size, shape, and characteristic of your garden, it can benefit from using mulch. Whether you want to go for organic mulch or inorganic one, it will not only make your garden look great but keep it healthier throughout the season as well.

Different Types of Mulch

Now that you know the benefits mulching would bring your way, let’s take a look at the different types of mulches you can utilize. Though you can get a wide variety of materials for creating mulch beds at any retail gardening or home supply store, they are mainly divided into two categories – organic and inorganic. While both materials suppress weeds, organic mulches come with the added advantage of improving the soil as they decompose over time. On the other hand, inorganic mulches don’t improve the soil by being broken down. But this isn’t to say that inorganic materials cannot be a preferred option for mulch installation.

Let’s take a closer look at these two types of mulch materials.

Organic Mulches

A lot of materials can be used for creating organic mulches – from grass clippings, leaves, and compost mixes to newspaper and cardboard, nuggets, bark, and a diverse range of other plant byproducts.

Hardwood Mulch

Hardwood mulches belong to the most commonly available materials for mulching and tend to serve as an all-purpose option. Basically, hardwood mulches are wood chips consisting of recycled pallets and wood waste. After the wood is chipped and shredded, a dyed mulch is created by blending it with non-toxic, water-based dyes. Though these come in many different sizes and colors, the widely found materials include hardwood brown mulch, hardwood black mulch, and natural hardwood mulch.

Often, a dark brown dye is added to the hardwood chips by the manufacturers of mulch materials to maintain and stabilize the brown color of the product. As a result, hardwood brown mulch remains brown over time rather than fading to gray, which is a common phenomenon with natural hardwood mulches. These mulches are widely used by gardeners to enhance the beauty quotient of their homes and lawns.

Similar to its brown-colored peers, hardwood black mulch is also used as an aesthetic element by many gardeners. These are sometimes used in a playground or commercial setting and around the trees, shrubs, and flowers to generate a consistent appearance all over the landscape.

As the name suggests, natural hardwood mulch remains undyed and comes in color combination of brown, tan, and light beige. It becomes gray-brown in a couple of months and completely gray within a year.

Cedar Mulch

This material helps to create a beautiful landscaping or garden experience for visitors, thanks to it being highly aromatic in nature. Additionally, this aesthetically-pleasing mulch takes the maximum time to decompose, which lets it keep on serving as a decorative material longer than other organic mulches.

Shredded Leaves / Grass Clippings

These are readily available mulches and can be used around shrubs and trees, in garden beds, and across perennial and vegetable beds. However, remember not to apply grass clippings in thick layers and use those that came in contact with insecticides or herbicides.

Compost

Using well-composted animal manure as mulch would improve the quality of the soil and act as a nutrient-rich material. However, you shouldn’t use fresh manure as it burns plant roots and pig, cat, and dog manure as they can come with disease-causing organisms. Additionally, if it’s dry, use it with another mulch like chopped leaves to help it stay biologically active and moist.

Straw

If you want to mulch freshly seeded lawns, using clean oat, burley, or wheat straw would be another effective option. It will prevent feeding birds and rodents and keep the grass seed from getting washed away. Additionally, until straw mulch gets decomposed, it’ll preserve the moisture that will provide the seeds with a good environment for germination.

Inorganic Mulches

Here are three types of inorganic materials commonly used for mulch installation.

Plastic Mulch

Though plastic films prevent water and other nutrients from passing through due to their impermeability, you shouldn’t consider them for long-term use. Because the sun’s heat is transmitted by the plastic films, the soil beneath remains warm. However, it’s important to keep in mind that since plastic cannot be penetrated by air and water, roots tend to grow extremely close to the surface of the soil, looking for oxygen and moisture. Therefore, over time, the lack of these essentials may cause the plants to die.

Landscape Fabric

Also known as Geotextiles , landscape fabrics would be a better option for long-term use because they allow water and air to pass through while suppressing weeds. However, there are two things you need to keep in mind when considering landscape fabrics for mulch installation. First, they are costlier materials than plastic films; and second, they degrade over time when exposed to light. Hence, you need to use them in conjunction with another mulch.

Rubber Mulch

Commonly used in various gardening projects, rubber mulches are created from recycled tires, thus making the end material a highly durable one. Additionally, they offer plenty of benefits for your plants such as optimal insulation from heat, protection from insects, preventing fungal and weed growth, and a wide range of designer colors to enhance the beauty quotient of your lawn. However, while using rubber mulches, it’s important to remember that they may contain chemicals that could be harmful to your plants.

Why You Should Hire a Professional Lawn Service Provider for Mulching Your Garden

Generally, there shouldn’t be any problem with mulch installation when properly done. However, there might be some significant hazards if it isn’t appropriately performed. From making the trees vulnerable to diseases to choosing the wrong quality of material – considerable damages can happen to your garden. If you are thinking of mulching your garden, take a look at the following reasons to understand why you should contact a professional lawn care provider to do the job.

Expertise

Lawn service providers that offer professional mulching usually have years of experience in the gardening and landscaping industry. It means they come with in-depth knowledge of the entire process and are the best ones to understand different types of mulching needs of different types of plants. This means by hiring a professional mulching service provider, you can ensure optimal health and growth of your plants.

Proper Equipment

Different types of tools and equipment are needed to perform a mulch installation job properly. From landscaping rakes and high-quality bags to wheelbarrows and more – some of these tools can be difficult to maneuver for the inexperienced. Additionally, when you are unaware of proper raking or lifting techniques and aren’t properly trained, you will need a huge amount of time to complete the job if you take the DIY route. Just imagine how much fun you could have by spending that amount of time with your family when a professional lawn maintenance provider takes care of all these headaches.

Cost-Effective

One of the biggest reasons for which many garden owners tend to avoid hiring a professional lawn service provider is the cost involved. While it is true that you’d need to pay them for their services, it would be profitable for you in the long run. In our years of experience as a leading lawn care provider in the Midwest, we’ve frequently seen that improper mulching done by unprofessional persons often fail to eliminate potential damages that ultimately lead to a considerable amount of unnecessary costs over time.

In addition to these, sometimes, additional tasks need to be performed such as leaf removal, shrub trimming, etc. to get rid of fallen leaves and overgrown or dead stems or branches. These are the things for which you’ve to depend only on professionals, who’ve got the expertise to assess and address them.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, there are different things that you need to consider when choosing the mulch installation method best for your garden. Though mulching may not be an uphill task, it is a highly crucial one and needs to be done properly for the sake of better health and appearance of your garden. And proper lawn care involves a lot of things – from proper mowing and mulching to irrigation, aerating, and much more. But you don’t need to feel overwhelmed as we can help with any kind of lawn maintenance tasks you might need in the Midwest. Just go through our services, contact us, and see how we can help your lawn remain at its best health throughout the year.

Most Common Grass Types in St. Louis, Missouri

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 21:14:16 GMT

Most Common Grass Types in St. Louis, Missouri

Given the hot and extremely humid weather in St. Louis, Missouri, many kinds of grass find it difficult to thrive or even survive in the extremely cold winters too. This is why some people would rather opt for artificial grass turfs instead of natural grass. If you are looking to grow a lawn in areas like Mehlville or MO Oakville, you first need to get yourself acquainted with the different types of grass available in the area.

You would need to understand their pros and cons, and all other information you would need to grow perfect grass. This guide will give you a list of the most common grass types in St. Louis, Missouri, and teach you about other important bits you need for a lush lawn.

Warm Season Grass Types

1. Bermuda Grass

Bermuda grass is a perennial grass that grows in the tropical and subtropical regions. You may also sometimes find it in transition zones. This grass can withstand tough summers, although you would have to put in the work to create a desirably looking lawn. It’s a great choice for lawns, recreation areas like golf courses, sports fields, arenas, and parks because it can withstand heavy traffic.

It has a range of varieties including Riveria, Oasis, Arden, BlackJack, Royal XTD, and Yukon. Of all these varieties, Yukon is the most tolerant of cold. Bermuda grass is easy to spot if you look out for its coarse texture and aggressive above-ground roots known as stolons. It can be better identified with its seed head that looks like the foot of a bird. For lawn care, mow Bermuda grass consistently at the correct height - 1 to 1½ inches tall. Aeration, irrigation, and fertilization are advisable only when necessary.

2. Zoysia Grass

This grass is similar to Bermuda grass in that it can flourish in warm seasons and its durable leaves and stems can withstand heavy traffic. Although this grass may be a bit difficult to establish as it takes a while to grow, once it does grow, all that is long forgotten. It thrives and creates a well-textured cover on turfs.

It’s a low maintenance grass and only needs a little water to grow even in heat and drought. If you’re not in a hurry to get your lawn established, Zoysia grass in its two varieties (Compadre & Zenith) makes a good choice. Zoysia should be mowed between 1 to 1 ½ inch tall.

Cold Season Grass Types

1. Kentucky BlueGrass

Kentucky Bluegrass (KBG) is a favorite cool-season grass. It’s a perennial grass and it grows year after year, thriving most especially during fall, cold winters, and spring. Its shallow roots make it intolerable to hot summers, but they have been known to grow in hot areas if you keep them thoroughly irrigated. They are however best suited for cold climates since the season aligns with its natural growth cycle.

KBG is a self-spreading sod-forming grass that grows readily to build a thick and dense turf of vibrant green. This grass type is a good mix with fescue and can readily be found on athletic fields. This type of grass requires high-maintenance so you may need MO Lawn Care professionals to do an adequate lawn service. They would know all about its peculiarities for lawn mowing, thatching, and proper irrigation.

2. Fescues (Tall Fescue, Fine Fescue)

Fescues come in two varieties. The tall fescue grows tall and is coarse/medium textured. It can grow from sod or seed and is a great all-purpose grass for Missouri. For a successful yield in all of Missouri, heavy irrigation is what you need. This grass is resistant to heavy traffic, low nutrient soils, and has good tolerance for insects or diseases. In a nutshell, tall fescues are low maintenance. To enjoy it during winter, be sure to establish the seeds early enough, before the start of the season.

Fine Fescues, on the other hand, are more shade-tolerant and have a darkish green color. They are highly tolerant of cold regions and require very little maintenance. However, they are not tolerant to wear so they are only great for decorative lawns in parks, roadsides, (and not athletic fields or golf courses.) This grass type requires only a little fertilizer and is great for grass seed blends in both sunny and shady areas. It grows rapidly

and adapts well to even the poorest of soils. Its recommended mowing height is 1½ - 2½ inches.

3. Perennial Ryegrass

Ryegrass types grow rapidly in a turf-like appearance. They can withstand lots of wear without producing thatch and they blend well with other grass types. Ryegrass is also resistant to diseases and insects, this makes them quite low maintenance. Because this grass has fibrous leaves, it requires the sharp blade of an electric lawnmower to mow at 2 - 3 inches to avoid shredding the turf.

How to Choose a Grass Type for a Lawn

There are many factors to consider when you want to select the best type of grass for your lawn. Find them below, so that you can make the right choice.

1. Your Climate: Cold or hot? Mildly warm or freezing cold? Knowing that different types of grass are suitable for different climates, it is important to go for a type of grass that is tolerant of the weather.

2. The Variety and Your Site: Sometimes, some grass types have different varieties. Ensure that the variety you are choosing works well for your site or wherever the grass will be established.

3. The Use: Some types of grass are tolerable to heavy traffic while others are not. You should choose a type of grass that is suitable for the purpose you need a lawn, be it aesthetics or track and field sports. This would save you a lot of maintenance costs.

In Summary

Different grass types abound in St. Louis, Missouri. What’s most important is knowing the one that would be suitable for your needs. With this guide, you can get informed about the different types of grass and how to choose the grass type that will give you the desired effect of a properly established lawn.

Your Ultimate Guide To Lawn Core Aeration In The Midwest

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 20:10:09 GMT

Your Ultimate Guide To Lawn Core Aeration In The Midwest

Do the beautiful, thick lawns of your surrounding houses make you feel jealous? Do you wonder how those homeowners manage to get and keep such lawns? If your answer to these is a resounding “Yes”, let us assure you that it is not an uphill task to achieve a healthier, thicker, and lusher lawn provided you manage to take optimal lawn care . As one of the frontrunners in the lawn care service landscape in St. Louis, Missouri, we frequently come across lots of questions from our clients regarding proper lawn care with a particular focus on lawn aeration . Instead of answering those questions in different posts, we decided to come up with this lawn care guide while emphasizing core aeration. This piece would act as a one-stop knowledge base and help you achieve, as well as, maintain a stunning lawn.

What Is Aeration All About?

When we play on, walk over, run around, and enjoy the lawn with family, friends, and pets, we unintentionally give rise to soil compaction. And when the soil becomes compacted, it starts making the turf grass roots weaker by obstructing them from receiving adequate amounts of air, water, and fertilizer. This, in turn, leads to a growing environment detrimental for grass, which finally results in a thin, unhealthy lawn. By performing lawn aeration, you break up the soil compaction and let the grass grow easily, which ultimately improves your lawn’s vigor and its ability to remain green for a longer period of time. While soil compaction is simply unavoidable, lawn aeration, performed by a top-tier lawn care service provider, would help you achieve and maintain a fully-nourished, beautiful lawn.

General Benefits of Lawn Aeration

If you still need some reasons to be convinced about why you should schedule periodic lawn aeration , here are the undeniable benefits of the practice that should help make up your mind.

Relief From Soil Compaction

As we have already touched upon, soil compaction plays a crucial role in preventing various essential elements from reaching the root system of your lawn, which eventually leads to thinning of grass, patches, dead spots, etc. The aeration process is designed to decrease soil density and thus, eliminates the probability for lawn grasses struggling to get their basic needs fulfilled.

Improved Lawn Health

Aeration process provides the grass roots with an adequate space to grow and stretch out, which in turn, helps the lawn to become more dense and vigorous. As a result, it becomes less vulnerable to thatch buildup and diseases, over time.

Typically, aeration comes with no side effects and over time, it helps to lower water runoff, which increases lawn tolerance to drought and heat.

How to Understand If Your Lawn Needs Aeration

A lot of homeowners often fail to understand if their lawn is due for aeration. Here, we have jotted down the most common symptoms that would help you assess the need.

If your lawn begins to feel spongy and the soil quickly dries out, you should consider doing aeration .
If you notice there is a significant thatch problem, check out the depth of the thatch layer. If it is more than one-half inch, you should go for aeration .
If the lawn gets heavy use such as from construction workers doing renovation works or from regular running around of lots of kids and/or pets, soil compaction would start to form. This makes the lawn a potential candidate for aeration .
If the soil has a layer of another fine-textured soil, the layering might trigger poor drainage. It often results in compacted conditions that you need to break down through aeration to promote healthy grass root development.
If you notice that after rain, the lawn has puddles of water remaining all over it, there has to be a severe compaction issue and hence, it needs aeration to promote smooth drainage.

Another simple yet highly effective way to identify the compaction problem is to use a shovel. Just stick the blade of the shovel into the soil and see how it resists. If you feel that the soil needs additional bodyweight to be applied to get pierced, it would probably be highly dense for healthy grass and thus, need lawn aeration .

We strongly suggest at least annual aeration to help your lawn maintain optimal health, even if you don’t observe any of the above symptoms. You should understand that being a living organism, it has to get adequate amounts of elements essential for maintaining optimum health. And through aeration , you provide it with better ventilation and easy access to those essentials. Since it often becomes quite difficult to properly assess whether your lawn is due for aeration or not, it is always advisable to consult an adept lawn care service provider to examine it for you.

What Is Core Aeration?

Now that you have got an overview of lawn aeration and the benefits it offers, let us take a look at core aeration . Two methods are commonly used when it comes to aerating a lawn – core aeration and spike aeration. In core aeration, hollow tines are used to remove plugs or cores of soil, which are then spread across the lawn’s surface. On the contrary, in spike aeration, the soil is not removed. Instead, a spike aerator is used to create holes in the lawn. However, this method is not as effective as core aeration in terms of providing passages for air, water, and other nutrients to deeply enter the soil. A core aerator helps you make bigger holes, which means the soil gets an optimal chance of absorbing those elements essential for making a lawn grassy and clean.

When Should You Perform Core Aeration In The Midwest?

Whether you live in Oakville, MO, or Mehlville, MO, or in any other area bearing postal codes 63128, 63129, etc, you are most likely to experience both bone-chilling cold as well as scorching summers. As a result, many homeowners feel overwhelmed when it comes to deciding the right time for lawn care. There are lots of people who may suggest the best time for aerating your lawn in this region would be spring but we think it is best to do it in the fall. This is because you get cooled off temperatures together with active growth of grasses and minimal weed pressure. Also, in fall, it is quite natural that you would be spending more and more time out on the lawn with your family, friends, and pets. As a result, the soil of the lawn becomes compacted more easily. By doing core aeration during this time, you would be able to provide the soil with ample room for letting healthy grass grow. In addition, most of the grasses experience the maximum root growth during this season, which means there will be a probability for them to grow faster. While fall is the best time for lawn aeration, you may need to do it based on the circumstances. For instance, if you notice the soil of the lawn has become so compacted that it keeps existing grass from growing, you may need to aerate, regardless of the season. Still, you should never go for any kind of lawn aeration when there is a probability of experiencing abnormally cold temperatures. This might cause some grass roots to die, especially which are close to the core holes’ edge.

Along with the season, the amount of moisture present in the soil is another key consideration to perform core aeration. To get the maximum results, the soil has to be moist enough so that the tines can be penetrated into the ground. Ideally, you should either provide the lawn with an adequate amount of water or wait for good rainfall before doing the aeration.

It is clear from the above that both the type of grass you have in the lawn and the right amount of moisture in the soil also play extremely important roles in bringing the desired results from core aeration your way. Assessing all these and more factors to decide on the right time for lawn aeration may become difficult for the average homeowner. That is why we would again suggest you contact a reputable lawn service provider to ensure you get the aeration job done with maximum proficiency and get a healthy lawn.

Specific Advantages of Core Aeration during fall in the Midwest

Let us take a look at some of the specific advantages of scheduling a core aeration service in the fall.

Get Rid Of The Weeds

Weeds are a strong competitor to grass when it comes to absorbing water, sunlight, and other nutrients. The more weeds your lawn has, the fewer amounts of essential resources the grass will receive. By controlling the weeds, you will be able to eliminate the competition and ensure the grasses stay well-nourished and thick. Many weed seeds germinate in the spring which means if you aerate your lawn at that time, you would be offering them the perfect habitat to grow. On the contrary, once your lawn is aerated in the fall and proper weed killers are applied, it will minimize the number of weeds appearing in the springtime.

Smooth Overseeding Operations

If your goal is overseeding, the comfortable environment will make the process easier compared to other seasons. You can start seeding into your existing lawn after core aeration is done and the cultivated soil will not only help with the germination but create a protected, moist environment advantageous for seeding growth as well.

A Greener Spring

When you pair fall fertilization with fall aeration, you can rest assured of having your lawn prepared for offering you a greener spring. Once the core aeration process is done, fertilize the soil to help it absorb the nutrients more effectively. In addition, aerating and fertilizing in the fall will provide the grasses with an adequate amount of time before the winter frost steps in.

Apart from these, by opting for core aeration in the fall, you would be able to gain some more benefits. For one, as this process breaks the compaction of soil down, it leaves behind small plugs of soil. Within a couple of weeks, those plugs not only dissolve into the environment but they help soil microbes break down the thatch layer as well.

Why Should You Leave The Aeration Job To The Specialists?

There are two ways core aeration can be done – either you can do it yourself or hire a professional lawn care service provider. While the former method may sound tempting, we strongly suggest you take the latter route. Since lawn aeration is a combination of various factors including the right techniques, professional expertise, and industry best practices, only a reputable lawn service company can help you achieve the best results.

Typically, experienced lawn care service providers come with all the necessary licenses that not only stand testimony to their expertise and quality of service but ensure the use of proper tools as well, which would prevent your lawn from being impacted negatively. In addition, these providers generally stay up-to-date with advanced technologies that are being used in the industry. It means by hiring one of them, you can rest assured of having the latest aeration methods applied to your lawn.

Parting Thoughts

As you have probably understood from the above, core aeration service is of the utmost importance when it comes to achieving a healthy, thick lawn. And periodic lawn care would become a much cost-effective and easier process when you let your lawn get a robust, healthy foundation. As we have said earlier, some jobs are best handled by professionals and lawn care is one of them. If you are thinking about the prices, we have seen that hiring a reputable lawn care service provider to do your lawn aeration will cost you almost the same as doing it yourself, especially when you factor in things like rent of the equipment, costs of fertilizer and seed, etc. So, do your lawn (and yourself) a favor by handing over the core aeration job to a reputable service provider. And after that, all you need to do is sit back, relax, and see how the team’s industry knowledge and professional expertise provide your lawn with the highest quality of services and help it become the most beautiful yard in the locality.

Things You Need to Know About Maintaining Your Lawn

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 22:06:21 GMT

Things You Need to Know About Maintaining Your Lawn

Lawn moving is a primary job you need to do to give your lawn a beautiful, clean look. It is not easy to maintain a lawn; there are so many things you need to learn, and you need to consider, especially if you are doing the maintenance yourself.

Here are a few important things you should know about maintaining your lawn:

Lawn Mowing

Use sharp blades in mowing. Dull blades will make the grass unhealthy because they did not cut the grass; they tear it.
Do not mow the grass when they are still too short because it can affect their growth. The right time to mow is when they in moderate height.
Do not mow when the grass is wet. It will only slow you down.

Removing Weeds

Remove existing weeds by hand or using a handheld weeder.
If the weeds are out of control, apply herbicide in your lawn. Make sure you use the right kind to control the growth of the weeds effectively.

Fertilizing the Soil

Apply fertilizer only when it is needed. Ideally, you should apply the right amount of fertilizer twice a year.
Regularly check the pH of your soil. You need to check if the soil is too basic or too acidic so you can apply the appropriate treatment
Considering using compost as fertilizer. It is packed with the necessary nutrients, and they are eco-friendly.

Watering

Water your lawn deeply and ensure that the moisture gets down to the roots of your plants. Shallow watering will make the plants dry out quickly.
Do not water your lawn too often to avoid over saturating the lawn. It is advisable to water once or twice a week.
The best time to water your plants is in the morning, allowing the moisture to get down to the soil. Watering in the evening can cause the landscape to get oversaturated.

Aeration

Aerate your lawn to give the grass some breathing room. If there are overgrown thatch and hard soil in your lawn, then it is the perfect time to aerate.
Do not aerate too often, and make sure to inspect your lawn first. You do not want to damage your landscape, so aerate your lawn at least twice a year.
Make sure the aerator works efficiently by keeping the soil moist but not too wet.

Hire a Service Provider

Sometimes it is best to hire a professional service provider to help you maintain your lawn. They can do a wide range of services, from lawn mowing to shrub trimming, leaf removal, and mulch installation.
Hiring a professional service provider to help you with the job will make things more efficient.
A reliable service provider can provide you with helpful tips on how to maintain your lawn.

Maintaining a lawn can be time-consuming, and it requires a lot of effort and energy. If you want the stress-free method, hire a professional service provider to do the lawn mowing, shrub trimming, and leaf removal. It will save you time too!

The Importance of Maintaining Your Lawn

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:10:08 GMT

The Importance of Maintaining Your Lawn

In every home, the lawn is important. It enhances the overall appearance of the house. A healthy lawn has several benefits; that is why it is important to make sure that your lawn is well-maintained and healthy.

Here are the reasons why it is important to keep your lawn healthy:

It purifies airs and improves air quality. If you have a healthy lawn, it will produce a significant amount of oxygen that is essential for human beings. It also helps in carbon retention, keeping everything in balance.
Grass reduced home cooling needs. The grasses in the lawn will cool themselves. They can absorb too much heat, but they also can cool off the surrounding areas. It will help you reduce your energy consumption.
It helps promote a healthier physical and mental well-being. With your well-maintained lawn, you are boosting your own physical and mental well-being as well as the others who lives with you. You don’t have to eat green to be healthy; you just need to look at them. A beautiful view of a healthy lawn will give a soothing effect to human beings, which helps reducing anxiety and stress.
Healthy lawns are visually appealing and make living spaces more comfortable. A healthy lawn will encourage your family to spend some time outdoors. A healthy and beautiful landscape will make your living space more comfortable; it will also improve your home's overall impact.
It helps in improving groundwater quality. The grass will absorb rainwater and runoff. In a way, the grasses act as a water filter, helping in improving groundwater quality. Also, a healthy lawn can help reduce runoff from rain. As a result, the amount of stormwater that goes to the local wastewater system is significantly reduced.
A well-maintained lawn helps in the reduction of fire hazards, and it slows the risk of fires. Aside from improving your health, lawns are great in protecting you from fire hazards. Grasses act as firebreaks. Thus, they offer enough protection during wildfires. Low-growing grass has a low potential of fueling fires; thus, reducing fire hazards.
Healthy yards reduce noise pollution. Lawns can help in noise reduction since it absorbs noise instead of amplifying it. Overall, noise reduction can also improve the quality of life and improve the desirability of the home.
It increases home property value. You can’t deny it; a beautiful lawn always attracts buyers, and it affects your property's overall value. Expert lawn and landscaping services, as well as real estate agents, are fully aware of that. A well-maintained yard can make or break your deal.

When it comes to lawn maintenance, you don’t have to do it alone or stress yourself. You can always hire the right person to do the job for you. Professional maintenance providers specialize in lawn mowing, landscaping shrub trimming, mulch installation, stone and steel edging, leaf removal, and a lot more. Next time you need help with any of these, just ask help from the right person. Hiring a professional to maintain your lawn is time-efficient and cost-effective.

How to Care and Maintain a Lawn

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 18:36:08 GMT

How to Care and Maintain a Lawn

Lawn mowing is one of the tasks you need to do if you want to have a beautiful and healthy lawn. However, maintaining a lawn is more than just moving. There are other things you should do to get and achieve the healthy lawn you have always dreamt of.

Here are a few things to keep in mind to achieve and enjoy a healthy lawn:

Starting a New Lawn

For new lawns, you need to prepare the area for planting. You must remove the weeds and old grass. Conduct a soil test and add fertilizer to the soil if necessary. Water the ground and leave it for one week.
Decide on what grass to plant. It is ideal to choose the type of grass that is suited to your climate. You can either use seed or sod. Seeds are cheaper but take months to grow. If you want a lawn sooner, sod is the best option you have.
After the seed or sod is planted, you should water your lawn. For seeds, water the lawn after sowing. Just do it lightly to avoid washing the seeds. For sod, water the grass after installing.
While allowing your grass to grow, avoid walking on the new lawn.

Maintaining an Established Lawn

Do not water your lawn every day; water it occasionally but deeply. Water in the morning or in the late evening to prevent the water from evaporating immediately.
Mow once the grass is average in height. Mow in different directions to help the grass grow evenly.
Give your lawn a boost by adding the right fertilizer. Ideally, you should fertilize your lawn three times per growing season.
In fall or spring, aerate your lawn. It allows the soil to breathe, making your lawn healthier.

Repairing an Unhealthy Lawn

If you are dealing with heavy clay soil, water it with lesser water and aerate the earth if it is dense and compacted.
For drying lawns, increase the amount of water per session.
Fight the weeds by using herbicide.
Aside from the weeds, you need to address issues with pests and insects. You can apply pesticides, but you have to be careful as it is also harmful to humans.
Check the pH level of your soil. Apply necessary treatment if it is too basic or too acidic. If the soil is too alkaline, add sulfur gardening products.
If the grass is dying, do not give them too much water. The grass should not be soaked on excessive water.
Alternate your watering schedule, after midnight or early in the morning.
Minimize vehicle traffic or amount of foot contact in the lawn until it returns to its normal health.

The best way to maintain and achieve a healthy lawn is to hire the help of a professional. You don’t have to be a slave to maintain your lawn. You can contact a reliable service provider in Mehlville, MO, and near your area. Some of the services offered include lawn mowing, leaf removal, mulch installation, and shrub trimming.