Organic Lawn Care Schedule
In March or as soon as the ground thaws enough for you to dig 4-6 inches deep, get your soil tested. A good lawn has at least 6 inches of soil.
While you can pick up your own soil test kit in the store, its much more accurate if you get it done by your local extension office. If you find your soils pH is below 6.0 add garden lime but if its above 7.0 add garden sulfur. The experts at your local extension office will also be able to guide you in amending your soil and which grass or plants to grow. So dont be afraid to ask!
March or early spring is also a great time to clean up from winter by raking away dead leaves and branches. Learn how to use these in your compost pile here! Lastly, aerate your lawn. This allows water, nutrients and air to get to the grass roots after the snow has compacted your lawn tightly down over the winter.
Its a common myth that you should mow your grass very short so that it will take longer to grow back. But this actually isnt true and will only weaken your lawn and invite weeds to grow. When you cut your lawn short, the grass blades just grow back faster in order to do photosynthesis for the roots. Ideally, for cool-season grasses set your mower blades 3.5-4 inches high and for warm-season grass set your mower lower to 2.5-3 inches.
What Prices Are Being Used In The Comparison
I will use Green Giants prices only because I know what they are however, most lawn care companies in our area have similar pricing.
I will use Scotts 4-Step Turf Builder program for the Do-It-Yourself comparison because Scotts program is one of the most popular and well-known brands . And, since Scotts products are sold on a retail level, we can easily find their prices.
Scotts products come in different sized bags for different sized lawns. For example, Scotts has a 40.5 lb. bag for a 15,000 square foot lawn and a 13.58 lb. bag for a 5,000 square foot lawn for their Step-1 application. When I refer to a 5,000 square foot bag, I am referring to the square footage that the material is intended to cover .
Epsom Salt Lawn Fertilizer
Epsom salts contain two elements that boost lawn grass and its lushness-Magnesium and Sulfur. Magnesium is crucial for activating chlorophyll production, and helping in the absorption of phosphorus and nitrogen, while sulfur helps plants to photosynthesize.Learn more about amazing Epsom salt uses in the garden here.
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Effective Weed Control With Professional Herbicides
Most homeowners find that buying weed killer for lawns and other areas around the house is a common home ownership routine. While many people are familiar with weed killer products such as Roundup, most people dont know that you can buy the professional grade weed killer versions of Roundup, Ranger Pro , and Roundup Pro Max. These commercial weed killer versions are stronger and work much better than the stuff you can buy at the big box stores.
Reasons For A Chemical Yard Treatment
When hiring a professional lawn service to treat your yard, they’ll bring the equipment and the chemicals necessary to address any issues within your lawn.
Along with keeping your lawn looking its best throughout the year with professional services, a chemical treatment is primarily designed to protect your lawn from pests such as fire ants, mites, grubs, mole crickets, and flies specific to your region.
Chemical treatments are also used to protect against diseases such as crabgrass, clover, root rot, brown patch, and more, plus a variety of weeds that are native to your area.
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Protect Animals And Insects
It is important to protect birds, beneficial insects, earthworms, and other organisms that play an important role in keeping your lawn healthy.
- Birds and predatory insects feed on grubs and other pests.
- Insects, earthworms, beneficial fungi, and other micro-organisms break down thatch and aerate the soil.
The best way to protect these beneficial animals and insects is to only use insecticides and fungicides when absolutely needed. See Understanding your lawn’s lifecycle for more information.
Diy Lawn Care: How To Get Rid Of Weeds And Landscape Issues
Nothing beats the feeling of having a beautiful, lush, and vibrant lawn that is the envy of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, a lawn doesnt become beautiful by itself, you have to invest time and energy into making it outstanding and address issues that may creep up, like stubborn invasive weeds and pests.
Landscape issues can vary in severity–from minor weed invasions which can which ruin your lawn’s appearance to harmful diseases or plant-eating insects which can damage or kill your desired plant life. Whatever the case may be, if you dont take action and do something about it, the problem will only get worse.
Ensuring your lawn, garden, aquatic area or landscape is healthy and weed-free doesnt have to be difficult. In fact, we believe you can conduct a professional-quality treatment of your lawn and garden which can effectively eliminate invasive weeds and pests by following our expertly compiled guides and using our high-quality lawn care products.
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Find Out The Best Height For The Grass Youre Growing
Pro2Pro Tip: Be sure to mow with a mulching attachment or a mulching reel mower and leave the clippings where they fall theyre a natural source of nitrogen as they decompose.
Cut it too short and it doesn’t develop the strong, healthy roots it needs to fend off weeds and disease. So find out the best height for the type of turf you’re growing.
- Cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass and red fescue, prefer to be between 3 to 4 inches high
- Warm-season varieties like Bermuda grass can be maintained at 1 to 1 1/2 inches.
Eliminate Quack Grass With Proper Lawn Care
A lawn that is full and healthy leaves no room for weeds to grow. Many weeds travel by seed on the wind and plant themselves in bare lawn spots. Ensuring that your lawn is in good health keeps quackgrass and other weeds from taking root.
- Fertilizer
One form of weed control is to overseed your lawn by applying two pounds of seed for every 1,000 square feet of lawn. There is no need to till the area when overseeding. Sprinkling the grass seed throughout the yard fills in bare or thin spots. Water the grass twice a day until the new seed grows.
Make sure that your lawnmower has sharp blades and mow your lawn weekly at a blade setting of three inches. Do not mow the lawn any shorter than that. If the grass is cut too short, your lawn grass will suffer, and the quackgrass may spread.
When to apply crabgrass preventer like grass seed is best completed during the growing season, typically the spring. Use a spreader to spread nitrogen fertilizer every two weeks from early spring until fall to help your lawn grow thick and dark, which inhibits quackgrass growth and the development of other unwanted vegetation.
Making quackgrass killers using simple and natural ingredients can provide you with the satisfaction that not only did you get rid of those stubborn weeds, but you did it without harming the environment.
Learning the basics of proper lawn care ensures that your desirable grass is healthy and vibrant and that those weeds are unable to revisit and cause havoc in your yard.
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How Many Square Feet Does This Cover
This is a difficult question to answer because it depends on your climate, grass quality, and type of grass. Weve worked out the math for another reader who has a very large lawn. For this one gallon batch at 3 oz per gallon, it covers roughly 1000 sq ft of lawn.
I prefer to answer this question by saying you lightly spray your yard with this solution, then water thoroughly. You can get a feel of it and use it like you would any other liquid fertilizer.
Herbicides & Weed Killers
Weeds can quickly turn the most beautiful lawns and gardens into unsightly messes. Herbicides can control and prevent weeds from overtaking your lawn to keep your lawn healthy. DoMyOwns selection of herbicides are the same products the professionals use, allowing you to do your own lawn care with fantastic results.
Multiple sizes available$98.98Multiple sizes available$129.00Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$123.50Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$107.21$77.94Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$41.49$70.27Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$111.36Multiple sizes available$76.50$78.14$41.36$123.19Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$161.99$169.42Multiple sizes available$108.00Multiple sizes available$184.55$213.62Multiple sizes available$77.98$108.68Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$270.29$169.07$147.00$210.00$185.24$57.69Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$50.67Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$135.00$23.71$22.28$54.65Multiple sizes available$34.99$51.62Multiple sizes available$103.59Multiple sizes availableMultiple sizes available$31.29Multiple sizes available$37.06$93.56Multiple sizes available$101.00$81.19$142.08$17.99$79.04$140.70$62.25Multiple sizes available$63.06$24.46$49.59$180.91
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Choosing A Lawn Care Company In Memphis Tn Or Northern Ms
While it might be tempting to go out and purchase the products and equipment that you need for DIY lawn care, the truth is, weve heard a lot of stories from folks who feel they wasted their time and money on trying to do these services themselves. Even if you purchase all of the right products and equipment, theyre not going to stack up to the professional-grade chemicals and equipment that a pro is using.Plus, do you really want to invest the time? At the end of the day, a big reason why people end up choosing professional lawn care is that it gives them peace of mind that everything is being done the way it shouldwithout them having to find the time to do it themselves.You dont have time for hassles, headaches, or subpar results just to try and save a few dollars on lawn care. Instead, by choosing to work with a professional, you can feel confident youve made a wise investment. Wish you could stop worrying about wasting your time and money on DIY lawn care at your Memphis, TN or Northern Mississippi home? Talk to a lawn care expert, choose from 3 program options, and become the master of your lawn.
Check For And Identify Problems
Check your lawn regularly, so that you can find pests and other problems early. Make sure to identify lawn problems correctly, then decide whether action is needed.
- Plant damage may not be caused by pests. Plants can be injured by poor growing conditions, poor maintenance, road salt, or dog urine.
- A few weeds or insect pests in healthy lawns is usually not cause for concern.
- Knowing about the pest and its life cycle will help you decide if and when to take action, and how to prevent further problems. See Pest control tips for more information about controlling specific pests.
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Is Organic Lawn Care Better
Not only is it more environmentally friendly, and saferyour lawn will also look better than ever. Libby Scancarello fired her lawn-care company and hired PureLawn Organic Lawncare, a Cincinnati-based company that uses only chemical-free fertilizers and biological pest and disease control. I havent looked back since, says Scancarello, adding that her yard looks as lush as ever.
What Equipment Do I Need For Diy Lawn Care
If you are going to be handling your own lawn care and garden needs, there are some pieces of equipment that you will need to have available to you.
- Lawnmower
- Aerator
- Storage for chemicals, seeding, and equipment
You can start with a mower and a trimmer and make the rest work from there. If you only have a small property, you will likely not need to worry about the size of the spreader you purchase. You should be able to use a small handheld option if that works for your needs.
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Cheap Safe And Incredibly Effective Homemade Lawn Food
5.9.17
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I am excited to share this post with you today! This is a cheap, easy and very effective homemade lawn food that you can use in place of fertilizer.
One of our most viewed posts last year was this homemade plant food recipe .
What readers enjoyed most, was the science backed aspect of how it worked!
I love hearing all of your success stories on it too! In fact, my father in law uses this exclusively in his garden now.
If you have a success story from the eBook or another chemistry solution, please send us an email to let us know!
First, lets talk about this recipe, then we will share with you the amazing chemistry behind why this works so well!
Remember to always test small areas first before use. Please use caution around other plants, this is ONLY for grass!
Use A Variety Of Ways To Deal With Problems
Pest problems that keep coming back are often a sign that your lawn care practices need to change. These changes can include:
- correcting drainage or fertility problems
- adding lime
- increasing mowing height
- removing thatch
For help in dealing with common problems like weeds, pests, and diseases, see Dealing with lawn problems.
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Mouthwash In Homemade Lawn Fertilizers
While not exactly nutritious, mouthwash is an effective way to fight pests and fungal infections on your lawn. The only problem with this material is that its too expensive, especially if you have a large lawn. However, it works more efficiently than many pesticides, and it doesnt have the same negative impact on the plants or the soil as chemical fungicides sold in the market.
How to Make it
How to Use it
This is a concentrated homemade lawn fertilizer recipe. You will need to be careful when spraying it. The alcohol in the mouthwash dilutes quickly in the water and kills fungal infestations and many other seasonal pests on the lawn. And since its water-based, the soil absorbs the mixture where it gets washed away the next time you irrigate your lawn. You shouldnt apply this mixture to the lawn right before or immediately after watering the grass. Give it a few days to work its effect on the fungus and pests in the grass.
Does Scotts Use The Best Crabgrass Preventer
Scotts uses a material called Pendimethalin . The label for all Pendimethalin products I have ever seen recommends, Applya repeat application after 5-8 weeks for better crabgrass control. Pendi will definitely work better with two applications, spaced 5-8 weeks apart. However, the Scotts 4-step program only provides for one crabgrass preventer application .
Also, Pendi is considered to be less effective by many lawn care professionals and others in the industry. With good, healthy turf that is mowed at the right height and
frequency, Pendi can do a good job but, it should to be applied twice.
The reason we do not use Pendimethalin is that we guarantee our crabgrass control with our full program meaning, if a customer gets our crabgrass services and ends up with crabgrass in their lawn, we will come back and treat the crabgrass at no charge. This costs us money in labor and materials so we go with what we believe is the best product.
The two types of crabgrass preventers that most lawn care professionals choose are Prodiamine and Dithiopyr . Each of these have their pluses and minuses but, in my experience, both are much better at controlling crabgrass than Pendi. While no product can prevent all crabgrass seeds from growing into a big ugly weed, these two products give you the best chance to avoid this nasty weed.
Price for Scotts Step-1: $67.99 +tax
Price for Green Giants 1st application: $66.00
Step-2:
Scotts 2nd Step Price:
Liquid Weed Control: $17.98 +tax
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When You Think About Diy Lawn Care A Lot Of The Work Includes:
- Going to the store and buying the fertilizer and other materials.
- Digging your spreader out of your garage or shed.
- Reading the label instructions to make sure you understand how to use the material and how to spread it evenly.
- Getting the spreader ready and calibrating it to dispense the proper rate of fertilizer .
- Clean-up when the work is done.
- Storing things away like, the left over fertilizer, the spreader, leaf blower or broom used to clean fertilizer off of the sidewalks and driveway.
Notice, none of these bullet points include actually treating the lawn.
Before a professional lawn care service arrives at your house, all of the prep work has already been done. When the technician arrives, all they need to do is treat the lawn and clean-up as needed .
The lawn care applicator has all the materials they need and their equipment is calibrated before they arrive at your house. They also have a leaf blower that is easily accessible and starts on the first pull.
What Are The Requirements To Sign Up For Sunday Lawn Care
Potentially our favorite thing about Sunday is that you can have zoysia, st. Augustine, bluegrass, Bermuda, or even fescue grass and Sunday Lawn care can help. There are no requirements to sign up, aside from sending in a soil sample and getting your curated solutions and plans.
The customer support team at Sunday provides plenty of lawn care tips and information to help you achieve and maintain a green lawn. Although you will be handling the work on your own, you will have the confidence of a knowledgeable professional supporting you the entire way.
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Homemade Fertilizers For Lawns
There are some key ingredients you probably already have in your house that can promote your lawns health. These include:
- Beer: Beer is actually full of nutrients that feed both the grass and the microbes and bacteria that promote its health.
- Soda: Soda contains plenty of sugar that feeds those same microbes with carbohydrates.
- Soap or Shampoo: This makes the ground more absorptive and receptive to your homemade lawn fertilizers. Just make sure to stay away from antibacterial soap, as this could kill all those good microbes youve been feeding.
- Ammonia: Ammonia is made of hydrogen and nitrogen, and plants thrive on nitrogen.
- Mouthwash: Surprisingly, mouthwash is a great pesticide that wont harm your plants.
