February Landscape Tips
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
It's Still Winter Time
Even though it's still winter time, it is getting closer to the time to get ready
to get busy! In our area of the US, (North West Tennessee) on Ky. Lake, we
usually start getting cabin fever around this time. The first week or two of
Feb will usually bring a few days where the temperatures get up into the 60's.
This brings everyone outside to start taking measure of what will need to be
done to start bringing the Lawn and Landscape back to life. One of the most
important things is to get all the leaves up. Either rake them, mow and
vacuum them or blow them off. It doesn't matter how you get rid of them,
just get them off the lawn. If leaves stay on the grass for a few weeks and get
thick enough to totally block out the light, they will kill the grass. I have had
several customers over the years that hired us to seed the lawn in the fall, we
get them a great stand of grass, in Oct. the last time I see the property the
grass looks great, then in spring they get the leaves up and there is no grass
under them. I leave explicit instructions with everyone on how to take care
of a new lawn after we seed, sod or sprig it, some people just don't follow
directions and wind up with a bare lawn. So, this is what can happen if you
don't get the leaves up off the lawn. It is better to mow and mulch them a
little bit at a time through the fall and winter than to come in all at once and
try to mulch them when they are thick. This leaves too much leaf material on
the ground and this material itself can smother the grass. If you see your
going to have so much leaf material that it will cover the grass, then you will
need to remove the leaves. So let yourself be warned, if you have a deep
cover of leaves that you left out over the winter, you may want to look at our
page on reseeding Reseeding A Lawn
If you do have a lot of leaves on the lawn your Ph will be going to the acid
side which means you will need lime. Fall and Spring are the best times to
apply lime but you can put it down anytime of the year. I like to use the
Dolomitic lime, or Pelletized lime some call it. It is in a brown colored granule
and flows out of a fertilizer spreader easier than the old fashioned white
powdery ag lime. This stuff will stop up a spreader, its hard to get it out, and
it coats every thing with a white powder, including you when spreading it, so
use the granules. If you have a pretty thick cover of trees that are putting
down a lot of leafs each year, and you are mulching them, you will need a
minimum of one 40# bag of lime per thousand square feet of lawn area. If
you have moss growing on the surface you will need two bags per K. Usually
the lawn is in such an acidic state if it hasn't had regular lime applications
that it will need lime, but if you want you can have a soil test done. But let
me just say, If you have a bunch of trees.....You need lime! Also if you
happen to be in an area like we are in Northwest Tennessee, that has an
abundance of rocks and clay soil, you will need lime.
Also, mulching the leaves leads to another problem, loss of nitrogen from the
soil. The leaves are a high carbon material which requires a lot of nitrogen to
break them down and decompose, so along with the lime applications a dose
of 15-15-15 will go a long way towards keeping the lawn looking good. 6 # of
this per K sq. ft. is the usual rate if you are putting down 1# of N -P - K per
thousand sq. ft. of lawn area.
Even though it's still winter time, it is getting closer to the time to get ready
to get busy! In our area of the US, (North West Tennessee) on Ky. Lake, we
usually start getting cabin fever around this time. The first week or two of
Feb will usually bring a few days where the temperatures get up into the 60's.
This brings everyone outside to start taking measure of what will need to be
done to start bringing the Lawn and Landscape back to life. One of the most
important things is to get all the leaves up. Either rake them, mow and
vacuum them or blow them off. It doesn't matter how you get rid of them,
just get them off the lawn. If leaves stay on the grass for a few weeks and get
thick enough to totally block out the light, they will kill the grass. I have had
several customers over the years that hired us to seed the lawn in the fall, we
get them a great stand of grass, in Oct. the last time I see the property the
grass looks great, then in spring they get the leaves up and there is no grass
under them. I leave explicit instructions with everyone on how to take care
of a new lawn after we seed, sod or sprig it, some people just don't follow
directions and wind up with a bare lawn. So, this is what can happen if you
don't get the leaves up off the lawn. It is better to mow and mulch them a
little bit at a time through the fall and winter than to come in all at once and
try to mulch them when they are thick. This leaves too much leaf material on
the ground and this material itself can smother the grass. If you see your
going to have so much leaf material that it will cover the grass, then you will
need to remove the leaves. So let yourself be warned, if you have a deep
cover of leaves that you left out over the winter, you may want to look at our
page on reseeding Reseeding A Lawn
If you do have a lot of leaves on the lawn your Ph will be going to the acid
side which means you will need lime. Fall and Spring are the best times to
apply lime but you can put it down anytime of the year. I like to use the
Dolomitic lime, or Pelletized lime some call it. It is in a brown colored granule
and flows out of a fertilizer spreader easier than the old fashioned white
powdery ag lime. This stuff will stop up a spreader, its hard to get it out, and
it coats every thing with a white powder, including you when spreading it, so
use the granules. If you have a pretty thick cover of trees that are putting
down a lot of leafs each year, and you are mulching them, you will need a
minimum of one 40# bag of lime per thousand square feet of lawn area. If
you have moss growing on the surface you will need two bags per K. Usually
the lawn is in such an acidic state if it hasn't had regular lime applications
that it will need lime, but if you want you can have a soil test done. But let
me just say, If you have a bunch of trees.....You need lime! Also if you
happen to be in an area like we are in Northwest Tennessee, that has an
abundance of rocks and clay soil, you will need lime.
Also, mulching the leaves leads to another problem, loss of nitrogen from the
soil. The leaves are a high carbon material which requires a lot of nitrogen to
break them down and decompose, so along with the lime applications a dose
of 15-15-15 will go a long way towards keeping the lawn looking good. 6 # of
this per K sq. ft. is the usual rate if you are putting down 1# of N -P - K per
thousand sq. ft. of lawn area.
