Below are 4 categories of tips for maintaining your lawn and landscape. We encourage you to review our recommendations of caring for and improving your lawn. If you have a specific question please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to provide advice or if you would prefer we will provide you with a fair price to handle the issue.

• Mow as high as possible (4 - 5 inches for tall fescue)

  • Helps shape out weeds

  • Keeps lawn cooler to reduce "burn up" in summer

  • The height of the grass is equal to the length of the roots

• Try not to mow more than 1/3 of the height of the grass with each mowing

  • This is very stressful to the plant and seriously risks burning the turf

  • Adds too much thatch to the lawn

• Keep your blades sharp

  • Sharp blades cut grass instead of tear grass

  • Torn grass looks ragged and leaves white tips when finished mowing

  • Clean cut grass heals faster which greatly reduces risk of turf disease

  • Always disconnect spark plug before removing blade

• Return grass clippings to lawn

  • Adds nitrogen back to the lawn naturally

  • Adds organic material back to lawn

  • Reduces environmental impact keeping clippings out of landfills

  • Less work for you not having to stop and dump bags

• Keep underneath mower deck clean

  • Grass and dirt will build up underneath mower decks

  • Build up reduces the vacuum effect of mower and will leave more uncut grass

• Try to mow grass when dry

  • Just does a better job cutting and is easier on operator

  • If grass does need to be mowed when wet, be sure to pick up or scatter any clumps left on the lawn. These clumps will block light and leave yellow spots

• Always weed eat and edge

  • This gives your lawn that finishing touch that makes it look well manicured

• Keep your mowing equipment regularly maintained

  • Mower maintenance is pretty easy and will greatly increase the life of your equipment

  • Change oil, air filter, and spark plug once per season

  • We recommend using a product like Startron® during the last mowing to reduce the harmful effects of ethanol

• Lawn

  • Your lawn requires about 1 1/2 inches of water per week

  • Drought stressed turf will begin to look grayish and leave footprints when walked across

  • Start off in the fall by giving your lawn as little irrigation as possible to encourage deeper root systems

  • Continue supplemental watering as little as possible throughout the spring

  • Remember that watering less and mowing high results in the turf having deeper roots which will make the grass much more drought resistant for the hot summer months

  • In the summer, water more frequently but still give the lawn a good deep soak rather than more frequent short watering

  • General guidelines for irrigation systems (Note that these guidelines are based on rotary style sprinkler heads. Mist head sprinkler heads apply about 3 times as much water, so times should be reduced by 1/3 of the time) :

    • all (established lawn) - 45 min. to 1 hour per zone once per week

    • Spring - 45 min. to 1 hour per zone once per week

    • Summer - 30 min. per zone 3 times per week

  • Try to avoid watering the day before and day of mowing

  • During late spring and summer, water in the morning which will greatly reduce the chance for developing turf disease

• Newly seeded turf

  • Water 2 or 3 times per day (depending how hot it is) immediately after seeding for short intervals (5 - 10 min. per zone for rotary heads and 4 - 7 min. per zone for mist heads) for 1 1/2 to 2 weeks until seed germinates

  • You want to keep seed moist but do not want water to pool up or ground be remain muddy

  • If you’ve over seeded and pre existing turf needs to be cut, cut off water long enough for grass to dry out and be mowed before resuming watering

  • Begin watering less frequently but increasing the time gradually until you are watering at the normal fall guidelines of 45 min. to 1 hour at once per week

• Ornamental Plants

  • Most plants require less water than your turf

  • Don’t just let the sprinkler heads for the lawn water your landscape plants. You should either have separate zones for your landscape or water by hand

  • Newly planted material will require more frequent watering than that of established plants

• Newly installed sod

  • New sod should be water 1/2 inch with each watering

  • Water all new sod immediately after installation or every 30 minutes during installation if above 85°

  • Watering frequency guidelines are as follows:

    • Temps. 32°-60° Every other day for 2 weeks

    • Temps. 60°-85° Once every day for 2 weeks

    • Temps. 85°and above Twice every day for 2 weeks

    • Afterwards, follow the guidelines for established turf listed above

When making a plan for landscaping, look at how you can make the most use of your space where it will accommodate your lifestyle, not just beautify your home

• What are the times of year you are more likely to be outside or entertaining guests outside?

• What do you and your family enjoy doing in the outdoor spaces around your home?

• Do you have pets and what habits do they have that need to be considered?

Right plant for the right place

• This is the most important thing to keep in mind when choosing plant material

• Be sure that soil type, amount of sunlight, and drainage are right for the plant thatʼs chosen

• Be sure to chose a plant based on itʼs ultimate height and width that will work in your location. Too often we see plants that are too large for where they are in the landscape which results in a maintenance nightmare or having to remove the plant altogether

• How much water will they need relative to how much you can provide

Planting guidelines

• Dig your holes twice the width and 1 1/2 times the depth of the root ball

• Be sure the soil you return to the hole is broken up well to allow roots to easily move into the new soil

• Rough up the root ball to prevent the roots from “girdling” the trunk

• If dealing with heavy clay or sandy soils, you may want to amend the planting soil with compost or a topsoil / compost blend

• If plant material requires good drainage, you can always build a raised bed for planting

• Be sure to firm up soil (not compact it) around root ball to keep your plant from shifting when soil settles

• In heavy clay soils, we recommend planting so that the top of the root ball sets from 2 to 4 inches above ground level and then mulching around it

• Do not stake trees unless they start to lean after planting. They will grow stronger if left without assistance

Miscellaneous

• Use annuals and perennials in your landscape as an inexpensive way to give it a splash of color or some more unusual texture

• Consider what you may already have an dhow it could be used before purchasing new plan material

• Be sure to look at insect and disease pests relative to your plan to

Lawn weeds?

• If they are grassy weeds, did you use a pre-emergent and was it applied early enough? There are post emergent herbicides for crabgrass and other grassy weeds that can be used in your lawn. Be sure you are correctly identifying the weeds before attempting treatment

• If you are dealing with broadleaf weeds, there are several treatments available which will treat an array of different weed species. Once again, proper identification will save you time and money

• Mowing your lawn high will help to shade out weeds

My lawn has brown spots!

• If itʼs hot and humid outside and your lawn is getting enough water, you may have a disease which will need to be treated with a fungicide

• If itʼs hot and we are not having much rain, you are probably dealing with drought stress. Fescue naturally will go dormant during hot weather and come back to “life” once the temperature gets cooler and we start getting more rain. You still want to provide 1 1/2 inches per week, even if the grass doesnʼt get green. This will keep it living.

• Chemical spills or pet urine can cause brown spots in the lawn. You may contact us for help on correcting these problems

Every year I reseed and the grass comes up beautifully, but then, in certain places, it dies out in the summer

• Power seeding can be very effective for these spots

• You may have localized dry spots that donʼt retain moisture where adding an amendment to the soil there before seeding could help

• Your irrigation may not be hitting or covering that area as well

• If you have large trees nearby, they are probably competing with the grass for moisture, sunlight, and nutrients, and the trees will always win. We recommend giving up the grass in that case and creating more bed space

My lawn is so this!

• Are you aerating and over seeding every year? Virginia is a tough place to grow grass. Typically, we are trying to grow tall fescue which is a cool season grass

• Our summers are anything but cool and regardless of what you do, this heat will result in some turf damage that should be replenished in the fall

• Are you removing leaves on a regular basis? Leaves left on the lawn can shade out the grass, especially newly seeded grass and result in thinning

• Using a proper fertilization analysis for the time of year will help to keep your lawn thicker and healthier

• Liming regularly keeps your ph in check to provide ideal soil conditions for your turf grasses

I have moles tunneling all through my yard. What can I do about them?

• The best solution for moles are using gel baits. While some may feel that theyʼre inhumane, they are about the only thing that is effective

• There are lawn sprays that will only chase them off only to return in a couple weeks and you have to repeat the process again for the same results

• Grub control will protect your turf from being eaten by grubs, but does not keep moles out of your yard. Moles eat grubs, but they will also eat earthworm

There are holes in the leaves of my plants!

• This could be caused by either insects or fungal disease. If you donʼt know what it is then you need to contact a professional who can help you identify exactly what pest you are dealing with

My plants keep dying when I plant them in the same area. Is something wrong in that spot?

• Are you planting the right plant for that area?

• You may need to get the soil tested to find out whatʼs going on

• Be sure you give new plants plenty of water, especially in the summer

• On the same note, be sure not to over water