Lawn Care Blog

If you didn’t get the new lawn mower or leaf blower in your stack of holiday gifts, now is a good time to think about maintaining what you’ve got. Scheduled maintenance will keep your equipment in good working condition and give you the best performance. Just like your car, your lawn equipment needs a regular tune-up. At least once a year, have your mower checked.

Winter is a great time to do this so that your mower will be ready for spring. Lawn and garden centers will be less crowded during the winter months and can help get you on a maintenance plan. Lawn mowers should have a fuel and oil change, and a check of nuts and bolts to make sure everything is securely in place. Blade sharpening is important because a dull blade can rip up your lawn. A sharp blade makes the whole job easier. 

For leaf blowers, all parts and connectors should be checked, including the carburetor, screens, fan blades, fuel filters and cable connections. Have your lawn center keep a maintenance record for you and contact you when your next scheduled tune-up should take place.

If you’re still looking for gift ideas, try some of these. For the guys going green:

• An at-home composter can get your favorite green friend started with a kit that stores compost and encourages recycling of garbage and yard waste.
• Light-weight, battery operated leaf blowers are great because young people can use them too - you get a dual gift!

For gardeners:

• Try a fancy watering can filled with gardening goodies – gloves, trowels, seed packets, fertilizer, gardening reference book and a sun visor. Tie it all together with a raffia bow for a natural look.
• Bionic Gardening gloves from Brookstone feature anatomical relief pads inside the glove. According to gift.com, they "make gardening chores like weeding, transplanting and raking are less painful" and result in "fewer calluses and blisters from digging, mowing or working with power tools."

For landscapers:

• Decorative boulders with messages or addresses engraved on them add personality to any landscaping. For gifts from children, clay garden stones with handprints or footprints make a lasting impression.
• Gift certificates for one or more services from a local lawn care service. It can be mulch spreading or fertilizer application or a landscape service to freshen trees and bushes. Visit our "Services" page for more ideas!

Despite the mild temperatures Harford County has been enjoying, winter will be upon us soon. That means snow and ice. If you’ve winterized your lawn and gardens, all you have to do is wax your snow shovel, right? Be careful when the snow and ice hit. You’ll want to mark the edges of your lawn to protect it from errant snow plows. They can unknowingly rip up your lawn and give you bare patches in the spring. 

Also, be aware of de-icing products. Many of them contain chemicals that can burn your lawn if they are thrown on nearby sidewalks or walkways. Some plants are also less tolerant of salt or chemical de-icers. When salt drifts on to stems and buds of trees, it can injure the new growth. It can also settle near the root growth, and build up in the soil when runoff washes into it after a thaw. According to the University of Minnesota State Extension website, there are a few ways to reduce salt damage to trees and lawns:

• Avoid using salt if possible, or mix it with other items like sand, cinders and ash.
• Make sure your landscape is properly drained to avoid salt runoff in the soil.
• Protect plants with plastic or burlap, especially if the plants are right next to the pavement.
• Make sure your plants have enough water and mulching to maintain the moisture.

Now that its December and the cold weather is here for good you may have noticed heavy frost on the lawn in the morning hours.  This will send the lawn into dormancy for sure but it may have another undesirable result if your lawn has a lot of traffic.  If the frozen grass is walked on it can become damaged in a hurry.  Since the grass blades are mostly water, walking or driving on the lawn when its in a frozen state can actually break the individual grass blades where it is trodden upon.  This can result in unsightly foot prints or tire tracks that can last well into the spring until the grass stars growing again.  The best thing to do is stay off of the lawn when its frozen or create specific areas for traffic patterns to minimize the damage.  Applying a potassium fertilizer can also help the grass return to its natural state by strengthening the cell walls of the plant. You will never keep the lawn in perfect shape all winter, but minimizing the frost damage will make for a nicer lawn in the spring.

Get your yard ready for the holidays. With the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having, your yard is probably still a focal point. Perhaps you are even still mowing each week.

As you are taking advantage of the mildness to do outdoor holiday decorating, consider freshening up your gardens with a new layer of mulch. Not only will it make the yard look more attractive, it will protect and nurture your soil over the winter months. Mulching discourages weed growth. It also retains more soil moisture so your plants don't dry out as quickly.

Most important for the Harford County climate, mulch can help to moderate changing temperatures in the soil and protect plant roots during the cold weather. Mulches can be made up of any number of natural ingredients -- grass, leaves, wood chips, compost, hay, gravel. You can choose it based on your aesthetic preferences or on what works for your plants.

Regardless, the spreading of mulch can be a daunting and back-breaking task. Consider enlisting a professional to do the mulching while you focus on the holiday lights!

You may be asking yourself if you should mow the lawn one more time this year?  Even though the grass isn't that long it can still benefit from a final mowing.  Especially if the lawn is covered with leaves and debris. Leaves can damage the lawn if allowed to get wet and smother the turf all winter.  If the leaf coverage isn't too heavy, you can get away with mulching the leaves with your mower so they can naturally decompose into the thatch layer.  You may not be cutting much grass this time of year, but the clean up aspect of a late season mowing can make your efforts well worth while.