Lawn Care Blog

Spring and summer in Harford County can mean little rain and lots of heat. Lawn maintenance started earlier this year due to the warm winter months. You may be seeing bare patches in your lawn for any number of reasons – pest infestation, high traffic on the lawn, dying grass due to drought or heat. Now is the time to repair those bare patches and make your lawn lush and seamless. Professional lawn maintenance can help repair and prevent future bare patches, but if you’re doing it yourself, here’s how:

Remove any dead grass or debris so you have a fresh area of soil. If you’ve used crabgrass control on the lawn, remove the top layer of soil and replace it with fresh, clean soil. This will keep the new seed from coming in contact with the crabgrass control, reducing the likelihood of damage to the new grass seed.

After the new soil is spread, use the grass seed of your choice, but include some perennial ryegrass, which germinates quickly. Seed generously and evenly, but keep the seeds to a single layer so they all have contact with the soil. Then, use straw mulch to protect the new seedlings from harsh direct sun. The straw mulch will also protect the area from heavy rains that can wash away the seed.

Lightly water the area daily to keep the seeds from drying out. As they germinate, keep them protected from the hot sun and keep the soil moist. Mow when the new grass is longer than one inch. After a few mowings, the new grass should blend in with the old, and you’ll have a lush looking lawn again.

At Hillside Lawn Service, we’re offering granular potassium applications to our Harford County, MD residents during the winter months. Why is it important to have the right level of potassium in the soil? This nutrient is needed by plants and lawns so that they can tolerate drought and disease. It is also thought that plants need potassium to move water, nutrients and carbohydrate molecules inside the plant itself. According to the University of Minnesota Extension website, plants with a potassium deficiency lose their green color and often turn brown and die from the ground up. So, it is wise to have your soil tested for potassium.  

The University of Maryland Extension recommends soil testing every three to four years for lawn care in Harford and Cecil Counties. Soil testing will provide results not only for potassium, but also for pH (the alkaline or acid levels in your soil), phosphate and magnesium levels. You can test your soil yourself or have our experts at Hillside Lawn Service do it.  If you are doing it yourself, the University of Maryland Extension offers a soil test fact sheet on its website. It gives tips on taking a soil sample, interpreting test results and steps to take for fertilization. It also recommends eight soil testing labs in the region.

Regardless of whether you do it yourself or have it done professionally, if your soil shows a potassium deficiency, you’ll need to fertilize now to have the soil ready for springtime lawns and plants. Potassium is found in most fertilizers, and you can determine the portion of potassium by looking at the third number in a three-digit fertilizer number. Natural potassium comes from rocks in the soil, as well as wood ash and manure.

With the New Year comes the proverbial “turning over a new leaf” – otherwise known as the New Year’s resolution. Losing weight, eating better, staying organized…these are among the common ones. If you want to turn over a new leaf on the lawn and gardening front, winter is the time to start with organization.

First, assess the items you have and what you’ll need this spring. Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or you leave it to the professionals, there are some essentials you should have. In Harford County, a good yard rake, a reliable lawn mower, and some hoses and sprinklers are the basics. Add thatch rakes, rollers, flat hoes and rammers for the more involved lawn maintenance, and now you’ve got a group of tools that need a home in your garage or shed. Include aerators, seeders, edgers and leaf blowers and you almost need a separate room for your lawn accessories.

Make sure your tools are in good condition – sharpened, rust-free, securely put together. If you need new equipment, you can often find good buys and plenty of inventory during the winter months. Hardware departments can also be havens for the organizer. Most have ready-made tool and garage organizers – from metal to plastic and hanging to stacking. Try hanging tools on wall hooks or specially made tool hangers designed to hold three or more items. Or, corral all your long-handled tools into an oversized bucket – a dry wall or sand container works great. Rolling tool racks are also available and add a dual purpose to the organizer, allowing it to be mobile.  

Whatever your method, be ready for spring with lawn tools that have been found and maintained so you’re really ready for the new leaves. 

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.

Treat your turf grass to some winterization. Keeping your turf healthy will keep you and the environment healthy. Turf releases oxygen, helps control pollution, reduces soil erosion and purifies and replenishes the water supply. Treat your turf to nutrients through fertilization, only after planting more to thicken the turf. Put off fertilizing until the new turf has grown in and you’ve mown a few times. Disease can fester when the daytime temperatures are still high, so waiting to fertilize will ensure you eradicate any warm-weather disease.

If you live in Harford County (or surrounding counties) and want to keep turf green through the winter, overseed with a cool-season grass before the end of October. Overseeding with cool-season grass may also bring success in weed control. When the grass is dense and fed well, the weeds tend to be fewer and more easily controlled.

Treat your turf well, and treat yourself to lush greenery all year long!

  

Your ornamental trees can benefit from nutrients to help them grow, as well as oils to help keep pests at bay. In a previous post we talked about what to do with tree roots underground. Now, come above ground and take charge of the pests before they have a chance to appear.

Dormant oil spray is a highly refined oil that is sprayed on the bark of the tree. It coats the tree and covers the dormant insects that reside there, actually smothering them. Fall is a great time to apply a dormant oil in Harford County, because there will be no damage to new buds on the trees. Never spray a tree that is in full bloom. Apply the dormant oil on a clear day when temperatures will range between 40 and 70 degrees F. for at least 24 hours. In Harford County, the time frame extends until at least mid- to late-October. This will help the oil to spread properly and seep into all areas of the bark.

In addition, dormant oil applications can be done in the spring to be sure any new pests are eliminated. Again, spray before the buds begin to swell to avoid damaging the blooms. Giving your ornamental trees the right attention both above and below the ground in the Fall will make them the healthiest they can be in spring time.  

Homeowners in Harford, Cecil and Baltimore Counties who are interested in professionally applied dormant oils to protect their ornamental trees should contact us very soon. Dormant oil application may also be purchased as part of our regular tree and shrub maintenance service.

 

If you’re still looking at all the leaves covering your lawn and wondering how you’re going to find time and energy between football games to tackle yard work, consider leaving it to the pros. Not only will hiring a professional lawn service save you time and effort, it will also help you to have the yard that turns heads all year long.  

When you enlist the services of a professional, you get their expert advice on your specific situation. The lawn care professional should ask you about your maintenance habits for your lawn and shrubbery, and recommend treatments that will keep your yard at its peak for the longest time period. The service should give you choices for treating your plants, trees and shrubs, as well as your lawn all year long. Click here for examples of lawn maintenance packages.  

Treatments like grub control, pest control and lime application need to be done at certain times of the year. The professionals can get the timing right for your geographic area, whether it’s Harford County or Baltimore County. Then you won’t miss getting it done because you’re too busy for your yard work.  

And you won’t have to worry about missing those Sunday football games, either!  

   

The party’s still rockin’ for Fall lawn maintenance. Aeration and over seeding are the last guests, but don’t confuse aeration with that party crasher - dethatching!
   
Not every lawn in Harford County needs dethatching. If your lawn has a layer of dead organic matter that is more than ½ inch above the soil, then dethatching is in order. A liquid dethatcher will break down the layer and turn it into soil. Be careful about raking the thatch – this can damage the roots of the grass.

Lawns in Baltimore County and Harford County do need aeration and over seeding to complete the season. The soil in your lawn has been compacted over the last year due to foot traffic, heavy rains and snow, creating a tight layer. Aerating your lawn makes room for the food, water, oxygen and grass seed by creating space, or “plugs” where the nutrients can get into the root system. By over seeding – or adding more seed over the aerated soil, the chances increase that these seeds will germinate and create new grass.
 
The result: a full, lush lawn in the spring! Aeration and over seeding should be done 45 days before the first frost, which averages between October 29 and November 3 in Harford County.  

You’re invited to a party – for your lawn! Harford County lawns have stood up to heat, drought and hurricanes this season.  Now is a great time to celebrate your lawn and keep it in shape for the coming year. So bring your rake, mower, seed, and fertilizer and let’s get started.

First, remove leaves from the grass by raking or blowing. Leaves left on lawns will trap moisture, causing fungus or pest invasions.  They will also block sunlight that keeps the grass green.

Keep mowing your lawn regularly, but cut it high. Taller grass keeps moisture in the soil and protects the root network. Consider leaving the grass one-half inch higher on the last mow of the season.

Seed your lawn in the fall, both to fill in bare patches and to make the overall growth thicker and richer in the spring time.

Top it all off with fertilizer for cool season grasses only. (These grasses are common in Harford County and Baltimore County.) Warm season grasses do not need to be fertilized because they are preparing for dormancy.

Finally, if you want to aerate your lawn, now is the time. Aerating creates space in the soil for air, water and nutrients to reach the roots. Your lawn will need these over the winter.       

Now, sit back, relax and enjoy the lawn party!