Tips for an enduring landscape

  • Do not over water your trees and plantings. Always check moisture level with a moisture meter. Never go by the looks of the plants or soil. Somewhere in the green section of the meter is the right level for your plants and trees.
  • Before mowing your new lawn, make sure that you are not sinking into the lawn. Depressions you or your mower cause will disturb the ability for your lawn to drain. Reduce watering until it will withstand the weight of you and or your mower.
  • If you have animals that use the lawn as a bathroom, dilute urine immediately with water or pick up waste. All animal contaminants can ruin a lawn.
  • Do not leave leafs or other organic material on a lawn. Do not set anything on a lawn that will rob it of light, oxygen, or the ability to get water from sprinkler heads. Do not allow shrubbery to overgrow and block sprinkler spray.
  • When you trim trees never cut more than 1/3 of the total branch area in height.
  • Fertilize your lawn every 6-8 weeks when the average temperature is over 40 degrees. Please fertilize with organic fertilizers.
  • Keep grass between 2.5-3.5 inches in height.
  • Try to avoid trimming trees until after one year of installation. Give them a chance to establish before performing surgery.
  • You may discover like I have that you can leave your timer off for months when rainy weather persists.
  • If you use a lawn service ask them to rinse their mower before mowing your lawn. Why inherit someone else’s weeds or fungus?
  • When your temperature and humidity add up to a number of 140 or greater you may want to spray a fungicide on your lawn every two weeks until that scenario passes.
  • If you want exercise and a greater looking lawn, use a push mower not a rotary mower. The golf courses use a reel type mower so that the grass blades are cut not ripped. If you choose to use an electric or gas mower, keep the blades very sharp. A grass blade that is cut correctly will not lose moisture as much as a ragged one.
  • Keep all your catch basins and drainage outlets free from grass intrusion. Check the drains in your lawn area and keep trimmed to where you can see the grate.
  • If you have colored concrete keep it sealed. If you cook over your concrete seal it to prevent staining. Contact me for pricing or product recommendation if you decide to tackle the job yourself.
  • Do not leave the stakes on trees any longer than necessary. Tree trunks, like muscles, get stronger when they have to work.
  • Do not get bored and start to water things. Placer County is full of clay soil. It is so easy to kill your plants when over watering here. Never add water to any plant without checking the moisture level first.
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