I’m planning to put wood mulch or wood chips in my shrub beds. How can I do this to make sure that weeds don’t come through?

mulch

Author Archives: charity

I’m planning to put wood mulch or wood chips in my shrub beds. How can I do this to make sure that weeds don’t come through?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
mulch

Wood chips, wood mulch, and decorative stone are a great way to enhance your landscape, particularly where it’s difficult or impossible to grow grass. I can’t tell you how often we see decorative rock or wood mulch that is not properly installed. In order to keep weeds and grass from growing through wood mulch alone, the mulch needs to be at least 10cm thick if it is a heavy mulch, and 16cm thick for lighter mulches. Keep in mind that both light and heavy mulches will settle by as much as 20%. New mulch should be added after one year to insure the proper depth is maintained. If you prefer not to use such a large volume of wood mulch, a weed barrier may be used. Heavy duty weed barrier is available at most garden centres. It comes in rolls either four feet or five feet wide. Simply measure the…

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When I mow my lawn or walk across it I see hundreds of little green bugs jumping out of the grass. What are they? Should I be concerned?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014

They’re called leafhoppers. Yes, that is the incredibly scientific name that lawn care experts have come up with for a small green bug that hops from leaf to leaf, or should I say blade to blade. Maybe we should rename them bladehoppers. Up close they’re about the size of a grain of rice. Leafhoppers are always present in your lawn. They suck the juices out of the grass blades. Damage is usually visible as a small yellow spot in the middle of the blade. They also excrete a sap like substance called honeydew which sometimes appears as a shiny spot on the blade. Leafhoppers do very little damage. A huge infestation might give your lawn a slightly pale appearance. Since the damage is only short term and superficial, and such large infestations are very short lived, treatment is not recommended. Leafhoppers overwinter in debris and thatch and emerge in mid spring….

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I have a two foot strip of dead lawn all the way around the foundation of my house. I’ve tried everything to get it to grow but nothing seems to work. The rest of my lawn looks great. What’s happening around my foundation?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
lime

Without having seen your house I know that the exterior is stucco. Psychic power? I wouldn’t be in lawn care if I was psychic. Every stucco home built in Manitoba shares the same problem. Stucco contains lime. Over time, the lime in the stucco gets washed down the side of your home and into the soil around the foundation. Lime is alkaline, meaning it raises the pH in the soil. Your lawn requires a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 to remain healthy. Lawn fertilizers are slightly acidic. When you apply fertilizer (an acid) to your lawn, you change the pH of the soil which results in a deep green colour. Add too much fertilizer (or acid) and you can unintentionally “burn” your lawn. Lime works in the opposite manner. As the lime washes off the stucco on the walls of your house, and into the soil around the foundation, it…

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I’m installing a new lawn. Which is better, peat based sod or mineral based sod?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
sod

The answer to this question depends on the intended purpose of the lawn. Peat based sod is for what I call the “classy” lawn or the “look but don’t touch” lawn. Peat based lawns are very high maintenance. They require vigilance and uninterrupted care. The benefits of a peat lawn is that it will achieve much darker colour than mineral based lawns. Peat based lawns will also achieve a much thicker, pillowy soft density. The drawbacks to a peat lawn is that they dry out very quickly. Two or three days of thirty degree heat will quickly stress the lawn. Peat lawns are also somewhat more susceptible to insect problems and are distinctively more susceptible to disease. Peat lawns also suffer quickly under even light or medium traffic. When properly cared for, peat based lawns look absolutely amazing; the key word being “look”. Just don’t touch. If you have kids…

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My lawn suffered a lot of winter kill this year. Is there anything I can do to help my lawn recover and how can I keep this from happening?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014

Winter kill was extremely prevalent this spring. Several factors contribute to winter kill. The most likely cause of most winterkill this year was last years dry conditions. Although we did get some moisture last fall, it didn’t come any where close to making up for what the ground was missing. Yes, some people had astronomical water bills and still got winter kill, but most people just don’t realize how much of that water burned off before it penetrated any further than two or three inches down, or how tremendously shortchanged we were by Mother Nature we were. Take a parched lawn. Freeze it. Then let 100 centimetres of snow melt over 4 weeks, then ask it to go through a growth spurt. Only the strongest plants are going to survive the ordeal. How fast the snow melts, how many times the meltwater under the snow on your lawn freezes and…

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I have these strange ant hills all over one section of my lawn. They’re just single holes with a ring of dirt around them. Not the hills you usually see. What can I do about them?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014

These aren’t ant hills at all. You’ve had a swarm of night crawlers nest and hibernate in your lawn over winter. Night crawlers are worms. However they aren’t your garden variety worm. These ones are much larger. They’re the thick long worms that fishermen use. In the fall they burrow vertical holes in your lawn where they hibernate until spring. They usually emerge almost all at once, overnight of course. They don’t usually cause any serious or permanent damage although they can sometimes leave your lawn very bumpy, like you’ve got golfballs under your lawn when you walk on it. Given this years’ extremely wet conditions, the soil has remained very pliable. It’s not likely you will find this bumpy result of their activity. When the bumps in the lawn do occur, the best remedy is an aeration to reduce the compaction in the soil. In extremely serious or dry…

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I would like to top dress my lawn. How much should I put on my lawn and when is the best time to be doing this?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
seeding

The best time to top dress your lawn is in the spring. No matter how much top dressing you apply, you will be smothering grass plants that need oxygen and sunlight to survive. In the spring the lawn grows vigorously and is easily able to punch through the top dressing. Many homeowners also seed when they top dress the lawn. Spring is an advantageous time to do so since conditions are usually cool and moist. Under any circumstances, the rule for top dressing the lawn should be; lots of thin layers rather than one or two thick layers. How thick you go depends on how long your lawn is. As a general rule, you can apply top dressing to a thickness that is equivalent to one third the height of the lawn. If your lawn is three inches tall, spread top dressing at a thickness of one inch. If you…

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How can I get rid of quackgrass?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
weeds

There are no known effective means of getting rid of quackgrass in a lawn. The problem lies in the fact that quackgrass is a grass plant species just like the Kentucky bluegrass that makes up most of your lawn. All species of grasses have common hormones and process their food almost identically. Therefore any type of herbicide or other chemical control will also kill the Kentucky bluegrass that you’re trying to keep. Digging up quackgrass might sound like an easy enough solution, but it’s actually the worst thing you can do. Quackgrass has incredibly extensive roots. Digging it up, you will never be able to get all of the roots out. In fact, the roots that are left in the soil will sprout new quackgrass plants in greater numbers than you had before. Unfortunately, all you can do to keep quackgrass in check is to keep your lawn mowed often….

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How can I tell if my lawn needs to be aerated?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
aeration

Aerating is a process that involves pulling small finger-like cores out of the lawn. The cores should ideally be 2.5-3 inches long. The length of the cores is dependent on how hard or compact the lawn is. Aerating is performed to correct compacted soil, improve drainage, improve water and fertilizer penetration and absorption, improve heat and drought tolerance, and improve the effectiveness of weed control. If you have heavily compacted soil, aerating every year, or even twice a year for a couple of years will dramatically improve your situation. If you want to realize the full value of watering or want to maximize the effectiveness of your fertilizer and weed control applications, aeration will certainly improve the response that your lawn will have. Ultimately, aeration is a good idea if you have a lawn that isn’t in the best shape. Alternatively, if you have a great looking lawn and want…

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How long should a lawn last?

By charity | Published: February 26, 2014
general grass

I always like to think of the lawn like a human body. Eat your veggies, get lots of exercise, take your vitamins, take medicines when you get sick and so on and you will likely lead a long healthy life. Spend your life drinking, smoking, and doing drugs and your body will probably pay for it. A well cared for lawn should be expected to last anywhere from 30 to 40 years. Most lawns will likely start to show their age at about 25 years and will likely need to be “renovated” at least once or twice by adding a few layers of soil, seed, and by aerating annually in order to extend its life.  

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