Grand Rapids Landscaping Tip of the Day: Cost Effective Summer Landscaping

Summer Landscaping touches don't have to cost a lot of money or require a lot of time. The best part of Landscaping is that simple outdoor touches can quickly and easily add to the enjoyment and fun of your backyard and become an extension of your wonderful outdoor living space.

Add a Gazebo to Maximize Outdoor Relaxation!

A gazebo, whether it’s part of your deck or out in your garden, is perfect for any occasion. Gazebos will probably always be popular landscape design ideas for summer bashes, as they provide shady refuge from the sun and comfortable places to lounge around and watch the sun go down on warm evenings.

Happy Friday!

RRR Lawn &  Landscape wishes everyone a very Happy Friday and a  Great Weekend!

RRR Lawn & Landscape Grand Rapids Landscaping Tip of the Day: Outdoor Fireplaces

Outdoor Fireplaces

If a full outdoor kitchen is too much, an outdoor fireplace is a great option. Outdoor fireplaces – and smaller outdoor fire pits – are the perfect party features for making S’mores and socializing long after the sun goes down.

RRR Lawn & Landscape Tip of the Day: Outdoor Kitchens

Nothing is more essential for the perfect summer party than an outdoor kitchen! With an outdoor kitchen, you can spend time with your guests while you cook, instead of having to miss out on the party to go inside and prepare the food.

Wishing you a great weekend from RRR Lawn & Landscape!

From all of us at RRR Lawn & Landscape we want to wish you a great weekend!  Be safe and have fun while enjoying the best of what Grand Rapids has to offer!

Choose RRR Lawn & landscape for a custom vegetable garden which is raised above the ground

Raised-bed gardening is a great way to grow vegetables -- especially if the garden soil is poor or compacted or has poor drainage. And there's no bending over to pull weeds or harvest vegetables.

Raised beds take very little space, and can be built right over a concrete patio. Drainage in a raised bed is superior to that in an in-ground garden bed. A 12"-deep bed provides ample room for most vegetable roots.

Are you dealing with limited space that you want to enhance with vegetables or flowers, check out RRR Lawn & landscape for all your container gardening options today:

Don't let limited outdoor space prevent you from trying out your green thumb. From tasty fruits and veggies to flowering plants, trees and shrubs, container gardening is the trick to growing it all in less space than you may think. Visit www.rrrlawn.com for more information!

Checking Your Irrigation System - RRR Lawn & Landscape Tip of the Day

Check your Irrigation System

Whether you have an in-ground sprinkler system or a hose attachment, you should check to make sure all your sprinklers are working. For an in-ground system- make sure your pump and tank are operating correctly especially if they haven’t run in a few months. Check the sprinkler heads and test them to see if any need to be replaced.

Grand Rapids Landscaping Tip of the Day!

Adding Color To Your Landscape

Even if it is still too early to plant, take a look around your landscape and decide if you can brighten the place up with a few new “faces.” We can help you with updating your landscape and putting together a free quote once we determine the amount of sunlight affecting that part of your landscape and what type of shrub or tree would give you the “Best Bang for Your Buck”. Flowers are great for short term but by selecting specimens that have interesting color or texture in their foliage you will have a more lasting visual effect in your landscape.

Grand Rapids Landscaping Special of the Day!

Great Landscape Maintenance Bundle Packages Available

Visit www.rrrlawn.com or call 616-893-5765 to learn more about these amazing bundle packages!

Grand Rapids Landscaping Promotion of the Day!

$3.00 Off (Any Amount) Hardwood Mulch & Delivery Only $35.00

Visit www.rrrlawn.com or call 616-893-5765 to take advantage of this great offer!

5 Landscaping Tips That Will Make Your Neighbors Jealous!

Add these five landscaping tips into your spring project plans to improve the appearance of your property, increase the value of your home and - best of all - make your neighbors jealous!

1. Clean up - The first thing you must do to prepare for any spring landscaping project is to clean up the lawn, beds and garden. Pick up all branches that may have fallen during the winter, leaves and debris that may be on the lawn, in the garden or beds, and clean up the area you are preparing to work with.

 2. Plant and feed - If you plan on planting new grass seed or installing sod, make sure you do not apply any pre-emergent with the early spring lawn treatment. Just apply a balanced organic based fertilizer in these areas. If you plan on waiting until the fall to do your annual grass planting or sod installation, then I advise you to apply a crabgrass barrier pre-emergent plus fertilizer to the lawn. A natural pre-emergent plus fertilizer is corn gluten meal. For all plants and garden vegetables, make sure the soil is in the proper condition for planting. I would advise a soil test before planting anything to make sure you know what nutrients the soil is deficient in. Add organic matter or compost to the soil at the time of planting to improve the soil structure and to promote deeper roots. This will mean less stress from insects, disease and heat. It will also result in a lower water bill, as you’ll need to water these areas less.

 3. Sharpen your mower blades - If you winterized your lawn mower and didn’t sharpen the mower blades, sharpen them now. Sharpening your mower blades will help you cut the grass instead of tearing it. Tearing the grass blades can cause an unsightly tan or brown color to a freshly cut lawn. It also can promote fungus development.

4. Set a higher mowing height - Make sure to mow your grass high. For cool-season grasses, such as bluegrass or fescues, the height should be 2-1/2 inches to 4 inches high after being cut.

5. Mulch - Apply a 4-inch layer of fresh mulch over all beds to help reduce the amount of weeds that will pop up. Hand pull or carefully spray a glyphosate product such as Roundup on any weeds that have emerged after mulching.

Visit www.rrrlawn.com for more information!

Grand Rapids Lawn Care Special of the Day!

Sprinkler Activation Now Only $45.00!

Visit www.rrrlawn.com or call 616-893-5765 to take advantage of this offer!

Selecting Plants with Fragrance for your Landscape

Common lilac bushes bloom in late spring, when they release their heavenly fragrance into the evening air. If you care about having aroma in the landscape, planting lilacs is a must! Learn how to grow them here.

These fragrant plants come from China. Peonies are a triple threat, boasting blooms that are gorgeous in appearance and that exude a heavenly aroma; they also bear attractive leaves. On top of all this, peony plants can live for decades in the landscape (without much maintenance, at all).

So colorful are iris flowers that they were named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris. But in addition to producing exquisitely graceful blossoms, some types of iris also smell wonderful.

I mentioned plants valued specifically for the smell of their foliage, and many herbs fall into this category. Perhaps the most renowned among them is lavender, a stalwart of potpourris for generations. In the landscape, a nice use for these fragrant plants is in a border planting.

Privacy Screen Options

If you grow shrubs closely enough together, they can form a "living wall" that is effective in screening out the public's unwanted gazes. One option is to plant the shrubs in rows and shear them to create dense outdoor privacy screens. Another option is to install shrubs more loosely to form borders that will be more low-maintenance.

Lattice fences can serve a number of functions, in addition to creating backyard retreats and serving as trellises. Have an eyesore you'd like to disguise (e.g., trash area, air conditioner, deck supports)? Wooden or vinyl lattice fences can hide them. Building lattice fences to serve as outdoor privacy screens is simple.

Green Alternatives to Grass (Landscaping with Pets Series)

But installing a tougher type of grass will solve only one lawn-care problem encountered in landscaping with dogs: namely, wear and tear on grass. It will do nothing to solve the problem of "dog spots." Dog spots are the unsightly yellow spots on grass caused by the nitrogen and salts in dog urine.
But there is a type of "green carpet" that solves the problem of dog spots: clover. Clover lawns have many advantages over grass lawns. If you're landscaping with dogs, you'll especially appreciate the fact that clover doesn't stain the way grass does after being subjected to canine urine.

Avoid Dog Spots with Hardscape

Avoid Dog Spots With Hardscape
Dogs and lawn grass don't mix well. For small areas, consider switching from a grassy expanse to hardscape. The advantages of hardscape go beyond solutions to landscaping with dogs, since hardscape offers a low-maintenance alternative to grass that obviates lawn care. Stone and masonry are especially useful for landscaping with dogs, because they minimize the mess dogs make through urination (dog spots), digging and plain old wear and tear.

Lawn Care and Dogs

Is your landscaping going to the dogs? Is your lawn riddled with "dog spots?" There's no reason that you can't have both canine companionship and an attractive yard. But landscaping with dogs does present challenges that may require some compromises. The goal in this balancing act is to achieve an attractive, dog-friendly yard.

Effective landscaping with dogs begins with the recognition that a business-as-usual approach won't work. If your dogs are to be allowed to run about in your yard, you'll probably have to make adjustments to your landscaping. Landscaping with dogs primarily entails making concessions to your canine friends, as you'll see from the strategies below. I do, however, offer one glimmer of hope that you can, instead, adjust the dogs to the landscaping. Either way, if you fail to make some sort of adjustment, then dogs will make a mess of your yard. Worse still, they'll be continually dragging dirt into your house.

Learn more in our next edition!

5 Steps to a Great Spring Landscape Clean Up!

1- Clean Up and Clean Out!  Take an afternoon  and clean out any dead foliage and/or tree branches from your lawn and garden beds. Harsh winter storms can leave branches, leaves and other tree debris.

2- Weed Patrol - Clean any existing weeds out of flower beds and check your lawn for any weed growth. Once you are clear of weeds- you should plan on spending 10-15 minutes a few times a week to keep new weed growth out of your gardens.

3- Fertilize - Fertilizing your grass, shrubs and flowers now will make sure that anything you want to thrive this season will.  For your lawn, there are an array of options available including turf builder and organic weed killers.  The same goes for flower beds and shrubs.  If you plan on fertilizing herbs and/or vegetables that you will use for cooking, consider using an organic fertilizer that is free of pesticides.

4- Check your Irrigation System - Whether you have an in-ground sprinkler system or a hose attachment, you should check to make sure all your sprinklers are working. For an in-ground system- make sure your pump and tank are operating correctly especially if they haven’t run in a few months. Check the sprinkler heads and test them to see if any need to be replaced.

5- Mulch - A fresh layer of mulch can take any flower bed from drab and dreary to beautiful.  Professional landscapers typically suggest about 4 inches of mulch on top of any soil in order to prevent weeds and help plants retain moisture.  Make sure to pull the mulch around the base of all plants and shrubs as this will help keep moisture around the root ball.