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.

Grand Rapids Lawn Care Tip of the Day: Fertilizing

Lawns can be fertilized organically by using compost and mulching mowers. But for those who prefer chemical fertilizers, Scotts provides a lawn fertilizing schedule. Many experts, however, recommend a lighter feeding in spring and a heavier one in late fall for cool-season grasses. Too much fertilizer in spring can lead to disease and weed problems. And if you have, indeed, already fertilized in late fall, your lawn is still "digesting" that fertilizer in spring.

In addition to the above tasks of spring lawn care, don't forget weed control and making sure your mower is ready for the mowing season.

Overseeding your West Michigan Lawn

Is your lawn riddled with bare patches due to dog spots, heavy traffic or neglect? If so, you may need to apply grass seed to fill in those bare patches. This solution is known as "overseeding lawns." Apply a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer when you overseed. Five weeks after the grass germinates, apply a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer.

However, spring isn't the very best time for overseeding lawns. Fall is the preferred time, when the new grass won't have to compete with crabgrass, which is killed off by autumn frosts. So postpone overseeding until fall, unless your situation is dire.

Spring Lawn Care Tip of the Day: Liming

Besides compaction, the presence of moss plants also signals acidity. But grass likes a neutral soil pH. You can solve this problem by liming your soil. But don't expect a quick fix: the effects of liming are slow to take place.

But first send a soil sample to your local county extension to determine the extent of your soil's acidity. The county extension will also be able to advise you on how much lime per square foot you'll need. Apply the lime using a lawn spreader.

But if your lawn has been doing fine and shows no signs of suffering from acidity, don't apply lime. Liming is only a corrective measure, not a preventive measure. A soil that is too alkaline will also cause your lawn problems, so too much lime is as bad as not enough.

Lawn Care Tip of the Day: Compaction

Check for Compaction

If your lawn is subjected to high levels of traffic year after year, it may eventually start to show signs of decline. In such cases, your lawn is probably suffering from compaction. For instance, the presence of moss plants signals compaction (among other things).

Lawn aeration is the remedy for compaction. The good news is that RRR Lawn & Landscape is just a phone call away. The bad news is we recommend postponing lawn aeration until fall. But if, during your "spring lawn checkup," you become aware of compaction, at least you can plan on setting aside some time in the fall to take care of it.

Raking - Spring Lawn Care Tip of the Day from RRR Lawn

Raking will be your first task of spring lawn care. Okay, I can hear the groans coming from all lands near and far, wherever grassy carpets are cultivated: "But we already raked leaves in the fall!" Sorry, but raking is for more than just removing leaves: it's for controlling thatch, too. A thatch build-up of more than 1/2 inch is considered excessive.

Thatch is the reason why I recommend that, when you rake leaves in the fall, you make the effort to rake deeply. Don't just skim the surface, so as to remove the leaves. A deep raking will remove thatch, too, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone. Even if you followed this advice in fall, I still recommend a spring raking: it will remove grass blades that died over the winter -- dead blades that are just waiting to become thatch!

But there's often another good reason for a spring raking. As you survey your lawn in spring, see if there are any matted patches, in which the grass blades are all stuck together. This can be caused by a disease known as "snow mold." New grass may have difficulty penetrating these matted patches. But a light raking will be sufficient to solve this problem.

Just when you should perform any of these spring lawn care tasks will depend upon the climate of your own region. But Mother Nature provides palpable cues in some cases. For instance, when you're pretty sure the snow season (if you have one) is over in your region, begin raking. Applying pre-emergent herbicides (see Tip #6) should be done sometime between the time the local forsythia bushes stop blooming and the time the local lilac bushes begin blooming.