Winter Lawn Care

Right now with no snow on the ground, Winter may have your lawn looking less than stellar. To keep your neighbors happy -- and potential buyers interested -- take a look at these lawn care tips.

By taking a few precautions during the Winter, you can ensure a healthy lawn come Springtime.

The first, and perhaps easiest, step is to pick up any leaves that cover your lawn. If left sitting over grass, they will create dead spots.

The same goes for clutter and debris, such as toys. You may think that grass is completely dormant during Winter months, however, grass still needs oxygen and sunlight to maintain life. If you have it covered, you have it smothered.

The next step, do not drive on the grass. Winter is a time for holiday parties and family get-togethers. Many people may be tempted to park on lawns. Resist the urge!

You can take lawn care two steps further, as well.

If your lawn has pH issues, now is the time to treat it with lime and other additives. Contact your local lawn specialist for more information.

Late Winter is also the time to aerate your lawn. Aerating is making small holes in the surface of your lawn, you allow for deeper root growth. You also allow nutrients to gain direct access to the grass roots. This should give you a fuller, thicker lawn.

Follow these simple steps and wake up to a beautiful Spring lawn!

Springtime in Rochester

The weather has been so wonderful here in Rochester, NY. Hard to believe that it is in fact, Rochester. And with tomorrow being the first day of spring, there is so much to be excited about! All of the great festivals, concerts by the shore, picnics, boating, hiking, kayaking, strolling and camp fires... this is the fun part of spring and summer in Rochester. But there are lots of things that you have to do, especially if you are a home owner, that maybe aren’t so fun. Like spring cleaning, lawn care service and spring deck prep.

I have a friend who loves to clean; says it relaxes her. I love to cook and that relaxes me, so I understand where she is coming from. But cleaning? She must love spring time! You can attack spring cleaning in chunks with one room at a time but for my family it consists of getting rid of clutter you don’t need. How do you do this? Force yourself to survey every room and jot down all of the problem areas and then tackle one problem at a time! Are the shoes piling up at the front door? Think about how you want to organize them, put your plan in action, and stick to it. Remind family members monthly of your new organization and 2011’s spring cleaning will be a snap!

Are you one of those people that has a lawn care service that takes care of mowing and fertilizing? Then, this paragraph is not for you because I want to talk about your lawn mower! One of the first things you need to do before you start your spring lawn care is to service your lawn mower. A good idea is to start doing this in the fall before you put it away for the winter. Then in the spring all that is needed is oil, gasoline. But if you didn't take care of all the details last fall, do it now, before your mowing season gets serious. Balance your blades by putting a screwdriver in the center and seeing if they wobble. If so, find the imbalanced side and fix it. You may have to file down a side a bit to get the blades to balance. Replace them. Put in gas and oil and get mowing! (Especially if Rochester weather cooperates the way has been.)

And finally, my favorite part! Moving the patio furniture out of the garage and onto the deck! Before we do this, make sure you clean, restore and protect your deck so you can get the most out of it during the spring and summer months ahead. Wolman Wood Care Products suggests cleaning the deck thoroughly to remove embedded dirt, fungus stains and gray surface wood Deck with a formulated deck cleaner like Wolman & Fence Brightener. The weathered gray wood left behind from last year’s sun exposure, black or green stains from mildew, moss and algae, or brown-black tannin bleed common on new Cedar can ruin the look of your deck. Do you have a new deck? Even newly built decks can require cleaning to remove invisible surface barriers like mill glaze on new Cedar or excess wax on pressure-treated wood.

Spring is here so get out and take care of your chores so you can enjoy spring and summer in Rochester!