A Cut Above

You might not think the type of mulch you use to surround your plants and flowers will make a big difference (except in terms of aesthetics), but this is one area where you want to spend a little time making the right choice. If you’re looking for another Done-in-a-Weekend project, this is a great one.

In addition to providing an attractive touch to your home’s landscaping, mulch provides weed control and helps maintain soil moisture. Depending on which type of mulch you choose, your garden could require regular weeding and watering, or you could be able to let your flowers take care of themselves for a while.

The number one piece of advice to take away in this video is that you should always match your mulch to the plants you have growing in the area. This may mean that you will need to vary your mulch by plantings—and that’s okay. In fact, the different mulch types and textures could provide a beautiful finish to your landscape.

The main types of mulch include:

• Pine Needles/Pine Straw – This inexpensive mulch (grass clippings are another choice) is easy to get your hands on and maintain.
• Hardwood Mulch – More attractive than pine straw, without a lot of upkeep.
• Dyed-Wood Mulch – The different color choices can provide color contrast with lawn and flowers, but some of the dyed options can contain additives. Always look for raw vs. recycled brands.
• Pine Nuggets – These vary in size from mini to jumbo, so you can decide which option looks best for your yard.
• Stone – This high-impact look requires the most upkeep and causes warmer soil conditions, but offers one of the most elegant finishes.

No matter which mulch you choose, remember that it does need to be refreshed from time to time.

Few things are more destructive to a gently rolling landscape than the presence of moles. These voracious pests dig tunnels through the ground (often at speeds of up to a foot per minute) to seek out grubs, worms, ants, and the other insects that make up the bulk of their diet.

In the United States, they are often cited as one of the most common backyard pest problems—and one look at a yard overrun with these creatures, and you’ll see why. Moles are also a safety hazard, as tunnels collapsing underfoot can cause falls, sprains and even broken bones.

Impact of Moles on Lawns

The first sign of moles most people discover is a mound of soil on top of the ground. As the moles construct their tunnels, the dirt has to be dislodged somewhere, resulting in the creation of molehills.

Other indications include visible trenches, feeding burrows, and dead spots where they’ve caused substantial damage to the underlying root system. In other words, these critters are destroying your lawn from underground—and all the overseeding and aerating in the world won’t help. There’s little you can do to improve the look of your lawn until you get rid of the moles altogether.

Mole Prevention

As is the case with almost all pest control, prevention is your best approach. By making it difficult for the moles to survive in your yard in the first place, you can avoid many of the costs and hazards of getting rid of them later.

• Grub Control: Moles love to snack on lawn grubs (which are destructive in their own right), so getting rid of the grubs can help. Insecticides can work, but so can taking good care of your lawn. Seeding and fertilizing in the fall, raising your mower blades to at least two inches, and not overwatering can all contribute to lawn conditions that look great and don’t encourage grub growth.
• Pet Ownership: Although it’s not a good idea to get a pet solely for mole control, a dog or cat patrolling your yard can help warn moles away.
• Garden Care: Moles love gardens because they’re an ideal habitat for another of their food sources, earthworms. However, moles dislike the scent of garlic, castor beans, and chocolate lilies. By planting these around your garden or yard, you can often stave off moles.

Other options include burying a mesh fence around the perimeter of your yard or garden. These have to go about two feet deep in order to be effective, but can be worth it, especially in a small lawn.

Mole Eradication

If you’ve already got moles, you’ll need to eliminate them entirely. How you approach this task will depend on where you live, as some states ban trapping, while others have strict regulations on which poisons you’re allowed to use.

• Live Traps: Live traps are one of the most humane ways to eradicate moles, as you are able to relocate the moles somewhere else (as opposed to killing them). This requires you to determine which tunnels are active and lay the traps.
• Kill Traps: Like live traps, these are laid at the ends of active tunnels. The moles enter them and are either killed immediately or trapped to be exterminated.
• Poison: Poison bait is another option for homeowners who aren’t afraid of killing their uninvited visitors. There are several different choices on the market, but be careful of what you use if there are children or pets nearby.
• Ultrasonic Spikes: Many moles dislike the sound of sonic pulses, which are only discernible to their ears. By burying these in your yard, you can often encourage moles to move on to areas where they aren’t plagued by unpleasant noises.

Sprays and Repellants: Mole sprays and repellants work to varying degrees. Some people swear by home remedies, while others rely on industrial chemical formulas used by professional exterminators. Anytime you do this, however, it’s important to check and see if the chemicals will have an impact on lawn growth, watering, and care.

If you’re uncertain or uncomfortable tackling this project on your own, be sure and contact a lawn specialist and/or exterminator. Getting your lawn back in order might take a few extra steps, but the end results will be well worth it!

Exmark’s Done-in-a-Weekend series highlights ways for you to enjoy a lush, green lawn with projects you can complete in 48 hours or less.

With spring underway, we’re all looking for those bright bursts of color that make a home feel more inviting. We’d like to introduce you to the idea of “layering up” your landscaping. Sure, your lawn looks great, and yes, you have the right mower and tools to keep it looking that way, but what about your outdoor living space? The bushes, plants and flowers you choose will define how your outdoor living will look this year.

Before you start any project to improve your landscaping, do some research. You can look online or ask at a garden store in your area. Learn what plants thrive in your specific climate, especially when it comes to your unique yard. Lots of shade means you’ll need different plant varieties than if your home gets full sun. Make a simple map of your yard, with sunny and shady spots marked, and bring it to the garden store; this will give the staff a better idea of the type of plants that will thrive in your yard.

From there, it’s all about texture and layers. It’s easy to build a landscape that looks great today, but for lasting comfort you and your family can enjoy year in and year out, it’s important to consider how the plants will mature. You want to pick the right size, the right shape, the right texture, and the right spacing for the plants once they reach maturity.

This video also includes helpful tips for the planting process. Whether this is your first time landscaping on your own, or if you’re looking for the motivation you need to get that weekend project off the ground, we highly encourage you to layer up. Your new outdoor living space awaits!

Anyone who’s tried to tackle lawn care in a blustery, wet spring knows that nothing can create lawn and mowing problems like heavy rain. Standing water, mud, and long, damp grasses provide less-than-ideal conditions for pulling out the mower. But it’s necessary, because heavy rain can cause an equally heavy growth cycle—a growth cycle that desperately needs to be cut down.

There are ways to maintain your lawn even during heavy spring rains. Although you’ll need to take a little more care than usual, you can make the most of the new growth without sacrificing your lawn’s appearance.

Hazards of Heavy Rain

Anytime there’s standing water on a lawn, bringing out the mower might damage the lawn. This is especially true if there was flooding, in which case you’ll need to deal with silt deposits and other damage to the grass.

Wet grass tends to be heavier than usual and may even bend over. This can make a clean cut difficult even with the best equipment. At the same time, the clippings that result are likely to be just as damp as everything else. It can clump, get stuck in the mower blades, and cause unsightly deposits all over the lawn. This may mean you’ll need to rake the clumps and clean out your equipment in addition to your regular mow cycle.

Excessive moisture can also soften the underlying dirt, which will sink when you—and your mower—pass over it. This can cause ruts and mud tracks, which often have to later be reseeded.

How to Cope with Heavy Rain

Keep your lawn looking its best with proper lawn maintenance.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to improve the appearance of your lawn and even make the most of the rain cycle.

• Wait for the Grass to Dry: Ideally, you should wait until the lawn has dried out before you mow. This doesn’t mean it has to be bone dry and all moisture gone—it simply means that if you can see water on the lawn or on the blades, you may want to wait until it’s absorbed before you mow.
• Use the Highest Setting: Regardless of how wet the grass is, set the blades to the highest setting. This will help you avoid clogging and keep your machine in good repair. This may mean that you’ll have to mow a few more times a week than you’re used to, but your lawn—and your lawn mower—will thank you for it.
• Fewer Passes are Better: A lawn that has been waterlogged or is showing signs of flooding is a lawn you want to walk on as little as possible. Too much foot traffic could tamp the blades down and draw the mud up—two things that are likely to make the lawn worse rather than better. Limit the amount of foot traffic and use a zero-turn mower that allows you to get the job done more efficiently.
• Plan on Aerating: For excessive moisture, aerating the lawn might be a good way to open up the soil and speed the drying process. This has the added benefit of helping foster healthy growth in the lawn for the season to come, which is something many homeowners and landscape professionals plan on doing in the spring anyway.

You don’t have to stop your planned spring mowing due to heavy rain, but you should take extra precautions before you head out. Avoid mowing over mud and silt, take care to let the grass dry as much as possible first, and plan on being more diligent until the weather clears. Your lawn—and your clients—will thank you for it.

Most spring weed prevention tips will tell you to invest in a powerful weed killer and to remove any dandelions before they go to seed—and this is sound advice.

However, in order to make the kind of change that will last, it’s important to start good, healthy lawn habits that will carry you through every season.

How to Prevent Dandelion Growth

The best thing you can do to prevent the growth of dandelions is to have a thick, green lawn. We know—it sounds oversimplified, and in many ways, it is. However, what dandelions and other weeds love most is neglect. They just love those bare patches you’ve been meaning to fill and hard-packed soil that’s difficult for grass seeds.

That’s why, by creating a lush and healthy lawn in the first place, you can prevent many kinds of weeds from taking root in the first place.

Spring Weed Prevention is made easier with the Exmark Stand-On Spreader-Sprayer. This versatile, easy-to-operate, easy-to-maneuver machine offers our most advanced lean-to-steer technology and outstanding stability— even on hillsides.

Early Spring Dandelion Care

Your early spring dandelion care (done before those weeds even make an appearance) should include aerating, dethatching, and overseeding your lawn. Grass tends to require a better balance of nutrients and oxygen than weeds, which are hardy and will sprout anywhere they can. Starting spring with a well-aerated and dethatched lawn will ensure that the soil isn’t too compact to foster healthy grass growth, but will also allow you to seed and fertilize, as needed.

Overseeding is also a good idea at this time—especially if you have bare patches, thin grass, or weren’t able to seed in the fall. Most experts recommend you wait until the temperatures are consistently in the 50s before you begin, which, for most of us, means early spring. A lean-to-steer spreader sprayer allows you to cover a large area of time in just minutes, covering the necessary ground with the grass seeds and fertilizer needed to foster natural, healthy growth. (You can also combine dethatching and seeding with a specialty slicer seeder that performs both tasks at once.)

Late Spring Dandelion Care

Once your lawn has been given a chance to flourish, you can start introducing fertilizers, weed sprays, and other chemical treatments. Most new grass growth should be treated like a delicate plant, so wait until the grass has time to go through its peak growing season before you treat it.

Slow-release fertilizers tend to be less damaging on new growth, as are weed killers that can be applied directly to the weeds (as opposed to spread out over the lawn). General sprays or applications applied to the entire lawn tend to be better reserved for the fall, when the grass can tolerate it better. You also have the option of manually removing weeds as they appear, which can be done by hand or with a weed digger.

You can also combat weed growth in the spring by adjusting the height of your mower blade so that the grass remains between 2 and 3 inches high. Taller grass may need to be mowed more often, but the higher leaves shade weeds out and ensure that the grass has all the chlorophyll and moisture it needs to stay healthy and continue growing throughout the year.

Continued Upkeep and Maintenance

Nothing will help your lawn remain weed-free forever. That’s why you’ll need to stay on top of your lawn care regimen and keep an eye out for those pesky dandelions. As soon as you start to spot them cropping up for another year, it’s time to look at what you can do to improve your lawn’s condition.

With average summer temperatures rising and drought prevalent in many areas of the United States, it’s becoming much more common for homeowners to face dead, dry lawns. Few things look worse than a huge patch of brown grass and weeds, especially since it’s not always possible for your lawn to recover right away.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to grow a full, lush lawn in the spring – even if it looks as though your grass has completely died.

Is the Grass Dormant or Dead?

The first thing you should do following a drought is determine whether the grass is fully dead (and therefore unrecoverable) or merely dormant. Most of the time, it’s the latter.  Grass is very durable and will put itself in a period of dormancy whenever conditions aren’t ideal. Yes, it looks unhealthy, brown, and dry, but water and care will bring it back to life again.

There are two ways to determine the state of your lawn: you can get down to the roots to make an examination, or you can water a patch of the lawn to see how it reacts. A dormant lawn will still have green and off-white growth at the roots; a dead lawn will be brown and brittle all the way through. If you can see some life at the base of the blades, you can expect a full recovery. Grass that’s merely dormant will react to the water by growing green after a few days of diligent care.

If your lawn is dead, there’s nothing you can do to save it. Your only options are to remove the dead patches and either re-seed or sod it. If it’s dormant, the next steps will take you through the recovery process.

Drought Lawn Care

Although your instinct might be to water your lawn to bring it back to its former glory, it’s not always ideal (or possible) to water right now. It takes quite a bit of irrigation to get a lawn to recover, so if there are watering restrictions in your area, expected restrictions in the future, or other weather conditions to contend with, it might be best to let your lawn remain dormant for the time being. This way, you can prep the area and get it ready for spring, when you can water in abundance without fear of interruption. These are the general steps:

1. De-thatch the Lawn: Dead organic matter will eventually break down on its own, but if you have too much of it, you’ll cover the roots of the grass and prohibit water and oxygen from getting where it needs to go. Use a de-thatching tool on your existing mower or invest in a rotary broom to clear away this dead matter.
   

   Exmark aerators are a combination of legendary strength, ease, and innovation.

2. Aerate the Lawn: An aerator will help deliver moisture to the root system in the lawn, which is very important during the recovery stages. Most people plan to do this annually in the fall, so plan on either performing the task then or pushing it up a few weeks in late summer.

3. Stop Foot Traffic: Yes, a dormant lawn can fully recover, but only if you treat it with more care than you normally would. It’s fine to walk over the lawn to de-thatch, aerate, and (later) re-seed, but avoid any non-lawn-care-related foot traffic, including kids and dogs.

4. Overseed the Lawn: Since you’ll want to wait until conditions improve to fully restore the lawn, you should also plan on overseeding at this time. You’ll be providing lots of water, care, and fertilizer anyway, so you might as well take care of patchy areas that existed before, too. (This is a good time to choose a new grass type, as well. Some grasses, like St. Augustine or Bermuda, are very drought resistant. Others, like Fescue, don’t do well in the heat. Match your grass to your area to avoid dormancy in the future.)

5. Water, Water, Water: As soon as you reach a time where you can water for several weeks without interruption, it’s time to bring the lawn back. Plan on watering deeply and fully at least twice a week, usually in the early morning, as this will allow the moisture to seep into the soil and get to work before the heat and sun of the day cause it to evaporate.

6. Set Your Mower Height: You’ll still need to perform regular lawn maintenance, but it’s important to allow the grass time to recover. For this reason, sharpen the blades (to avoid damaging the grass as it’s cut) and set the height so that no more than 1/3 of the grass blade is removed at any time. You should also allow the mulch to remain on the lawn, as the added moisture will help foster healthy growth.

7. Fertilize the Lawn: Although you might be tempted to fertilize right away, your grass needs water more than nutrients at this time. Plan on fertilizing once the growth takes hold and some of the green is recovered.

From there, you can most likely return to your regular lawn care schedule. It may take a few weeks before you start to see results, but careful watering and maintenance will ensure that your lawn comes back even better than before.