Category: Recent Projects

Mowing, Can it Be Wrong?

by samroscher, posted in DIY Information

Spring is an exciting time for everyone including your lawn.  The days are longer, the temperatures are on the rise and it’s a great time to start freshening up your landscape.  However, it’s very important to remember a few key things that will save you money and increase the curb appeal of your lawn.

This time of the year your grass is starting to grow rapidly.  It’s vital that during this rapid growth your lawn is mowed properly.  The majority of lawns in the Roanoke Valley are tall fescue grass.  This grass requires regular mowing above 3”.  Leaving your lawn 3” or higher increases its ability to fight off unwanted weeds and diseases.

It’s a common practice for many people to allow their lawns to grow out of control and then mow it too short.  Doing this is commonly called scalping and it stresses your grass.  Repeatedly scalping your lawn will open up the canopy and increase the presence of weeds like wiregrass, clover and other common weeds.

To eliminate scalping make sure you remove a maximum of 1/3 of the length of the grass with each mowing.  If your lawn has grown out of control, don’t worry it’s a simple fix.  Raise the mowing height to only remove 1/3 the length of the grass before mowing.  After mowing wait a day or two and mow your lawn again.  Before mowing a second time lower the mower height to only remove 1/3 the length of the grass.  Follow this pro-cess until your lawn is again 3” – 4” tall.

Following this simple rule of mowing will help your lawn naturally fight off common weeds and diseases reducing the amount of inputs your lawn requires to stay healthy!

Factors To Consider Before Planting

by samroscher, posted in DIY Information

Often times expensive landscape maintenance can be avoided by proper tree and shrubs selection!  There are several factors that play into proper plant selection and we are here to talk about a few.

The number one most important factor to selecting the correct plant is determining the plants MATURE size. This will ensure that the plant has plenty of growing room and will not have a negative impact on your home.  Mature plants that are to large for the given space can be costly in maintenance and ultimately have to be removed causing unnecessary expenses.

Many plants have several different cultivars which have been selected through breeding. These cultivars are selected for different attributes that stand out in a specific plant. For example, some plants are available in a dwarf size so their mature size is smaller then the full sized plant. Cultivars are a great way to select a species of plant that you really enjoy while helping to ensure it won’t get to big for the given area.

The second most important part of plant selection is to determine the sun and shade requirements for a given plant.  Some plants will not tolerate shade and others will not tolerate full sun.  This is a factor that cannot be over come even by the top gardeners in the world.  If a plant is not happy with the amount of light is it receiving it will not perform to its fullest ability.

These are just a couple of tips to help you the next time you decide to purchase new plants.  These are not the only factors that come into play when planting a new tree or shrubs but these two are very important.  For more information or help in selecting proper plants for the landscape, contact us today for a free on site consultation!

“Wiregrass” Control

by samroscher, posted in DIY Information, Uncategorized

Wiregrass, also known as bermudagrass, is a big problem in many cool season lawns across Virginia.  In our winter newsletter we talked about several things that can cause wiregrass to grow in your lawn.  Here are several things you can do to help control the bermudagrass.

Wiregrass is a warm season grass that thrives when the temperatures are hot and rain-fall is limited.  It vegetatively propagates by stolons and rhizomes making it the hardest weed to control in cool season lawns.  Through proper mowing and fertilizing you can help slow down the wiregrass growth.

Properly mowing your grass, talked about above, will help reduce wiregrass encroach-ment. Lawns that are properly mowed are less likely to be stressed giving them the abil-ity to fight off this invasive weed.  Not only is the grass happy but lawns that are main-tained 3” or above make it harder for wiregrass to overtake the tall fescue.

Secondly, proper lawn fertilization will help keep your grass healthy. Spring fertilizer should be kept to a minimum.  We recommend applying no more then 0.5lbs of nitrogen per 1,000sqft.  Fertilizing this time of year will encourage shoot growth which will only require you to mow more often and it will not benefit the plant. The majority of lawn ferti-lizers should be applied in September or October. During this time of year your lawn is focused on root growth.  Establishing deeper and healthier roots will help your lawn sur-vive hot summers more efficiently.  Lawns that are healthy during the heat of the sum-mer stand a better chance of reducing wiregrass growth.

The items listed above are good methods to help PREVENT wiregrass growth.  If your lawn is already over run with wiregrass have no fear Paradise Landscaping is here to help.  There are a select few chemicals on the market that when applied correctly at the right time of year will kill the wiregrass while leaving the rest of your tall fescue lawn alone.  Once these chemicals are applied it’s important to establish healthy tall fescue grass and follow the above recommendations to avoid the problem in the future.

If you would like more information on wiregrass control methods or would like a free estimate to remove your wiregrass give us a call today.  Remember, we are one of the only companies that is currently offering wiregrass control in already established lawns!