Tips and Tricks for Beautifying Your Property in Muskoka
Tips and Tricks for Beautifying Your Property in Muskoka
Keep Your Property Looking Its' Best
Keep Your Property Looking Its' Best
Why Spring and Fall Cleanups are Essential for the Health of Your Lawn
Why Spring and Fall Cleanups are Essential for the Health of Your Lawn
January 4, 2020
Recently leaf cleanups have been a bit of a hot topic in the lawn care world in Ontario. Some media outlets that will remain unnamed have been promoting that leaves be left on lawns and not cleaned up. The reasons they have stated for this are:
1. It allows cold weather protection for good insects that help your lawn
2. Leaves as they break down provide nutrients for your lawn
These 2 things are true... sort of..
1. There are good insects and bacteria for your turf but if these "good" insects have protection so do the "bad" insects or pests which can be difficult to get rid of once they have infiltrated your lawn.
2. Although leaves can provide nutrients for your lawn in small amounts; they can also cause severe damage. Large amounts of leaves left on your lawn prevent proper water evaporation and block sunlight. This can cause severe mold, fungus and disease. Just one season can destroy a beautiful lawn.
Leaves and Pine Needles can also "poison" your turf. Pine needles have a high acidity level and will change your soil ph level to the point that a total soil change may be necessary if left. Certain types of leaves such as oak leaves will "poison" and kill your lawn even in small amounts. Leaves such as these should never be mulched or left on your turf in any amount.
Mulching of leaves can be an option with low amounts of leaves from non harmful trees. This will provide you with natural nutrients for your lawn. Our recommendation is to do a major cleanup in spring and fall. The remaining leaves that may be on the lawn in very small amounts can be mulched to provide nutrients to the lawn.
Leaves can either be hauled away and disposed of or put into a compost pile and turned into black earth for the next season of landscaping or lawn soil. *if you have oak leaves or pine needles we recommend hauling these away and not composting as the soil can be harmful to certain plants and your lawn.
Leaf clean ups can be a large task without the proper equipment. With the use of backpack blowers, lawn vacuums, tarps and dump trailers lawn and landscape companies can do these large jobs professionally and efficiently.
If you find yourself overwhelmed by this large task contact us for your free consultation and quote.
Garden mulching. What is it for and is it worth it?
Garden mulching. What is it for and is it worth it?
January 6, 2019
When most people think of garden mulch they think of aesthetics.
Well I'm here to tell you it is much more than that!
Mulch is a Food Source
- as mulch breaks down over time all those nutrients feed your plants and trees. Think of it as a slow release all natural garden fertilizer
Moisture Retention
- sick of expensive water bills. Well mulch allows you to water less. Think of it as a giant sponge that your plants can feed off of/
Weed Prevention
No it is not going to stop every weed but in our experience you get less than 50% of the weed growth of a garden that is only soil. These weeds that do pop up are normally easier to pull as their roots are only bedded in the loose mulch.
And Of Course Looks
Let's face it a nicely mulched garden bed just looks better.
Contact Muskoka Property Care for all your mulching needs.
How To Have The Greenest Grass in Muskoka
Spring Tips
How To Have The Greenest Grass in Muskoka
Spring Tips
January 1, 2019
In this post I will lay out for you a basic spring lawn care plan that will keep most lawns in Muskoka healthy and green. If you are looking for more of a manicured and maintained lawn please contact us to have a golf course quality lawn without lifting a finger.
Spring
-De-Thatching
This is important! It doesn't matter if you rake 100 times in the fall every lawn needs de-thatched in the spring. The weight of the snow has pushed all of that dead grass and clippings deep down into the roots of your turf. If you don't get rid of this you will have patchy growth thus leaving room for weeds to move in a grow.
-Top Soil and Overseeding
After de-thatching you should then level your yard so there are no major dips or humps that have the potential to be scalped while mowing. At this point you can also top dress your lawn. Now this is a larger project as this entails putting a light sprinkling of fresh sand and top soil onto your entire lawn area. This step is not 100% necessary but it does help with the next step which is overseeding. Overseeding is just spreading seed over your existing lawn to promote new growth and a thick healthy lawn. Whether you top dress or not overseeding is key to a nice lawn.
*remember all seed needs water even the expensive stuff
-Fertilizer
Depending on your soils chemical makeup fertilizer can be tricky. My suggestion for people would be to use any of the main brands' general fertilizers. I would not suggest a starter fertilizer as you are spreading on new seed and existing lawn. I wouldn't use a spring fertilizer as they are normally too strong for the seed; so again stick with the general fertilizer it will make your job easier.
This is a general spring time plan for lawns in Muskoka Ontario.
To have us provide these services for you or if you'd like to have the best quality grass possible contact us for a free consultation and quote. Visit our lawn page.