Posts Tagged watering
Lawn Treatment Tips to Prevent Crabgrass & Dandelions
Nothing ruins a lawn’s uniform, well-manicured appearance like dandelions and crabgrass. These invasive weeds make a lawn look shabby and poorly maintained — and when they set up shop, they can be a nightmare to remove. Thankfully, these lawn treatment tips will help you prevent crabgrass, dandelions and other unsightly weeds from taking residence in your yard.
Keep Your Grass Long
Crabgrass seeds in particular germinate with exposure to sunshine. One of the most useful lawn treatment tips you can follow is to set your lawnmower’s blades so they’re as far off the ground as possible. You’ll have to mow your lawn more often to keep it looking good, but the resulting tall, thick grass growth will shade the ground better, and keep crabgrass seeds from germinating.
Fertilize Your Yard
Make sure you fertilize your lawn at least once a year. This is one of many lawn treatment tips that you should be following, even if you don’t have a weed problem! It’ll help your lawn grow in thicker and stronger, which will allow your grass to compete better with any dandelions or crabgrass that tries to take root.
Reseed Your Lawn
Weeds typically grow in patchy areas of your lawn, where they have little competition from your grass. If you’re seeing worn spots in your yard, most lawn treatment tips advise you to reseed your lawn in fall. Make sure you tear out all existing weeds, or use herbicide on them, so that your grass can take root and thrive. Once the new grass is established, it’ll be able to deny any invading weeds the chance to take root.
Water Your Lawn Deeply
Most weeds thrive on infrequent, shallow watering. One of the most useful lawn treatment tips you can follow is to water your lawn seldom — on the order of once a week — but deeply. Your grass appreciates this better than your weeds do. It’ll give your lawn the chance to soak up all that delicious moisture, and build a strong root network that can resist invaders. As a bonus, that healthy root network will be more resistant to high temperatures!
Use a Pre-Emergent Herbicide
Many people may balk at applying herbicides to their lawn, so this is one of the lawn treatment tips that’s most useful if your lawn continues to suffer from weeds, after you’ve taken other options. Pre-emergent herbicides are highly specialized weed killers, so they won’t kill existing weeds effectively. Rather, they keep seeds from germinating, so they work best when applied in early spring or late autumn, and only when you’ve successfully followed other lawn treatment tips to remove crabgrass and dandelions from your yard. When you’re choosing a herbicide, always be sure to follow all instructions on the package carefully.
Removing noxious weeds like crabgrass and dandelions, when they’re established, can be a real pain. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so follow these lawn treatment tips and put bothersome weeds out of your mind!
Go Native, Save Water: Xeriscape Gardening
The information age has brought with it a flood a varying techniques in the fields of landscaping, gardening and ecological design. In keeping with the sustainable nature of the best of them, xeriscape gardening is defined by its optimal use of a minimal amount of water. This approach to gardening has been developed in the arid regions in the world, chiefly in the American mid-west, as a natural response to the climate. Xeriscape is most effective when the need for supplemental irrigation is eliminated and the design of the garden promotes symbiotic relationships that provide benefits. Environmental conservancy is xeriscape gardening’s top priority, but aesthetic design has received as much consideration. At its best, xeriscape becomes a melding of both utility and beauty.
The Principles of Xeriscape
As conceived by Denver Water, xeriscape gardening’s most revered proponent, these seven guiding principles provide the foundation for all considerations within the field. Each principle holds an entire discipline within itself, which means that there is always more to learn and improve upon in this field.
- Planning and Design are the cornerstones of effective gardening, which requires careful attention to your specific environment.
- Soil Management is about knowing what nutrients your selected plants need and what nutrients are available in the soil. Composting is a great way to reinvigorate malnourished soil.
- Plant Selection is an integral part of xeriscape gardening. Thousands of species exist in arid conditions, each with benefits and beauty to offer.
- Turf Minimalism is crucial because the water needs of most grass lawns makes them impractical for dry climates.
- Diligent Irrigation may be the reason you’re interested in xeriscape gardening to begin with. Water is an invaluable resource and appropriate use of it is essential to environmental conservancy.
- Mulch can be composed of several materials such as leaves, wood chips, pine needles and bark. It is spread over the surface of the soil to help with water retention, fertility, prevention of erosion, and reduction of weed growth.
- Maintenance in the form of weed pulling, mulching, and general upkeep should be combined with constant observation to check if your garden layout is working to its full potential.
The Benefits of Xeriscape
- Reduced Water Consumption is both the key aspect of xeriscape gardening and a great benefit of it. It means using less water and making better use of it. Not only will this save you money, but you will be helping your community and environment as well. Re-appropriating rainwater can help you prevent evaporation and runoff, and your garden’s layout can be optimized for better use of it.
- Less Maintenance is required from a xeriscape garden. Much less fertilizer is used, which helps urban runoff pollution, lawn mowing becomes nigh unnecessary, and simple irrigation systems can handle all of your watering needs.
- Pest Control is an added benefit of a really well thought out garden layout. Certain xeriscape friendly plants ward off insects, while prickly cacti do the same for intrusive mammals. Plant selection also enables you to create a sanctuary for desirable birds and insects.
- Property Values Rise when you drought-proof the terrain around your home. Likewise, the design opportunities available to xeriscape can make for some exquisite gardens.
There are an abundance of tips and tricks available for do-it-yourself xeriscape gardening, but expert consideration reaps the true benefits of the art form. Xeriscape specialists develop an uncanny ability to read an environment and discern its possibilities. With a little help, and dedication to the sustainability principles of xeriscape you could be looking at a lower water and power bill, a productive and efficient garden, and a beautiful area in which to relax.
Got Curb Appeal?
First impressions are everything! The same concept holds true when speaking about your landscape. From a real estate perspective, a good first impression, aka “curb appeal” is about using your landscape to enhance the appearance of your home. Whether you want to boost your curb appeal, market the value of your home or simply want to transform your space to make your lawn & garden look pristine, DK Landscaping helps you come up with the inspiration for the look you desire and making your property the talk of the neighborhood:
Here are a few simple ways to enhance and maintain your landscape:
General maintenance: Mowing your lawn, pruning back trees/shrubs weeding, fertilizing, mulching, leaf and debris-free to watering will keep your yard looking beautiful and eye-catching throughout the entire growing season.
Visually inviting entryway: There are a lot of little things you can do to spruce up your front entryway including keeping it debris free. If you have an old, dull concrete stoop with cracks? Update to a beautiful stone stoop or porch.
Providing a focal point: Plantings, landscape lighting like lamp posts, and decorative pieces like a small water fountain are good ideas.
Colorscape: Adding a splash of vibrant annuals and perennials flowers and plants will make a big statement.
Landscaping lighting: A small yet impactful solution, outdoor accent lighting can not only enhance your yard aesthetically but also eliminate any dark, shadowy areas at night and prevent any safety hazards.
Updated driveway and/or walkway: If your driveway is old and outdated or starting to crack, updating it can have a big impact. There are pavers that imitate any stone for driveway landscaping—brick, travertine, limestone, etc. Same goes for any walkway in your yard. A new stone or paver walkway is a great front landscaping idea.
Stairways: Like retaining walls, stairs are ideal for hilly yards. Adding a staircase walkway to your sloped yard is a great way to add curb appeal—and give your visitors easier access to your door.
It is pretty easy to do many of these things yourself, but perhaps your front yard is devoid of plants and eye-catching features. You may consider planting a tree as a focal point, installing a trickling fountain, or even building a patio. In addition to these memorable details, it is important to use color to attract and focus attention on positive attributes of the landscape. This not only requires planning, but you may need a landscaping company to see some of these designs through.
Having good curb appeal makes selling your house easier, as potential buyers are looking for an aesthetically pleasing home. But don’t brush off having curb appeal even if you are not putting your house on the market. An attractive landscape design is always important!
The Art of Irrigation
One of the challenges for a gardener is managing the proper use of water. The lack of water can be damaging, or deadly, to anything growing outside. DK Landscaping shares the art of irrigation and will help you prepare your garden for it.
Benefits of Drip Irrigation
By using drip irrigation, your garden will use less water, will require less maintenance, and help discourage less weeds and pests. You will be giving them the moisture they need, where they need it: at their root zone.
It will save you up to 90% compared to watering with a hose. It saves you time having your drip system on a timer. You control your irrigation timer and adjust it for seasonal changes (for instance, August heat in Northern California consumes the most water). Together with mulch creates an organic weed control without the use of harsh and unhealthy chemicals. Watering only the roots of your plants with drip irrigation also cuts down on water-borne pests and fungal diseases that spread by water movement.
With a timer, you can control how much water your plants receive by setting up your drip system with different size emitters, which are the system’s delivery mechanism. You can use a small emitter, such as one that delivers 1/2 gallon of water per hour, at the base of small plants, such as herbs; for larger plants, such as trees, you can provide more than one emitter that delivers 3 gallons of water per hour, or more.
DK Landscaping also recommends that all valves feeding the drip system should have:
Large Filter: A small filter or no filter will result in debris clogging the system.
Pressure Reducer: Absence of it will result in emitters being blown off the main feed line. Drip systems are designed to work under low pressure (nominally between 25 PSI to 35 PSI) while normal pressure on the water main line is nominally 70 PSI.
Pressure Compensated Emitters: Pressure compensating drip emitters (PC Emitters) deliver a consistent output of water, even with increase changes in elevation or pressure due to long drip runs. PC Emitters are best used in landscapes and gardens that have drops in elevation that would cause an increase in pressure.
Emitter Hole Punch: Oval or wrongs size holes will result in leaks.
For more information and a free consultation on your irrigation system, please contact Kathy Lee at DK Landscaping. Kathy is our QWEL (Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper) Certified Irrigation Expert. We are also a certified WaterSense Partner. QWEL and WaterSense are certified by the EPA.
Irrigation Sensation
Summer is just around the corner which means, for most of us…the “dog days” are coming!
DK Landscaping brings you tips on how to beautify your landscape while maintaining the lusciousness of your lawn through irrigation.
A great lawn is a start to an exceptional landscape. Landscaping will not only make your property look better, but will also raise your property values. Adding effects and color can increase the value of your home and property by as much as 10% depending on your lawn, landscape and property.
Watering your lawn is essential to protect your landscaping investment. A residential sprinkler system improves the overall health of all plantings because of the consistent water being delivered. It not only helps manage your water usage — but you will have a greater appreciation for when your water bill arrives each month.
DK Landscaping recommends the best time to water your lawn is in the morning, before the heat of the day has set in, so moisture has time to evaporate before the evening. Watering in the evening can result in rot and fungal infections of the plant roots being left moist and cold at night. We also believe it is far better to water a lawn deeply once a week than to give it shorter periods of water more frequently.
For more information and a consultation on your irrigation system, please contact David Lee at DK Landscaping.
