Kansas City Landscaping and Lawn Care Ideas

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Seeding Kansas City’s Lawns

Summer is still burning strong and we surely have several weeks left of stifling heat in City. Many of the lawns in the city are showing the stresses of surviving yet another brutal summer of heat and dryness. If your no longer looks thick and healthy or has more weeds than grass, it is time to renovate. Renovating your involves removing all unwanted weeds and grass types and then reseeding with improved varieties of your choice of . Timing is critical for successfully renovating your – late enough to avoid the worst of the summer heat yet early enough to allow ample time for growth before the freezing weather arrives. 

 

In City, the first week of September is usually the ideal time to seed. 

 

To seed your properly requires a broad knowledge of grass, several different pieces of specialized equipment and a large commitment of time.  For these reasons, I suggest that homeowners contact a qualified professional who specializes in growing quality .  Although cost is a consideration, when you look at the time, supplies and rental fees you might quickly realize that using a pro will pay off. Every year, I am disheartened by the dozens of calls I get in late fall from homeowners who have spent hundreds of dollars and lots of hard work seeding their lawns with poor results. I have to tell these customers that we have missed the ideal time for seeding and the repair will require considerable extra time and cost without the guarantee of superior results.

 

Of all the care tasks needed each year, I strongly believe that seeding is the most important one to be done by a professional.

 

When you hire a care company, you will want to check their license, insurance and references to make sure you are working with a professional.  Then ask them about their seeding process.  The highest quality will come from a professional who includes all of the following steps:

 

  • Soil Test - imperative to start by fixing and soil chemistry problems (4 weeks prior)
  • Spray Herbicide - important to control weeds prior to seeding (4 weeks prior)
  • Spray with Growth Regulator - slows down growth of existing so it does not compete with new grass (2 weeks prior)
  • seed - prepared by first aerating and then followed with a slit seeder that will slice precise grooves into the soil creating ideal areas for seed to grow
  • Starter and Rooting stimulant - applied to the soil to provide nutrients to emerging seedlings

 
 

 
 

Now, the professional’s work is done and it’s time to care for your newly planted .  You will need to moisten the ground daily for two weeks to promote germination and then to pamper the young seedlings.  As the grass grows stronger, you will begin to establish a regular schedule of deep, thorough watering.  Proper watering is essential to your lawns success and it involves quite a commitment – however, it is the last step to the lush, healthy you envisioned when you started the renovation process. Soon you will be walking barefoot through your enjoying the thick green carpet, underfoot.

 

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  RSS Feed   Published on October 20th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Soil Testing

Stop worrying about your grass and start worrying about your dirt. As a professional grass manager, I am actually fairly uninterested in . I spend all of my time managing soil. I know that by creating fertile soil, my customers will have the nicest lawns in town.

 

Managing dirt is a complex task that even people with degrees in Soil Science will admit having more to learn. Volumes of books and scientific articles have been written on the subject and I would never be able to disclose everything you would need to know in this article. However, I do hope to reveal enough information to convey the importance of soil to you in growing quality .

 

There are three important factors to consider when evaluating your soil: Soil Texture, Nutrients and Chemistry. Each of these factors needs to be evaluated independently and actions taken to create the ideal growing environment for your .

 

SOIL TEXTURE

 

Soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay. The percentage of each element determines the type of soil your has. Ideal soil is composed of 40% sand, 40% clay and 20% silt. In City, the ideal soil texture is usually nothing but a dream as we have a much higher percentage of clay. However, this can be improved. First, you have to determine your soil makeup. This requires getting your hands dirty. Take a handful of dirt and roll the soil in your hand until it’s about the size of a golf ball. Then, gently squeeze the soil between your thumb and index finger. Sand feels gritty, silt feels more like talcum powder and clay feels slippery. Now squeeze the ball in your hand. If it crumbles, it has a well-balanced texture. If it holds its shape, it has a fair amount of clay. And if you can roll it into a snake, it has more clay than you want. This method can only act as an indicator. A soil test performed by a qualified laboratory will give you more accurate and scientific results. However, if your soil has too much clay, you will need to alleviate the problem with and topdressing or completely renovating the area and adding organic matter.

 

NUTRIENTS

 

Soil holds nutrients which are then used by the to grow thick and lush. Evaluating the nutrient status of your soil is an important step in developing a quality . The best way to find out what your soil needs to nourish healthy is to have it tested by a professional laboratory. This can either be done by our local extension office or at a private lab.

 

Any fertilizing done by a homeowner or professional without a soil test is a shot in the dark at best. Short term results can be gained. However, you will not get the long term results desired by most homeowners. Additionally, you will be wasting nutrients as you dump excess nutrients on your just to assure all your bases are covered. A soil test will cost you less than $20 and will give you benefits many times that. A good soil test will give you quantities of Organic Matter, Available Phosphorus, Exchangeable Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Iron and Soluble Salts. Based on these results, a knowledgeable professional will be able to create a nutrition program for your .

 

SOIL CHEMISTRY

 

In addition to soil nutrition and texture, a good soil test will also provide you with information about the chemistry of your soil. The process of transferring the nutrients into soil requires a complex chain of chemical reactions that can only happen if several elements are in balance. The most important of these is pH. In City, our soils tend to be alkaline and need to be amended with Lime to provide an ideal growing environment. How lime and other chemicals react with the soil requires knowledge of cation exchange sites, particle attractions and base saturations. All of these come into play just to grow the grass you like to look at from your window.

 

This month, when you see your neighbors playing in the dirt making muddy snakes and dirty golf balls, you will know they are on their way to having a beautiful .

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  RSS Feed   Published on October 20th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Kansas City Lawn and Landscape Watering Guidelines

’s Lawns and Landscapes will benefit dramatically if you know how to properly them. There is no other homeowner controlled aspect of caring for your more critical than proper . It is also the number one mistake I see homeowners doing

It is essential to first understand what your want in an ideal world. Most of our lawns and landscapes in will thrive on 1.5” of per week. This can come from either rainfall or . Ideally 1.5 inches would be applied in one long and slow watering. However, in , our clay based soils have a hard time absorbing more than ½ inch of per hour before begins to run off the surface so we have to very slowly – hard for sprinklers to do – or on multiple days in smaller amounts. Counter intuitively, we want these watering cycles to be on successive days, not spread evenly through out the week since our goal is to deep into the ground and not to keep the surface moist.

Knowing how much we need is the first step – the next step is knowing how to apply that and for how long. Most homeowners will either be applying by manual sprinklers or an automatic system. Both require you to know how much is applied in a given amount of time by your system.

To measure the output of your sprinkler heads…

  1. Set a container with straight sides (I use a butter dish) in the middle of the sprinklers path. a Turn on the sprinkler and monitor the amount of in the container.
  2. Turn off the sprinkler when the amount of in the can has reached one inch (measure with a ruler – it can be deceiving)
  3. This is how much that sprinkler system puts out in one hour.


Now, I know most of you will not take the time to accurately measure out your sprinklers output – despite its importance. So here are some rules of thumb for determining your sprinklers output. For automatic systems – spray heads (the ones that pop up and don’t move) typically need about 45 mins to put down 1” of and rotors (the ones that sweep back and forth) need about 2 hours. So a generic program that I suggest for my customers is designed to put down 1.5” of spread between 3 separate watering cycles. I set it so that the gets watered Monday, Tuesday and Friday. This is a good compromise of watering deeply but also making sure that the does not run off.. I set zones with spray heads to come on for 30 mins and zones with rotors to come on for 60 mins. This is adjusted if the soil is unable to absorb this amount of . Also, all watering should be done to supplement mother nature. If she gives us ½” of rain then you can reduce watering by that amount.

For those of us unlucky souls who do not have automatic it takes a much longer to our lawns. Most of the typical impact sprinklers used if set on full circle put out about 1/3 of an inch per hour. Since they slower they can be left on longer. I usually suggest you twice a week for 2 hours before moving the sprinkler. If you are only using the sprinkler in a half circle then you can cut that in half

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  RSS Feed   Published on July 7th, 2008  1 Comment   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Kansas City Landscaping get ready for Heat

It is time for Landscapers to prepare for the heat.  Weather forecasts are showing that will soon be hitting 90 degrees for the first time this year.  This tends to be a  tipping point for the lawns and landscapes.

You can help your and care service by taking care of your lawns watering needs.

New Trees or

new trees or when the top 3″ of the soil dries out completely.  the slowly and deeply allowing the entire root system to become soaked.  larger take more time.

This is very important.  You cannot give a time to because every soil will absorb at a different rate.  The goal is to the entire root system and then let the entire roots ystem dry out just before adding new .

Lawns

Lawns should be with 1″ of per week.  This is best done with one long slow watering if your soil will absorb that much .  Most lawns will do just fine with one long .  Depending on the type of sprinkler being used — This may require up to 1 hour of watering.  It is best to measure the rather than guessing.  I use a straight sided margarine tub placed int he middle of the sprinklers path to tell.

Watering is an essential part of maintaining your landscapes.   It does not have to be difficult but it does have to be consistent and done correctly.  If you have any watering questions feel free to leave a comment to this post and I would be happy o help you out.

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  RSS Feed   Published on June 25th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Kansas City Landscaper’s Favorite Plant — Cole’s Prostrate Hemlock

When I am designing a City I try to use unusual in ordinary places and ordinary in unusual places.  This is one that tends to be on the unusual side.  I love how it adds instant age to a new .  It is slow growing and has relatively few pest problems in City’s Landscapes.

I have found this is an excellent choice for may of my designs when I am looking to add an interesting and hardy low growing .

Coles Prostrate Hemlock

Key Benefits
This evergreen hemlock spreads along the ground showing a unige and interesting mix of branches and needles. Adds age and character to anew .



Average Size
Slow grower to 1 ft. tall and 4’ wide.


Needs
regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry.


Sun Exposure
Full to part shade sun


Cold Hardiness
-30 to -20 F

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  RSS Feed   Published on June 20th, 2008  2 Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Clover – Kansas City Lawn Weed

 

 

Kansas City lawn with clover

is a common weed in City Lawns.  It spreads rapidly by stolons or above ground roots structures.  The takes root from the stolons at nodes along the stems when they come in contact with the soil. is one of the most easily identified of the common weeds in City.  It tends to grow in dense patches in lawns that are not especially thick.  It needs consistently moist ground to survive and prefers soils low in nitrogen.  It has white or slightly pink flowers during late summer and early fall.  The flowers are a favorite of bees and other nectar sucking insects.

 

The best way to prevent is with good cultural practices that promote a thick healthy .  Fertilizing and caring for your grass year round will make any other control of unnecessary. 

To control chemically,  use any product that contains 2-4d and carfentrazone.  As important as the herbicide when spraying , is the use of a great spreader/sticker.  has a very waxy film over its leaves that can make control hard if the proper additives are not used.

City lawns do not need to have if they are well cared for and taken care of.

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  RSS Feed   Published on April 15th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Kansas City Landscaping about to Freeze

City will soon be hitting the deep freeze.   Well, maybe not the deep freeze.  However even with temperatures reaching down into upper 20′s — it is important to have all the information necessary.

First of all this is not at all like the freeze of 2007 — although the dates are not that different.  The difference lies in the weather of March.  In 2007, ’s weather was unseasonably warm.  were a good 3 – 4 weeks ahead of normal development.  Last year I already had Iris blooms poking up in my yard.  This year, I barely have leaves coming through last falls leaves.  Freezing temperatures this weekend will only be a slight problem for landscapers and homeowners in .

Different will need different amounts of care this weekend.

Read the rest of this entry »

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  RSS Feed   Published on April 11th, 2008  5 Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

April Freeze Effects Kansas City Landscaping

It’s hard to believe that the killing April freeze of 2007 was one year ago today in City. It devastated so much of City landscaping. Many of the trees and that were hurt never recovered. Japanese Maples were one of the most dramatically effected . Most of the maples died back considerably and did not look good last year. I recommended that most of my customers wait until fall and then cut back the dead wood and see how they look. However, it has become apparent that most of them will lose there attractiveness and it will take years until they look good again. Most people will end up replacing them.

Japanese maples are still good choices for City landscaping. The combination of climatic features that led to the April freeze were rare and will likely never happen to that degree again.

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  RSS Feed   Published on April 5th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Crabgrass annihalated from Kansas City Lawns

I have great news! Crabgrass has been eradicated from the state of . Absolutely annihilated — every single ! Not a single growing in anyone’s yard anywhere in the state or . Ok — here is the bad news, this is not a result of any miraculous event or secret government work. Instead, since crabgrass is a warm season annual, it all died after the first hard frost.

However, there are literally billions of small crabgrass seeds laying in wait for the soil temperature to rise to 55 degrees for 10 consecutive days. Each crabgrass in your yard last year produced upwards of 180,000 seeds and flung them into the air. Even if you didn’t have a single in your yard last year — your neighbors did and they generously shared their crop of invasive weeds with you — guaranteed. Don’t worry though — you can outsmart the crabgrass and keep it from ruining your otherwise pristine yard. Here’s how.

The battle against crabgrass is two pronged. One uses chemical warfare to initially suppress the onslaught and the second uses good cultural practices to make your uninviting and able to fight off the crabgrass gremlins before they get a chance to grow.

Before you can fight the enemy — you have to know the enemy. Read the rest of this entry »

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  RSS Feed   Published on April 2nd, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  

Making Good Lawn Care Choices for Kansas City

The stage has been set for a fantastic year of growing grass in . The mildwinter temperatures have been ideal for the fescue and in . Soil temperatures have stayed mild and precipitation has been adequate to allow the grass to grow roots through the winter. With the right care this spring and summer, your could look its best ever. Through my experience, I see certain mistakes repeated each year and regretted by gardeners.

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FERTILIZING LAWNS

Managing the fertility of your can be deceptively complex.

Read the rest of this entry »

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  RSS Feed   Published on March 20th, 2008  No Comments   Posted by Jeff Hamons  
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