Category: free lawn care help

Go Green with Property Maintenance

Why not explore different options for lawn maintenance? What can you do with your lawn to help give back to the earth?

Think reduce, reuse, recycle, or renew natural resources

When mowing lawn grass, keep all equipment in good condition. Keep the motors running smooth, the blades sharp, and the deck higher. Mow around 3 -4 inches in height. Why? Mowing higher helps produce stronger root systems in your lawn. Strong roots return healthier fuller grass. It actually even reduces the interval between cutting time. And the best part – higher grass shades out weeds. Less weeds and more grass is what we are all looking for. right?

Return grass clippings back to the lawn as you cut. Mulching or composting them back to the soil is a 100% guaranteed method to promote a healthy lawn.

Chemically treated grass clippings are best kept on the lawn to break down herbicides over a six-week period. Rethink chemicals. Reduce using chemicals to save time, money, and reduce toxic pollution. Stop killing beneficial life: microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, insects, and worms. They all recycle organic materials back to the soil. These little creatures are nature’s balance in a fascinating world under our feet.

Compost Piles

Reuse leaves, collected clippings, egg shells, mushrooms, coffee grounds, and so forth by creating a place on your property to recycle them. The best place for a compost pile is in the shade. Shade helps to keep the compost moist. Renew plant waste by making black composted soil in your yard. Be sure to turn your compost pile every few weeks. A lot of purchasable compost containers have a turning feature that flips the compost easily.

Compost can be used as mulch around tree trunks, be careful to avoid touching the bark of the tree itself with the mulch/compost. Mulching right up to the bark of the tree can develop disease and insect problems.

Use the compost in your flower beds and vegetable gardens – the rich nutrients from the compost provide tons of benefits.

Rethink your lawn layout – save yourself money

Do you have a large property where it is hard to keep up with grass growth? To much money spent on lawn care services – or gas mowing it yourself? Think about adding ground covers, trees, or shrubs to your property.

Ground Covers Instead of Turf Grass

Finding low maintenance ground covers is a way to add beauty to your lawn or garden while in return helping to save on lawn maintenance. Including fertilizer, water, and gas/lawn services. Ground covers are fairly inexpensive. Check your local garden center on which ground covers will work best for your area. Be sure to determine certain factors including shade & soil type.

Summer Lawn Care Maintenance – Should I Fertilize?

Protecting your lawn in the summer

Fertilize during the Spring and Fall – not Summer

Apply fertilizers during the spring and fall months, not directly in the middle of summer. The head and dry conditions can actually cause a reverse effect on your lawn after applying fertilizers. If your lawn browns out during the summer, relax! A lot of cool-season turf grasses brown out and go dormant during the summer months to survive. It is natural, and your lawn is more than likely perfectly healthy. Trying to help your lawn may actually end up hurting it. Making it prone to disease, and increasing weeds such as crabgrass are common when you try to treat your lawn during the hot months.Protecting your lawn in the summer

Lawn Care Tips – Go Green and Save Money

Go Green

Tip #1: Don’t use your water, buy a rain barrel.
Make a one time purchase expense, get a nice size rain barrel, and never pay extra on your water bills to water your lawn and garden. The average 20 x 20 ft lawn needs around 250 gallons of water per year. Depending on were you live, using your garden hose for this can end up costing around $25.00 – $50.00 per month!

Tip #2: Electric mowers are much friendlier to your pocket and the environment.
If you are an average home owner with a smaller lawn – electric mowers are the way to go. Low maintenance, no gas, and low electrical consumption makes this a no question decision.

Tip #3: Soil care, check your pH!
Healthy soil returns a beautiful lawn. Get your soil right, and save on tons of costs. pH ranges should normally be between 6.5 and 7.0. If you are unsure where to get your pH tested give us a call at (814) 515-3115.

Tip #4: Go with Organic Fertilizers:
Organic fertilizer will cost you $0.05/square foot, pre-season. Compare that to the cost of the most popular chemical fertilizer, known as 15-30-15, which costs $0.15/square foot, or three times as much.

Tip #5: Know where to find expert help.
Garden centers are a great source of information for lawn health. So are some local companies. Try to avoid the national companies that are more worried about making a sale, spraying chemicals, and leaving. Then you get a nice surprise bill in the mail. (Just try doing some yellow book or yellow page searches for national lawn care / fertilizer companies.)

Got a neighbor whose lawn makes you jealous? Why not go over, make conversation, then just ask them how they made it happen? More than likely they are going to share the methods with you!

Organic Lawn Care – Corn Gluten

Corn Meal Fertilizer

Corn Meal Fertilizer

What is Corn Gluten?

One of the most important discoveries in organic lawn care has been the accident Corn Gluten. Discovered by mistake at Iowa State University researcher Nick Christians, has been a giant breakthrough. This organic product (made from Corn Gluten Meal) is a natural herbicide that has been patented and sold by many companies as an alternative to Weed and Feed products.

Corn Gluten Meal is a powdery byproduct of the corn milling process. Used for years as a supplement in hog feed, this natural protein is very effective for lawns and gardens as a plant food as well as a weed suppressor. Corn gluten meal products offer a non-toxic, yet effective alternative to traditional, chemical-based weed and feed products for weed control in gardens and lawns, paths and driveways.

As a plant food, corn gluten has a N-P-K ratio of 9-1-0, or 10-percent nitrogen by weight. As a weed suppressant, corn gluten acts as a natural “pre-emergent” – it inhibits seed germination by drying out a seed as soon as it cracks open to sprout. These qualities make corn gluten an ideal ‘weed n feed’ product.

CITY OF ALTOONA YARD WASTE DROP-OFF FOR CITY RESIDENTS

THE CITY OF ALTOONA WILL OFFER YARD WASTE DROP – OFF FOR CITY
RESIDENTS MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY (EXCEPT HOLIDAYS) BEGINNING
MONDAY, MAY 2, 2011 THROUGH TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2011 FROM
8:00 A.M. TO 2:00 P.M. AT THE CITY HIGHWAY YARD, 5010 6TH AVENUE,
ALTOONA.(BESIDE WTAJ TV-10 STUDIOS)

ALL ITEMS MUST BE IN BROWN COMPOST BAGS. LOOSE ITEMS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

QUESTIONS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE CITY HIGHWAY YARD AT
(814) 949-2212.

Please visit altoonapa.gov for more information.