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Posts Tagged ‘lawn care chesapeake’

Lawn Care tips…compliments of the Virginia Cooperative Extension (by Kregg Deur, owner K&J Lawn and Garden Service LLC)

Posted in Garden Tips, Lawn Care, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Good morning Hampton Roads.  Kregg here, from K&J Lawn and Garden Service, with your Garden Tip of the Week.

 

Some of you may be thinking to yourself, “Boy, this Kregg guy sure must have a big brain to store all these great garden tips”.  Well, the truth is, I do…… but I also get a lot of my info from the World Wide Web, thanks to Global Warming Al.

 

Today’s tips come from the Virginia Cooperative Extension at www.ext.vt.edu and deal with lawn care:

 

  • Reseed any bare spots in your new lawn immediately to keep weeds from growing.
  • Sharpen your lawn mower blade monthly since a dull blade can pull grass seedlings from the soil instead of cutting them.
  • Lengthening the time between waterings combined with deep, heavy watering encourages root growth while reducing top growth in lawns. This increases the root-to-shoot ratio and produces plants that are more resistant to wilting when exposed to infrequent watering.
  • Letting a young lawn grow too tall and then cutting it back to the recommended height is detrimental. Such extreme leaf removal stops the flow of food to the roots, weakens the plants, and opens the lawn to diseases. Never let it grow so tall that you have to cut off more than one third of the grass blade.
  • Lawns maintained at the correct height resist disease and weed infestation. Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue should be kept between 2 to 3 inches in height. Mow frequently, removing no more than one third of the blade at each cutting.
  • Don’t over water your lawn this summer. Too much water leaches nitrogen from the soil, encourages weeds, and invites disease problems.
  • Creeping red fescue may be used for turf in shady, drought- prone areas. Keep this grass at 2 to 2 and 1/2 inches in height.
  • If your lawn is bluegrass/fescue, resist the urge to fertilize now. Fall is the time to fertilize these grasses. Fertilizing now will keep you behind the lawn mower all spring and increase chance of injury to your lawn from summer disease and drought.
  • Moles feed on white grubs and can ruin lawns while burrowing after them. Moles can be eliminated by eliminating the grubs. Consult the Cooperative Extension Service for current pest control recommendations.
  • Grass clippings can be used as mulch in flower beds and vegetable gardens if allowed to dry well before use. Fresh, damp, grass clippings will mat and may attract pests. Never use clippings from a lawn that has been treated with a herbicide.

 

Now you know, so get out and do some yard work this weekend.

 

Again, I’m Kregg, from K&J Lawn and Garden Service, where we are improving the landscape of Hampton Roads, one yard at a time.

www.KandJLawn.com

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This one is for the birds…

Posted in Garden Tips, tagged , , on February 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Good morning Hampton Roads.  Kregg here, from K&J Lawn and Garden Service with your Garden Tip of the Week and this one is for the birds…literally.

Besides being pretty to look at and providing some natural music, birds are also great at insect control.  So with the onset of mosquito season, you want to befriend as many birds as you can.

To attract birds to your yard, start with some running water.  If you don’t already have a pond or fountain, here is an easy way to add a little drip.

Get an old gallon milk jug, rinse it out and fill it with water.  Hang it in a tree, poke a hole in the bottom with a needle so that it drips at about one drop ever 10 seconds.  Then place a saucer under the jug to catch the water.  You might want to put the saucer on some bricks or a small table, since many birds do not like to drink on the ground.

 It will take about 2 days for the jug to empty and give the birds a fresh source of water.  You can also paint the jug green, so it will blend in with the tree foliage.

 Also, put out a variety of food for them.  Make it a buffet, with different seeds, suet and even fresh fruits.  Just like us, birds don’t want to eat the same stuff every day.  If you have been in the habit of dead heading your flowering plants, try to leave some for the birds.  By letting the dead flowers go to seed, you are giving the birds more variety.

Finally, ensure they have a place to live.  Not all birds need a house.  Some just need a platform, a hole in a tree or some thick brush to call home.

 

Now all you have to do is sit back and enjoy your garden with God’s feathered creatures.

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Dirt – by Kregg Deur, owner of K&J Lawn and Garden Service, Chesapeake, VA

Posted in Lawn Care, tagged , , , , , on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Good afternoon Chesapeake, Kregg here, from K&J Lawn and Garden Service LLC, with your Garden Tip of the Week.

Today, I’d like cover dirt, a fundamental part of gardening and lawn care.  The problem with dirt in this area is one of two things, either too much sand, which means you live at the beach in Norfolk or Virginia Beach and need to truck-in topsoil so you have a depth of 3 to 5 inches.  The other problem is clay and is common in most of Chesapeake and inland Virginia Beach.

There are a few ways to beat clay.  When it comes to gardens, if you can’t dig through it, go over it.  Avoid the whole clay issue by installing raised beds.  There are a variety of materials available at your local hardware store or home center that can be used to build raised beds. Design plans can be found on the internet, or you could contract a local landscaping professional to install the new beds for you.

Now, clay in your lawn is another problem.  The big issue is drainage.  Too much rain or irrigation and your yard turns into a big mud hole and not enough, it is hard as a rock. 

The simplest, most economical, solution is to aerate your yard and apply gypsum.  Use a core aerator, this will pull plug of dirt out of the lawn.  Spike aerators tend to compact the yard more.  Proper aeration will open up the ground and the gypsum will help break down the clay, making your yard healthier.

Proper lawn care is one of the keys to a healthy lawn and having a healthy lawn greatly contributes to improving our environment. 

  • Did you know that a 2500 square foot lawn can provide enough Oxygen for a family of 4 or a couple with 2 dogs?
  • Dense, healthy grass helps slow water runoff, removing contaminants and trapping soil. Fresh, filtered water returns to the underground water supply.
  •  Healthy lawns also help battle global warming.  Eight healthy lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning, which is enough for 16 average homes.

 

So if you want to keep cool this summer, keep your lawn and landscape healthy.  Just call K&J Lawn and Garden Service, where we are improving the landscape of Hampton Roads, one yard at a time.

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K&J’s 5 Loaves project

Posted in 5 Loaves, tagged , , , , , , on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Who: 

5 Loaves is a not for profit branch of a small, local, Christian owned lawn care and landscaping company that has been servicing Hampton Roads since 2007.  

What:

5 Loaves’ mission is to provide free lawn care and landscaping service to those in need in our community and to help organize and support Church-based outdoor work projects.

Where:

Starting in the Norfolk Highlands neighborhood of Chesapeake and working our way throughout Hampton Roads. 

Why:

Proverbs 19:17 (HCSB)           James 1:27 (NIV)

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