Understanding Turf Care

The purpose of this page is to explain and hopefully clarify some important points of interest that most homeowners overlook.  Service professionals only visit your lawn once a week, once a month or quarterly to do their job.  As the one who lives in the home, you the homeowner have an eye on the lawn daily.  I know what you are probably thinking …who has time to watch the grass grow?  Well if you want a healthy lawn, you will need to make the time for proper care, or you will lose every hard-earned dollar you invest in a new lawn.  

Think about it …if you buy a dog and don’t feed it or water it, walk it, train it, bathe it, clip its nails, keep up with its shots or ever take it to the vet …what kind of results do you think you will have?  How long will the dog live?  Well, you will probably do some time for animal cruelty if you neglect the dog. 

Turf grass is as needy as the dog, but you will feel the punishment of killing it only thru your wallet! 

People have said to me “Shaun, I just want something low maintenance …sod it all.”  Grass is the highest maintenance item in a landscape!  The larger the grass areas, the more care and resources needed to keep it healthy.

  Turf is a landscape money-pit.  Repairs and replacement is on going due to drought, pests, disease, poor soil PH, weeds, and homeowner good intentions …now add high traffic areas, kids, and dogs to the equation you will start to see what I am talking about.

  To achieve success in keeping a healthy lawn, a delicate balance must be maintained.

  Looking at all of this data, it only makes sense to start with the best quality turf material possible otherwise, expect imminent doom.  

Buying turf material is a selective process as I hand pick for quality.  I’ve had sod companies try to tell me “It just needs some water.” to sell me their last pallet of sod.  I will re-schedule a job before I install poor quality sod. 

As one can see the quality of sod that I use is only the best.  This turf material you are looking at is palmetto.  This will do better in shady areas.  Since we are covering areas under shade trees, this was a smart choice.  Palmetto also does well in sun.

A few things to keep in mind when planting sod under trees are: 

First, oaks and pines drop many leaves.  These leaves acidify the soil under the tree.  The sod has to have food along with proper light to survive.  If the tree is congested with over growth, or the leaves are mulched into the soil, this may be the cause of your ordeal!  High acid levels will throw off the PH in the soil and the sod will starve, and until the PH is restored, fertilizer will become useless (damage will result with over feeding).  

Also, Be careful covering roots as this can affect the health of the tree!  Trees take a long time to show decline and sometimes it is too late to do anything by the time the tree's decline has your attention!    

Finally, Congested trees shed MORE leaves!  More work for you, more acid for your soil, more business for the sod farms, and less money in your wallet!  

That Stinks!

Sometimes it would be a waste of money to even try to get grass to take.  There are other elements to a landscape other than grass.  Reducing grass areas will turn your landscape into a low maintenance one!

Always remember that landscaping is an investment with potentially huge returns.Don’t throw your money away you work hard for it.

Spend as little as possible on sod.  Patch and plug worn and bad areas in your lawn before the damage spreads and the areas become larger or worse …before it takes over all of your lawn and you find yourself having to replace it all.

Also proper maintenance is required for best results.  Keep sprinkler heads clear of grass so they can work properly.

This is a common issue that leads to turf loss. Sprinkler heads should be monitored periodically to insure their performance.  One of these guys not doing his job will result in turf loss.  Something as small as a grain of sand can cause a sprinkler head to go on vacation! 

Also... if oak leaves or pine needles have covered your lawn, mulching the leaves into the lawn is not a good idea. 

Backpack leaf blowers like this one have the power to get the leaves off your lawn and on to a driveway or the street where they can easily be picked up.  Oak leaves are harmful to your lawns health, pine needles are not only toxic to the lawn, but are also VERY FLAMMABLE!

Some people use pine straw for ground cover in their beds.  I would not recommend this practice.  Life is unpredictable enough.  there is no need to add to things that can go wrong!

I can repair these areas for you and with proper care and maintenance; you will have a lawn you will be envied for ...like these!

I will post more on turf care in the future.  Please check back frequently, or email me your questions here.