How Lawn Care Services Do Rye Grass Overseeding To Keep A Green Winter Lawn

Overseeding with rye grass is common in southwest Louisiana for people who like to keep their lawns with a green cover through the winter. Overseeding with rye grass is one of the many lawn care services that our lawn care company offers.

A dead lawn is an eyesore, even in winter. In any case, there is no reason why you should keep a dead lawn when you have an option to keep it green. Rye grass does not survive in the warm months and therefore you have to replant it every winter.

What is overseeding?

When you plant rye grass in your lawn, it is referred to as overseeding because you will be planting it in a lawn that already has other grass.

You can seed the rye grass on top of your regular lawn grass. That way, when the warm  season sets in, the rye, which is a cold season grass dies and the warm season grass starts growing.
When you overseed your lawn with rye grass, you will keep a green lawn throughout the year.

Why you need the assistance of lawn care services for overseeding

While rye grass overseeding sounds so simple, there are some very important things to consider. In fact, you should get assistance from a lawn and landscape maintenance services company lest you do something that will destroy your regular warm season grass.

When you overseed with rye grass for winter, it means you will have to water your lawn throughout winter.

Seeding could be detrimental to the health of your warm season grass. You have to do it just right. You do not need to worry though because part of our lawn care services is to eliminate all guesswork and get everything on your lawn … just right!

Rye grass needs fertilizer to thrive in winter. Again, applying fertilizer without knowledge could hurt your regular grass. This is another reason why you need to involve professional lawn maintenance services. There can be no guesswork when it comes to the health of your lawn.

How often should you apply the rye grass on your lawn? Most of our customers ask us this question. Too much overseeding with rye grass on the lawn can cause the annihilation – literary, of your warm season grass.

The best time to plant your rye grass

Rye grass is a cool season grass. Thus, it is best planted in October or, at least 30 days before the first frost, when the temperatures are not too low.
It is recommended that you seed with rye grass when temperatures are not any lower than 60° F at night. This grass is going to keep green until somewhere in the middle of May when it starts dying because of the high temperatures.

How do you plant rye grass?

The first thing that you have to do is mow the summer grass to create room for the new grass. You also want the rye grass seeds to get into the soil. The best way to prepare the ground for rye grass is to use a power rake to poke the soil.

You cannot plant just any type of rye grass. As we offer lawn care services to our customers, we advise them on the best type of rye grass seed to use. What is good for a desert climate such as you would find in Arizona is different from what you would use in Louisiana.

Another thing that you need to know is how much rye grass seed you should apply in the lawn. Of course, the more the rye grass seeds that you use per square feet, the greener your lawn will be in winter. However, too many rye grass seeds could bring some nasty competition in May as all the rye grass will not have died off.

The recommended seeding is between 5 and 10 pounds of rye grass seed for every 1000 square feet. At seeding time, apply the first fertilizer. You may also apply a second helping of fertilizer in February.

Why you should plant perennial rye grass instead of annual rye grass

It is best that you choose perennial rye grass seed instead of annual rye grass. When the warm season comes, you want your regular lawn grass to come out.

As any lawn maintenance services provider will tell you, rye grass is a serious competitor for soil nutrients and other resources. Your warm grass does not need this kind of competition for nutrients, sunlight and other resources.

Perennial rye grass grows faster, has more robust and greener leaves with a darker color as compared with the annual rye grass. If you get rye grass that is suited for your area, you shall have a green lawn throughout winter.

By the month of May, you should stop watering the lawn so that the rye grass can die. Wait two or three weeks and then start watering again so that your regular lawn grass can start growing.

Keep your rye grass mowed during winter. Overseeding with rye grass means doing some work. You should not worry because we offer grass cutting services to our customers throughout the year.

It is recommended that you keep the rye grass mowed to between 2 and 3 inches in winter. However, a couple of weeks before the last frost comes in Spring, mow down the rye grass to 1 inch.

This should give the warm season grass a  chance to start growing while you shock the rye grass to start dying. As soon as more than 50% of your summer grass attains green color, you can apply the first fertilizer for it.

As you can see, overseeding the lawn with rye grass can be daunting. There are so many things to take care of and to know about. These include knowing about watering, applying fertilizer and when to stop watering. That is why you need the help of landscape maintenance services.



Contact us:
Author :TenderCareLawnService
Address :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663
Telephone: 337-313-3002

Landscaping Companies Tips To Prepare Plants For Cold Weather

Landscaping companies demonstrate the importance of preparing plants for winter. If you want your plants to enjoy robust growth when warm weather comes, prepare them amply for winter.

The biggest mistake you could make is to leave your plants at the mercy of the weather. Then you could find out just how merciless Mother Nature can be!

As one of the top landscape maintenance services in southwest Louisiana, TCLS has helped customers prepare their plants for years.

You can do several things to ensure that come spring, your shrubs, trees, perennial plants and lawn will be healthy and blooming.

Why prepare your plants for winter?

When it comes to the health of your lawn, trees and perennial plants, the “why” should always come before the “when.”

We are to help you. We offer grass cutting services to our customers in Southwest Louisiana. We also help them to preserve their plants through winter. The main reason for preparing plants for winter is so that their roots can establish themselves more firmly. Healthy roots mean a healthier bloom in spring.

When the soil freezes, it still needs to process the organic matter needed by the plants. Freezing is like insulating the soil and it encourages the processing of important organic matter.

Landscaping companies advice for preparing your plants for cold weather

This depends on the types of plants that you have. All plants, including the trees need to be prepared for winter. However, you should start with the preparation of the garden itself.

Here are a few things that lawn care services advice:

Continue watering during winter so that your plants have enough moisture to see them through the cold spell.

Pull out all the weeds. You do not want them seeding as that would cause a weed problem in spring.

Mulching is very important for the preservation of your plants through the cold weather. It is especially good for strawberry beds and perennial flowers so that it can help the plants from alternating between thawing and freezing.

It is best to consult landscaping companies for assistance before you start mulching. For example, we advise our customers to wait until after Thanksgiving to start mulching. The reason for waiting is so that the plants can go dormant and the soil can freeze. You will also find that some plants, for example, rose flowers need mounds of mulch at the bottom. Some plants need more mulch than others.

Preparing different plants for winter

1. Preparing Annuals for winter

An annual is a plant that will flower and then die. It is best to collect all the seeds that you need before winter. If you would like a bloom in spring, plant the seeds before the appearance of the first frost for springtime growth.

If you need cuttings, just cut them and bring them indoors before the onset of winter. You might also dig out bulbs and store them in a dark place.

Pull out all the dead plants and as we mentioned, apply a good layer of mulching.

2. Preparing trees for winter

Most people are of the notion that trees do not need any preparation for winter. Now, as lawn service companies will tell you, trees are plants and they have their needs too.

If you have young trees, you will need to wrap some wire netting around them to protect them against animals. If they are on exposed ground, you may have to erect wind and snow breakers around them.

You will also need paper tree wrap, which is best for protecting the thin-barked trees from cracking. When exposed to winter, the thin barks are likely to crack. The wrapping will prevent that.

Trees should be watered throughout winter. We advise our customers to water the evergreens frequently to enhance their growth. That green leafage needs nutrients from the roots to flourish.

If you live in an area is exposed to these cold and dry winds, your evergreen trees and shrubs are likely to dry fast. This is called winter desiccation. Water them when there is no wind so that the soil retains moisture. If your shrubs are in an exposed place, you may want to create a windbreak to protect them.

3. Preparing Perennials For Winter

Southwest Louisiana is home to perennials such as False Heather, Sage, Day Lily and others. The reason why these plants have earned themselves the name perennial is because they go into hibernation in winter. They bloom in the warm seasons.

Perennials are easy to prepare for winter. Just cut the dead stems, apply a layer of mulching and leave them to their tactics. However, no two perennial plants are the same. Different types of perennial plants may require different types of care.

Rake the old mulch and after the soil freezes after Thanksgiving, add a good layer of new mulch. The reason for waiting until the soil is frozen is so that rodents do not burrow in the soil under the mulch.

4. Preparing roses for winter – what landscaping companies say

No one likes to lose their roses. Perhaps it is the sentimental value behind their flowers. They are not too hard to prepare for winter. If you take good care of your roses to see them through winter, you are going to get a good bloom of lovely rose flowers in spring.

Trim the roses carefully. Get burlaps and stuff them with straw or dry leaves. Tie them around the rose flower from the bottom upwards. This will help protect the roses from the cold. However, note that pruning is only advisable for places that experience mild winters. If your area experiences extreme winters, do not prune the roses.

Do not apply fertilizer to the roses once summer is over. Remove the old mulch and apply new layer of mulch before the appearance of the first frost. After the first frost, add more mulch around the base of the plant.

During winter, there will be some warm days. Take advantage and water your roses then, taking care not to overwater them.

If you do this, you will have healthy roses in spring.

5. Preparing grass for winter

When offering lawn care services to our customers, they always ask us how they can prepare their lawn for winter.

Here are the most important things to do:

1. Cut the grass to 0.75 inches (cold winters) or 1.5 inches (warm winters). Ask a lawn care company because different grasses have different needs.
2. You will need to aerate the lawn. Use a lawn aerator that punches small holes in the ground, removing chunks of soil.
3. Apply a natural fertilizer without phosphate if you did not apply during summer.
4. Reduce irrigation if you experience mild winters or stop it completely for serious winters.

Author         : tclsadmin
Contact us  :Lawn care services
Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663
Telephone  : 337-313-3002

What Lawn Care and Landscaping Companies Advise about Watering In the Fall

To water or not to water in fall? That is the question.

As one of the leading lawn care and landscaping companies in southwest Louisiana, our customers always come to us for information. Most want to know how to take care of their lawns in different seasons. We are glad to help.

One of the most asked questions is whether they should stop watering in the fall. The answer is not as clear-cut as yes or no.

Spring and summer are the seasons of growth and bloom. Most people think these are the only appropriate times to feed the lawn with nutrients and water.

Fall is the season when plant growth slows down. Therefore, the question of whether to water or not to water in fall is genuine and well warranted.

If you have different plants in your lawn, you cannot take a blanket approach for how to treat the lawn in any season. The reason for this is that different plants have different needs.

As part of our landscape maintenance services, we advise a holistic approach, ensuring the overall health of the lawn. Every plant type should be treated individually.

Fall is the time for building strong root systems

In fall, perennial plants and shrubs like lantana, Mexican heather, butterfly bush, rudbeckia, Shasta daisy, shoal creek vitex trees, native willow oak and sweet bay magnolia to name but just a few will be busy building their root network.

Fall comes after the plants have been busy throughout spring and summer building their leaves, flowers and fruits. Thus, in fall, they direct all of their energy to the root system. For this, they will need water.

In fall, your plant roots will anchor themselves firmly waiting for spring and summer. For this too, they need water. There could be some rainfall in autumn, but it might not be enough. Our lawn maintenance services team advises lawn owners to know what amounts of water different plants would need. That way, they can determine how much watering they would need in fall.

Fall dehydration is a big risk for your plants

Because we mostly experience dry autumns, our lawns dehydrate fast. We advise our clients to prepare for fall watering. Those roots will need all the help they can get from you to anchor themselves firmly in the soil.

You can water your lawn a few times a week, and in some weeks, you may not need to water at all. It is best to consult with professional lawn care and landscaping companies. Call us on 313-337-3002 and we will help you determine when to water and when not to.

If the weather is dry or warm in fall, you should water. If it is windy, you should water. These conditions cause your plants to dehydrate, thus starving your roots. You can supplement what the weather has not provided with watering.

As your lawn plants make a transition from active growing to dormancy, the plant juices flow from top to bottom. If the rain stops too soon before all juice can flow downwards, it will dry out.

The result will be plant tissue that is starved of water. If this happens, your plants will be stressed out during fall. When the growing season comes, they may not bloom as robustly as you had hoped they would.

You can help your plants avoid stress by watering them. This will keep their tissue hydrated and encourage the last of the juices containing the nutrients that your roots need to flow down.

What is the worst that can happen when you do not water in fall?

Two things – bad and worse can happen. The bad one is that too little watering or no watering at all may cause the roots to die. Completely!

The worst is that you will not know that your plant roots have died. You will only know in the growing seasons when you notice the absence of healthy bloom. By then it will be too late to rectify the situation.

Lack of water in fall could also make the plants weak and susceptible to diseases, pests and insects in summer. While the trees have deeper reaching roots and may survive dry falls with their health intact, perennials and shrubs may develop a weak root system.

One problem that lawn owners face is not knowing how much water their lawns need in fall. Consult landscape maintenance services to unravel this mystery.

To prepare our customers for fall, we advise them on the best approaches for fall watering as below:

• Water when the temperature is a bit warm. If you water when the temperature is below 40°, the risk of the moisture in the soil freezing is high.
• Water around the noon hour when it is warmer. Water penetrates the soil better at that hour.
• Mulching is very important in summer. It helps retain the moisture in the soil and prevents cracking.
• Too much water is bad in fall.
• Do not water when it is windy.

You have seen how your plant health in summer will be determined by how well you care for them during the cold seasons.

You can also see why you should not skimp on watering in fall, just as grass cutting services advise you.

Definitely, to water or not to water in fall is not a matter of a straight yes or no answer. There are many intricacies involved. With the help of lawn care and landscaping companies, you will know just how much water your lawn needs in fall.


Author         : tclsadmin

Contact us  :Lawn care services

Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663


Telephone  : 337-313-3002

How Garden and Lawn Maintenance Services Will Help You Control Garden Pests

At different times of the year, there will be different garden pest infestations. That is why you need to consult garden and lawn maintenance services to know what pest is bothering your garden in fall.

If you think you have a pest problem in your lawn, call us. With so many pests being native to southwest Louisiana, it is most likely that you will be dealing with one kind of pest in the lawn, another in the garden and so on. With the help of our lawn care company, it should be easy to identify the kind of pest invasion in your home garden.

Most common types of fall garden pests in southwest Louisiana

Grub worms


There are different species of grub worms. The most common in southwest Louisiana are the C-shaped white larvae of the species Cyclocepha hirta or the C. pasadenae. These hatch from the eggs of the Japanese Beetle, laid in summer.

They hide deep in the soil and they feed on the roots of your plants. You could have a lovely green garden and then start noticing some plants losing their color, and eventually wilting and dying.

If you have grubs in your lawn, they can spread to your garden easily. In any case, you still do not want the grubs chewing on your grass roots. While other worms, such as earthworms help make the soil soft and easy for plant roots to penetrate and spread, grubs are harmful with no benefit in your garden. You have to get rid of them.


Signs of grub worm infestation


Your grass or plants will start having droopy leaves. You could also have brown patches appearing in your lawn. You will realize that there are different shades of green in your lawn. That is an indication of grub worm infestation. However, most people confuse such sign with lack of enough nutrients and water.

The ground starts feeling spongy and springy when you walk on it. If you step a little too forcefully, you can cause it to cave in. That is an indication of very serious grub invasion. Also be on the lookout for sudden unexplained death of shrubs, grass, flowers and other plants. Lastly, if your start noticing animals like armadillos, moles and other rodents and pests, look out for grubs because these animals feed on them.


Armyworms


In Louisiana, there are two types of armyworm. True armyworms are mostly found in northern Louisiana while fall armyworms are found all over the state.

Armyworm is a common fall garden pest in Louisiana. The females lay eggs on just about any surface, but mostly on the grass blades. In several days, the eggs hatch into larvae and in less than 14 days, they will have grown to full adults.

Unless you actively go looking for the armyworm indications, it can be hard to know you have them in your lawn because they do not consume a lot. However, they will stay in one place until they exhaust the food resources there and then they will migrate en masse to another field. This means that by the time you realize you have armyworm, serious defoliation will have taken place.

Lawn maintenance services advise homeowners to check the grass carefully for any small green pellets. These are the fecal matter of the fall armyworm. However, even this can be hard to miss sometimes, especially if you are busy and are hardly at home.

You should also look for clipped grass blades. This is a sure indication of fall armyworm. Another thing to look out for is brown patches of grass. If you also notice a worm that curls into a C-shape when you prod it with a stick, you are, or rather your lawn is under attack.

Fall armyworms are also notorious for boring holes in the stalk of grass. Thus, you should watch your Bermuda grass carefully for such signs.

Get rid of garden pests fast using garden and lawn maintenance services

Once you realize that your lawn and garden have been invaded, you will want to do everything possible to get rid of the grub and armyworms. But as you look for information about this, you may find some sources saying you should use organic methods, and some saying that you should use chemicals.

Confused? Consult professionals to eliminate the guesswork out of the picture. When you call us, we will send lawn maintenance services professionals to your lawn to find out what kind of infestation you have. They will then advise you on the best pest control method.

Be careful with lawn chemicals!

Lawn chemicals can be dangerous if not handled properly. That is another reason why you need professional grass cutting services providers as they will have the means to control the spread of the pesticides. Lawn chemicals should not get into water bodies, vegetable gardens, storm water drains and human and pet inhabited areas. We advise spraying pesticides in calm weather as wind can spread these chemicals widely.

Before you use any kind of chemical in your garden, you should read the label closely and see whether it is approved for use on the kinds of plants that you have in your garden. You do not want to kill your plants, so take care.

You can see how intricate the process of pest elimination is. That is why you should hire a garden and lawn maintenance services team to mitigate the pest problem before they can cause too much damage. At TCLS, we usually advise our customers to call us as soon as they estimate the grub worm or armyworm damage to be about 5 percent.


Contact us  :

Author        : TenderCareLawnService

Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663

Telephone  : 337-313-3002

Grass Cutting Services And Other Fall Services For Your Lawn And Garden

The squirrel is wise. He starts collecting nuts and hiding them for winter in fall. As a lawn owner, you need to be as smart as the squirrel and start preparing for the fall and winter. It is not too hard to get your lawn ready for fall and winter, but there is quite some groundwork (pu to be done.
At TCLS, we are always ready to offer grass cutting services and other lawn maintenance services. That way, you can sleep easy throughout the cold season knowing your lawn has been taken care of by professionals.

Why hire grass cutting services to prepare your lawn for fall?

Many homeowners do not worry too much about their lawn in fall because the grass grows slowly. However, they forget that this is the perfect time to get the lawn ready for a healthy full bloom next spring.
There are many things to do to get your lawn ready for fall. From applying pre-emergent, trimming, mulching, overseeding with ryegrass and even getting the Christmas lights ready. You can see this is going to be quite a handful for you and your family. Well, that is why at TCLS, we go the extra mile and make your lawn beautiful for fall and winter.
Mowing the grass has to be done in a special way. You are mowing the grass to prepare it for winter. Our lawn care company has the right tools for any job, including fall lawn preparation.

The importance of trimming and mulching in fall

We get calls from homeowners in southwest Louisiana asking us whether it is okay to trim bushes in fall. The answer is yes, depending on the plants in your lawn.

Because of the slow weed growth in fall, many people wonder whether it is important to mulch. The good thing is that you can mulch leaves or use your lawn clippings. The main benefit is that mulching really helps keep your soil nutritious. When you use the lawn clippings for mulching, you will be saving yourself a lot of time and money. Instead of sweeping the clippings away and dumping them, it makes more sense to mulch with them.

As a professional lawn care company, we advise our customers to approach fall trimming cautiously. The reason for this is that pruning stimulates new growth, and the budding leaves and branches that may grow after trimming in fall may not harden up for winter.

When we come to your lawn, we check out all the plants since not all of them can be trimmed in fall. Some plants need to be trimmed in winter, some in early spring and some need not be trimmed at all. If you trim a plant that should not be trimmed, you could end up weakening it, causing its death in winter. This is one more reason why lawn care services providers should do the lawn work for you.

Why get our grass cutting services in fall?

In fall, the warm season grass growth slows down considerably, but that does not mean that it should not be mowed. In our package for lawn care services, we will continue to mow the lawn every week. The importance of mowing grass in fall is that it prevents the growth of mold on the grass blades in winter.

When mowing the grass in fall, lawn maintenance services advise homeowners to use a mulching mower. That way, we accomplish two things at the same time – mowing and mulching.

The mulching mower is designed with special blades that help spread the mulch over the ground. It also further chops the clippings into smaller pieces. With time and due to biodegradation, the grass clippings will wither away, adding to the organic nutrient content of the soil. It is very important to use a mulching mower since it will help prevent thatch build-up.

Overseeding with Rye grass

As part of our lawn care services, we also do overseeding with ryegrass. We start doing this around the middle of October. In a nutshell, we mow the warm season grass to a short height of about 2 inches and then seed the lawn with ryegrass. Ryegrass is a perennial grass that will keep the lawn looking green and thriving throughout the year.

It is best to overseed your lawn with rye grass from the October to mid November. You can call TCLS to arrange overseeding your lawn. The rye grass is going to keep your lawn green through the winter until spring when the warm season grass comes back to life.

Before we can start to overseed your lawn, we will first cut the existing grass to about 30 percent of its full height, usually leaving about 2 inches of grass from the ground. We will then remove the grass clippings unless they will be used for mulching and then use a rake to loosen the soil a bit.
Using a rotary spreader, we will spread the ryegrass, then apply a layer of sand on the seeds, just about a quarter of an inch to cover the ryegrass seed. After that, the lawn needs to be watered thoroughly to about a half of an inch deep. Watering should be continued for several days, a few times a day for a set amount of time.

Christmas lights installation in fall

As soon as fall sets in, you know that the holiday season is not too far off. Thus, it is time to get a professional lawn care company to look over your lawn to start planning for the installation of Christmas lights. This needs to be done carefully considering that your neighbors too will put up their lights and so you do not want to overshadow them.

If their bedroom windows is backed up towards your lawn, you want to install the Christmas lighting in such a way that it will not disturb them. As we offer professional grass cutting services and landscape services, we consider this and many more factors.

To save power, you need to install lights with a timer. You can have them running all night if you like. We usually start offering this service from October onwards. Our lights installation package also includes taking them down in the first or second week of January.

We advise you to arrange early with us because fall is a busy season and the spots for lights installation are limited. Call us on 313-337-3002 to schedule a time when we should come to install your lights.

Author         : tclsadmin
Contact us  :Lawn care services
Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663
Telephone  : 337-313-3002

Why Hire Lawn care Services To Apply Fertilizer and Chemicals in Your Lawn

The more you water your lawn, the more fertilizer you will have to apply. More water generally means more growth, hence the need for more nutrients in spring and sometimes summer. But what about fall and winter? Applying fertilizer to the lawn requires you to know a lot, which can be quite confusing. Call us at 313-337-3002 for professional lawn care services to get expert care for your lawn.

If you have noticed some bare, unevenly colored or brown patches in your lawn, it could mean three things:

1. You could be having some sort of lawn disease, which is less likely.
2. Your lawn needs fertilizer. This is very likely.
3. There has been drought.

But there are other plants in the lawn. There are shrubs, trees and flowers. They too need to be fed with fertilizer every now and then. Many homeowners know the basic rule of lawn fertilizers is based on the three numbers on the label. These numbers show the percentage of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. However, lawn maintenance services companies will tell you that different plants in the lawn need different nutrients.  

Well, even if you have not noticed any of the above mentioned tell-tale signs, you still need to apply fertilizer to your lawn every now and then. How often and what types of fertilizers and chemicals for your lawn depends on many things.

Save yourself the guesswork and the risk of errors. You want professional lawn care services to help you determine exactly what your lawn needs. When it is about the life of your lawn, you know you can never be too careful.

Best time to apply fertilize to your lawn

As fully-fledged lawn maintenance services providers, we always advise our customers to let us apply pre-emergent and chemicals to their lawns before winter. From our research and our extensive experience, we have found out that for a great effect in spring, it is better to apply fertilizers a couple of times a year starting in spring – through summer.

Knowing when to fertilize your lawn depends on many things apart from the time of the year. It also depends on the type of grass that you have on your lawn. Different types of grasses enter their peak phases of growth at different times.

As landscaping companies will advise you, the essence of applying fertilizer at the right time is to ensure that the grass has enough nutrients as it enters its peak growth phase.

The time to apply fertilizer to your grass may also depend on where you live. For example, landscape maintenance services in southern areas will advise homeowners to apply fertilizer in early summer or late spring for the warm season grass.

How to apply fertilizer – what professional lawn care services advise

Many homeowners know the importance of applying fertilizer and chemicals to their lawn, but they do not know how to do it.

Here are a few things to know:

Never apply fertilizer on wet grass – This could result to fertilizer burn, something that you certainly want to avoid. Instead, apply fertilizer on dry grass and then wash it down with water. Fertilizer burn is caused by over-application of fertilizer. You can recognize fertilizer burn when you see grass leaves appearing scorched.

Choose lawn chemicals carefully – If you want to use lawn chemicals in your lawn care, we advise you to choose the chemical carefully. Only get one that will treat the particular problem that has been bugging your lawn. Always remember that lawn chemicals are just like other chemicals and therefore handling with care is advisable.

Lawn chemicals are biocides, manufactured to kill insects, pests and other unwanted elements in the lawn. They are dangerous to plants, animals and humans too. That is why professional lawn care services employ every precaution to make sure that the chemicals are applied during the safest time of the day.

These chemicals can be absorbed into the human body through the skin, nose and mouth. Thus, every precaution is required to ensure the chemicals are not applied in windy conditions.

Choose your lawn fertilizers carefully – There are different types of lawn fertilizers. For example, slow release fertilizers are in granular or liquid form. This is a controlled fertilizer that will release nutrients gradually into the soil. Organic fertilizers contain no chemicals. Compost manure is one of the most popular of them all.

Chemical/synthetic fertilizers are made with by-products of petroleum products. Ammonium phosphate, potassium sulfate, superphosphate and ammonium nitrate are some of the best chemical fertilizers. Other types of fertilizers include specialty grass type fertilizers, liquid water soluble fertilizers and even seasonal fertilizers.

With so many mind boggling varieties, it can be quite challenging to know what is good for your lawn, and what is not. This is the main reason why you should let professional landscape maintenance services apply the fertilizers and chemicals for you.

Reasons to let lawn maintenance services apply your fertilizer

Just because you have noticed that a certain patch in your lawn is not the best greenish color, it does not necessarily mean lack of nutrients. On the contrary, it could be that you have a disease in the lawn. Thus, when the TCLS team comes to your lawn, we will help you identify any problems that you may have in your lawn.

Here is how we do it:

We test the soil

This is a core reason why you should hire lawn care services professionals to apply your fertilizer and chemicals for you. We test the soil! We do this to determine what nutrients your lawn needs, and in what quantity.

Soil testing helps us to determine just how much of a nutrient you need for a certain measure of lawn. The most important components that we test for in your soil are Phosphorus, Nitrogen and Potassium. By the time we are done, we can tell you the amount of any nutrient in pounds that you will need for the entire lawn.

Testing eliminates guesswork and error.

Best tools for the job

Spreading fertilizer, especially liquid or granular fertilizer without the right tools can cause a lot of wastage. Most of the granules will go where they are not intended to go, on sidewalks and pavements.

Our lawn care services team uses specialized equipment, which we can adjust so that it applies the fertilizer evenly all over the lawn. This prevents overlapping. Lawn fertilizers and chemicals pose the risk of getting into the nearby water bodies or also other non-grassy areas if spread in windy conditions.

We apply fertilizer at the right time of day

Apart from considering the season, lawn service companies also consider the time of the day when you apply the fertilizer. In spring, fertilizer should be applied once in six weeks, or after mowing a lawn 2 to 3 weeks, or after three mows.

In fall, you should also apply fertilizer at least once for strengthening the root system of the grass in preparation for winter. Sometimes, you may also be advised to apply winter fertilizer in late fall, but this will depend on the nutritional needs of your lawn.

Fertilizer and other lawn chemicals should not be applied when the sun is too hot and in calm weather. That way, your fertilizer is not blown to the sidewalk. If rain is in the forecasts, time your fertilizer application so that the rain can wash it down. If no rain is expected, you will have to use your sprinklers to water the fertilizer down.

We apply the fertilizer evenly

Even if you have a backpack sprayer to spray your liquid slow releasing fertilizer on your lawn, it does not mean that you will do a perfect job. The fertilizer should be applied evenly as an overlap could cause streaks in your lawn. This could mean that in spring, you will notice that some patches of your lawn are greener than others. This is caused by some parts having received more nutrients and others less.

Author         : tclsadmin

Contact us  :Lawn care services

Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663

Telephone  : 337-313-3002

Learn why technology should be important to a lawn care company

Technology permeates every aspect of our lives, from our cars, to our daily schedule, and even our entertainment. Is it then too much to expect that a lawn care company should also use technology to their advantage? When choosing from the many landscaping companies in your area, selecting the cheapest or geographically closest provider may be a big deciding factor for most people. However, if you take it one step further, you may realize that you’re overlooking an important aspect when selecting the lawn care company that could actually be saving you money in the long run.
A lawn care company may have a lot to offer by way of services, but finding one that does it all, and actually does it well, can be difficult. Finding the perfect one that actually uses technology to give it a competitive edge is…well…a rare treat.
Enter Tender Care Lawn Service, a company that not only uses technology for the usual scheduling and bookkeeping tasks, but also maximizes efficiency and customer satisfaction by leveraging all that technology has to offer and continues to tweak and improve processes and services by taking advantage of new features and tools that are developed.

Why choose a technologically savvy lawn care company

Imagine that you’re ready for some lawn care services. You’ve got your short list of lawn care companies that you’ve spent time comparing. Maybe you made some phone calls, perhaps you perused their websites, you probably also checked their reviews and Facebook pages. Next it’s time to get their estimates in. You diligently work with them to align your calendar with theirs and set up an appointment for them to come out and look at your property. What you don’t realize is that you’ve already spent valuable time that’s cost you money and perhaps even peace of mind to find the provider you’re finally going to settle on.
What if you were able to get back some of that time? How fantastic would that be? Imagine getting an estimate within minutes by simply providing your address to a lawn care company. That’s what we do. With the help of our software, we get a satellite view of your property, and can even measure the actual lawn area (not including the home, garage and hardscape). This enables us to give you an accurate and fast estimate for our grass cutting, weed and insect control, and fertilization services.
No more waiting around or moving things about on your calendar. We just want to make things that simple.

Landscape design made easier

Got some landscape ideas you’d like to see come to life? Give us a call and our designer will consult with you on what you have in mind and give you some ideas and pointers of our own. From there, we use computer software to actually draft out the design including it’s placement and layout so you can visually see the effect it will create. Want to make some adjustments? No problem. Since everything is now digital, making changes is a breeze and you get to see your landscape come to life the way you’d like it to be.

Easy, breezy lawn care services

Sometimes lawn care services are easily discernible, other times they’re not. If you’re signed up for routine lawn care maintenance, it may not be as easy as schedule it and forget about it. You may be one of those people that want to know that it actually got taken care of and when.

With Tender Care’s technology driven lawn care services, we ensure that there’s no mystery when we do the work. Not only do we leverage text messaging to inform you of upcoming appointments and when services are completed, we also use GPS tracking so that you know that our team did actually make it out to your property.

Taking it a step further, we thoroughly document the details of the service including photographing our truck at your property to confirm our presence and diligently cataloging important factors related to the service performed. From computerized verification of the proportions of the chemical mixtures used, to validating wind speed and direction, every aspect is analyzed to ensure that the service performed is done accurately.

It’s important for us to be transparent in how we do business so that our customers trust as a highly credible landscaping and lawn care company.

Author        : tclsadmin

Contact us :Lawn care services
                 
Address      :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663
                     Telephone: 337-313-3002

How Lawn Maintenance Services Can Transform Your Lawn

Not all of us can be as creative with shrubs as Edward Scissorhands, so if you think your shrubs need to be trimmed, call TCLS on 337-313-3002 for lawn maintenance services including shrub trimming. Turn your ordinary garden to extraordinary with a touch of the shears.

There are many reasons why you should trim shrubs. Pruning makes your garden look healthy, organized and well planned. Besides, the main reason why you have a garden in the first place is to increase the aesthetic appeal of your lawn. Regardless of how good a pruned garden looks, this is a hard task and many people avoid it. That is why you need to hire a lawn care company for regular trimming services and your lawn will stand out.

When you get in touch with us, we will send a professional team to do a lawn health analysis. This analysis includes identifying the types of plants on the lawn and the kind of care that each type needs. Shrubs in southwest Louisiana are varied, and each type requires a different kind of care. This is why we always propose that your shrub trimming should only be done by professional lawn care services. At TCLS, we offer trimming services as a standalone service or as part of the bigger, regular grass cutting services package.

Reasons to have lawn maintenance services trim your shrubs

Help the plants to spread out

Biologically, plants are engineered to grow upwards in a process referred to as apical dominance. However, when you let your plants grow upwards only, they will not have the leafage that you desire and your lawn will look sparsely populated. Because the hormone that enhances upward growth is contained in the terminal bud at the end of every stem, to encourage the plant to grow sideways, these buds need to be pruned. When pruning is done by a professional, it enhances the sideway spread of the plants.

Control the height of the plants

Landscaping companies use pruning as one way to control just how high a plant can grow. If you have in mind the height that you would like a hedge to grow to or need to adhere to regulations set by your homeowners association (HOA), you will have to prune the plants. However, you want to do the trimming just right so that you do not stunt its growth. If you trim it the correctly, it will grow back, and that is why trimming is a regular job. Some plants can grow quite large and that is why they need to checked. If you want to maintain a small landscape, trim your shrubs regularly.

Give old shrubs a new lease of life

Multi-stemmed shrubs can age with time, reaching a point where they do not grow anymore. However, if you need new leafage on the shrubs, you will have to prune the shrubs so that sunlight can get to the plant from all directions. You can even cut the shrubs to stubs in spring so that they can sprout new branches and new leafage.

Trimming allows more sunlight to reach smaller plants

When you have tall shrubs they may overshadow the smaller plants thus preventing sunlight from getting to the smaller plants and as a result, the plants experience stunted growth. Trimming the tall shrubs would allow the sunlight to get to the smaller plants, thus helping all life in your garden to flourish.

Control the spread of diseases

Keep your eyes peeled for plant diseases in southwest Louisiana. If you do not know the indications of plant diseases, you will not be able to prevent their spread. However, when you engage professional lawn maintenance services, they will be able to find the diseased branches and trim them. Some branches may also die because of weather or age. Deadwood on your shrubs makes an unsavory sight but you can correct that by trimming.

Trim shrubs to attain an aesthetic symmetry

At TCLS, we will do a full assessment of your shrubs to see which varieties need regular trimming and maintenance. Our professional team that we send to your home will provide the care that your plants need. Trimmed shrubs look balanced, giving your lawn that appealing effect throughout the year.

To enhance the color displayed by your plants

One of the ways that you can give your lawn foliage fresh color is by trimming the old leaves so that new leafage can grow. If you notice that your plants have different foliage, maybe they need to be trimmed to allow new leaves to pop out. You will see an enhancement of color in your garden. You can also help your plants re-bloom by trimming them. For example, plants can be trimmed in spring to enhance their summer bloom.

To increase your curb appeal

Landscaping for curb appeal is very sensitive because you have to get the symmetry, the size and the color right. If you mess up on any of those aspects, you could end up annihilating all the appeal. With geometric accuracy, the Tender Care Lawn Service team can turn any commercial or residential yard into a marvel of green beauty.

Other reasons

Aesthetic appeal is not the only reason why you want nicely trimmed shrubs. When you maintain your shrubs at a given height, you can get privacy, but also be able to see your pets, your car and most of your house from any part of the garden. With better visibility, you will feel assured of safety.

Why it is best for lawn maintenance services trim your shrubs

Trimming is something that is best left to lawn maintenance services because of the precision needed for the task. Being a big feature, if the shrub trimming is not done right, it will have a negative effect on the entire lawn. If it is done correctly, the effect can be outstanding and really lift up the entire garden space.


Author: tclsadmin
Contact us:Lawn care services
Address :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663 
Telephone: 337-313-3002

Why You Need Professional Landscaping Companies For Staking Trees

Staking trees is indeed a very sensitive job that should only be done by professional landscaping companies. While it appears like a simple task from a casual glance, so much could go wrong. For example, incorrect staking could lead to the tree not growing in girth as it should because staked trees tend to grow taller without increasing in thickness.

Another thing to bear in mind is that a staked tree will not move with the wind and experts say that wind movement for the trees stimulates growth. Thus, if you are thinking of staking your trees, call us at 337-313-3002 so we can help you determine whether it is absolutely necessary to stake it.

What is tree staking? Here’s what landscaping companies say

Staking is the process of stabilizing a tree during the initial stages of its growth by planting a stake in the ground near the tree and then tying the tree to the stake by use of material like rubber, cloth, wire or rope. Staking is very important when the tree has shallow roots and you are fearing that winds could blow it over. Usually, lawn service companies can advise you on how to appropriately stake your tree or even tell you whether your tree needs to be staked.

Call our lawn care company to see whether you need tree staking

If you have noticed some signs of root movement around the roots of your tree, that may mean it needs to be staked. When a tree does not have a strong root support system to support the weight of the part that is above the ground, then it needs to be staked to ensure that it doesn’t fall over.
If the tree bends too much to one side, it needs to be staked to straighten it up. Do not attempt this on your own. Seek the help of a lawn care company because you could end up bruising the tree too much, as you will be applying a counter-force. If not staked right, you could tamper with the growing part of the tree, and eventually stunt its growth or cause a deformity.
Staking a tree should be done in such a way that a serious effect like girdling can be avoided. Girdling occurs when a tree is tied too tightly to the stake and when the staking is not removed in time. A serious deformity of having a thicker trunk above the tie can occur. This leaves you with a tree that has a narrow trunk at the lower part which then thickens up at a certain point going upward.
Tying the stake loosely is not any good either. As the tree sways in different directions, the bark will be bruised and this may cause a disruption in the movement of nutrients from the soil to the other parts of the plant. When it comes to staking, don’t take any chances. This is something that needs to be done just right.
At Tender Care Lawn Service, we do our due diligence to determine whether the tree indeed requires extra support by staking. Should we determine that it does, we will choose the most appropriate type of staking for it.

Benefits of tree staking with landscape companies

Landscaping companies will show you why, in areas where the soil is shallow, young trees will need some extra support before they become stable. If you live in a windy region, you will need to stake your trees because the wind can bowl them over easily. Staking gives a young tree a new lease on life to grow to full bloom.
You will protect your tree from being vandalized. Vandals will destroy anything, but a strong stake is a good deterrent. It will also protect the tree from being damaged by pets.
Some trees have heavy branches and dense foliage which may not be well supported by the small root ball. Such a tree needs to be staked because the small root ball may not support the weight of the tree.
Staking will also realign a tree that leans too much to one side.
When it is done professionally, staking a tree is very beneficial. It enhances the health of your tree and helps it stabilize as it develops. After the staking period, it will start increasing in thickness.
If it is not done right, the tree will have reduced stem taper. This affects the strength of the trunk because a tree develops strength from those swaying movements. It may also hamper the “instinct” of the tree to develop a strong root system for stability and support.

Methods of staking trees

At TCLS, we use different methods of staking trees, as do other providers of grass cutting services and related services. Each method of staking a tree is determined by factors like the location, size and even shape of the tree.
Here are the most common staking methods:
Single stake tie – With this method, you will just use a single stake, leaving a space of about one inch between it and the tree. You are also going to insert a spacer between the tree and the stake. It is advisable to have the stake on the side that the wind blows from so that when the tree is blown, it sways away from the stake.
Double stake and crossbar – If you have a container grown tree and you would like to stake it, you ought to plant two stakes on each side of the tree and then nail a crossbar to both of them. You will insert a rubber block between the tree and the crossbar. A belt is then nailed to the crossbar with loose ends which are then used to secure the tree to the stake.
Multiple staking – Here, you can use more than two machine-rounded stakes and then secure the tree to the stakes with a belt. The stakes are positioned about 12 inches from the root ball.

When to remove the staking

It is recommended that you remove the staking of your tree at such a time as when you do not notice signs of movement at the roots. If the soil appears undisturbed, it means the tree is stable and can hold its own against the elements.
The longest period for staking should be, at the most, one year. Any longer than that would have a negative effect on the tree or it could mean that the tree has not benefited from the staking. Usually, we will not let the staking stay in place for a year. If it is done right, few to several months is what you need to set the tree straight and stable.

What landscaping companies advise for aftercare

Many people make the mistake of staking a tree and then leaving it to its means. However, some aftercare is required to make sure that the tree is faring well. You should monitor the ties regularly so that if you notice that they are too tight, you can redo them properly.
The most important  thing is to determine whether you need to stake the tree or not and in most cases, you do not need to. Landscape maintenance services will let you know whether you really need to stake that tree. Experts will also determine the kind of staking that you need for your tree.

Author: tclsadmin

Contact us:Lawn care services

 Address :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663

                  Telephone: 337-313-3002

Get the Best Bedding Plants Effects with help from our Landscape and Lawn Maintenance Services teams

If you are from Southwest Louisiana and you would like some bedding plants in your lawn, you need to select the plants that are best suited to the terrain and the climate. This can be hard without the help of professional landscape and lawn maintenance services. Call us on 337-313-3002 and we will help you select the best bedding plants for that season.
Spring is the best time for you to plant warm season bedding plants so that you can enjoy them in full bloom between April and October.

What are bedding plants?

Bedding plants are planted close together and because they have dense leafage and bloom, when they eventually do bloom, they create the most exciting burst of color in your garden or lawn. They are short, close to the ground and their bloom lasts a long time, mostly throughout the growing season.
To create dense colors that will stand out, you will need to buy or grow heavy mix of flowers. More plants could mean that you will pay more for your selection. Tender Care’s landscape maintenance team ensures that you get the best value for your money. We will make sure that every plant in the collection that you choose counts.
Some bedding plants only do good in cold weather while some thrive in warm weather. Without the assistance of lawn maintenance services, you may not know the right bedding plants to choose for your lawn.
Toiling on the soil in the summer heat can be devastating especially if you do not have the right tools for it. Preparing a bed requires proper tools, soil analysis, mulch, and other professional services to get the best outcome. In summer, the soil dries out fast. Professional landscaping services will be able to advise you appropriately on the best watering schedule to keep the plants properly nourished all the time.
It is important that you choose plants whose color will pop out so that they can complement the other colors already available on the lawn. In addition, you need plants that can provide dense cover so that they can stand out from the rest of the lawn. That way, even if you need to incorporate some art such as crafting works with the bedding plants, it will be easy.

Why get professional landscape and lawn maintenance services for your bedding plants?

Bedding plants require good care, and for them to thrive, they have to be planted in soil that’s well drained and rich in various nutrients. Otherwise, the plants may not form the perfect canopy that you were looking forward to. They might not bloom properly and worse, they may not even see the light of the day when they should bloom.
To create the perfect impression, you will need many types of flowers with bold colors, but they have to be coordinated. Whether it is pansies, ageratum, alyssum, lobelia, or cosmos, our professional team will analyze the soil in your lawn to see what types of flowers can grow best.
You also want to avoid mixing the colors too much and you can do this by avoiding the use of too many bedding plants in your garden. It requires a professional eye with many projects under the belt to determine just the right plants to grow that complement each other, thus creating an exciting color block to last you throughout the growing season.

Soil preparation is paramount

The health of the soil will determine the health of your bedding plants. That is why lawn service companies do not take chances with soil preparation. The soil requires to be turned to a depth of about 8 inches or more, then organic matter should be mixed thoroughly with fertilizer, and then the bed has to be raised above the ground to 8 inches.
If the soil is too heavy, for example, in areas that have clay soil, you need to make the bed bigger by adding more garden soil or buy top soil from the stores. All purpose fertilizer is good and should be mixed very well with the organic matter.
The soil has to be analyzed to determine the nutrients that it needs, pH balancing and so on. Mostly we encourage lawn owners to grow plants that are native to their area because such have good defense against the local pests, insects and elements.

Should you germinate your seedlings or buy transplants?

Many people prefer buying ready transplants but if you have the time, you can grow your own seedlings and then transplant them when the time is right. Growing your own seedlings enables you to choose the bedding plants that you want and you have control over the growing process. You can even grow plants that are not available in the local nurseries.
Depending on the timing, at TCLS, our landscape and lawn services team can advise you on when to buy or to start your own nursery.  You may even be able plant the seeds directly in the area where you want them to grow without needing to transplant.

Landscape maintenance services will ensure perfect lawn balance

A professional team follows five important factors for landscaping and design. These are color, form, line, texture, and scale. Every bedding plant is going to be placed in the right place where it will have the best effect. Landscaping companies know how to create a perfect balance in your lawn as every bedding plant added will work in tandem with the trees, grass, shrubs, perennials, biennials, and annuals in the yard. We ensure that there will be a good balance in your yard.
Bedding plants make the lawn look great, but they take some work. Thankfully, this is something that we have lots of experience with at TCLS, in addition to offering other services like grass cutting services and regular lawn maintenance services.

Author: tclsadmin

Contact us:
Lawn care services

Address :1497 W Houston River Rd,Sulphur, LA 70663

Telephone: 337-313-3002