Tag Archives: lawn care

Fall Landscaping for Spring Beauty

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“Autumn is here! With plenty of beautiful fall days still ahead, now’s the perfect time to tackle a few simple tasks that will boost your backyard and patio landscaping for the seasons to come. In fact, fall is a critical season for yard maintenance, setting the foundation for a lush, vibrant landscape in the spring. Read on for our top recommendations to ensure a stunning spring landscape through smart fall preparation:

Raking Leaves in Phases

Raking leaves is one of the most essential fall landscaping tasks, but there’s more to it than just keeping things tidy. When leaves build up on your lawn, they block sunlight, which interrupts photosynthesis and deprives your grass of vital oxygen. This weakens your lawn, and in time, can lead to flooding, fungal problems, or pests. Instead of tackling it all at once, we suggest raking in phases throughout the season. This gives your lawn the chance to dry out and soak up as much sunlight as possible.

Lawn Aeration

Fall is also an excellent time to aerate your lawn. Aerating, or creating small holes in the soil, improves air, water, and nutrient flow, which strengthens root systems and overall grass health. Here in Northeast Wisconsin, where clay-based soil is common, the ground can become compacted from heavy winter snow and foot traffic, making aeration even more essential. It’s like giving your lawn a deep breath of fresh air! Our team starts lawn aeration in September as part of fall cleanup, ensuring the healthiest lawn conditions going into winter. If you have questions or want to schedule aeration, please reach out to our team of maintenance professionals.

Lawn Overseeding

If your lawn has some bare or damaged areas, fall is the ideal time for overseeding. Seeding now helps new grass develop strong root systems before winter sets in, and these roots will continue growing even in colder temperatures, setting the stage for a thick, healthy lawn in the spring.

Planting Perennials, Shrubs, and Trees

Believe it or not, fall is also perfect for planting perennials, shrubs, and trees. The soil is still warm, allowing roots to establish before winter, while the cooler temperatures are easier on the plants, reducing transplant shock. If you have spring-blooming perennials that need dividing, now is the time to split and transplant them—this way, the plant’s energy can go toward root and leaf growth instead of flowering.

Visit our Appleton showroom to explore our selection of perennials, shrubs, and trees, and complete your fall landscape design. Just remember to water your plants regularly until the ground freezes—or as we like to say, ‘Put them to bed with their feet wet!’

Pruning

We recommend waiting to prune trees, shrubs, and roses until they are fully dormant – typically in late winter for most varieties. However, most perennials like hostas and daylilies can be trimmed back once their bloom cycle is complete. When cutting back perennials, use sharp pruners to trim foliage down to 3-5 inches above the soil. This layer helps insulate the roots during winter and allows you to easily locate the plants in spring, reducing the risk of damage from yard work or mulching. As you handle fall landscaping, remember that some perennials, such as grasses, coneflowers, and black-eyed susans, can provide winter food and shelter for birds if left intact. These can be cut back during early spring cleanup. When pruning hydrangeas, always identify the variety before trimming. Since different hydrangea types have varying growth periods, pruning at the wrong time could remove next year’s buds.

The season may be winding down, but the effort you put into your fall yard maintenance will be rewarded with a beautiful outdoor space come spring.  Embrace the fall season and watch your landscape flourish in the seasons to come!

As always, our team of dedicated horticulturists, designers, and gardening specialists are here to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. Reach out to us at 920.788.6344 or stop into our garden center; we’ll be happy to help you on the way to a healthy, successful landscape this season!

5 Common Questions from Spring Gardeners

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The snow has finally melted, those first few signs of growth are peeking out of the planting beds, and the sun is warming up a little more with each passing day. Many of us are starting back in on lawn and landscape care, hoping to nip last year’s problems in the bud, and setting sights on improvements for the coming season. Here at our garden center, we receive many questions and concerns this time of year, and strive to help you build a backyard you’re confident in and comfortable with. Here are a few of our most common spring inquiries and the solutions we recommend:

  1. I had dandelions and crabgrass in my lawn last year. What do I need to do this year to prevent them?

For crabgrass, the best way to avoid a recurrence this year is to apply a preventive herbicide prior to May 10. We use a fertilizer with an herbicide built in as our first step in our lawn care program. Thus, you take care of two early lawn needs at the same time. For dandelions, you need to wait until they begin growth in spring to kill them. Although there are lawn fertilizers with broadleaf weed killers built in, the best way to control them is to use a liquid application of broadleaf herbicide. This does a better job of coating the weed and allows more of the active ingredient to be taken up by the weed to kill it.

2. When can I begin planting my garden?

Wisconsin weather can be very unpredictable in any season, especially spring. (And definitely this year!). For most plantings, you need to know the average last frost date. In the Fox Cities area our average “Last Frost Date” is May 27. If you want to take your chances, the “Typical Last Frost Date” (when you still have a 30% chance of getting hit by frost) is May 10. That said, we normally recommend most plantings of frost-sensitive plants such as annuals, tender perennials, vegetable plants, and seedlings be made after Mother’s Day. Cool season vegetables and annuals can generally be planted out sooner, though; these would include broccoli, lettuce, parsley, carrots, beets, leaf lettuce, radishes, and even peas! Please note, you may have to cover or take in plants showing lush growth if heavier frosts are predicted.

3. My soil is hard. What can I do?

Add compost to your soil and till or work it in to a depth of 6 to 8 inches to provide nutrients and better soil structure. This can be done a couple of times a year. Also, covering your vegetable gardens in the late fall/early winter with compost, straw, or chopped leaves will help prevent hard soils the following spring.

4. When potting planters for yard accents, what are the best tips for success?

Make sure your pot allows room for plants to breathe; that is, allows water and air exchange in some way either through its sides, bottom, or both. Drainage holes are very important. Add compost or worm castings to your potting mix for extra organic nutrients in your soil, which will help fuel your plants to produce more blooms or fruit. Know the plants that you want to use and place plants with similar needs together. In other words, don’t put plants that prefer moist soils with plants that prefer it dry, or shade plants mixed with sun-lovers. Finally, make sure that your overall soil level is a couple of inches below the rim of the planter, allowing room for water to soak in (and not run all over your patio!).

5. What is the best way to clean up my lawn in spring, and when should I start mowing?

Assess if your lawn needs to be dethatched. We don’t recommend dethatching if the thatch layer is less than 1/2″ thick. In fact, those thatch levels are beneficial to your lawn: they act like a mulch to conserve moisture and temperature, and aid in root development. Thatch layers over 1″ aren’t good for your lawn, though, as they block water and fertilizer from reaching roots, resulting in drought stress and lawn disease. If you do need to dethatch or rake your lawn, do so as weather conditions permit. Raking when lawns are too wet will result in pulling out large amounts of roots and live grass parts. As you assess the state of your lawn, know that now is a great time to reseed or sod lawn areas injured by the winter, too.

Do not mow the lawn until it has grown at least 2 inches.  The roots are being renewed in the spring and grass needs vigorous initial top-growth for a healthy season.

As always, our team of dedicated horticulturists, designers, and gardening specialists are here to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. Reach out to us at 920.788.6344 or stop in to our garden center; we’ll be happy to help you on the way to a healthy, successful landscape this season!

Why the Lawn Face? Fun Facts and Lawn Care Tips

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April is National Lawn Care Month and we want to share 10 fun facts and 10 fun tips about lawns and caring for them. With these facts you will not only appreciate your lawn more, but also learn how to take your lawn game to the next level. No more lawn face, it is time for your lawn to show that fresh cut, pearly green smile. 

Fun Facts About Your Lawn

  1. A 50×50 foot area of healthy lawn generates enough oxygen to supply a family of four.
  2. Lawns are 3x more productive at producing oxygen than trees. 
  3. 1 acre of grass produces more oxygen than 1 acre of rainforest.
  4. Using turf instead of concrete on road embankments reduces traffic noise by 200%.
  5. Eight healthy lawns have a cooling effect similar to air conditioning needed to cool 16 homes.
  6. There are about 10,000 different species of grass worldwide.
  7. Lawns trap about 12 million tons of dust annually.
  8. Lawns reduce runoff, the average golf course receiving one inch of rain absorbs 4 million gallons of water.
  9. Well maintained turf grass can increase the property value of a home by 15-20%.
  10. Various species of grass are found in bread, whiskey, and beer, some of our favorite things!

Lawn Care Tips

  1. Make sure your mower blades are sharp. Sharp blades prevent the grass from tearing which can result in brown tips 
  2. Aerate! Compacted grass does not grow well. You can even use a garden fork by pushing it into the grass about 3-4 inches and gently rocking it back and forth. 
  3. Smart irrigation saves about 15-20% on your water bill and has sensors that determine how much water your lawn actually needs.
  4. Water in the morning or later in the evening. This helps prevent large amounts of water from evaporating.
  5. Different species of grass have different needs. Talk to a professional to ensure you are using the right fertilizer, at the right time, in the right amounts. Do not over apply fertilizer and pesticides!
  6. Leave your lawn longer in the summer (~3.5 inches when cut) to help prevent drought. 
  7. Cut your lawn short before the winter to prevent vole/mice damage (~2 inches).
  8. Fertilize when rain is in the forecast or water in your fertilizer so it gets down to the roots.
  9. Thatching your lawn pulls out valuable organic matter and is not recommended except for in extreme cases.
  10. The best time to sow grass seed is late summer to early fall when the temperature is more consistent and many competitive weeds are at the end of their life cycle.

 Give Vande Hey Company a call today to set up your lawn care package! With our help there will be no more lawn faces, only pearly green smiles you can show off to your neighbors.

Sources: Vande Hey Company Professionals, National Association of Landscape Professionals, Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, International Society of Agriculture