We Support the Following:   © 2008 Beach Lawn Care, All rights reserved. Home    »    Tips & Tricks Click on the title to see the full tip Have Clippings Mulched: Mulching clipping saves up to 30% of the valuable nitrogen that your lawn needs to be healthy. Remove the clipping and you remove the nitrogen. Clippings that are bagged create waste that must be disposed of in landfills. For effective mulching blades must be sharp. The grass must not be too long (that means more than 5.5” for Fescue and St. Augustine). Mowing more frequently may be necessary especially during periods of high growth. If the grass is too long it should be bagged. If you can, keep the clipping and start a compost pile. The compost can then be used in your garden or beds. If clippings are mulched the lawn should be de-thatched to prohibit excessive thatch (matted dead grass clippings that choke the grass repel water and cause disease and fungus) See compost pile Compost: Decomposition is the beginning and the end of the food chain and essential to a healthy ecosystem. A healthy garden, bed or yard is an ecosystems. Establishing a compost pile is establishing recycling system that if used returns nutrients and organic materials to the system. Because most gardens and yards are contrived, they lack the balance of organic nutrients and microbes needed to promote health in the soil. By adding compost you add these needed ingredients. The greatest benefit of composting is reducing the amount of yard waste going to the landfill or being hauled off. Compost pile can be pens constructed out of wood, wire or masonry or they can simply be piles. Greens like clipping, vegetable peelings, coffee grounds or weeds should be alternated with browns such as dead leave and small twigs. No meat, dairy, or animal feces should be used. The pile should be turned occasionally to get air in and to mix the slower composting outer layers with the faster composting inner layers. After about 6 months you should be able to harvest some compost. To use the compost dig to the center and look for the dark fine compost this is the valuable compost. I like to add a top dressing to the vegetable garden every year, and add a couple of shovels full when transplanting. It can even be spread on your lawn as a top dressing. Container Planting: Ever pot a plant in large pot only to find out that the plant and its new home are too heavy to move? Try using an empty plastic bottle(s) in the bottom of the pot to take up space without using heavy soil. Drainage Problems: Having drainage problems? Look up. Most drainage problems start on your roof. Your roof is designed to be impermeable thus creating a great deal of runoff. The same goes for outbuildings such as sheds and garages and impermeable sidewalks and driveways and patios (check out our permeable paving solutions). Add up all of this impermeable surface and you have much more water than the average yard can handle in a down pour. If you don’t have gutters as long as the grade slopes away from the foundation you are fine. If you do have gutters make sure they are clean and installed to carry the water away from the house. Rather than sending the water to the city storm sewer via the street gutter consider French drains, and dry wells to retain the water they retain the water long enough to do some good for your plants or trees. Also see French Drains and Dry Wells, and Rain Barrels. Have Your Soil Tested: Many problems with your lawn start with poor soil. A health lawn is more tolerant of diseases and pests. If the soil does not have the right amount of nutrients your lawn will never be healthy. Rain Barrels: Rain barrels capture the water that comes off your roof. Without a system to capture this water, it normally ends up running off your property and eventually in to a natural body of water carrying nitrogen, oil, antifreeze, phosphorus, fecal matter, and other pollutants that harm the ecosystem. The rain barrel captures this water and allows you to use it to water plants and the lawn at a later date when the water will soak in to the soil rather than run off. This allows your lawn and plants to benefit from nutrients; it prevents erosion, and conserves water. Beach Lawn Care sells and installs rain barrels.  Watering: Watering should only be done if necessary. Most grasses require about 1” of water a week to be healthy. Use a rain gauge to see if you are getting enough water. If you must water, make sure that your sprinklers are aimed correctly. Water your grass in the morning. Watering in the evening promotes disease and fungi. Once established fungi are expensive to treat and hard to get rid of. Use drip irrigation or soaker hoses to water shrubs and beds. Use mulch to prevent evaporation and weeds. Use rain barrel to capture and save rainwater. See Rain Barrels  Why mulch?: Mulch has many benefits, they include conserving moisture and protecting exposed roots, discouraging weeds, preventing erosion in new beds and providing a natural back drop for plantings. Trees should be mulched so that when the grass is trimmed with a trimmer the string trimmer does not need to get close to trunk thereby, avoiding bark damage.