Lawns

Get the Lawn Looking Nice

What do I do to get the lawn looking nice this spring? If you have thatch (a layer of dead material beneath the grass on the ground over ½ thick), rake the dead material up and remove it. You can get a dethatcher to pull behind a mower to pull up this dead material.

Pull type dethatcher
Pull type core aerator

If you have areas that will not grow a decent layer of grass, you might have soil compaction. Compaction does not allow the water and oxygen to get into the soil to allow root growth. You can buy an aerator that removes soil plugs and scatters the plugs on top of the ground. The cheaper is to use a hand aerator for small areas.

Overseeding small area

Overseed in sparse areas with suitable grass seed.

Fertilize in mid to late May when the grass “wakes up”. This prepares the lawn before the heat and dryness of summer come.

If you have a crabgrass problem, treat it with a crabgrass preemergent around the time when the lilacs bloom. This is when the soil warms and the crabgrass seeds germinate.

For the perennial weeds like dandelions, use an herbicide spray for the better kill. A weed and feed are good if you apply it correctly. The weed surface has to be damp for the weed and feed chemicals to work.

Easter

Coloring Easter Eggs

Eastertime always brings to mind coloring Easter eggs with food coloring with my mother. She would hard-boil the eggs and cool them. Then in a bowl pour in ½ cup of boiling water, ½ teaspoon of white vinegar, and 10 drops of food coloring (you can also mix the food coloring for different colors). Place the egg into the colored water for 5 minutes then remove. Dry on paper towels. By using a little glue after coloring the egg, roll in different colors of glitter.

Using a wax pen before coloring the egg

I remember taking a wax pen and making designs on the egg before placing them in the coloring. The waxed area does not retain the color. Remove the wax by holding the egg over a light bulb or candle.

You can use rubber bands on the eggs, then into the dye, and once dried remove the bands.

Vegetables for dyes

If you want to go back to colonial times, use vegetables without vinegar for the dye. Beets for pink, yellow onion skins for orange, turmeric for yellow, etc.

If you place a teaspoon of olive oil in the bowl and swirl the water then place the egg, you will get a tie-dye effect.

You can also use whipped cream or shaving cream Soak the eggs in the vinegar/water mix for a few minutes. Spread the whipped cream out, placing food coloring on the top with drops or swirls, and lightly mix in. Roll the eggs in this mix letting them sit for 15 minutes and wash the cream off.

If you do not want the mess, wrap the eggs with various colors of twine. Applying washi masking tape which is craft tape coming in any color imaginable.

The Easter Egg symbolized rebirth, so the monks used this symbol to teach the Easter story. Eggs were painted red to symbolize Christ’s Passion. Early monks decorated the eggs with the Passion story and hid the eggs so the children could find them. Then the kids would tell the story of the design of their egg.

Pruning trees and shrubs

Pruning Shrubs

Let us talk about pruning shrubs (multiple stemmed woody plants). There are two types of shrubs: ones that bloom on old wood (lilacs) and ones that bloom on new wood. For the ones that bloom on old wood (usually early flowering), wait till the shrub is done blooming before pruning (why sacrifice the flowers). The rest can be pruned now.
Most shrubs will be pruned because they are a tangled mess and you want to rejuvenate the growth.


1. Remove up to 1/3 of the plant. Remove the oldest canes by cutting them down to the ground. In three years, the shrub will have new canes and renewed vigor.


2. You can reduce the height by cutting the canes back. Cut above an outward bud using a bypass pruner and cut at a 45-degree angle.


3. If the shrub has a lot of growth in the middle, thin out the center by cutting the twigs back to the main cane. This allows air and light to get to the center of the plants reducing disease and insect damage.


Just doing these three things will make a teenager out of an old shrub new again.