Heritage Lawns and Irrigation

Cold and Drought Don’t Go Together, Do They??

Wes — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:10:36 +0000

Generally we don’t think of drought conditions when the weather has been as cool and comfortable as it has been this last few weeks. Lows in the 40′s and high’s in the mid 70′s is about perfect in my book. But what we are lacking is rain. Not for a lack of trying but the measly .6 inches of rain for the month of April is starting to hurt. If you have new grass from last fall or new plants in the ground, a good deep soaking is called for this weekend. If the weatherman in right and we get into the upper 80′s later next week things will really show stress. With the cooler temperatures your lawn still needs about 1″ of water per week, usually in 2 waterings. If you start to see brown spots showing in the lawn or plants and flowers wilting dry conditions are the first place to look.

Baling the Lawn

Wes — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:00:21 +0000

The spring rains are making the lawns grow like wild fire. The rule is to mow frequently enough so that you don’t remove more than 1/3 of the leaf blade. Lawns are growing so fast right now that means mowing every 3 days. But if you are like me you don’t have enough hours in a day to mow 2 or 3 times a week. So you end up mowing grass that is eight inches tall. What do you do? You can’t leave the clumps of clippings on the lawn because they will suffocate the grass under it and leave bare spots. Your options all revolve around handling the clippings. 1. You can bag the clippings and compost them for later use. 2. You can double cut the lawn in opposite directions which cut the clippings up smaller so the filter down into the grass.3. Use growth regulators like our mowing reducer during high growth times to reduce shoot elongation. This gives you a few more days between mowings. 4. Rake up the clumps after mowing.How ever you choose to do it, makes sure you clean up your clippings or you will have bare spots which lead to weeds.

Chicks in Spring I didn’t realize you can still buy chics at Tractor Supply. It brings back memories of the old FFA days. Spring is definitely the time to start fresh and new. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past we can start fresh today.

Wes — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:51:34 +0000

Tip of the Lawn Care Trade for the First Spring Green Lawn on the Block

Wes — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:25:10 +0000

Spring is here in Kansas City and lawns are starting to green up all over town. If you want to have one of the first green lawns on your block here is a little trick of the trade. Now, before your lawn is completely green and growing, set your lawn mower down about 2 notches lower than you normally mow. Then mow and bag off all the old dead grass and leaves that have accumulated over the winter. This doesn’t actually make your lawn green up any faster but it allows the new grass to show through.
Don’t forget to set your lawn mower back to 3″ when your finished.

Let’s get spring started

Wes — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:48:57 +0000

Another beautiful 60 degree day here in Kansas City. We’re getting spoiled now. The first lawn treatments of the year started going down this week. With any luck we’ll have some solid green lawns by St. Patrick’s Day.

Tree Older Than Jesus Burns To The Ground

Wes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:53:51 +0000

It’s a sad day when a tree that is over 3,500 years old comes to an end. On January 16, the 5th oldest tree in the world, nick named “The Senator” burned to the ground. It is still under investigation as to what caused the fire but since it is a national landmark if it turns out to be arson there could be federal charges. You can read a bit more from the local news in Florida here http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2012/january/370329/The-Senator-falls,-worlds-5th-oldest-tree-destroyed-by-fire

Winter watering technique I took some of my own advice this last weekend and watered a bed of hosta and corel bells that were very dry. I believe in making work enjoyable.

Wes — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:59:52 +0000

Winter watering

Wes — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:47:32 +0000

Birds need a drink in the winter too

Still no snow in Kansas City yet this year. The weatherman is saying we are getting close to records for the latest ever, which is sometime in March back in the dust bowl days of the early 30′s. That ought to tell you something. WE ARE GETTING DRY! Especially the evergreens. I took two calls this week from homeowners worried about boxwoods and hollies that were turning brown. The cute birds I found in this picture aren’t the only ones that need water during these prolonged dry spells, hot or cold. The warmer windy days aren’t helping. Think of it this way. The deciduous trees and shrubs that drop their leaves don’t transpire much water during the winter, but the evergreens still do. So when we have warm windy days they need almost as much water as they do in the summer. No snow, frozen ground, and windy days all make it hard on our evergreens like boxwood, holly, yews, azaleas, arbovitae, pines etc.

Here is a good article from Colorado State University on winter watering

A slow trickle from a garden hose in the middle of the day when temperatures are over 40 is pretty simple. Don’t forget to unhook your hose and drain it so nothing freezes and breaks when the temps drop again.

Heritage Lawns & Irrigaion Christmas Party

Wes — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:08:42 +0000

We had a great get together at the Independence Center watching the Missouri Maverics hockey team. Check out the funny video from the sprinkler guys. It was great to get together with everyone. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heritage-Lawns-Irrigation/106660604309

Merry Christmas everyone.

When to mow new grass

Wes — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:04:51 +0000

Now that seeding season has been under way for about a month we are getting calls about how tall should the lawn get before the first mowing.
As a general rule we don’t want the lawn to get real tall before we mow it. We still live by the guideline that you don’t want to remove more than 1/3 of the leave blade any time you mow. Therefore mowing at 3″ means you should mow the lawn when it is 4″ tall.
That brings to mind then what to do if the older grass is getting tall enough but the new grass isn’t? You still mow when the old grass is 4″ to a height of 3″ The same thing can occur when some new grass grows faster than the rest. You should still mow when that portion of the lawn gets 4″ tall. You may not have to mow the entire lawn that weekend but you should mow the tall parts until the entire lawn is tall enough to mow.

Check out my cheesy video to get another idea of what I’m talking about http://www.youtube.com/user/WesOry#p/a/u/1/4WV3qkIbhg4