Summer Lawn Care Tips for Keeping Your Grass Green in Milwaukee

Summer is the most active period for your lawn. And, with the right summer lawn care tips, your lawn has the potential to look full and green all season and provide the perfect outdoor environment for you and your family. However, giving your lawn a good mow every week isn’t enough to keep it healthy. There are a number of other necessary steps you’ll need to take.

Excessive heat and drought can wreak havoc on your lawn. But there are some simple summer lawn care tips that can help protect your grass and keep it looking healthy. Here are some of the most important ones.

Summer getting their lawn mowed on a summer day

Use a Slow-Release Fertilizer

You may have applied fertilizer last spring, but that won’t last forever. Now it’s time for another application of slow-release fertilizer to help give your lawn the nutrients it needs to get through the summer.

Slow-release fertilizers work by releasing a small amount of nutrients each time you water. This means you won’t need to fertilize as frequently as you do with other lawn care products.

In addition to applying fertilizer, consider leaving your grass cuttings instead of bagging them when you mow. This will provide extra fertilization and help strengthen your lawn.

Get Rid of Grubs

After a wet spring, many lawns in the Milwaukee area get infected with grubs. These are beetle larvae that feed on the root system of your lawn.

There are a few signs you may have a grub problem. You may start seeing dead patches where they’ve chewed on the roots. You may also notice rodents such as raccoons in your yard foraging for the grubs.

If you have an issue, you’ll need to perform grub control as soon as possible. Garden centers sell grub control you can easily apply to get rid of the problem.

Proper Watering

You’re most likely aware of the importance of watering your lawn. However, doing it incorrectly can do more harm than good.

It’s better to perform heavy watering less frequently than it is to water on a regular basis. Of course, if you’re dealing with a serious drought, your grass will show signs of damage. In this case, you can increase the frequency.

It’s also better to water in the early morning before the sun is at full strength. This reduces the amount of evaporation that occurs in hot weather.

Regular Mowing

Mowing on a regular basis helps keep your lawn as healthy as possible. If you’ve been getting lots of rain, you may even consider mowing twice a week.

The most important thing to remember when mowing is to never cut your grass too short. Summer lawns need to protect their root system from the heat, so be sure to raise the blades on your mower.

A good rule of thumb is to never cut more than one-third of the length off your grass. This will keep your lawn looking full and green.

Perform Smart Summer Lawn Care for Greener Grass

Protect your grass from the harsh summer heat using these easy tips. Remember these summer lawn care basics and you can enjoy a healthy, great-looking yard all season—and ensure your grass is healthy heading into next fall.

Don’t have the time or energy to keep your garden up to snuff? We can help! We provide a full range of lawn care and landscaping services to the Milwaukee and Southern Wisconsin area. Contact us today.

The Homeowner’s Guide to Sustainable Landscape Design

If your property is in need of some landscaping work, don’t forget to consider the environment before jumping in. After all, it’s everyone’s responsibility to look after our planetary home and to keep it clean and thriving.

Thankfully, choosing a sustainable landscape design is possible by making some very simple choices.

Wondering what those choices are? Keep reading for a full guide of simple landscape ideas to keep your property environmentally-friendly and safe for yourself and your family!

pretty landscaped lawn with sustainable design and mulch

Overload on Plants

Plants create the oxygen that allows us to live and breathe. So, whether you like shrubs, trees, bushes, grass, or flowers, don’t hold back!

When it comes to adding plants to your landscape, the more you plant, the better it is for the environment. Not only will this produce more oxygen, it will also help to filter harmful toxins from the air.

In order to pack as much greenery into your property as possible, brainstorm some creative ways to add plants to each aspect of your landscape. For example, think up some unique driveway flower bed ideas, conceptualize ways to add in potted plants around your property, and consider ribbon driveways to add a little extra grass.

Incorporate Composting

Composting has an unfair reputation of being complicated and annoying. However, this is only true if it’s done improperly. When executed well, composting is a simple way to create a rich, natural fertilizer for your home’s landscape.

Just decide whether you would like to create a cold or hot compost, and then research what waste from your home you can use. Then, simply combine the materials, stir, and add water. Composting is a vital part of all sustainable landscapes.

Conserve Water Usage

The next time you’re home on a rainy day, do some detective work. Where does the water around your property pool? Where does it drain?

By figuring out these patterns, you can plan where to place water-loving plants around your property in a way that harnesses the natural flow of your property. You can also collect water runoff, which can then be used to give your plants extra hydration without ever running a tap.

Conserving water is one of the best easy sustainability projects that helps our environment in a big way.

Stay Away from Harsh Chemicals

Some products used in landscaping can be harmful to us, our pets, and our planet. Make sure that you research each and every product that you are using on your property to support sustainable landscape design. Pesticides, in particular, can contain harsh chemicals to watch out for.

Stay Indigenous for a Sustainable Landscape Design

Did you know that plants that are indigenous to your area require less water, fewer pesticides, less fertilizer, and work in harmony with your local fauna? It’s true! Choosing indigenous plants for your landscape is one of the simplest sustainability ideas that you can incorporate into your life.

Ready for Your Own Sustainable Landscape?

As you can see, a sustainable landscape design is achievable for everyone through just a little mindfulness. By cutting out harsh chemicals, composting, conserving water, and keeping things local, we can all do our part in maintaining a healthy environment.

Have any questions or comments, or are you ready to dive in and start designing your own sustainable space? Feel free to contact us for professional help. We service the Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls areas.

The Best Landscape Lighting Ideas for Your Backyard Oasis

Are you in the process of renovating your backyard this summer? If so, before you invest in quality patio furniture for your new sanctuary, remember to think about how you’ll light it.

When it comes to yard lights, are you picking out the best ones? If you’re not sure, start planning your own backyard oasis by reading these inspirational landscape lighting ideas first.

Ggarden illuminated by lamps

1. The Top Landscape Lighting Ideas Always Include LED Lights

LED flood lights are equipped with bright wide-viewing angles for optimal light. And some energy-efficient ones are programmed to save you energy when they consume as little as 50 watts.

If you have some outdoor displays you wish to light up, especially during the holidays, you should purchase LED floodlights for the occasion. LEDs are easy to install and usually come with a seven-year warranty.

LED floodlights are great for illuminating large trees found in your backyard, too. If you need to cover a lot of square footage, it’s best to choose floodlights because of their wide angles.

2. LED Fountain Lights

Installing a water feature in your backyard brings a sense of tranquility to your outdoor space. And garden lighting can be incorporated into the water feature of your choice no matter what size you find.

If you plan on spending hours after work chilling out on your back porch, you should consider installing a water fountain or pond to immerse yourself in a peaceful state of mind.

When you install your water fountain, find bright LED fountain lights to inject some illumination to your water jets. You can customize the colors of the LED lights in unexpected ways too because they can change from gorgeous shimmery blues to vibrant pink in a matter of minutes.

What better way is there to create the perfect backdrop for a summertime family BBQ than cascading waterfalls accompanied by LED lights?

3. Path Lights

Yet another option for you to create nice landscape lighting in your backyard is to find the right landscaping path lighting.

If you have small children, they need to be able to see where they are walking at night when they play outdoors. It’s important to have a well-lit backyard so everyone can enjoy spending time outside when the sun goes down in the evening.

Path lights are the perfect way to discover the beauty of outdoor accent lighting because they’re typically easy to install.

In no time, you can set up these path lights, whether they are in the ground or above ground, to light your way through your yard. Remember to place them across from each other to balance out the lighting.

Not Sure What Lighting Features Are Best for Your Yard?

If you know you want lighting for your backyard but aren’t sure where to start, contact us today. Our design staff can recommend options to fit your lifestyle and your budget. We offer full-service landscaping and landscape lighting services throughout the Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls areas.

How to Know When to Trim, Cut, and Remove Trees on Your Property

It’s that time of year when it’s starting to get warm out and you start thinking about your yard. So, what about that big tree that’s spanning across your driveway? How do you know when it is the right time for tree trimming?

Pruning, cutting, or trimming at the wrong time of year can damage your plants. So, let’s take a look at the different seasons throughout the year, and when it’s best to prune, cut, and trim your trees.

Gardener pruning a tree

Pruning and Tree Trimming

There are different steps you should take when getting ready for pruning and tree trimming in different seasons. What you do in winter will be different than what you do in summer.

Summer

The goal for tree trimming and pruning in summer is to direct the tree’s growth patterns. Things to keep in mind when pruning in the summer include:

  • There is a process called dwarfing where you remove the unwanted branches from the tree.
  • Pruning works to slow down and limit the growth of a tree. By pruning, you lower the number of leaves on a tree. By doing this, the tree stops producing as much food and it signals to the roots of the tree that it needs to grow.
  • Summer pruning and trimming are all about correcting growth and getting rid of defective branches. There may be branches that are in the way of your house or have broken due to a storm.

The exposed branches are easier to identify in the summer, so this is the best time to trim.

Winter

While pruning in the winter may be a lot colder than in the summertime, it’s more common. Trees are dormant, so they aren’t actively growing. Some things to keep in mind about winter pruning include:

  • Pruning trees in the winter allows for new growth in the spring.
  • Pruning for growth, not getting rid of defective limbs, is best in the winter time. Make sure you wait until the worse part of winter has passed.
  • Some trees go through a bleeding process, which involves the tree releasing sap. This is not harmful to the tree, and the tree will stop producing sap when spring comes.

Trimming Healthy Branches

While tree trimming, remember:

  • Trimming healthy branches on a tree is more difficult than branches that have died.
  • Branches that are diseased need to be cut off in order to stop them from affecting the rest of the tree. Other branches that need to be trimmed are ones that rest on each other, limiting growth.
  • If you do have branches that are diseased, it’s best to trim them in the winter because the disease can become dormant in the cold and won’t spread.
  • Branches that are healthy that you need to trim will require more effort to cut through because the fibers are strong and woven tightly together. When you cut through a healthy branch, it will often produce sap.

Time to Trim!

As you can see, there are different times and seasons to prune your trees depending on what your ultimate goal for them is. If you’re not keen on doing it yourself, you can hire a landscaper or a company that excels in tree trimming. They’ll know what to do.

And, if you’d like expert help, contact us now. We can help you determine the best time and way to prune your trees!

How Winter Lawn Care Services Can Protect Your Landscaping

Maintaining the lawn of your dreams isn’t just about taking care of it during the summer months. If you want lush grass and landscaping you and your family will enjoy, you need to think about it year-round. This is especially true in autumn, when you need to prepare your lawn for the upcoming winter.

The good news is you don’t have to go at it alone! Good lawn care services can help minimize the time and effort you need to spend on it yourself. This is great when you have a lot of area to cover.

someone trimming grass

Whether you do it yourself or you enlist the help of professionals, there are a few things you need to make sure you finish before winter hits. This ensures your lawn will be healthy in the spring. So, if you do nothing else this autumn, do these three things and you’ll be happy with the results.

Go Short

Many lawn care services sites recommend you cut grass on a higher setting and mow more often during the summer months. This is because maintaining a longer cut will help your lawn fight against invasive weeds and pests. By cutting more often, you are adding small amounts of healthy nutrients back into the soil all summer long.

For the winter months, your grass will grow much more slowly—or even stop altogether—so cutting short in fall has advantages. A shorter cut will help protect new growth and give the grass a head start come springtime.

Feed Those Plants!

Whether you only have grass to worry about or a huge flower garden with trees to boot, fertilizing your plants properly is one of the most important things you can do for a great landscape. Remember these tips for flawless lawn fertilization:

  • Plants need three things to grow: water, sunlight, and nutrients. Nature will always take care of the sunlight, and you may need to help with the watering, but supplying nutrients is 100% all you.
  • Laying down fertilizer on the lawn and compost for your gardens and trees allows nutrients to soak into the ground. This builds up a nice reservoir of nitrogen to strengthen growth in the spring.
  • Always follow the instructions on your fertilizer or you’ll run the risk of burning your plants.

Talk with Local Lawn Care Services

Plants in different regions of the country have different requirements for healthy growth. Understanding the needs of your lawn and garden may be a challenge when gearing up for winter, but getting expert advice from local lawn care services can help. For instance:

  • Many offer winterizing services that can get your lawn ready to face the cold months ahead.
  • They can also answer any questions you may have.
  • If you don’t understand how to properly fertilize or if you wonder what else you can do, they can provide help tailored to your growing region.

Getting your lawn ready for winter can be a real challenge, so can check out even more services here.

4 Main Benefits Of Stump Grinding

Tree stumps can be unsightly, annoying, and at times, dangerous. If you have a stump on your property from a cut, dead, or fallen tree, stump grinding eliminates the unwanted stump. That’s what makes stump removal an essential element of good tree care and yard maintenance.

ground tree stump

Read on to learn the four main benefits of tree stump grinding.

1. Improve Aesthetics and Regain Space

Tree stumps can make an otherwise tidy, well-kept yard look neglected. Removing stumps can instantly improve the look of your property. This increases the overall property value and its visual appeal.

In addition to aesthetics, space is also an important issue, especially if your yard is smaller. A tree stump can take up space in an area that could be used for other yard design elements. Stump grinding gives you that space back, both above and below ground.

2. Avoid Accidents and Inconvenience

While a tree stump might not seem dangerous, it can be a major trip hazard for anyone. This is especially an issue with senior citizens and small children.

Removing a stump is not only a necessary safety measure for yourself and your family, it also removes the possibility of a stump-related accident that could cost you a lot of money. If someone is hurt on your property, you could be liable for any injuries they suffer.

Inconvenience

Tree stumps can be a real pain when you’re mowing. Having to carefully maneuver around them gets old, and, if you accidentally hit one, you could damage your mowing equipment. Having the stump ground and removed ensures that you’ll have no stump-related injuries or hassles.

3. Protect Against Disease and Pests

Tree stumps on your property might look harmless, but they could be harboring many undesirable pests or diseases. Insects and other pests can take up residence in these stumps. Not having stumps removed gives those insects plenty of opportunities to settle in and multiply.

Disease

These stumps are often from trees that died of disease. Removing the stump can prevent the spread of tree diseases from the stump to other healthy trees in the vicinity.

4. Stop Stump Sprouting

If you’ve paid for tree removal, you don’t want to have to deal with that tree again. Stumps that are left behind can quickly begin to sprout and regrow. This regrowth eventually will have to be addressed with another costly tree removal attempt.

Stump grinding ensures that this doesn’t happen. Both the stump and the roots below are destroyed and removed so that regrowth won’t become an issue. In this way, deciding to have your stump ground when you cut down the tree can save you money in the long run. It takes care of the issue the first time, eliminating the chance for sprouting.

Stump Grinding Is Always a Good Decision

Whether you aim to improve the look of your property, prevent injuries, protect against pests and disease, or stop regrowth, stump grinding is a must.

We offer expert tree care and landscaping services in Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin. For solutions to your landscaping and arboreal services, contact us through our website or give us a call at (262) 252-4260.