Lawns


MAY 17 2013 FILED UNDER Lawns	Selecting the Perfect Grass for Your Lawn Warm season lawns thrive in Hampton Roads’ hot, sultry summers. The warm season grasses tend to grow hardiest and look their best when temperatures exceed 80 degrees; making them ideal for summer. During the winter months, these varieties usually turn brown and go dormant. One of the best features of warm season lawns is their drought tolerance. They have the ability to survive on little water during these peak growing times. Before deciding on the ideal warm season lawn, you should familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the different varieties. Depending on your situation, they each have traits that will determine your best choice. You might have more shade or no shade or want low maintenance or love to work in the yard, you might even want a lighter green or darker green. No matter your preference, there is a warm season grass to fit your fancy! CENTIPEDE This is a good-low maintenance grass for homeowners who want a general purpose lawn they can forget about. It has very low growth, therefore requiring less mowing than most other grasses. Once established, it will act as a natural weed barrier as it crowds out weeds. It is the lightest green with a medium texture. BERMUDA This is good warm season grass that likes heat and is extremely drought resistant. It has fine leaves and grows with little maintenance and is a good lawn grass with normal care. It is a medium green, vigorous, dense turf. ST. AUGUSTINE This is a fast growing grass with a green to blue color. It flourishes in sunny and humid conditions, but can also perform in the shade. It is used extensively in areas of high salt content (beaches). It spreads quickly and forms a dense turf, and once established will act as a natural weed barrier. ZOYSIA Offers good drought and heat tolerances, along with insect and disease resistance. It wears very well in high traffic areas. The fine, wiry leaf blades will act as natural weed barrier once established. It doesn't grow quickly ~ so that means a lot less time mowing the grass. { Happy Gardening! Posted by McDonald Garden Center, May 17, 2013 }
OCTOBER 10 2012 FILED UNDER Lawns	Feed Your Lawn... the Local Way! Looking for a fabulous lawn - look no further than McDonald Premium Grass Seed. This seed mixture is the perfect blend for Hampton Roads’ lawns and well suited to this area. The improved grass seed varieties used our seed mixture are more drought tolerant, disease and insect resistant and naturally darker green in color than any other turf grasses, which have previously been available. This seed has been tested and is a recommend seed blend by Virginia Tech. The McDonald Premium Grass Seed Mixture is composed of elite turf-type tall fescue grasses including Kentucky bluegrasses and perennial ryegrasses. Some of these varieties possess an invisible waxy cuticle coating, much like the wax on an apple, which causes it to shine when you polish it on your sleeve. This waxy cuticle preserves the moisture in the leaf by lowering the evapo-transpiration rate of these grasses, making them more drought tolerant than any other grass seed varieties on the market today. Most of these grass seed mixtures also contain beneficial endophytes. These are naturally-occurring organisms that live off the grass plant host. They produce defensive chemicals called alkaloids, which are toxic to many insects, such as, chinch bugs, sod webworms, cutworms, aphids, chafers and Japanese beetles. Endophytes are all natural and do not diminish over time. Endophytes reduce the need for pesticide treatments on your lawn. The fall grass kit contains one 25-pound bag of grass seed. The rule of thumb is 6-7 pounds per 1000 square feet for a new lawn or bare ground and 3-4 pounds per 1000 square feet for an established lawn. It also contains two 25-pound bags of Fall Fertilizer.
MARCH 12 2012 FILED UNDER Lawns	Early Spring Lawn Care Musts The two most important things you can do for your established lawn in early spring is to apply: Pre-Emergent A pre-emergent will to prevent weeds and unwanted grasses that will germinate when the weather gets warms. Post Emergent A post emergent will rid your lawn of cool season weeds that are actively growing and getting ready to lay seed. This can easily be accomplished with McDonald Garden Center’s Early Spring Weed Control Kit. Each kit contains Hi-Yield Turf & Ornamental Weed and Grass Stopper and Ferti-lome Weed Free Zone. Hi Yield can be used on Fescue lawns, as well as, warm season lawns such as Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia and Centipede. This will provide weed and unwanted grass control for up to four months. An added benefit of this product is that it can be applied to your beds. Ferti-lome will provide quick control for cool season weeds such as Henbit, Chickweed and clover that are present in lawns this time of the year. Unlike most weed control products, it works during the cool weather.
JUNE 21 2011 FILED UNDER Lawns	Keep Your Lawn Happy Through the Summer It's official summer is here! It's the first day of summer and we know that during these hot summer months, it can be a challenge to keep your lawn looking green and healthy. So, we've had our lawn experts put together a few tips to help you keep that lawn looking lush! For Warm Season Lawns: If you have Bermuda, St. Augustine, Centipede or Zoysia follow these steps this summer... Warm season lawns, with the exception of Bermuda, should be fertilized with St. Augustine Weed and Feed. It will give your lawn the right amount of fertilizer while killing weeds. To fertilize Bermuda grass, we recommend Fertilome Classic Lawn Food. To control weeds without fertilizing, we recommend Weed Out. This product will take care of weeds without damaging your lawn. For disease control, use F-stop to prevent Zoysia Patch, Brown Patch, Take-All Patch and others. Don’t forget that you should also think about insect control during the summer months, too. White Grubs, the offspring of the dreaded Japanese Beetle, can damage lawns during the later part of the summer months. To control them and other feeding worms and insects use Hi Yield Kill-A-Grub or Hi Yield Turf Ranger. For Fescue Lawns (or cool season lawns): If you have a fescue lawn (or cool season lawn), follow these steps to ensure that your lawns stays happy and healthy this summer... The most important factors in keeping you fescue lawn healthy through the summer are mowing and watering. Raise your mower height to 3-4 inches for the summer months. Taller grass helps keep the root system cooler and helps to choke out weeds. Water once or twice a week, slow and deep during the warm months to promote deep and vigorous root growth. Lawns require 1 inch of water per week. Second, no matter how much you think you should fertilize your lawn this summer…DON’T. Third, to control weeds in your lawn, use Weed Out with Q. This product will kill hundreds of weeds, including over 200 varieties of broadleaf weeds and grassy weeds. As the summer starts to heat up, lawn fungus can become a problem in our area. If this is the case in your yard, use F-stop. This is a systemic preventative and curative fungicide. Use F-stop to control Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, Leaf Spot and more. { Happy Gardening! Posted by McDonald Garden Center, June 21, 2011 }