Tag Archives: bermuda grass

Lawn Care for Winter and Spring Part 1

Part one of our series on lawn care for winter and spring explores care of Bermuda grass and perennial rye seeding.

Lawn Care for the Winter Months

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Get Lawn Care in Prescott | (928) 356-8167

Bermuda grass is used a lot in Arizona, and it makes sense if you think about it.  Bermuda grass is very much a warm climate grass.  Lawn care in the winter months is a bit different in Arizona as a result of this. First off, be aware that Bermuda-grass lawns go dormant in the fall. Establish your lawn least one year before perennial ryegrass overseeding. to keep your Bermuda grass lawn healthy, only plant a winter lawn once every three years.  You want to mow your grass down to between 1/4th and 3/4 of an inch in height, which will allow room for rye seedlings.

Once evening temperatures are lower than 65 you want to overseed with perennial rye grass, approximately 10 lbs for 1,000 square feet.  Call in a lawn care service in Phoenix or apply the seed  with a spreader. Instead of overseeding your entire lawn, focus on one area, such as the front lawn.

Lawn Care Tip #1: Reduce Your Watering and Fertilizing

You want to reduce how much you fertilize and water your Bermuda lawn at this time of year as part of good lawn care so it will go dormant quicker. Our next article will explore fertilizing tips and water for your ryegrass lawn.  Once you have overseeded your lawn, you either want a ground cover, or you want to make sure that your grass seed is covered by a bit of potting soil, otherwise, you are going to lose a lot of your grass seed to any migratory birds who want a snack.

During winter, it is time to start planting the things you want to see in the spring.  And one thing you want to start at this time of year is winter lawn care.

This concludes part one of our series on lawn care for winter and spring. Be sure to read part two and part three as well.

Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85225
(928) 356-8167
http://www.greenservpro.com

Lawn Care: Seed or Sod?

Lawn care is all about choices. Do you use a sun mix of grass seed, or a sun/shade mix?  Should you use a ground covering?  Should you skip the seed completely and just put down sod?

Sod:  One Type of Lawn Care

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Sod is one option you have when you’re looking at lawn care.  Here are some tips from This Old House about how to lay down sod:

When it comes to getting a thick, healthy lawn, nothing beats sod for instant gratification. Sure, it costs a bit more: about $400 to cover a 1,000-square-foot backyard (double that installed). But lay it right and in a couple of weeks you’ve got a dense, well-established lawn that’s naturally resistant to weeds, diseases, and pest infestations.

“You’re basically buying time,” says This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook. “You’re paying for turf that someone else has coddled for 14 to 18 months.”

You’re also buying convenience. Sod can be installed spring through fall (and even in winter in mild climates). In areas of the country that favor cool-season grasses, like the Northeast, it avoids the problem of sprouting a nice crop of weeds when seeding a lawn in spring. And in southern states, which favor warm-season grasses like Bermuda grass, zoysia grass, and centipede grass, sod is the best way to cover the yard at any time of year, since these turf types cannot be grown from seed.  [READ MORE]

Seed is another option to consider as part of a lawn maintenance regimen.  There are several types of grass seed that grow well in Arizona.  Each of these seed types work in different levels of light and have different watering requirements.  Call in a lawn maintenance company to help you decided which type of seed you should use for your property.

If you want to use seed, plant in mid-late spring, which in Arizona is Feb-Mar.  Also make sure that you put down ground covering to keep birds from eating the grass seed.  After all, you want a lawn, not a buffet.  When in doubt, call in a lawn maintenance service to help you seed bare spots, or care for your lawn appropriately.

Green Servpro is an Arizona based lawn maintenance company serving the greater Phoenix area.

Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85225
(928) 356-8167
greenservpro.com

Lawn Care and You

Lawn care in Arizona is often misunderstood.  A good portion of Arizona’s population is from somewhere else, particularly colder climates.  As a result of this, they are often bemused that their lawn which did so well in the Northeastern US does so terribly here.  Arizona has an extreme environment, and as a result, grass seed from a cold wet climate will not thrive without a few extra steps that you will have to take.

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Lawn Care and Avoiding Mistakes

Lawn care is all about knowing how to adapt to Arizona.  One common mistake that people make when they are trying to seed their lawn is planting the wrong sort of grass seed.  From the 1950’s to the 1970’s in Arizona for example, Bermuda grass was seeded in a lot of developments as it does well in warm weather climates.

When it is closely trimmed, Bermuda grass is almost indistinguishable from other types of  grass, like fescue, rye, or bluegrass.  However, using Bermuda grass for a lawn has its own challenges, as any lawn care service can tell you.

Lawn Care Tips

As any lawn care expert knows, Bermuda grass sends out runners that if unchecked can strangle out other plants in your garden or landscaping.  If you cut the grass and these runners are entwined in any other plants, the runners will die off, leaving a dried brown matted mess of grass that takes a lot of effort to remove.

Good lawn care is all about the choices you make.  Should you plant seed, or lay down sod instead?  Both have their pluses and minuses.  Grass seed requires that you place ground covering over the top of it.  Otherwise, birds will eat up your grass seed before it has a chance to germinate. If you lay down sod, you must make sure you find the balance between too little water or too much.  You need enough water for the sod to root, but not so much that it kills the grass.

Both sod and seed require that you have a bit of patience.  Sod takes 2-3 weeks to root properly, and until it does, you have a bunch of squares and rectangles on your lawn.  Seed requires about a month to germinate.  So which is better?  Seed or sod?  Depends on what you want to do with your lawn.  When in doubt call in a lawn care service.  They will be able to tell you what will work best.

Green Servpro is a Phoenix lawn care company.

Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85225
(928) 356-8167
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Lawn Transitions

A Beautiful lawn doesn’t happen by itself

Dormant grass

In about 2 – 3 weeks we will start to transition your lawns for Summer, we start once the temperatures at night have consistently been at least 65 degrees. You may be starting to notice your grass changing color; your grass does this because the winter grass (Rye grass) is wilting from the temperature change. If you do see signs of the color change please do not panic and most importantly do not start “over watering” your lawn. If you start to over water your lawn because it is starting to look brown you will make it harder to transition back to your Summer grass (Bermuda).

 

Bermuda Grass

Once we have started the transition you will notice slight changes to your lawn maintenance. We will start by cutting your grass down so that only about 1/3 of the leaf blade is left. We will rake out all the dead grass and debris from the lawn.  By removing the dead grass we will make sure that the sunlight reaches deep into the soil to absorb the nutrients. The warm temperatures and the sunlight are key in making the transition smooth and effective. After we fertilize your lawn we will change the water schedule. The grass will be watered twice a week for about 15-20 minutes. By adding more water it will encourage your lawn to grow again. Once your lawn has begun to sprout we will apply ironite to help it green up.