My Lawn Is Not Level

September 21st, 2011

Even when properly graded to start out, lawns often become bumpy, uneven and not level due to earthworms, heavy thatch areas, and weathering in general. Parkway Lawn Service uses a power rake to help level out those areas.

Thatch is an area where organic matter such as leaves, twigs, mosses and dead grass and roots have accumulated. If the layer of thatch gets too thick it cuts off the flow of air, water and nutrients that grass needs to grow. A power rake can smooth out and dethatch your lawn allowing grass to get nutrients to stay healthy.

The best time to dethatch is early spring or fall when the grass is actively growing. Power raking is also a great service to combine with seeding because it opens up the soil so new seed can get better established.

Parkway Lawn invites you to call us at 612-869-5878 for a free quote on power raking and seeding services

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Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Events for Fall

September 14th, 2011

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is a great place to enjoy the beautiful last days of summer. It’s a wonderful place to take a stroll, linger and enjoy the beauty. The grounds of the arboretum public gardens are open every day from 8am through sunset. Besides the beautiful manicured lawns the Landscape arboretum features over 1000 acres of long strolling paths and hiking trails through stunning gardens, secluded groves and exhibits that change every season. This year’s exhibits include:

  • Steel Roots – on exhibit till January. Consisting of 16 large scale sculptures that look like giant roots. This is a great exhibit for kids who love to walk underneath them.
  • Reedy Gallery – on exhibit until November 20th. Includes a variety of talented artists who have painted trees.
  • Uff-da Palace – on exhibit through 2011. A nature sculpture created from twigs, branches and sticks.

The Landscape Arboretum also has many events scheduled some of which have family friendly sections where children are encouraged to touch, explore and play.

For a listing of events or more information visit: http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/exhibitsandevents.aspx

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What is Aeration?

September 7th, 2011

Aeration is a service where small plugs are pulled from your lawn to allow air, water and nutrients to get to the roots of your grass.

If your lawn is looking thin or brown it may be because of a thick thatch build up. Overly compacted soil does not absorb water and nutrients as well as soil that has been aerated. Grass stems, roots, decomposing leaves and sticks can build up quickly on a lawn causing a thatch problem.

Core aeration revitalizes your lawn so it can get nutrients to make it healthy. Parkway Lawn will aerate your lawn to help control thatch, improve soil structure, help improve growth pockets for new roots, and open the way for water and fertilizer to enter your lawn’s root zone.

Give us a call today at 612-869-5878 for a free aeration quote from Parkway Lawn Service!

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Fertilizing Your Lawn

August 31st, 2011

Fertilizing your lawn should be done 3-4 times a year. The best times to fertilize your lawn are in May around Memorial Day, the first week of July and near Labor Day.

Most homeowners have varied results when fertilizing their lawns and end up with light green spots, dark green spots or stripes in their lawn. There are several reasons for this.

The product that you get in the store is usually different than the product that your professional lawn service uses. Store fertilizers come premixed in bags and sitting on the shelves for quite a while encourages clumps of various components of the mix to stick together.

Your lawn care professional has access to fresher product that is usually mixed more thoroughly as well as having special types of spreaders that distribute the product more evenly on your lawn. Light green spots or dark green spots are from clumps of fertilizer not being properly mixed and spread on your lawn. Storing fertilizer in the shed or garage allows moisture to collect in the fertilizer mix and can cause even more clumping making the mix more difficult to spread evenly.

Parkway Lawn can apply fertilizer and weed control to your lawn so you won’t have to deal with a spreader, bags of chemicals sitting in your garage or stripes and spots in your lawn. Call Parkway about fertilizing today at 612-869-5878.

To read more about our services visit: http://www.parkwaylawn.com/lawn-care-services.html

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Minnesota State Fair August 25th – September 5th

August 24th, 2011

Once again it’s Fair time at the State Fair Grounds in St. Paul, Minnesota. There is so much to do and see at the State Fair you’ll need the whole day to explore. It’s a fun place to bring the family too. You can save a little money by bringing your own cooler and attending on discount days.

The regular admission for Adults (ages 13-64): $12, Seniors (65 & over): $10, Kids (5-12): $10, Children (Under 5): Free. This is the discount day’s schedule:

Discount Days at the Minnesota State Fair

  • August 30th – Military Appreciation Day – Active and retired military $7
  • August 31st – Read & Ride Wednesday – Adults $10, Seniors $7, Kids $7
  • September 1st – Seniors Day – Seniors $7
  • September 5th – Kids & Last Chance Day – Kids $7

If you go to the fair this year we hope you and your family enjoy all the exhibits. For more information about the Minnesota State Fair Schedule visit:  http://www.mnstatefair.org/general_info/daily_schedules.html

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Wet Summer 2011 Minneapolis

August 17th, 2011

The summer of 2011 was a very wet summer in Minneapolis, MN.  The rain and damp soil helped the grass and the flowers stay beautiful all summer. It also allowed many other things around your yard to flourish such as weeds, mold, and crab grass.

Mold can also be encouraged by wet and humid conditions. Slime molds for instance survive winters as spores in the soil or deep in thatch layers or mulch. When cool and wet they germinate and form mobile spores that feed on organic matter and microorganisms. At some point these spores may then gather together and move up out of the soil onto grass blades, mulch, plant stems, and even trees and shrubs. At this point they appear as blobby jelly-like masses.

Parkway Lawn can help you with infestations such as these.

Learn more about crab grass control:

http://www.parkwaylawn.com/crab-grass-cure.html

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Invasion of the Japanese Beetles

August 9th, 2011

Japanese Beetles

We have had numerous reports of heavy infesta­tion of Japanese beetles this season. Japanese beetles have been active above ground feeding on the foliage of grass, plants, and ornamental garden plants such as vines. Adult Japanese beetles begin laying eggs in the ground typically during the month of July. The most effective way to control the Japanese beetle is to put down a granular application for grub control during the months of August or September. Parkway Lawn Service will be applying this insecticide to a number of our customers’ gardens this season. Please call if you have concerns or need help diagnosing whether tests are needed.

Japanese Beetle

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Heat Wave Challenges Outdoor Workers, Data Centers

July 21st, 2011

The following excerpt was taken from an article published in Twin City Business on 7-19-2011

Heat Wave Challenges Outdoor Workers, Data Centers

Companies that employ construction and other outdoor workers are having to make concessions due to the weather, and data center operators are working extra hard to keep optimum temperatures at facilities where equipment is stored.

… “Parkway Lawn Service in Minneapolis—which has about a dozen employees mowing, fertilizing, and performing other outdoor tasks for clients—had to send two crew members home yesterday after they showed signs of extreme exhaustion. “We know their safety is more important than getting these jobs done,” said Office Manager Daryl Larson. The workers typically put in four, 10-hour days and take Friday off. But on Monday, the company called it a day at 3:30.

The heat has also affected the lawns of some customers. Those who haven’t been watering more frequently haven’t seen much growth of their grass, Larson said. Parkway skips lawns that don’t need mowing and collects only $10 from those customers—considerably less than its typical fee.

Larson would like to be able to get workers to job sites earlier in the morning to beat the heat, but most city ordinances prohibit construction and other outdoor work before 7 a.m.” …

Bottom line is that we will be a day behind on mowing this week and will finish up with mowing on Friday afternoon.

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Watering Tips

July 8th, 2011

Watering Tips

To maintain a healthy, green lawn throughout the growing season, irrigation is sometimes necessary. The average lawn needs one inch of rain or irrigated water per week. If watering is necessary, one deep soaking is much better than several sprinkles. Watering is best done in the morning. Watering in the afternoon or evening promotes certain diseases. If a timer is used, watering can be started as early as 4:00 in the morning. This allows the water to soak into the soil, decreasing the amount of water lost to evaporation in the heat of the day.

Remember, one inch of water per week is for average lawns. If a lawn is on a slope or is in a hot, windy area, more water must be applied and applied more slowly to keep the lawn healthy and green. Lawns on sandy, well-drained soils require at least 1 1/2inches of water each week. Sandy, well-drained lawns may need to be watered twice each week in the hottest part of the summer. Just split 1 1/2 inches between the two applications.

An additional tip is to measure the amount of water you’re putting on the lawn. Take several empty tuna or cat food cans and set them in the area to be sprinkled. Leave the sprinkler on and keep track of how much time is required for the cans to contain one inch of water. This is the amount of time your sprinkler will need to run to ensure that your lawn is sufficiently watered for one week. Information provided by Bachman’s, Inc.

Easy Watering

It may not seem like a big deal, but using a simple device such as an automatic shut-off watering timer can make the watering process a whole lot easier. The timer attaches to your faucet on the outside of your house; your garden hose attaches to the timer. When you’re ready to water, simply place your sprinkler out in your yard, turn the water on, and adjust the timer to the desired amount of time you want to water. Then just walk away; the water will shut off by itself. Parkway Lawn Service has some of these timers available now. Give our office a call if you’d like to purchase one for a nominal fee.

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Lawn Mushrooms

June 29th, 2011

Lawn Mushrooms


Photo 1: Newly emerging lawn mushrooms. Bob Mugaas

Bob Mugaas, University of Minnesota Extension Educator

With some areas of the state receiving moderate to heavy amounts of rainfall over the past couple of weeks, mushrooms are beginning to randomly appear in lawns. Their appearance often causes people to be concerned about the health of their lawn and whether or not a serious disease might be getting started.

It’s important to remember that mushrooms are the ‘fruiting bodies’ of fungi living in the soil and thatch. They are responsible for the production of microscopic spores that in turn help propagate the fungus. The vast majority of those fungi are not associated with any lawn disease causing organisms. It’s quite common for them to appear during periods of moist conditions resulting from either natural rainfall or excessive irrigation. Again, they are not necessarily indicative of any particular lawn problem. The fungi are living on decaying organic matter in the soil and/or thatch layers. This breakdown of organic matter results in at least some of the nutrients contained in that organic matter being released back to the soil. At that point the nutrients are available for continued plant growth or used by other microorganisms. If you find the mushrooms offensive, simply knock them over with a rake and remove them from the area.

Photo 2: Typical lawn ‘fairy ring’ symptom. Bob Mugaas

The one exception to the above situation is a lawn problem known as fairy ring. Symptoms in the lawns appear as dark green arcs and/or circles; often darker than the surrounding grass on either side of the ring or arc. There are a number of different fungal organisms associated with the production of these arcs or circles. If you suspect this problem is in your lawn please view this link on fairy rings which is part of the diagnostics feature on the University of Minnesota.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/p316fairyrings.html

You might also want to visit the  University Of Minnesota Extension on Gardening for all sorts of great information on gardening and more; http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/

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