Some people think compost is only for gardens, butcompost can be beneficial for lawns as well. Beautiful landscaping should include composting to provide soil with the rich nutrients needed for healthy lawns. Composting Benefits Microorganisms in compost help control plant pathogens … Continued
If we are being honest with ourselves, many homeowners only think about the trees in their yards when they become a nuisance. The roots have grown under a concrete patio and created cracks, dead tree limbs are threatening our roof … Continued
Austin lawn care techniques need to change throughout the year because maintenance and mowing techniques for each season are different. Your lawn can be a compliment to the beautiful Austin landscape when you know the best practices to use for various weather conditions.
Winter Maintenance
During the winter months, it’s important to winterize your sprinkler system, lawn mower and lawn tools to prepare them for springtime use. Continual maintenance is important, even when they are in disuse.
Mowing
If you plan to use a riding lawn mower this Spring, make sure you know how to operate it safely. Set your mower height one or two notches lower if you plan to mow during the winter to help prevent damage by winter winds that can dry out new growth. If the grass is too long through the winter, it may smother itself, succumb to disease or suffer injury from repeated freezing and thawing. However, cutting the grass too short can expose the plant crown to severe conditions.
Grass Clippings
Add valuable nutrients to the soil of your Austin landscaping by leaving the grass clippings to decompose naturally on your lawn after you mow, but make sure the clippings do not lie in large bunches or piles. A mulching mower can help because it distributes the clippings evenly and that helps them decompose faster.
Remove piles of leaves, debris, toys, and other items that can suffocate the grass and limit the sunlight, water, and oxygen the lawn receives. Articles left on the lawn can also cause conditions that make grass vulnerable to disease and attract mice, insects and other pests as well. In addition, you should avoid creating heavily worn paths on your lawn because those paths compact the soil and cause a delay in greening of the grass when spring arrives.
Grass endures freezing temperatures because it goes dormant during the winter, but walking on a frozen lawn can break the blades of grass, expose the undergrowth to cold weather, and hamper its springtime recovery.
Watering
It is usually not necessary to water lawns in the winter, but if the summer and fall months were very dry, supply your yard with approximately ½ inch of water each month during the winter.
Giving just a little more attention to lawn care in Austin during the winter months will help ensure a healthy lawn in spring.
Photo Compliments of Smabs Sputzer
Some people think compost is only for gardens, but compost can be beneficial for lawns as well. Beautiful landscaping should include composting to provide soil with the rich nutrients needed for healthy lawns.
Composting Benefits
When lawn care in Austin incorporates composting, the results are gorgeous, vigorous lawns that enhance Austin’s landscaping.
Create Your Own Compost
You can make compost with kitchen scraps and yard waste. If you manage your compost bin well, the compost will be ready to apply in just a few months.
Composting Process
If composting still seems like a daunting task, seek the help of an Austin lawn care professional at ABC Home & Commercial Services. Their services will help you maintain a healthy and beautiful landscape all year round.
If we are being honest with ourselves, many homeowners only think about the trees in their yards when they become a nuisance. The roots have grown under a concrete patio and created cracks, dead tree limbs are threatening our roof or our outdoor space, or worse yet, the limbs are touching power lines, presenting a possible fire hazard.
In actuality, the trees in our yards deserve much more attention from us, as they are the lifeblood of our yards. They absorb and trap harmful carbon dioxide in the air, preventing it from reaching the earth’s upper atmosphere. The trees’ root systems help prevent soil erosion, and best of all, trees provide much needed shade on a hot Texas summer day.
Lack of specific knowledge when it comes to taking care of our trees can cause irreversible harm to them, leaving them susceptible to diseases and weakening them to the point where one stiff wind could cause them to topple. It is for this reason that tree care should be left to professionals.
According to the Austin Parks and Recreation Forestry Division, the first five years of a tree’s life are the most important. While all tree owners should learn the ins and outs of proper tree care, important maintenance of our trees such as proper planting and pruning procedures should be left to the experts so that nothing is left to chance.
According to the experts, trees become dormant in the winter months. Knowing what branches to cut, where to cut near the trunk of the tree to avoid irreparable harm, and how to do the cutting in order to inflict the least amount of stress on your tree is very important.
When you consider the amount of money you could lose when an improperly cared for tree topples onto your roof or car, it makes sense to pay a reasonable fee to let an expert take care of clearing away dead branches and treating your tree for disease or insects.
There are many Austin lawn care and maintenance companies that provide tree care services; however, it is important to choose one that is certified through the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) to assure your trees get the expert care they require for long and healthy lives. ABC Home and Commercial Services offers certified expert tree service for all your Austin landscaping needs.
While your yard usually looks its best in spring and summer, your lawn doesn’t have to be dull in winter. Try some of these tips for San Antonio lawn care and maintenance in winter to help keep your grass and its roots healthy and strong.
Aeration
Aerating the soil adds oxygen and gives grass a boost. You’ll need special tools and some know-how for it to be successful. A San Antonio landscaping and lawn care provider such as ABC can also provide this service and help your lawn stay vibrant all year long. Also, consider a fertilizing program during the winter to help strengthen grass roots and help it remain healthy through the spring and summer months.
Overseeding
Warm weather grasses need a little extra help through the wintertime in San Antonio. Overseeding your lawn with annual rye grass will help it stay green through the winter and add nutrients for the upcoming spring. Your lawn should be mowed about once a week to keep it at an attractive and healthy height. Don’t bag the clippings. Let them lay on your lawn for added nutrients that help to promote growth.
Composting
Add compost, peat moss or extra topsoil to fill in any bare spots. Now is a good time to start a compost pile to make your lawn and garden thrive. It’s also a great way to recycle table scraps, coffee grounds and vegetable skins. The Extension Department of Texas A&M University is hosting a free lecture in its Backyard Gardening Series. “Composting 101: Making Black Gold for Your Garden” will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. at the AgriLife Extension Service office in San Antonio.
Leaves and Ground Cover
If you have any leftover fallen leaves in your yard, now is the time to rake them away. Dead leaves can create brown patches in their wake by preventing sunshine, water and air from making your lawn green in winter.
With mild winter weather in San Antonio, your lawn still has a chance to look nice. A San Antonio landscaping and lawn care company like ABC Home & Commercial Services can help to provide the extra time, nutrients and attention your yard needs to stay healthy even in the winter months.
ABC Home & Commercial Services of Austin recently donated more than one ton of food to the Caritas of Austin food pantry. The food was collected during the company’s Christmas party food drive. Overall, 2,129 pounds of canned food and toiletries were donated to Caritas of Austin.
Caritas of Austin
Since 1964, Caritas has been working to provide resources to individuals and families living in poverty. The organization provides food, housing, employment, education, and refugee resettlement services. The primary mission of Caritas is to help clients gain the ability to be self-sufficient.
Feeding the hungry is a major aspect of the Caritas vision because the food services provide a gateway for many Caritas clients to attain housing, employment, and stability. Every year, the Caritas community kitchen serves 85,000 nutritious meals to the hungry and provides more than 43,000 meals worth of take-home groceries from the food pantry. The organization also provides more than 4,000 grocery vouchers to needy families and individuals.
Caritas of Austin is able to provide these crucial services thanks to generous donations like the collection gathered by ABC Home & Commercial Services’ Austin branch.
For more information about Caritas of Austin, including information about donations, visit http://www.caritasofaustin.org/.
About ABC Home & Commercial Services:
ABC Home & Commercial Services provides Austin lawn care, landscaping, pest control, plumbing, and other home and commercial services. Our family-owned company has been operating since 1949 and was previously known as ABC Pest Control. The family’s commitment to service excellence and product quality helped the business grow into a trusted pest control company and Texas tradition.
Snapdragon
Cooler weather can make traditional landscaping plants die out or go dormant, and a lawn that normally looks vibrant with colorful plants can start to look dull and boring. Add some color to your landscaping with plants that prefer cooler weather to perk up your lawn this winter season.
Calendulas
Calendulas are beautiful yellow flowers that bloom during the winter to add warmth to a lawn. An added benefit of calendulas is that they attract any butterfly species that are active in San Antonio during the winter months.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons are available in a variety of sizes, and the rocket snapdragons that grow to be about three feet tall are ideal for landscaping purposes. Colors range from bright red to deep purple, so snapdragons are definitely able to add color to a lawn. Blooming occurs through December and again in March, so planting snapdragons in the fall or middle of the winter is best.
Pansies
Pansies are pretty little flowers that come in a variety of colors and prefer the cooler weather in winter. Warm weather can actually cause damage to pansies, so it’s best to wait until warm weather has completely subsided before planting them. Color schemes usually include a base color like purple, red or white with a black center.
Geraniums
Geraniums are another flower that don’t tolerate heat well, so the winter months in San Antonio are ideal for accenting a lawn with geraniums. Geraniums tend to do well without a lot of water and are available in purples, reds and violets.
Decorative Plants
Plants that do not flower can be used to add color to a lawn during the winter months. Examples of non-flowering plants that can be vibrantly colored and accent a lawn well include ornamental kale and cabbage. These plants can also be edible, so adding color to a lawn also has a practical component.
For homeowners who would like to add color while planting an edible garden, Central Texas Gardener provides more information.
San Antonio landscaping with ABC Home & Commercial Services can help you add color to your yard. We are experienced in landscaping and lawn care in San Antonio, and we know how to add color to otherwise dull winter landscaping.
Photo Compliments of Jim Champion
One of the most recognizable features of the Texas landscape is the oak trees that decorate the state. Can you imagine the countryside without them? Ceratocystis fagacearum, a fungal disease known as oak wilt, is the perpetrator behind the dwindling oak population. These magnificent trees are being singled out by this fungal disease and rapidly reducing the oak population. Properly identifying oak wilt and utilizing successful oak wilt management techniques can help reduce tree loss.
So how do you identify oak wilt? Patterns of tree mortality such as defoliation during different seasons are one way to identify oak wilt. While exceptions have been documented, live oaks generally lose their leaves and die within six months of being infected. Red oaks display autumn-like coloration that sets them apart from surrounding foliage. They never survive the fungus, usually dying within three to four weeks after being infected.
The oaks leaves can paint a disturbing image of the damage being done. A live oak’s leaves often develop yellow veins in early stages of infection. The yellow veins turn brown as the infection eats away at the tree, a symptom called veinal necrosis. Oak wilt symptoms on the red oak are harder to recognize. In early spring, the young leaves wilt and turn a pale green and brown, remaining attached for some time, while the mature leaves will develop dark green symptoms or turn pale green or bronze. The most effective way to identify oak wilt in red oaks is to chip away at the bark of oak trees with foliar symptoms and looking for fungal mats—spore producing formations that often develop in the spring.
So how do you help control the spread of oak wilt? Red oaks that die in late summer, early winter or fall should be cut down and burned or buried to prevent the fungal mats from developing on the wood. Herbicide, deep girdling, stripping the tree of bark and drying the wood are also techniques that can help prevent the spread of oak wilt.
Distributing unseasoned firewood from red oaks infected with oak wilt can spread the fungus. While oak wilt will not survive burning, it can spread to healthy firewood in storage. Currently there are no proven transmitters from the insect world, but taking proper precautions by keeping your healthy wood free of wood-dwelling insects is smart management of your firewood.
For further details about this deadly fungus, visit texasoakwilt.org.
ABC lawn care specialists in Austin, Texas use techniques that remove infected trees safely without spreading the fungus. Looking to prevent or reduce the chances of your oaks being infected by oak wilt? We offer lawn care and landscaping for Austin residents, and we will help you identify signs of oak wilt as well as ways to prevent its spread.
Is your child too busy swatting at insects to focus on scoring goals on the soccer field? Does your weekly touch football game usually end with bug bites on your ankles? If so, your playing fields could benefit from San Antonio lawn services and pest control from ABC. While bugs can destroy the beauty of your lawn, business landscaping or sports field, they can also put a damper on your favorite outdoor activities by swarming, biting and stinging.
Pests That Can Ruin Your Game
Most of the time the insect world goes largely unnoticed, and we live in harmony with bugs when their populations are kept under control. The occasional mosquito or chigger isn’t going to disrupt your athletic focus, but an infestation of them on your playing field or golf course can turn a pleasant game into an afternoon of scratching and clawing at your itchy skin. Our San Antonio lawn service can help eliminate fleas, mites, chiggers, ticks, fire ants, mosquitoes and other pesky bugs during a routine lawn maintenance visit.
Regular Lawn Maintenance
Frequent mowing, irrigation, soil enrichment, aeration and composting are just some of the services we provide to ensure the health and beauty of a landscape. In many cases, regular maintenance of a sports field or golf course is all that is needed to prevent bug infestations. However, we do inspect lawns for insects at every maintenance visit so that we can catch pest problems as early as possible. Early detection allows us to use the most conservative treatments to help protect our customers and the environment.
Pest Control in San Antonio
keep your head in the game. Enjoy the best that nature has to offer while avoiding the worst. To ensure an ideal environment for outdoor sports, you need a San Antonio exterminator and lawn care specialist you can trust. Keep your head in the game—contact us ABC Home & Commercial Services in San Antonio today to learn how we can help eliminate those pesky bugs.