Preparing Your Lawn for Winter

Chip Harkes

The leaves are showing some color, the weather shows signs of fall, and your lawn can sense it too. The cooler temperatures start to signal to the grass it is time to start to prepare for the winter to come. Now that the grass knows, what are some things that can be done to help with preparing your lawn for winter? Fall fertilizer needs to be rich in potassium. Potassium…

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Integrated Pest Management

Chip Harkes

Integrated Pest Management, that sounds fancy and confusing. So what is it? It is a way of dealing with pests within an area that involves more that just using pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc.) Integrated Pest Management involves many different methods of controlling pests. When we think about controlling a pest within a landscape, many times it is thought to just treat the problem with chemicals. Chemicals are an option,…

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Deer Free Landscape

Chip Harkes

To eliminate deer from the landscape would help our plants, however, those same deer do add a bit of interest. But those deer are going to be looking for a meal, and when they are in your yard, if there is something of interest, your plants may be on their menu. Michigan State University has published a document with a more comprehensive list of plants in the area that deer…

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The Shape of a Landscape Bed

Chip Harkes

Landscape beds are an important part in separating your lawn from your landscape. However, the shape of a landscape bed is up to you. We will go over a few points to remember when planning the shape of that landscape bed. It is best to make sure that the design matches the rest of the landscape beds on your property. If you have square corners, then use square corners. If…

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