Here we are. There are leaves starting on the trees. Many of the spring flowers are putting on a show. Summer is knocking at the door. We are gearing up for planting our annual flowers for the summer. Before we get to far ahead of ourselves, let us remember that frost is still possible. If your annual flowers are already in the ground, a frost is not the end of…
Read MoreRound Up Alternative
I have had people ask me about a Round Up alternative. The main reason for their concern is the toxicity of the active ingredient, glyphosate, in Round Up. The most common alternative is a combination of vinegar, Epsom Salt, and dish soap. Before you start to look up the recipe online, I would like to point out a few warnings about this mixture. Vinegar and salt on their own are…
Read MoreSpring Fertilizer
Every spring your lawn is coming out of dormancy from the winter and getting ready for the growing season ahead. Something that we do to help our lawn is put down a spring fertilizer application. What kind of fertilizer should be used? What does this fertilizer application do for your lawn? The spring fertilizer application should have a lower nitrogen content in the spring as compared to the summer. (The…
Read More2016-2017 Winter Season Wrap Up
Winter started with a bang for the 2016-2107 Winter Season. Heavy wet snow fell in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We reached half of the seasonal average of snowfall for the Grand Rapids area before Christmas. Even though that was here for a solid three weeks, by the time we reached Christmas, it was rainy and warm, with a big thaw. Then the week after Christmas was uneventful. To…
Read MoreHow Much Bark?
Refreshing the bark/mulch in your landscape can really help to clean up the look of your landscape. One question that we often get is how much bark should I add to my landscape? It is often not as much as you think. Once you have an established landscape bed completely finished, all of the bark that is there is still doing the job that it is suppose to. It helps…
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