Upcoming Winter Season

Chip Harkes

The upcoming winter season is quickly approaching. Last winter was a little below average on the amount of snow that fell. For those who are not a fan of winter, that was good. Even though it can be fun to compare the coming winter to last winter, that can be a flawed method for determining what is to come. The winter of 2015-2016 was warmer than average and less snowy…

Read More

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…

Read More

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,…

Read More

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…

Read More