You might be noticing your lawn is more blotchy and spotted now than normal.  A lot of grass is producing seed right now.  Different varieties of grass produce seed at different times of the year.  As the grass produces seed it uses all of its energy on the seed so it loses its color.  Not [...]

Remember how nice March was?  We are seeing the consequences of record setting heat that caused trees and shrubs to bud out too early.  Heavy frosts in April damaged the buds and now leaves are curling, turning brown, and even falling from trees.  The frost damage looks bad, but it will not threaten the tree.  [...]

This Spring I have been frequently asked how the hot temperatures we’ve experienced in March will affect our crabgrass control. Now that we have finally returned to “normal temperatures” I can better answer this question. Spring accelerated from snow on the ground on March 3 to 62 degree soil temperatures on March 18. Crabgrass germinates when [...]

It’s great to have big shade trees in your yard.  But come fall you can start to resent them.  Those big trees drop leaves and that means extra work for you.  However, there’s good news!  A recent study done at Michigan State University shows that you can forget about raking, blowing, and bagging leaves.  Instead, [...]

  If you answered yes to this question, then you probably have VOLES.  Voles are field mice.  They spend the winter under the snow eating the bark off bushes and trees.  They survive quite well under the snow because the snow cover insulates them from the cold air and predators cannot find them.  Voles chew the [...]

Part I: Spring seeding options (This turf tip is part of a three part series on spring seeding.) Seeding in spring is difficult and often unsuccessful. However, there are circumstances that warrant a spring seeding: *Thin turf due to winter damage *Poor turf density due to poor recovery from previous year’s problems, i.e., grub damage, [...]