LET’S TALK ABOUT SPRING

30 Degree Temperatures that are cold enough to see your breath, heavy jackets to stay warm, hot chocolate and snow storms. That’s what we love so much about Spring…wait, what?! This isn’t Spring! Don’t worry, this weather stuff is just as confusing to us as it it to everyone else (including our local meteorologists!). We should be outside with a warm breeze blowing in our face, watching the new flowers start to poke up through the ground, and seeing all the trees green up again. Welcome to Pittsburgh, Ladies and Gentleman!

It’s obvious that the Spring months are the busiest for landscapers, with our company being no different. Each year we get better and better with our Spring preparations. However, no matter how much we plan, Mother Nature is always there to be our true schedule maker.

Lately, we have been lucky enough to experience some gorgeous Spring weather. Our operations are in full swing and out team is loving working in this beautiful weather. The high today is supposed to be 80 and sunny. It can’t get much better than that for April in Pittsburgh!

Since I promised to talk about landscaping on the next post, let’s get into that now. Since its Spring, we can go over a few post winter tips to get your yard in top shape for this year.

• Prune: All of your shrubs need some TLC after making it through the winter. This is especially true this year in Pittsburgh. We had a mild winter, reaching 60 degrees a few days, so the shrubs started trying to grow. Make sure you aren’t making any mistakes while pruning by checking out this more in depth article: http://www.finegardening.com/five-common-pruning-mistakes-and-how-fix-them

• Pre-Emergent: Talk about saving your back and knees! Pre-Emergent saves the constant bending over to pull weeds. Now, it won’t completely eliminate all weeds, but it sure does help a lot. Pre-Emergent prevents any weed seeds in your beds from germinating. You can apply it up to 3 times per year and the “good stuff” usually lasts for a few months.

• Mulching and Edging: This is not only a great way to increase your curb appeal, but it also has other advantages for your landscape. Edging provides a great look to a bed and keeps any unwanted grass out. Mulch needs to be applied correctly or it can have a negative impact. Anything over 3 inches of mulch will provide an environment conducive to insects and disease. Excessive mulch will also tie up the nitrogen, not allowing as much to be used by your plants. Adding mulch to your beds also helps with moisture retention in the soil, which also benefits your plants.

• Planting: Spring is the ideal time to plant new shrubs, flowers, etc.. Since the temperatures are still reasonable and we have more rain, plants can adapt to their new environment without being stressed out to due to dry/drought conditions. New grass can also be successfully planted in the Spring. With grass seed, you have to try to watch the weather. I know, I know, it’s impossible to predict! You just need to watch the temperature to make sure we won’t be getting a frost in the early mornings. Grass seed takes about 14 days to germinate. If the seed has started to germinate and we get a frost, the new grass will no longer grow. So try to plan accordingly!

So there you have it! A few tips so you can go out and get dirty and sweaty. Spring is the perfect time to give your landscaping some TLC after a long winter. It’s very rewarding to do it on your own. However, if you don’t have a “Green Thumb,” or the time to DIY, give us a call @ 412-793-7100. We’d be happy to come out and provide you with a free estimate and ideas. Our team is ready to go to work for you!

Thanks for reading today! For the next post, we are going to have a little fun. It’ll be our first “Know Our Team” entry. We’ll learn more about one of our managers so you can get to know us a little better!

Talk Soon! – Nathan Stockman