May 17th, Lawn is Poppin

This is a no nonsense message to all those who love and hate their lawn. All the effort in the world won’t improve the lawn when you have a shallow root zone.

You have done it yourself. Irrigation systems not programmed correctly and unmonitored through the different temperatures and rains of the year. Soil is so important and no matter what you fertilize with or seed you must add to your lawns soil every year. Compost, leaf mold, bone meal or blood meal and of course lime at lease twice a year in the northeast.

I just finished mowing my own lawn (which I have been doing every year for the past 13 years that I have lived in my house). I have always had too many gardens and plants to trust a landscaping company with their mowers and edgers that compact and disturb the soil composition on all our properties. Because of their damaging machines and edgers we are forced to apply more chemicals to improve the damaged root zones and broken soil barriers that invite weeds into  our worlds.

There is a place for chemicals and I am the first one to recommend them as they are needed (I just applied the pre-emergent crabgrass control with fertilizer). I added a little bone meal to the front and blood-meal to the rear for an additional nitrogen pop.

I do mean to bash mow and blow landscape companies. They are perpetuating an anuitized business which costs you and our environment more than it should be burdened with. The costs that these companies are charging are generally not very much. Based on the thousands of dollars they have spent on the equipment they bring to your homes. That is their problem. Your problem is about what they are missing based on your personal expectations. The truth is for any one company to truly do everything it takes to make you happy, you need to leave the checkbook open and never be afraid of what things may cost. This is the compromise when you leave your wonderland in the care of someone else. Hopefully someone you trust.

I come home and I am only surprised when I see a low branch broken or a perennial stepped on from the children enjoying the gardens (playing manhunt). But this is my compromise when planting where there are children living and growing. Can you live with your compromises and are you happy when you come home?

If not it is time to take some ownership or open your wallet wider welcoming in someone who truly cares and knows how to manage and maintain natures gifts.

CALL ME. Plant With Me, Inc. 516-860-5131.

Like a therapist, I ask lots of questions and determine if we will be able to meet each others needs. No harm in calling and making a new relationship. Doesn’t cost anything to meet and talk, at least not the first time.

Michael Rosenberg, a NYS Certified Arborist, is the Owner of Plant With Me, Inc., a 10 year old landscape restoration and design company located in Huntington, NY. Michael is the publisher ofwww.plantwithme.com, a gardening resource for homeowners and gardeners. For more information about Plant With Me, please call 516-860-5131, email landscapelove100@gmail.com. I also encourage you to continue your journey through this gardeners mind @ www.plantwithme.com.