So what seems to be a recent craze in the gardening world?  Adding coffee grounds into soil for your gardening!

Are you confused? Don’t be!  There are several sources online that show just how popular this method of gardening has been.  Let’s check out why a few of the reasons why recycled and repurposed coffee is a smart move for your garden.

Chemical Harmony

Check out this report of using coffee grounds in gardening soil that has claimed to have proven the benefits to of this method.  From the sunset.com article:

“…the grounds provide generous amounts of phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper.  They also release nitrogen into the soil as they degrade. And they’re slightly acidic ― a boon in the Western climate.”

How To

Sounds like those are some major positives!  So how easy is it to put coffee grounds into your soil?  Too easy.  Here is a simple wikihow link that shows some uses but the bottom line is that you can add coffee grounds to your compost (just limit it to no more than 20% of the total compost.)

Or you can make coffee grounds into mulch – just be sure not to suffocate your plants with it. Only add about half an inch of the ground as mulch and then cover up that mulch with about 4 inches of a coarser organic mulch (source from Backyard Gardener found here.)

Slug And Snail Control?

That’s right – slugs and snails hate coffee.  These little guys are going to run (or sludge) for the hills when they see you have placed some coffee around your plants.   Simple and quick pest control.  Thanks, coffee!

Eco Friendly

An obvious benefit to going out of your way to create this customized mix is being more environmentally friendly!  We know that lots of people out there simply toss their coffee grounds into the trash!  By turning these grounds into natural earth we are no longer needlessly tossing out a valuable resource.

The Controversy

This article wouldn’t be fair to publish if we didn’t cover some of the minor controversy surrounding using coffee grounds in soil.  There are those online that, simply put, think the process of using coffee grounds in your soil mix is pointless and possibly counter-productive.  Of course it’s important to keep in mind that just about any piece of gardening advice will attract naysayers.

Just Go For It!

It’s up to you to give it a shot and, with your own research and with what we’ve covered today, decide whether or not you should take this exciting venture.

Now that your wonderful garden is kicked into high-gear, how about contacting some amazing local lawn care pros?  At Emerald Gardens, we’d be happy to make your garden into something truly special.  Give us a call at 512.990.2199.

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We love working on lawns around Texas but we don’t love feeling stuffy and tired from insane allergies taking over our lives!  Luckily we’ve compiled a list of methods that are likely going to get your head feeling much clearer and stop you from wiping your eyes all day.

1) One Step Ahead!

After walking around your beautiful Texas lawn (or anywhere outside), be sure to remove your shoes when you enter your home or apartment.

Use a basket to put some indoor-only slippers for you and your loved ones to use in the house as opposed to your outdoor footwear.  This creates a very simple method of keeping your allergens and pollens from literally stomping across the home of your floor!  You’ll be pleased to see this help you in the fight against allergens.

2) Antihistamines

One way to fight allergies is fairly obvious – use an over-the counter antihistamine. But, if you’re like many people out there, the cost is just too much. Sometimes you end up paying as much as one dollar per pill with buying in bulk not saving you very much at all.

Consider, instead, ordering allergy-fighting pills online from a reputable dealer. You’ll be shocked at how much money you save by searching online instead of buying directly from a store.  With this in mind, you’ll no longer be charged an arm and a leg for your anti-allergy pills!

3) Cat Nap

Do you ever wake up with your cat basically face-hugging you, ensuring your head will be nice and bloated with allergies before you go to work?  If that’s the case, you need to set up an alternative bed for your cat (or dog) that will get them off your sleeping space.  We love our pets but that love can only go so far when they are sleeping way too close to your head.  Let your pets know it’s time to start snoozing in a different part of the house.

Until Next Time

And there are just a few tips that should have you free to enjoy your Austin lawn!  We look forward to sharing more tips with you in the future.

We might have some more allergy tips in the future!

Are you ready to finally embrace this time of the year now that you’re ready for all nature has to offer?  Get in touch with us at Emerald Lawns to completely beautify your lawn. We’d love to give you a free quote on a project you have planned.  Call us at 512.990.2199.

It’s been a wonderful way for us to let people know that we’re a local company that works on some really great looking lawns.  Our awesome customers are always so friendly and pleased with our work that having our seal of a job well done planted is no problem at all!  We hope that those in need of lawn care that happen to spot one immediately gravitate towards our service.  Our signature green and blue logo is smack in the middle of it followed by our phone number towards the bottom.  It’s small yet aesthetically pleasing touch to the lawns we’ve completed.

Have you seen one of these Emerald Lawn signs?  What did you think of them?  Do you have an idea for marketing your business that we haven’t considered?  We’d love to hear from you!  You can reach out to us on our Facebook page.

If you’re interested in having us come out to work on your lawn, drop us a line. We are the Austin lawn care professionals! We can be reached at 512.990.2199.

This disease’s growth is most common in the middle of summer so it is something you’ll be grateful to know about ahead of time.  We’re glad we caught you now so you can have a heads up before heading into the coming months!

“What is brown patch disease?”  In short, it is a fungus that feeds on your lawn and leaves brown patches in its wake.  Let’s break down exactly what makes this disease tick and how it can impede your lawn’s progress.

Explaining The Fungus

Brown Patch occurs from a fungus.  The culprit fungus is called “rhizoctonia.”  This fungus is saprotrophic, meaning that it eats away at grass as the grass is dying.  The grass this fungus is feeding on could very well be your turf grass.  There’s a disease in town and it’s making lunch out of your lawn!

Quick Solutions

One of the worst parts of this fungus is that it is always present in a yard. It waits for grass to become unhealthy and then takes advantage of the situation.  There are just things you can do to help stop it from taking over such as avoiding having your grass dewy for more than 14 hours straight.  If the disease has taken over, buying a fungicide can get somewhat pricey.  You need to be sure you have brown patch disease before purchasing a fungicide so that you don’t waste money.

Identify It

It’s possible that the brown patch in your lawn is something other than brown patch disease.  You never want to just assume anything on your own without a professional!  Check out this guide to help with identifying what might be the cause of your lawn’s brown spots.  You can gain knowledge on the disease and what specifically it looks like before calling in a lawn care pro to help.

Get Help

Do some internet searching to find the best local lawn care company in your area.  If you happen to need an Austin lawn care company, then touch base with us at Emerald Lawns. You can reach us by phone at 512.990.2199.

The last thing you want for your lawn is a disease outbreak.  The first step to defeating brown patch is becoming aware of it.

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False Start

We’ve all been there. It’s getting hot again and you roll out the ol’ mower. You give it a few pumps and then give it one huge pull.  But it doesn’t start. Or, in an annoying scenario that is not as hard to endure, the lawn mower takes far too much effort to start.

The best ways to make sure the lawn mower is nice, fresh and ready is by adding gas preservatives, changing the motor oil, replacing the spark plug, and even having the blades sharpened.

Adding Preservative

The gasoline in your lawnmower needs to be ready to sit for any kind of planned or unplanned storage. It does not take long at all for the gasoline in your tank to become dysfunctional from aging. Be sure you consider adding a fuel preservative to your lawn mower. You will find that starting your lawnmower next time you take it out of storage will be easier.

Change The Motor Oil

This instructables guide is helpful for getting the oil out of your lawnmower and replaced with new oil.

This process is very important to making sure your lawn mower is running as smooth as possible.  Fresh oil ensures a fresh start.

Spark Plug

Look at the spark plug on your lawnmower to examine its quality. Does it seem worn out? Replace it!  What about if it is not worn out and damaged but does show signs of slight uncleanliness? Try cleaning it before replacing in that case.  But don’t be frightened of replacing the spark plug.  Replacing the spark plug is very cheap and shouldn’t take you too long to do. Check out this informative micro-guide on replacing a spark plug.

The Blades

It is important that you get your lawn mower blades sharpened! In some cases of aging, you even need to replace the entire blades with new ones.  Many people fail to make sure that their trusty lawnmower has been getting its blades sharpened.  If you can’t remember the last time your lawn mower got its blades sharpened, that means it’s time to get it done!

You’ll be amazed at how precise your new blades (or improved) blades are performing.  But, this may go without saying, don’t attempt this process unless you know exactly what you are doing.

The Best Way

You can always skip all the lawnmower upkeep by getting in touch with Austin’s best lawn care service, Emerald Lawns.  Call Emerald Lawns at 512.990.2199

Grub worms live underground, making their lawn-harming methods that much more devious.  That’s pretty bad news for people that own a lawn and regularly do everything they can to keep it in tiptop shape.  Don’t feel bad – grub worms can get the best of anyone.  But before you grab some garage equipment and go Rambo on your front lawn in an ill-fated, do-it-yourself approach to stopping the worms, we ask that you take a deep breath, relax, and read on….

The good news is that we have some tips below on better understanding your enemy.  Though we are simply offering information on the insect itself, always call a friendly and professional Austin lawn care company to take care of any pests in your lawn that you may be encountering!

Root Damage

White grubs can cause serious damage to lawn grass, ornamentals and trees by attacking the roots. You won’t even see them do it!

To understand why they cause root damage, you must first understand what grub worms are.  Grub worms are larval versions of June Beetles.  It’s already April so if hearing “June” and “beetle” in the same sentence doesn’t send chills down your spine, I don’t know what will!

As the name implies, you need to be on the lookout for white grubs in the early summertime.  Always consider consulting a professional Austin lawn service when dealing with a matter as serious as a lawn infestation in these coming summer months.

Because they are in a larval stage, grub-worms need to feed of nutrients so they can hatch in your soil and turn into a (not really) beautiful beetle. But to reach that beetle stage, your roots are the victims. Some white grubs can be found in the soil of many lawns and be, overall, inconsequential. The problem starts when you have a large number infesting your lawn.  You will first notice a small area of your lovely lawn grass be morphed into a wilting and brown patch.  Then you will see the same thing happen to another patch. And repeat! Luckily, a professional can come out to save the day!

We Can Help

If you ever encounter or have a suspicion you might encounter white grubs, be sure to call the Austin professional lawn care experts at Emerald Lawns.  You can reach us at 512.990.2199.  We care about our customers and will leave you (and your lawn) satisfied with our work.

For further reading on white grubs check out this ehow guide and this guide from the Texas government. 

Out Of Town

As you may have read on the Emerald Lawns Info page, red fire ants are not native to Texas! They are imported.  “But an ant can’t be that bad” you say. Wrong! There are numerous reasons that you should contact a professional Austin lawn service to remove the fire ants from your beautiful yard.

By the time you’re done reading the following, you’ll want these out-of-towner bugs to stay out of Texas

Stinging Bites

The reason a bite from a fire ants is so painful is because when they do bite you, they are sending poison into your body. Ouch!  You don’t want your loved-ones playing out in the front lawn with poisonous bugs scurrying about.

According to this ehow article, the poison they send into your body contains  “piperidine, a substance that causes redness, swelling, pain and other symptoms.”  Sounds awful! Anyone that’s been bitten by a fire ant knows that the pain is obnoxious to say the least. Now you know why.

Do your best to avoid getting bitten by fire ants by looking out for fire ant mounds in your lawn and wearing boots and gloves.  You can spot the fire ants’ mounds by looking out for sandy-colored dome shaped structures that usually are only a few inches tall but can occasionally reach much higher.  The structures can also be flat so always be keeping an eye to the ground for mounds that may be housing these dangerous insects.

Fire Ants Endanger Your Pets

Fire ants can bite your pets.  That includes your innocent outdoor cat!  Though one or two won’t likely end up severely damaging your cat, a swarm of them can really do serious harm. Animal lovers should take note. Fire ants you spot need to be reporting to a lawn care company as soon as possible.

Check out this interesting site that goes much more fire ant detail. In it, they give advice on how to protect yourself from fire ants and the strange fact that fire ants are drawn to electrical circuit boxes and electrical motors.  Read up on it if you’re interested in further information but, more importantly, stay safe and protect your loved ones by getting those fire ants taken care of.

Get In Touch With Us

To remove fire ants from your lawn, contact Austin lawn care specialists at Emerald Lawns at 512.990.2199.  You’ll be glad you did.

Characteristics

The dandelion has a thick fleshy taproot with many-branched crowds and milky juice. The stem is very short with leaves produced at the ground surface. Dandelion leaves are 5 to 25 cm longer or longer, simple and basal, forming a rosette above the central taproot. Flower heads are yellow to orange colored, and are open in the daytime but closed at night. It spreads by seeds and by new shoots from roots. It flowers from early spring to late fall. Seedlings may occur throughout the spring and summer and are often abundant in the fall.

Habitat

Common dandelion is the most common broadleaf weed in many lawns. It is found virtually in every kind of habitat, from openings in deep woods to cultivated fields, from rocky hillsides to fertile gardens and lawns. Maintaining a dense, healthy lawn is the best method of controlling many turf weeds. Adequate fertilization, proper mowing and irrigation practices and disease control is the best way to minimize weed problems.

How to control

It’s important to eliminate dandelions in lawns and flowerbeds. Dandelion seeds are spread by wind and water, even over long distances. If you wish to pull the weeds the old fashion way, water the lawn first and make an incision into the soil, down the side of the taproot. Using a screwdriver or similar tool, wiggle to loosen the taproot, and give the weed a gentle tug to see if the taproot is yielding. Remove the dandelion weed from the soil. Post-emergence herbicides are particularly effective to attack broadleaf weeds. To get rid of dandelions permanently, use a weed killer sprayer to target particular weeds on the lawn.

To remove dandelions from your lawn, contact Austin lawn care specialists at Emerald Lawns.

Characteristics

Chickweed often forms extensive, dense patches with stems of vertical lines of hairs. Small white flowers are borne in clusters at the end of the stems. Flowers have five deeply notched petals and are quite noticeable. Common chickweed is similar in growth habit and appearance to mouseear chickweed, but mouseear chickweed leaves are covered with soft dark green hairs, whereas common chickweed leaves are less hairy and are light green.

Habitat

Most common chickweed germination takes place during the fall and easily spring, although in shady, moist conditions chickweed can germinate and grow throughout the season. Common chickweed is found in a wide variety of habitats and soil textures. Soil pH ranges from 4.8 to 7.3. It prefers soil with a high level of nitrogen supply, and can readily tolerate very low temperatures, and can even flower and fruit under low temperatures. This weed is sensitive to drought.

How to control

Chickweed services under close mowing by forming dense patches, which crowd out desirable turfgrass. This weed quickly invades thin turf areas especially where there is good soil moisture. Shade and frequent watering encourages chickweed growth. Certain herbicides may be used to control chickweed in areas where reseeding or overweeding of turf is not planned. Timely applications of herbicides will provide postemergence control. To control common chickweed without chemicals, maintain turf density and health using proper culture and allow turf to dry between waterings, or mechanically remove. Tip: If you choose to hand pull, remove the entire plant and root because plant shoots have the ability to re-root.

To remove common chickweed from your lawn, contact Austin lawn care specialists at Emerald Lawns.