Aeration, Dethatching, Overseeding - Tulsa Lawn Care Terms Explained

Have you wondered about terms like “core aeration,” “overseeding,” and “dethatching”? Even knowing what lawn fertilization really includes can sometimes be a challenge. Today we’ll hopefully clarify these lawn care terms a little more, as well as offer some helpful tips on how to best handle these different aspects of turf care.

Core aeration. From time to time, this lawn care process can be called coring, aerating, or aerifying. During aeration, small plugs of soil and dead grass, or thatch, are removed to relieve compacted soil. Soil compaction is frequently more of a problem in high traffic areas or where heavy machinery has been used. Over time and without enough nutrients, soil can become compressed and not allow for adequate drainage. Without proper drainage and enough oxygen, the root system will be superficial and the lawn weak. The small holes made during aeration permit more water, air, and nutrients to reach the roots, helping them to grow deeper and stronger, creating a healthier and more beautiful lawn.

How to aerate. For cool-season grasses, the best time for core aeration is in late summer or early fall, and for warm-season grasses the best time is late spring. For problematic lawns and those with heavy traffic, you may want to aerate the lawn every year or so, but for lawns without many soil compaction problems, aerating every several years is good. You can often rent a mechanical core aerator at your local lawn and garden store, or Oklahoma Landscape in Tulsa can handle all of your aeration needs.

Dethatching. Thatch is dead grass, stems, leaves, and other organic material that collect just above the soil. This thatch will look like a tightly woven layer of debris. While some thatch is good for the lawn, too much will create a barrier and will prevent proper drainage and prevent oxygen and nutrients from reaching the root system. Too much will also allow for more insects and disease. Thatch should be able to naturally decay, but sometimes there can be an excess of thatch that can severely harm the lawn. More than about ½ inch of thatch is too much for your lawn to be healthy.

How to dethatch. Aerating the soil is usually the best way to dethatch because while eliminating the thatch, it also relieves soil compaction. If you would like to just dethatch, you can rent a power rake or a vertical mower. A vertical mower is frequently better for the lawn because it cuts grooves into the thatch and then pulls them up without pulling up too much grass. Like aerating, the best time to dethatch will depend on your type of grass variation. Mow your grass slightly shorter before detaching. When the thatch is pulled up, rake the thatch and remove it from the lawn.

Overseeding Tulsa lawns. This is the process of planting new grass seeds over the existing turf to fill in bare or thinning spots of grass. This is sometimes called reseeding or just seeding your lawn. Overseeding is needed because over time or with the intense heat of summer, lawns can begin to become bare or overrun with weeds. Seeding your lawn with new grass, especially new varieties of grass, will help it be more resilient and more resistant to disease, drought, insects, and weeds. Planting these new grass seeds over existing turf can really help to improve the condition of your lawn, making it more vibrant and thicker.

How to overseed your lawn. There are a few steps to overseeding your lawn including preparing the ground, choosing a good seed variety, spreading the new seeds, and fertilization and watering. Check out our blog post about How to Overseed your Tulsa Lawn this Spring for tips on how to overseed your lawn most effectively. A part of the overseeding process may also include aerating the soil to allow the new seeds to grow correctly.

Lawn fertilization in Tulsa. Fertilizers deliver food to your lawn, particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to aid the lawn in building strong roots. Lawns need regular fertilization to be healthy. Slow-release fertilizers are best because they feed the lawn over time.

How to fertilize. During about every season, Tulsa lawns can use a good lawn fertilization treatment, depending on the type of grass you have. A combination fertilizer and weed control treatment can help to avert the spread of weeds while feeding the grass. There are organic fertilizers like compost or corn gluten you can use also. See our article, Lawn Fertilization in Tulsa – Tips for a Green, Lush Lawn, for more information on fertilizing.

Keep in mind that the Tulsa lawn care experts at Oklahoma Landscape can take care of all your lawn care and maintenance needs, giving you a beautiful, hassle-free lawn this summer.

The Benefits of Overseeding Your Tulsa Lawn

If your lawn has become damaged or is thinning, overseeding can help to repair your Tulsa lawn. Overseeding with new grass variations aids to build a dense, luxurious lawn, which not only will look better but will also act as a natural weed control. Overseeding your Tulsa lawn will also help your lawn become more impervious to insects and disease because the new seed assortments will be more resistant to these threats while producing a healthier lawn overall.

Why though does grass become damaged or thin? There are a variety of issues that can add to a lawn that’s less-than-lush, and it’s good to recognize the main causes of your lawn’s injury so as to help avoid it. Often, extreme heat can tax the lawn as well as simply the usual decrease in grass reproduction over time. Other sources of lawn stress and damage include soil compaction, thatch, poor drainage, lack of water, lack of nutrients in the soil, and poor grass varieties that are not well suited to the climate.

What steps are involved in overseeding your Tulsa lawn and keeping it looking great?

Prepare the ground. Unlike other mowing times, you should mow your lawn short before overseeding to allow the seeds to successfully reach the soil. Rake the lawn to remove debris and dead grass. Especially if thatch and soil compaction are the main causes of stress on your lawn, aerating your soil will be necessary. Core aeration removes small core spots of thatch and soil to better allow water, air, and nutrients to reach deeper into the soil. Aerating your Tulsa lawn will also help the new grass seeds germinate in the soil easier and faster.

Pick a good seed variety. Select a high quality grass seed that’s well suited for your area. Make sure you pick a grass seed that is weed-free. A high quality seed will be more drought-tolerant and more resistant to weeds and disease.

Seed the new grass varieties. There are many ways to seed your lawn with new grass. Often people use a spreader to lay the seed. Some use a mechanical slit seeder, which has vertical blades that open a slit or furrow in the soil, and then the machine deposits the seeds into the slit. Others may simply broadcast the seed manually. Make sure the seeds get good contact with the soil so that they can germinate.

Fertilize and water. After you’ve spread the grass seeds, you’ll need to apply a good seed starting fertilizer to help them grow strong. Then you will need to give the seeds a good watering. Grass seeds can easily die if they dry out so steady watering will be vital for the first few weeks after seeding. Shallow water is often recommended. If the weather gets hot, you may need to water more than once a day.

When the grass reaches about 3 inches in height, you can mow the lawn on a high setting.

Keep your Tulsa lawn looking beautiful all year with these overseeding tips. The Tulsa lawn care specialists at Oklahoma Landscape can take care of all of your lawn care and maintenance needs including aeration, weed control, overseeding, and lawn fertilization.

Benefits of Tulsa Fertilization and Weed Control to Your Spring Lawn Care

With all the winter storms, the entire country is probably ready for spring.  With spring on its way, what lawn care tips can aid Tulsa lawns to be ready for the warmer weather? How significant are fertilization and weed control in a lawn care program? 

Making sure your lawn is clean is the first step in turf care. Remove any limbs or debris in the yard and lightly rake your lawn when the ground has dried out. This debris can stop your soil and lawn from obtaining the nutrients they need. 

You may need to test the condition or pH levels of your soil, particularly if you see various bare patches, to see what nutrients your soil is lacking. There are DIY kits available, or your local agricultural cooperative extension could have testing available. 

Soil can become compacted during wintertime and patches of dead grass, or thatch, may need to be removed. Core aeration can help loosen the soil and remove thatch. This thatch not only stops proper drainage, but also permits weeds and pests to more easily overrun the turf. Lawn aeration removes small patches of soil to better let water and nutrients to reach the roots. 

Overseeding your Tulsa lawn will help to fill-in any bare spots and improve your lawn overall. The new varieties of seed planted can have a higher resistance to disease than those varieties already in the lawn, making your lawn tougher and easier to maintain. 

And, of course, your lawn must be feed. As grass begins to grow, it’s imperative that it has the nutrients it needs to grow strong and vibrant enough to block weeds. Slow-release fertilizers and regular watering will help the soil and grass flourish. Timing of lawn fertilization is important to having healthy grass. Fertilizing too early or too late could harm the growing turf.

Oklahoma Landscape uses a 6-step fertilization and weed control program customized to your lawn to give it just the nutrients it needs at the right time. An effective pre-emergent and post-emergent weed control system is needed to thwart weeds from overtaking the lawn; however, weed control also must be applied at the right time. 

But healthy grass will ultimately do the best job in thwarting weeds by naturally blocking out sunlight and choking the weeds. That’s why a good lawn fertilization program will ensure the lawn stays healthy. 

Correct mowing is also essential to a healthy lawn. Although it may be easier, mowing your grass too short can harm the lawn in the long run by causing the soil to dry out faster, giving weeds more sunlight to grow, and putting more stress on the grass. 

Thus, you’ll need to mow at the uppermost level so that you only remove the top one-third of the grass blade. Taller blades will be stronger and better able to choke out weeds and hold in more moisture in the soil. A lush, thick lawn will actually need less maintenance and be more resistant to disease. Make sure your lawnmower is in good repair and the blades are sharp to allow for cleaner cuts and thus healthier grass. Each new lawn mowing season, you can alternate the direction you mow to prevent putting unnecessary stress on your lawn. 

So while spring hasn’t arrived yet, you can still begin planning for a healthy, vibrant lawn now. Oklahoma Landscape can alleviate the stress of lawn care with a custom fertilization and weed control schedule and lawn maintenance program for your Tulsa landscape.

Tulsa Landscaping Companies Going "Green" with Sustainable Landscape Design

Tulsa landscaping companies like Oklahoma Landscape are striving to use more sustainable landscape design practices. Basically…the landscaping industry is going “green.” That might seem strange to say about a landscaping company. After all, aren't they all about green, living things? Well yes, but sustainable landscape design takes to the next level – putting forth a concentrated effort to conserve resources in the environment through effective design.

What are some of the principles of sustainable design and what are the benefits to Tulsa home and business owners?

Sustainable design basically focuses on promoting a better environment for present and future generations. To do this requires careful planning and design to create landscapes that do not risk the health of humans or the environment, but rather encourage regenerative systems. In this careful planning, Tulsa landscape designers would consider how the landscape will be most often be used – whether for entertaining, children playing, relaxing, or other functions – and this planning not only helps to plan out how to conserve the earth’s resources but also how to conserve the homeowner’s resources as well.

Among the principles of sustainable design, are conserving the following resources:

Preserving Soil Health

Healthy soil will promote a healthier Tulsa lawn, plants, and other vegetation while preventing erosion and reducing pollution. But often soil gets compacted over time or by construction projects. Compacted soil then stops plant roots from getting the nutrients they need, and this often can lead to erosion and increased runoff water and then flooding. In sustainable design, soil can be conserved and restored, thwarting costly erosion, flooding, and any resulting water pollution. Core aeration can help relieve compacted soil, and composts and mulching can help put nutrients back into the ground. 

Water Conservation

Drought has become an ever increasing problem in the United States. Even in winter, portions of Oklahoma are still under abnormally dry conditions with some areas in extreme drought. According to the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™), two practices – wasteful irrigation and undervaluing rain – have contributed to the imbalance of water. Through sustainable landscape design water can be conserved and treated as a resource. This would include selecting more native plants that require less irrigation, using drip irrigation systems, as well as harvesting rainwater to use for irrigation or water features rather than allow most of it to flow into and then overflow storm drains and sewer systems.

These sustainable efforts to conserve water in the landscape save homeowners and businesses money they would spend on irrigation and promote healthier communities by preventing waste water from backing up and creating public health issues.

‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ Material Resources

As with the general effort to go “green,” conserving material resources is very important. With watchful planning and forethought, less construction and yard waste can be created. Choosing more sustainable or recoverable materials can reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions, SITES™ noted.

Preserving and Adding Vegetation

Preserving the native plants in your landscape can help improve the soil, conserve water, increase air quality, and prevent erosion. Native plants are also more resistant to diseases and drought. In addition, grouping plants together with the same irrigation and sunlight needs can reduce your irrigation costs and reduce maintenance. 

Urban forests are creating cleaner, cooler cities, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) noted, reducing energy costs, and stormwater runoff. “U.S. trees remove some 784,000 tons of pollution annually, providing $3.8 billion in value,” ASLA reported. Adding urban green areas can help to combat increasing surface temperatures caused by sunlight absorbed by pavement and roofs, ASLA said. Many cities are integrating green roofs and other urban green and agricultural spaces to reduce energy expenses as well as provide various other benefits like improved efficiency and mental health while increasing property values.

Yes, the costs and health benefits of sustainable landscape design are numerous, creating a win-win situation for homeowners and urban development teams. Tulsa landscaping companies can thus successfully implement sustainable design not only in residential, but also commercial landscaping projects, so that you can ‘find yourself outside’ for generations to come.

For more information on sustainable landscapes, visit http://sustainablesites.org/.