Central & Eastern Massachusetts Landscape Message

Time to seed the lawn

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:50:10 +0000

This has been a really tough year for turf! Between the extreme heat and the general lack of rainfall our lawns are suffering. We have seen an abundance of fungal disease, crabgrass and clover infestation and a host of other issues affecting the lawns.

The good news is that if your turf has suffered this year, we are coming upon the very best time of year to establish new turf! Late August is the perfect time to try and establish a lawn in our area. This is because the grass types that we use in our lawns are cool season crops. As the summer heat winds down and the evenings are getting cooler, the weeds that have run rampant are coming to an end to there season. Sowing grass seed now will allow your lawn to grow all fall in close to perfect conditions and then again next spring when it comes out of winter dormancy and before the warm weather crops (or weeds) can even begin to grow!

So if you are thinking of enhancing your lawn, now is the time to aerate, top-dress and slice seed! If you need help, as always, we are here!

Summertime and the livin’ is fine

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:36:53 +0000

We installed the water fall and planting at this pool- completing a perfect back yard stay-cation location!! It’s easy to turn your back yard (or any area of your property) into a great place to get away from it all. From pool settings to fire pit areas to hidden gardens the possibilities are endless. And your back yard oasis will always be there, while that get away comes and goes!

Lawn fungus

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:26:22 +0000

There has been an explosion of lawn fungus from the extreme heat and humidity in the last week or 2. Be careful as the fungus looks like drought or heat stress/ summer dormancy to the untrained eye. If you suspect that you may have a fungus, call a professional to help guide you. There are many cultural practices that you can try, but if it is bad enough it could “melt out” and severely affect the health of your lawn.

As always we are here if you need help.

summer dormancy in turf

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:25:59 +0000

Well, after years of timely rain in the summer it looks as though this will be a hot dry year. If you do not have the ability to irrigate your lawn with approx 3/4 to 1″ of water per week, it is better for your turf to allow it to go dormant. Giving the lawn just enough water occasionally to tease it out of dormancy can and will do serious damage to the turf.

People with irrigation systems should also keep in mind that less frequent deep watering is better for turf as well as plants.

Keep in mind as the weather gets cooler and the rains start the lawns will come out of dormancy for the fall growing season. At that time any pest (grubs, chinch bugs etc) damage will become apparent. You are well served to scout for these pests while the lawn is dormant as they will cause serious damage to the turf.

Enjoy summer and if you need help with your lawns and or gardens we are here for you.

Another Back yard OASIS

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:22:11 +0000

A nice fire pit

Here is a fieldstone fire pit surrounded by a “Cracked Ice” Bluestone patio and boulder seating! Great place to sit with your family and friends all year long.

My family sat around ours last weekend, the best part was watching the fireflies dance in our yard while we were mosquito free!

Imagine this in your back yard!?!?

Back yard fire pit

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:12:35 +0000

new fire pit

In these uncertain times our back yards are the perfect place to get away from it all. I have attached a picture from before and after in a clients back yard. Although I think that before any work was done the yard itself was peaceful, there was no destination that called out for you to relax. With the new patio surrounding a large fire pit the family has a spot to go outside and enjoy their surroundings even late into the evening. As anyone who has one will tell you firepits are incredibly calming and relaxing to sit in front of. They are also a good value.

fire pit area before

What makes a GREAT Landscape Company?

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:06:18 +0000

I’ve been thinking an awful lot about what it takes to set a landscape company apart from the competition. Having been in business for 18 years some of the parameters have changed, but I believe there are still basic tenants that will always apply.
First the organization has to love what they do. From the owner to the managers to the technicians, it shows if any of them don’t LOVE their jobs.
Second there must be honesty and accountability. Not just a slogan, but real honesty. For instance if we are asked to price a job with ten components, the job will be priced with ten components. The only caveat would be that if one of the ten components does not make sense for the prospective client we will always tell that person, even if it means not getting as big of a project as initially thought. Real accountability in that we will always address our clients concerns, with their interest in mind.
There are many levels of quality/ ability in the landscape industry. This is due to relatively easy entry, if you have a pick up and a lawn mower you can call yourself a landscaper. Anther area where a great landscape companies set themselves apart is with expertise. We have Certified horticulturists, licensed lawn care technicians, Registered Landscape Architects, and certified horticulturists on our staff. While you may not need all of that to mow someones lawn. It certainly comes into play when said lawn has a fungus that is hard to detect that left unchecked will kill the entire lawn. Or when a client has native hemlocks up to 80 feet tall and they are infested with Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. A great company will be able to diagnose and take corrective action. A guy claiming to be a landscaper will not.

So if you have a postage stamp of a lawn and just need it mowed, the guy with the pick up is who you want. If you have a landscape that you truly appreciate and take pride in your property, a great landscape company is what you should be looking for. As you can imagine the guy with the pick up is going to be MUCH less expensive. But really who is a better value? Hands down the landscape company that is trained, educated, certified and working in the field because that is their passion.

That is Princeton Scapes and our employees. If you want a great landscape experience call us. If you just want to get it done because you don’t like mowing the lawn and would rather not think of you landscape as an integral/ valuable part of your home- please call the guy with the pick up truck.

Add value to your home with landscape project

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:33:06 +0000

This article ran in the Boston Globe over the weekend. Even in what some are calling “The Great Recession” you can ad value to your home by creating the proper landscape.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/04/18/money_growing_in_your_garden/

The cool thing is that you can ad to your outdoor living space for your enjoyment now, while creating additional value to your property! We have a Registered Landscape Architect on our staff who could help you design your dream landscape that we could then help you build! Give us a call!! 978.422.0420

Tips on Crabgrass prevention

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:33:15 +0000

Crabgrass can be one of the most visible – pesky issue for your lawn. Crabgrass is an annual, which simply means that it self seeds itself on a yearly basis. It is also a warm weather crop. This is important in the fight against an invasion. Our typical turf-grass in Massachusetts are cool weather crops. The Fescues, Bluegrass and Rye-grass typical to our lawns do really well in Spring and even better in Fall, while they can actually go into heat dormancy over the summer depending upon how hot and dry our season is. Crabgrass on the other hand thrives in the dry heat. For germination, the soil temperature needs to be above 58 degrees for approximately one week. The recent summer temperatures did in fact start the process of germination for the crabgrass, but in most cases this cool weather has slowed the process down.

The best prevention of Crabgrass is to have a healthy thick turf. This should be done with a comprehensive IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach. You would start with simple cultural practices- Cutting the lawn at a proper height, keeping trees properly pruned to allow enough light, keeping the turf aerated, top dressing with compost/ organic matter and or sand. The turf system also needs nutrients- organic tea, synthetic fertilizer, or organic based fertilizer. And of course a healthy lawn needs water.

If you can keep your lawn thick and healthy with cultural practices, nutrients and adequate water, crabgrass will typically not be an issue. If however your lawn is stressed by excessive heat, cutting it to short, improper watering then crabgrass can and will be an issue.

This process is of course easy in theory, but it typically takes a concerted effort to acheive. As always, if we can help give us a shout, if this has helped already, tell your friends!

The rain is abating

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:36:10 +0000

Thankfully the rain is slowing. It looks like we will have summertime temps coming up in the next couple of days. This should be good to dry out our water logged yards. Happy gardening- Let us know if we can help!