I sure didn’t see this coming.
It’s looking like we may get hit with a bit of snow and ice overnight—at least that’s what they’re saying—so I thought I’d take a moment and talk about Winter Injury.
Typically, we in the South, don’t have much to worry about when it comes to our turfgrass wintering; as the temperatures rarely get cold enough—or stay cold long enough—to cause any damage to our lawns. However, with the near zero temps of a couple of weeks ago and lower than average temps expected, combining that with snow and ice, there is a possibility for winter injury to occur. While the chances of it actually affecting your lawn are low; as a precaution, you should do your very best to minimize traffic of any sort on your lawn during the time it is covered with snow/ice. Obviously, thinning areas, shaded areas, areas with poor drainage and newer sod installations are most at risk; it’s a good idea to just keep to the sidewalks and driveways.
I recently spoke to a man at a sod farm who mentioned there was still frost in the ground as shallow as five inches—that five inches will freeze quickly, leaving a nice frozen base for the snow and ice to sit upon. Having a lot of traffic on the lawn in this state can cause irreparable damage to the turf.
I’m going to start scheduling mulch installations the first of February—hopefully to have them wrapped up by the end of April. I understand that some people will prefer to have their beds mulched towards the end of Spring; if you are one of them, please let me know ahead of time—it helps me to route everyone more efficiently.
Those Bradford Pear leaves are down now, aren’t they? I can’t remember waiting this long for them to fall — better late than never.
(0)After three days of killing myself trying to get the beds cleaned while still attempting to keep the lawn clean; I find myself having to priortize. Either I severely underestimated the amount of leaves that were still falling or the beds were just.that.deep! I’m gonna go with the latter… I spent almost four hours on one lawn today, trying to clean the beds and the lawn—in the end, I still wasn’t able to finish a couple of beds. I’ve decided I’m going to do front beds/areas first and work the rear beds in as I go. With some lawns, I am able to clean the entire lawn within a reasonable time frame—that won’t change. But, with those of you with larger beds and a tremendous amount of leaves—isn’t it weird how your lawn can be covered, three inches deep, while your neighbor has just a sprinkling of leaves—I’m going to focus on the front and work around the property until clean. My goal is to have the beds/areas clean and manageable by Thanksgiving.
With all of the leaves essentially falling over the past three weeks—the majority of them, at least—the beds, as you’ve undoubtedly noticed, have taken a backseat to the cleanliness of the lawn. I apoligise for this; as is always the case—I do the best I can do with the time alotted. With that said… The beds are my TOP priority this week.
(0)Forecast is calling for another 5 to 7 inches of rain over the next 36 hours. I’m planning on working Saturday, if the lawns—and weather—will permit. Leaf removal will be done to the best of my ability, however, there will undoubtedly be areas of many lawns I won’t be able to clean. I’m as frustrated as anyone—thankfully, next week looks nice ‘n dry.
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