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Love Your Lawn…Without Chinch Bugs

. Posted by in , , • Houston

It starts when you notice just a slight yellowing of your once lush lawn. At first, you consider the recent lack of rain, but the yellowing continues to spread and turns your prized lawn into an eyesore. A healthy lawn that turns ugly yellow is one sign that a homeowner is dealing with a chinch bug infestation.

Chinch bugs are lawn pests that feed on healthy grass. The problems use a straw-like part of their mouths to drink the juice of a grass blade while injecting harmful chemicals into the plant. A chinch bug infestation results in a yellow, unhealthy lawn that is typically most damaged in areas exposed to sunlight.

They are identifying whether a chinch bug infestation involves investigating the grass near the soil. Chinch bugs tend to be more active on hot days in the summer and in areas that receive direct sunlight. Anyone interested in improving their Houston … Read Full Post »

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Austin Landscaping: Four Seasons of Shrub Care

. Posted by in , • Austin

In Central Texas, a lush, green row of beautiful shrubs quickly offsets the often disagreeable heat, inviting friends and family to enjoy a bit of an oasis just outside your home. While watering, pruning and fertilizing are key factors in keeping your shrubbery healthy, these aspects of basic gardening work most efficiently when combined with a comprehensive lawn care system.

ABC Home & Commercial Services employs specialized Austin landscaping techniques in order to cater specifically to the various types of plant life found here. Rather than approach the care of your shrubbery and lawn with only spring and summer in mind, our team of experienced professionals believes that you deserve beautiful, healthy plants throughout the year. Our highly trained and certified lawn care experts work with you and your lawn to keep it looking its best, regardless of the season.

In order to provide customers with the best service available in Austin … Read Full Post »

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Insects in the Garden: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

. Posted by in , , • Houston

Guest Post By Woodrow D. Weasel on his blog Ground Breaking Tips

LINK TO SHARE:  http://goo.gl/RbxOX

Gardens are fantastic tiny worlds. Like in our macro-size earth, maintaining a delicate balance is essential to a healthy micro-ecosystem. This is even true of the bugs!

The important thing is – get educated. Know your bugs. Please don’t assume they are all bad. Many beneficial insects play an essential role in the health of your garden. Understanding their purpose is also advantageous so you can find natural ways to deal with them. Chemical remedies can be a last resort.

Generally speaking, if a bug is wrong, it has a good predator that can work with you to eliminate it. All it takes is a little bit of knowledge and identifying which bugs are good, which are bad, and which are just plain ugly. Then you will be empowered to work with nature to maintain a healthy garden.

Remember, if you … Read Full Post »

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Houston Landscape Design

. Posted by in , • Houston

Preparing the plans for a Houston landscape design of your yard can be daunting, but starting with the basics can take away from the pressure. The most basic question might be, “What will I plant?” The best choices for North Texas landscaping are the obvious ones: the ones that can handle this Texas heat! So, what are the top 5 Landscape Plants for North Central Texas?

The top 5 perennial Landscape Plants for Central Texas

Salvia (Salvia greggii)
Salvia is native to the Trans Pecos of Texas, favoring the area’s limestone outcrops and canyon lands. Salvia comes in a wide variety of colors, from white, to pink and red. It is a small, shrubby plant with fragrant leaves. The flowers bloom all summer long and into the fall. It prefers full sun. With too much shade, it will become leggy. Cut it back to the main stem in January or February to create complete, new … Read Full Post »

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Dallas Lawn and Garden Pest Control

. Posted by in , , • Dallas-Fort Worth

Some might say that Dallas is a city that never sleeps, but neither do the pests that live there. Though it may seem that winter brings a welcomed break from pests that seem to thrive during the hotter parts of the year, winter has its fair share of pests as well. The kinds of pests you encounter will vary throughout the year. This guide will help you know what to expect, no matter what season.  We hope this will give your Dallas lawn and garden pest control activities a boost.

 

SPRING / SUMMER

  • Summer is also a very active time of year for insects. Depending on the humidity and temperature, termites continue to swarm well into the summer months. Ants will also continue to swarm well into July.
  • Cockroaches are seen more frequently indoors during summer because they are searching out more favorable conditions such as moisture and lower temperatures.
  • Isopods (pillbugs) continue to … Read Full Post »
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7 Ways Dallas Commercial Landscaping can help your Business

. Posted by in , • Dallas-Fort Worth
Commercial Landscaping

Your company’s commercial landscaping is the first impression customers receive when they visit your company. As you may already know, a well-designed landscape can enhance your Dallas facility by creating a desirable place for your customers and employees to conduct business. However, well-designed landscaping provides more than just aesthetic value.Here are 7 ways Dallas commercial landscaping can be beneficial to your business and community:

  • Plants increase tourism revenues
    Interior landscaping at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, is credited for an unusually high (85 percent) occupancy rate. Guests willingly pay an extra $30 per night for rooms overlooking the jungle-like display, netting $7 million a year in additional room revenues. The city of Virginia Beach attributes, in part, their $52 million in convention revenue for 1994 to the landscaping efforts of recent years.
  • Views of plants increase job satisfaction
    Employees with an outside view of plants experience less job pressure and greater job satisfaction … Read Full Post »

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Harvesting Water With Rain Barrels

. Posted by in , • Austin

Maybe, as some predict, fresh water will become the next oil in terms of being a necessary but limited resource. However, even if that turns out to be hyperbole, regional droughts will always be with us. That means that at some point many people will be forced to conserve water. 

”The population is growing, but the water supply is not,” says Bill Hoffman, a coordinator for the City of Austin Water Conservation Program, in Texas. That’s why people around the country are turning to the centuries–old practice of collecting rain as an alternative source of water.

By collecting rain from a roof during wet months and storing it in a tank or cistern, homeowners can create an alternative supply that won’t tax the groundwater or jack up the water bill. 

And because rain doesn’t contain the minerals found n wells or the chlorine in municipal supplies, it’s ideal for watering the … Read Full Post »

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Mulch: Your Tree’s Best Friend

. Posted by in , • Austin

Mulching is one of the most valuable things a homeowner can do for a tree’s health. Mulch is any material placed on the soil to conserve moisture and improve growing conditions. Common materials include wood chips, bark, pine needles and compost. However, if mulch is applied too deeply or the wrong material is used, it actually can harm trees and other plants.

Proper mulching

◾ Check soil drainage in the area to be mulched. Determine if there are trees or plants that may be affected by the type of mulch. Most organic mulches work well in most landscape situations. Some plants may benefit from mulches such as pine needles or bark that acidify the soil.

◾ Apply a 2- to 4-inch layer of mulch over well-drained soils. Use a thinner layer on poorly drained soils. The wider the mulch ring, the greater the benefit. Mulch out to the tree’s drip line, if possible.

◾ Do not pile … Read Full Post »

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How to Save Water With a Sleeping Lawn

. Posted by in , • Austin

The average lawn size in the U.S. is about 1/5 of an acre, or a little less than 9,000 square feet, and it takes at least 624 gallons of water to apply 1″ of water on 1,000 square feet of lawn. It thus takes a total of more than 67,000 gallons to apply 1″ of water per week to an average lawn for three months during one summer. Even if you only halve that amount by allowing your lawn to go dormant, you’re still conserving a tremendous amount of water–enough water to supply a family of three’s drinking water requirements for 61 years.
Whether you want to help conserve water or you just don’t have time to water your lawn regularly, letting your grass go dormant during the hottest months of the year can help. A dormant, or “sleeping,” lawn will turn brown, but with proper care the underground crown of the grass plant will survive. In fact, … Read Full Post »

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Tips for Aerating the Lawn this Fall

. Posted by in , • San Antonio

Hardly anyone thinks about the dirt the grass grows in, but the health of the soil is a key component to a great lawn. Grass does best in soil that drains well and has a rich, loamy texture.

Poor soil invites many lawn problems, including weak growth, which makes the grass subject to damage from insects, disease or weather conditions. If the soil is compacted or made of heavy clay, it may not drain properly. If it’s sandy or silty, it won’t hold water and will dry out too quickly.

Core aerate the soil every fall or every other fall. This process pulls 2- to 3-inch-long cores from the ground, where they stay until they disintegrate in a couple of weeks, feeding the soil as they do. Core aeration helps keep thatch, or dead root matter, under control and loosens compacted soil. The holes allow water, oxygen and other nutrients to work … Read Full Post »

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