The Daily Nonpareil Tuesday, April 2, 2013 5A
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New home? Where do you begin?
If you’re entering the first growing season ata new place, you may be starting over on build-ing your turf.
“I think the best thing and what I would rec-ommend they do is to call a professional to comeout and ask for recommendations,” said GarryStruyk, co-owner of Struyk Turf Ltd., 19933Virginia Hills Road. He suggested setting up anappointment to talk to the person after he/shelooks at your lawn so you get a detailed assess-ment and can ask any questions you may have.Some lawn services, including Struyk, will doan evaluation for free.
Mike Martin of Martins Green Thumb LawnCare, 7 Ridge Drive W., agreed.
“They could have a professional come in andsee what it needs,” he said.
Lawn Wizards, 21 N. Eighth St., wouldcheck for density, color, weeds, crabgrass, fun-gus, damage and summer stress, said LanceManess, sales manager.
If you’re lucky enough to have a new houseand yard, Lawn Wizards would look at land-scaping, cleanup and chemicals needed, Man-ess said. Care should be fairly easy.
“If it’s a brand-new sod yard, we recommenda simple four- or five-step program, just to keepit healthy,” he said.
In that case, the lawn probably won’t needto be aerated until at least fall – maybe nextseason, he said.
If it’s not a new lawn and has some damagefrom last year’s drought, the property ownerwill want to have someone aerate the lawnbefore re-seeding the bad spots, Martin said.Late April or early May should be a good timeto seed.
“If they don’t need seeding desperately, theyshould wait and seed in the fall,” Struyk said.“If you start out in the spring and run your fer-tilizer and your pre-emergent, you can preventyour crabgrass ... but if you seed, you can’t runyour pre-emergent on there and, by the endof the summer, your lawn will be overrun bycrabgrass.”
If you treat your lawn and wait until fallto seed, your turf will improve some over thesummer and your new grass, when you plant it,won’t have to compete with crabgrass, Struyksaid.
“I think they will find that a basic programwill get their lawn into good shape.”
With winter lingering a bit longer this year,lawn service companies were still waiting inMarch for the ground to warm up, Maness said.
“What we’re waiting for is for the groundtemperature to be over 50 degrees,” he said onMarch 26.
Struyk anticipates the area will experienceanother dry summer this year, though perhapsnot as dry as last year.
“Everything forecast is that we’re goingto have another dry year,” he said. “If peoplewould start out May 1 and apply 1 inch of water
to their lawn per week, that’s all they’ll have tohave. The key is to start early and then keepit up.”
Also, don’t cut your grass shorter than 3inches long, Struyk said.
“That way, the grass forms a canopy to
protect the crown of the plant,” he said. “Thelength of a blade of grass above ground is com-parable to the length of the root below ground.”
The brown spots visible on so many lawnscould have been prevented by applying 1 inch ofwater once a week, according to Struyk.
If you’re new tohomeownership, prosoffer help on how toget the yard you want
Staff photo/Kyle Bruggeman
If you treat your lawn and wait until fall to seed, your turf will improve some over the summer and your new grass, when you plantit, won’t have to compete with crabgrass, Struyk Turf LTD manager Garry Struyk said. While the ground’s not quite ready foraerating just yet, Struyk poses for a portrait on the green space between Broadway and Kanesville Boulevard in Council Bluffs onMarch 27.
6A Tuesday, April 2, 2013 The Daily Nonpareil
MIKE [email protected]
Herbs are tough.They stand up to the con-
stant heat of summer, growingand growing when it’s dry andhot. Cut ‘em down, they keepcoming.
“They’re pretty vigorous,”said Nate Didamo with Sher-bondy’s garden center. “Theygrow like weeds, almost all ofthem. You put them in thecontainer or ground, make surethey’re alive and they’ll do thegrowing for you.”
Popular varieties includerosemary, thyme, chives, basil,parsley, lavender, mint, curryand sage.
Herbs – pronounced erbs, orif you’re Eddie Izzard, with the“h” – are a seed plant that doesnot produce a woody stem likea tree, according to a history ofthe plant by West Virginia Uni-versity. But an herb will livelong enough to develop flowersand seeds.
There are a number of dif-ferent types, including orna-mental, medicinal and aro-matic. Culinary herbs are themost common and most usefulto backyard gardeners, with avariety of types to use in cook-ing.
Didamo noted that herbsgrow well in the ground or incontainers, though if gardenersuse a container, “the thing isyou have a limited root zone, sokeep up on water.”
But not too much. Herbsthrive when moderately moistto dry and are susceptible toroot rot, especially lavender.
Herbs prefer direct sunlight,he said, 8-12 hours (or more).
“You can’t give them enough,really,” Didamo said.
Didamo couldn’t raveenough about herbs’ ability tohold up in heat enough, usingthe word “vigorous” often.
“They stand up well inheat,” he said, noting: “Mint isalmost indestructible.”
Didamo encouraged garden-ers not to overfertilize, notingthat in his garden there’s beentimes where his herbs grew tolook like bushes.
“It’s hard to control size,they’ll grow big,” he said. “I’llcut them and they’ll be rightback up like nothing. They’rewaiting for you to trim back sothey can grow more.”
For beginners in the herbworld, choosing what to plantcould be a problem, given thelarge selection to choose from.The West Virginia report sug-gests a quick check of super-market shelves to give an idea
of the types of herbs used incooking. Many cookbooks alsooffer information on uses ofvarious herbs as flavorings.
Strong herbs include win-ter savory, rosemary and sage,while herbs strong enough foraccent are sweet basil, dill,mint, sweet marjoram, tarra-gon and thyme.
Use chives, parsley andsummer savory as herbs forblending.
Didamo noted that peren-nial herbs include mints, fewvarieties of lavender. thyme,sage and chives. Herbs can be
annuals, biennials or peren-nials.
A further breakdown ofwhat’s what, from West Vir-ginia:
-son and die) – anise, basil,chervil, coriander, dill, summersavory.
-sons, blooming second seasononly) – caraway, parsley.
bloom each season once estab-lished) – fennel, lovage, mar-joram, tarragon and wintersavory.
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Midwest herb garden secrets
Contact your local Iowa State UniversityExtension office to findout about local programs.
Master Gardeners aretrained volunteers whoshare a love of gardening,an enthusiasm for learn-ing and a commitment tohelping others. Perhapsyou’ve met a Master Gar-dener working at a com-munity garden, teachinga workshop or answer-ing questions at yourcounty Extension Office.You too can become aMaster Gardener if youare interested in learn-ing about plants and gar-dening, attend the train-ing program, provide 40hours of service, and arewilling to help others.
Training Sessions areoffered each year fromSeptember throughMarch. Preregistra-tion is required. Specificinformation about loca-tions, dates and timesis available from yourcounty ISU ExtensionOffice. The registrationfee covers the cost of allmaterials.
Master Gardenertraining sessions include:
of insects)
-mentals
Design
-ment
– mastergardener.iastate.edu
Becomea MasterGardener
Staff photos/Kyle Bruggeman
Various herbs grow at Sherbondy’s Garden Center inCouncil Bluffs. Popular varieties include rosemary, thyme,chives, basil, parsley, lavender, mint, curry and sage,according to Nate Didamo with Sherbondy’s
The desire to have a pris-tine, well-manicured land-scape leads many homeown-ers to toil outdoors for hoursevery weekend. Hiring a pro-fessional landscaper can freeup homeowners’ time andhelp them ensure their yardsare cared for properly.
One of the benefits of hir-ing a landscaper is the time
savings. Landscapers typi-cally have commercial-gradeequipment that can dra-matically reduce the time ittakes to mow and performother maintenance tasksaround your property. Fur-thermore, some services havemultiple employees workingconcurrently, enabling themto tackle several projects at
the same time and completethem in a fraction of the timeit would take a homeownerworking on his or her own.
Landscapers familiar withbotany and landscape designunderstand how to properlycare for plants and trees onyour property, while nov-ice green thumbers may beunaware about when to prune
trees and shrubs, at whatheight to cut the lawn andwhich plants will thrive inparticular locations. Such do-it-yourself maintenance mayeven cost more money thanleaving it to a professional.
Hiring a professional land-scaper is, in many instances,more economical. For a cer-tain weekly or monthly fee,
homeowners receive the ben-efit of professional knowledgeand execution. Also, home-owners will not have theexpense of purchasing thevarious tools and equipmentnecessary for lawn and gar-den maintenance, tools andequipment that include lawn-mowers, string weeders, edg-ers, fertilizer, grass seed, leafblowers, and shovels.
Another benefit is thelawn will continue to bemowed whether a home-owner is home or not. Dur-ing the spring and summervacation season, it’s easy forhomeowners to overlook theirlawn and garden in favor ofrecreation and leisure activi-ties. Without proper wateringand maintenance, lawns andgardens can brown or over-
growth can occur. But hiringa landscaping service allowshomeowners to rest assuredthat their yards will be main-tained whether they’re homeor not.
Hiring a local landscapingservice will not only benefithomeowners, but also it willbenefit the local economy.Residents can feel comfort-able knowing their lawnservice will be available forcalls when needed and will befamiliar with the community.Also, local contractors may gothe extra mile to earn yourbusiness recommendation.
Hiring a landscaping ser-vice can be advantageous tohomeowners who want to freeup time and still enjoy a well-maintained landscape.
– Metro Creative Connection
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Benefits to hiring a landscaping service
Submitted photo
Hiring a professional landscaper is, in many instances, more economical. For a certain weekly or monthly fee,homeowners receive the benefit of professional knowledge and execution.
The Daily Nonpareil Tuesday, April 2, 2013 7A
