Ahhhhhhhh!
Did you hear it? That was your lawn breathing a sigh of relief. Air temperatures are below eighty, ground temperatures are cooling and oh yes rain. Your turf just loves this and what looked like old hay just a few weeks ago, in most cases is now green and healthy.
If your lawn showed signs of damage during the summer heat and has not improved or returned to color by this time, it is likely that it will not and re-seeding or replacement are your next options.
We have all head the phases “what goes around comes around” or “been there done that”. They both apply as we write this letter having experienced four straight days of rain; April and May are back? Thank you for your patience, we are trying to get back to normal cutting schedules as soon as the weather allows. 
The same applies to our schedules for fertilization and lawn
aeration which have both been interrupted due to the excessive rain. We will be starting again next week.
Ground ivy, or Creeping Charlie, is a weed that strikes fear into the heart of most home owners, and with good reason. Did you know it was introduced into the United States as a ground cover for shaded areas of the lawn? A new book that we have just purchased, Weed Control in Turf and Ornamentals ( 300 pages of weeds and how to attack them) describes it as follows “…one of the hardest lawn weeds to control. It roots along the length of the spreading stems, and pulling or other forms of mechanical control are nearly impossible. The only answer to the ground ivy problem is persistence”.
We have lawns in which we have eliminated it, and in others, using the same product, just wounded it. But, we are on the attack! Call us if it is a problem for you.
“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” To those of us in the Midwest, no one needs to explain that phrase but
the turf web site of The Ohio State University tells us how excessive humidity impacts our lawns. 2011 set weather records in almost every category as July was the hottest month on record and weather statistics appeared to exceed those of 2010. The high (stifling) humidity and high temperatures, both day and night, resulted in a compounding effect on turfgrass stress. Normally, cooler, less humid nights allow turfgrass plants to recover from daytime stresses. This summer turfgrass plants did not get this environmental night time rest. So, turfgrass was more susceptible to heat stress, diseases and other pests.
CUSTOMER QUESTION:
Like the lawn, is now a good time to fertilize my perennials? No, do not fertilize your flowers this late in the season. Perennials should be allowed to become dormant so that they can tolerate the winter weather.
Colorful autumn leaves, cool temperatures, Halloween and children trick-or-treating; enjoy them all.
Matt and Jim
