In Springfield, Missouri, lawn aeration and over-seeding are important to maintaining a healthy and beautiful lawn. Grass can get old and worn down. Overseeding is a fast and convenient way to make your lawn lush and green again without starting over. Overseeding is spreading grass seeds over an existing lawn.

Lawn aeration keeps your grass beautiful by improving soil structure and combating soil compaction. Healthy soil has both macropores and micropores which provide space for plants to absorb nutrients and oxygen. Overly-compacted soil no longer has the porous space required for healthy grass growth. Although aeration and over-seeding are important, it may be confusing as to when would be the best time to perform these activities.

Best Time to Aerate and Overseed is in the Fall

We recommend that you aerate and overseed at least once a year to maintain a beautiful lawn. Lawn Aeration and overseeding in Springfield, Missouri is best done during fall when the weather is cooler. There will be plenty of sunlight because trees will start to shed their leaves. Additionally, diseases that attack seedlings are less active.

Second Aeration and Overseeding in the Spring

If your lawn needs more attention and is highly compacted, overseeding and aerating twice a year could provide an even thicker and healthier lawn. Spring would be the next best time to aerate and overseed your lawn again. However, be sure to mow your lawn a few times before aerating in the spring. This will allow the lawn to grow quickly enough to recover and utilize increased pore space that results from aeration.

When in doubt, be sure to hire a professional to determine what the best plan is for aerating and overseeding your lawn. It is critical to follow specific instructions on watering, equipment, seed mixtures and blends. At Gabris Landscaping, we offer services for both aeration and overseeding. Give us a call to maintain a healthy and beautiful lawn.

With our busy lives, it’s often hard to find time for proper lawn care. However, there are several things that you and one of the best lawn care companies in Springfield Missouri, Gabris Landscaping, can do to save you more time while maintaining a healthy lawn.

Mow More Frequently

Although it sounds counterintuitive, mowing more often can save you time so long as you’re only removing 1/3 of the grass blade at a time. Grass clippings that are too long can lead to more time raking and toting bags to the curb. Cleaning up is time-consuming. Although you’ll spend more time mowing, you’ll save much more time cleaning up.

Spray Weeds

Instead of pulling weeds, spray weeds instead. Spraying weeds will save time because it will control the whole plant. In contrast, pulling weeds may allow it to re-grow later. Weed control materials can help manage broadleaf weeds, crabgrass, and nutsedge. When in doubt, give our expert lawn care company, Gabris Landscaping, a call. We offer a lawn care application service. It is important to know the types of weeds that exist and which treatments are best.

Use a Lawn Care Company to Seed Your Lawn

Although you could seed your lawn yourself, professional lawn care companies will have the equipment that can perform this task in much less time. Without a lawn care company, you would have to borrow a truck and trailer, pick up seed at the store, unload the machine, run it for hours, and wash the machine off.

Use Preventative Lawn Care Applications

There are some lawn care applications you should never go without applying each year. It is far better to prevent pests and diseases than to treat them later when they become a problem. It is crucial to make sure all treatments for lawns, shrubs, or trees are applied in a manner consistent with Federal, State, and local laws.

Use Timers for Irrigation

The first couple months after seeding is the most important. Be sure to regularly water your lawn. Neglecting this task could lead to wasted money and time. To avoid forgetfulness, buy timers and set up irrigation for your lawn to water certain areas at certain times. You can also save time dragging hoses and sprinklers around several times a day by installing an irrigation system. An irrigation system can be installed by lawn care companies.

To save the most time, give our experienced and professional lawn care company a call. We can take care of your lawn while saving you valuable time.

Preventing Lawn Fungus and Reducing Lawn Applications

Lawn fungus can spread rapidly and be very damaging to your lawn. It can spread to areas that are weak, dying, and unhealthy. Lawn applications such as fungicide can treat fungus by preventing its growth and spread. However, fungicides are chemicals that have many environmental and health disadvantages. Fungicides can drain off your lawn and contaminate nearby lakes and rivers. The chemicals in fungicides are detrimental to aquatic life. Additionally, fungicide can be harmful to humans and cause irritation to skin, eyes, and the respiratory tract. However, this lawn application can be reduced by following some best practices to prevent and control fungus.

Maintain soil at proper pH level.

Most lawn grasses prefer slightly acidic soil near 6.0 to 7.0 pH, where essential nutrients stay readily available. Regular soil testing and appropriate soil amendments help keep your grass healthy and strong.

Follow good mowing practices.

Mowing low creates the grass conditions that disease organisms love. Weakened and wounded grass provide the perfect conditions for fungus. After the disease gets started, you can even spread it around via the mower blades because the disease rides on the blades. Instead, mow the grass at heights recommended for your grass type. Keep your mower blades sharp, and mow according to grass growth. Remove only one-third of the blade height in a single mowing. Collect and dispose of lawn clippings if you suspect fungal disease. Don’t compost; some diseases spread through clippings, infecting compost.

Use Fertilization

Under-fertilizing leaves grass undernourished, and overfertilizing promotes weak, rushed growth; both mistakes set up lawns for disease. Fertilize with premium products that release essential nutrients at the right levels.

When Lawn Application May Be Necessary

Although these preventative tips can be effective, infections may still occur. After all other efforts have failed, you can contact a professional such as Gabris Landscaping for lawn applications of fungicide. It is important to hire an expert with experience and knowledge on how to handle chemicals.

Brown spots on your lawn can be a frustrating experience. Even when you think you’ve done everything to ensure a lush, green lawn, suddenly a brown spot appears.

There are many possible reasons why you may be seeing brown spots on your lawn. Let’s review a few potential causes and the best remedies to keep your lawn looking bright and green.

Human and Animal Damage

It’s very easy for both humans and pets to cause damage to the lawn. Some common causes include:

Animal Urine – Dogs are the most likely culprits, but large birds, cats, and other animals can cause urine stains as well. You can figure out if your brown spots are caused by animals by checking to see if the spots are yellow with bright green around the edge, indicating diluted nitrogen found in the urine, which acts as a fertilizer.

To avoid these issues, try to make sure your pet is well-hydrated can make their urine less toxic, and you can also train your animals to do their business in a different area of the yard.

Dull Mower Blades – Dull blades tear your grass and cause damage as they pull the blades away from the root system.

To avoid this problem, sharpen your mower blades in the fall and spring, and check them after mowing to make sure the mower is cutting your grass evenly.

Chemicals – Gasoline, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides can cause dead spots if spilled.

To avoid this problem, make sure you always pour any chemicals, fuels and sprays on your driveway or on a patio stone, not on your lawn, and always carefully follow the directions.

Poor Growing Conditions

In some cases, the conditions in your yard may be unfavorable for grass to grow. Some of these issues can include:

Poor Soil – Soil quality can vary between different areas in your lawn, and patches of poor soil can cause brown patches.

To avoid this problem, take a screwdriver and push it into the soil. If it goes in easily, your soil is likely compacted and needs to be aerated.

Erosion – Water tends to run off in slopes, often taking grass seeds and young shoots with it.

To avoid this problem, aerate your lawn to increase water absorption. If you’re dealing with a steep slope, consider building terraces or planting ground cover.

Roots – Large trees or shrubs nearby can be a drain on resources for grass, causing the surrounding area to look patchy.

To avoid this problem, consider mulching or naturalizing areas under trees and shrubs instead of trying to get grass to grow in an area will you’ll always have an issue.

Drought – A healthy lawn requires an inch of water a week, which can come from rainfall or irrigation. A dry spot can become compounded by drought damage.

To avoid this problem, make sure your lawn is watered evenly.

Lawn Diseases and Pests

If none of the previous suggestions above have worked, then it might be time to move on to more serious measures against pests and disease.

Thatch – Thatch is a buildup of decaying grass which chokes out healthy grass.

To avoid this problem, remove the thatch by raking your lawn if it’s more than ½” thick.

Grubs – Grubs are common late-season problem, and can be identified when your sod pulls back from the ground like a carpet.

To avoid this problem, check for fat, white, curved worms beneath your sod. Contact us for pest control applications to eliminate the grubs from your yard.

Fungal Diseases – Fungal diseases can become common during the midsummer months, when the temperature is hot and humid.

To avoid this problem, aerate your lawn and make sure your grass gets as much sunlight as possible. If it persists, contact our lawn care services to help get this under control.

If you need help identifying the causes of brown spots in your yard or solutions on how to fix them, contact the lawn care services team at Gabris Landscaping.

When the weather starts to warm up, the insects and pests come out of hibernation and start attacking your lawn and landscaping. The most common lawn pests we deal with are chinch bugs, grubs and sod webworms.

Don’t lose the battle over chinch bugs. Chinch bugs can attack your lawn quickly as weather warms and adults move into open areas where females lay eggs. These eggs hatch, and begin feeding on grass plants while releasing plant damaging toxins. Damaged areas first appear as yellowish to brownish patches which enlarge as the insects spread. Gabris Landscaping’s yard pest control reduces the number of these pests on your property and minimizes the risk of infestation.

Grubs are the larval stage of several beetles. During their life cycle, they exist approximately two inches below the lawn’s surface, continuously feeding on the root system. Proactively treat your lawn for grubs with our yard pest control. Grub damage is most likely to occur in the late summer and early fall months. However, grubs can also be present and cause damage in the late spring. Grub activity will encourage damage due to scavenging animals including skunks and birds, both of which will search for grubs to feed on. Damage may not be apparent until it is too late, requiring costly repair.

The Sod Webworm is the caterpillar state of a common lawn moth. The night flying moths drop eggs from which the caterpillars hatch in the lawn and begin to feed on grass plans almost immediately. Damaged areas have yellow patches of turf that may eventually turn brown and die. Webworms are only active at night, chewing grass leaves, often severing the entire plant at the crown. During the day they retreat to silk lined tunnels in the thatch or soil. Birds flocking to your lawn to feed may indicate Sod Webworm activity. Control of Sod Webworms is included in your Lawn Doctor Maintainer Care program.

Gabris Landscaping can provide the best yard pest control treatment to help prevent damage to your lawn before it occurs. A properly cared for landscape adds both beauty and value to your home while it provides natural support for the environment. We can help you create and maintain the quality landscape you deserve to have surrounding your home.

When it comes to taking care of your yard, we don’t take a “one size fits all” type of approach. Every yard is different depending on the type of grass, the amount of sun, the type of soil, how it drains, etc. Our professional lawn care services include customized fertilization and mowing programs. We know that everyone wants a green lawn, so we make sure to utilize the proper balance of seed, feed, weed control, proper mowing techniques and the right season for each application.

Our Full Service Custom Lawn Care Checklist

Gabris Landscaping provides customized, complete annual lawn care and maintenance programs because most lawns are different and have different needs. Although the components and processes are different for each lawn, this complete full service program includes custom fertilization, aeration, over-seeding, weed, fungus,and insect control, mowing, trimming and pruning.

As part of these services, our professional staff mows your entire yard, does the line trimming around all trees, posts, and fencing, uses a blade edger to create sharp lines along sidewalks, patios and driveways, and completes the job with a final blowing and cleanup.

Our blend of slow and quick release fertilizer to jump start your lawn for a quick and sustained green up, post-emergent weed control to kill any winter weeds, and a pre-emergent weed control to help prevent crabgrass and other grassy, small seeded broad leaf weeds will make sure your lawn is the envy of the neighborhood all year long.

We welcome the opportunity to provide our full maintenance Gabris Landscaping lawn care service. However, if you simply need a professional lawn mowing service, we are happy to help. This standard service includes mowing the yard, line trimming around all trees, posts, fencing, etc., edging sidewalks, patios and driveways, and of course, we always clean up.

Lawn striping is where we create a pattern in the grass during the mowing process. Visual results may vary based upon health of grass, length of grass, type of grass, available sunlight and seasonal conditions. As we mow, the weight of the roller bends the grass down in the direction we mow.

Our lawn mowing experts create the best design for the lawn size and shape. Our lawn striping system will not hurt your grass. It simply gently bends the grass blades in the direction we are mowing. It does not fold or break the blades of grass. It is important to rotate the mowing patterns and angles each time we mow.

Whether you only need lawn mowing and trimming, our lawn fertilization program, or our complete customized lawn maintenance services, we can create the right lawn care solution for your yard.

The relationship between soil and plant is one of our top concerns as the quality of your soil directly determines the development and growth of every species of plant. Proper knowledge about soil is imperative for the ideal management of your yard and landscaping.

Plants are sensitive to soil conditions. Their growth and development directly depends upon the texture and quality of your soil. Hence, to get desired results for your yard, we need to know the quality of the soil in your yard before anything else. This will help us select specific types of plants best suited for the soil of your yard.

What Is Soil Exactly?

The top part of the ground directly beneath the surface is what we refer to as soil. It consists of three main mineral particles: sand, silt and clay. Of all these, clay is generally found in greater proportion followed by silt and sand. The mixture of these three mineral particles determines the texture of your soil. If all of these three mineral particles are found in equal proportion then it is regarded as the best quality of soil. This type of soil is called loam.

Soil also consists of other various things like water, micro nutrients in the form of organic matter, air, minerals and microorganisms. Soil affects plant roots and serves as the nutrient storehouse which will help in the growth of plants.

The Benefits of Soil Testing

Soil testing is an essential part of your lawn service because the growth and development of your plants directly depends on the quality of your soil. It is the preliminary task of landscape design as it helps us determine which species of plants to choose for your yard. If landscaping is being planted for the first time, then soil testing is a must.

Soil testing also informs us about the minerals lacking in your yard, which we can add to enhance the quality of your soil. This will be done before we start the planting for your landscape:

• Soil should be re-tested every three to five years.
• We analyze the progress of your soil compared with last test.
• We take our sample of the soil when the ground is not frozen, during spring or late fall.
• We take soil samples with the use of soil probe.
• We gather a composite sample of the soil for the entire yard by sampling from different areas.

Improving Soil Quality By Adding Organic Matter

Organic matter goes on your yard to decay and form humus. Humus is the most important part of the soil. It is effective in enhancing the quality of the tilth which makes it easier for plants to grow.

Humus can be incorporated in various ways in the soil. It can be added in the form of manure, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat moss and many more.

Humus produces spongy texture which is helpful in:

• Enhancing your soil water holding capacity.
• Regulating the soil temperature.
• Releasing nitrogen in the ideal proportion.
• Enhancing your soil’s capacity to hold and release nutrients.
• Helping in the growth of microorganisms. They are essential in conditioning the soil.
• Opening up necessary pore space for air passage and many more.

Proper soil management is the key to success for every yard. It can improve results in a relatively small time frame. Our dedication and awareness to soil management will help make your yard beautiful.

The health and longevity of your lawn is highly dependent on planning ahead. The use of pre-emergent lawn treatments, including fertilizers and herbicides, is crucial in maintaining a gorgeous green lawn throughout spring and summer.

Timing, above all else is the most important factor in using pre-emergent treatments. Waiting too late to treat your lawn properly will still result in crab grasses and other weeds infiltrating their way into your grass despite the amount treatment you apply to abate this.

Following a few simple tips about using the right treatment at the right time will ensure that your lawn is properly nourished all summer long.

Lawn and garden enthusiasts often labor over treating their lawns correctly and still bemoan the fact that crab grasses seem to prevail in the war against weeds. Although it seems logical to begin treating your lawn with pre-emergent fertilizers and herbicides at the start of spring, this is actually too late in the weed-germination process to make a difference.

Spring coincides with the ability to work outside with greater warmth and longer days without having to endure a harsh winter chill. It’s when we start thinking about our lawn, but you need to begin treating your lawn in the final weeks of winter before the ground has warmed up in anticipation of spring.

This will likely have you planning effective lawn treatments as early as the final week in February before crab grass and other weeds are allowed to germinate. Try not to wait longer than the first week of April to start using pre-emergent treatments.

Laying down your pre-emergent weed fighting techniques early on before the soil temperatures exceed 50-55 degrees will ensure that new weeds are prevented promptly and efficiently. Herbicides work with the ground soil by constructing a vapor obstruction below ground, effectively cutting off the energy catalyst with unwanted weed seeds.

The importance in using an effective pre-emergent treatment is that it will halt these unwanted seeds from continuing to grow and take over your lawn. After you apply your lawn treatments, make sure to leave the area alone for at least a week. This means no mowing, pickup football games, or any other activities that may disturb or aerate the soil.

Moreover, ensure that you are familiar with the herbicide or fertilizer used on your lawn. Some treatments include chemicals and other ingredients that should be avoided immediately after application. Discuss the product labels with the experts at Gabris Landscaping so that you are familiar with how to maximize its potential.

Homeowners and lawn-care aficionados often struggle with weed control because of a simple lack of knowledge on pre-emergent treatments. The latest scientific evidence shows that scheduling your lawn applications early and effectively with the right treatment will produce the weed-free, perfectly green lawn you have always desired.

Most people only consider overseeding their lawn when their yard is bare or filled with large brown patches. But did you know that you can also spread grass seed over your entire lawn (even if it’s not bare or patchy) to make it fuller, denser, and healthier? This process is known as grass overseeding and it can greatly improve your lawn’s health and appearance, especially if you combine it with aeration and fertilization. To learn more about the benefits of overseeding, check out our tips for overseeding.

Tips for Overseeding Your Lawn

DO overseed your lawn in the fall. Hot, harsh summers often damage lawns, so autumn is a great time to give your grass some extra love and attention. Aim to plant in late summer or early fall, to give your new grass seed time to grow before the first frost of winter arrives. By overseeding in the fall, you’ll also give your grass plenty of time to mature before the following year’s summer.

DON’T just throw down the seeds. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by the do it yourselfers. If you want to give your grass seeds the best chance at success, help them penetrate the soil. So you’ll first need to aerate the soil to loosen it up and remove excess thatch. It’s important that the seeds come into contact with the soil instead of simply sitting on top of the grass blades. If possible, it’s also best to mow your grass a bit shorter than usual and use a commercial seed planter.

DO use quality grass seeds. For best results, you need to use high-quality grass seeds that have been selected and grown for the area we live in. Quality seeds will produce quality grass. That’s why we’ll only use a grass seed that is either (1) the same type as your grass or (2) compatible with your type of grass.

DON’T let the seeds dry up. After overseeding, you’ll need to make sure that the seeds stay wet for a couple of weeks, giving them plenty of water with which to germinate. After those initial two weeks, you can taper off your watering until the first frost of the season occurs.

DO hire a professional. With our carefully selected grass seeds, years of experience, and expert knowledge, our lawn care professionals can help you get the most out of your lawn through overseeding. We can also come back for a lawn “check-up,” to ensure that the overseeding process was successful and the grass is healthy and beautiful.

Mature grass has a slower reproduction rate, so overseeding (which brings in young seeds) will help keep your lawn lively and vibrant. After overseeding, your lawn will be thicker and any thin spots should be filled in with grass. Your yard should appear fuller, lusher, and generally more beautiful. What’s not to love?

If you’re planning to overseed your lawn, give Gabris Landscaping a call. Our overseeding program includes aerating the soil, removing thatch, and using a commercial seed planter to work the seeds into the soil. Additionally, we only use high-quality seeds, selected and grown for the southwest Missouri area. We look forward to making your lawn the best that it can be.