Preparing your Yard for Cooler Weather

Doing some things to get your yard ready for cooler weather can make all the difference in improving its health. Spread the tasks out over a few weekends and it won’t be so bad, or call C4 Landscape & Design to take the work off of your hands. Even though the Houston area doesn’t get that cold compared to some parts of the country, you will still be glad you get these jobs done now.

• Use a basic rake to redistribute your mulch to allow water to access the roots more easily. Plus, it perks your landscaping right up!
• Don’t fall victim to piling your mulch up like a hill, which is an enticing spot for pests. Instead, even out the mulch around trees and leave a few inches between the mulch and the tree.
• Do your research to learn what kind of fertilizer is best for Fall, and apply it before it gets too cold. Fall is the most important time to fertilize your lawn.
• If your lawn has bare spots or dry patches, reseed those areas before lawn growth slows in the cold weather.
• Aerate your lawn to move air among the soil, which promotes healthy grass. Also remove thatch, the layer of dead grass and debris on your soil, which impedes the growth of grass, blocks water from reaching roots, and promotes fungal diseases.
• Keep your grass at least 2 to 2-1/2 inches tall. Even though it may be tempting to cut it short to avoid more frequent mowing, your lawn won’t be as healthy.
• Get rid of dried leaves, branches, and twigs. Consider renting a wood chipper from a home improvement store to create mulch full of nutrients for your landscaping.
• Carefully prune your bushes and trees, but be sure not to remove new growth.
• Remove dead leaves, branches, and dried fruit from perennials to lower the appeal to bugs.
• Planting Spring bulbs now will provide a longer time for their roots to develop and become strong.
• Tune up your lawn equipment such as the mower and leaf blower. Get them ready for storage in the off-season so that they’re good to go next Spring.

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.

End of Summer Lanscaping Tips

September is here, and although in the greater Houston area that doesn't mean you can kiss summer weather goodbye, it does mean you can start thinking about the autumn weather to come. There are some things that you can do now to give your lawn and landscaping beds a better chance for success when it starts to cool off.

• Brown patch disease in St. Augustine grass can still be a problem into the Fall, so continue to watch for it.
• If you have a dead spot or area that appears stressed in your lawn, consider chinch bugs as the culprit. They can still thrive in the Fall.
• For warm-season grasses like most lawns in the Houston area, the final nitrogen fertilizer application of the year shouldn't be any later than September 15.
• Pay attention to your watering and make sure your landscaping is getting what it needs.
• Damage from white grubs can appear in September. If you notice a problem, apply soil insecticide and water it in thoroughly. Ask your local garden store or contact C4 Landscape & Design if you need suggestions for what kind to use.
• By the second week of September, complete application of pre-emergent control for winter-annual weeds on your lawn. You can skip this application if you are planning to over-seed your lawn with rye grass. 

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.

Mowing Your Lawn: Do It Right

One of the most important things you do in your landscaping is mow your lawn. Your home’s curb appeal goes down the drain if you have poor lawn cutting techniques that damage the lawn and promote weeds and insects. Instead, your goal should be a neatly manicured lawn that will be the envy of the neighborhood. How do you know the best mowing practices? Here are some guidelines to help you achieve success.

Select the right mower.

Rotary mowers are the most popular type used for both residential and commercial lawns, although they vary depending on the size of the job. Homeowners usually opt for push mowers on small to medium yards where speed and power aren’t a requirement. Larger riding mowers are a good choice when push mowers aren’t sufficient. However, keep in mind that the blade turns slower on bigger mowers and can rip the turf, which increases your lawn’s risk for disease. Faster blades make sharper cuts that are healthier for your lawn. Heavier big mowers can also cause soil compaction, inhibiting the ability for air, water, and nutrients to pass through your soil. If you use a larger mower, aerate your lawn annually to combat soil compaction issues.

Set the right height.

The height that you mow your grass is critical to its health. It varies somewhat depending on the type of grass, but generally the most important thing to know is the 1/3 rule. This rule means that you shouldn’t cut any more than 1/3 of the leaf blade at any one mowing. Cutting more than that at a time can cause drought damage or root stunting, especially during the hot Houston area summers. If your lawn need to be cut more than 1/3 of a leaf blade, take several passes on your lawn over several days. This give the grass time to recover and your lawn won’t be shocked so much.

Decide if mulching is right for your yard.

Many lawn mowers come with the ability to mulch or shred grass clippings and spread them back to your soil surface. Adversely, bagging and removing clippings means your lawn will need more fertilizer because valuable nutrients leaving with the clippings will need to be added back. Some homeowners are afraid that returning clippings to your lawn creates a layer of thatch that water and nutrients can’t get through, but this is false. Mulched clippings from a routinely mowed lawn acts as an organic fertilizer. Thatch from clippings is only a problem for lawns that are cut from high growth to extremely low heights.

Mow at the right time.

How often you mow depends on the amount of rainfall, sun exposure, temperature, length of day, and fertilizer applications. Therefore, you shouldn’t set a strict schedule for mowing. It is better to cut the lawn when it reaches the needed height. And during the hot Houston summer months, lawns should be mowed less frequently to lower drought and heat stress.

Know the right way.

Always alternate the direction that you cut your lawn every other time you mow. Don’t follow the same pattern each time, because it can increase soil compaction and cause inconsistent growth patterns. Also, make sure your lawn mower blade is sharp. Disease and ripped turf become issues when dull blades are used for cutting. Make a habit of sharpening your lawn mower blades at the beginning of the mowing season, and you can make it easy on yourself by taking the blades to your local hardware store.

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.

Drip Irrigation

Watering your lawn and garden is often not an easy task, and it can also get very expensive and waste water. Drip irrigation offers an efficient and cost-effective way to water your landscaping.

What is drip irrigation?

This type of watering system has been used in dry areas of the country for some time, and the Houston area fits the bill. It applies water slowly at the plant’s roots where it is most needed. Plants are over 90% efficient in using the water applied, while other irrigation methods like sprinklers are only 65% to 75% efficient. Also, evaporation and runoff are reduced. Homeowners most often incorporate drip irrigation into the bedding areas of their landscaping, as well as for watering shrubs and trees.

What are the benefits?

• The quality and productivity of plants improve.
• The areas between plants remain dry, reducing weed growth.
• The efficiency of drip systems saves money and water.
• Leaking of water and nutrients below the roots is minimized.
• Uneven ground is properly irrigated.
• Leaves, fruit, and stems of plants do not contact the water as much, preventing disease.

Is operation and upkeep difficult?

Like sprinkler systems, drip irrigation may be set to run automatically or controlled manually. Manual control allows you to decrease watering after rainfall. Most drip irrigation systems are designed to run every day without rain, and it may run once or twice a day. Watering your landscaping early in the morning allows less evaporation, while evening watering increases your landscaping’s risk for disease. Maintenance of your drip irrigation systems involves regular checks for proper function, and most companies provide detailed guidelines for you to follow to keep your system running smoothly.

What about the cost?

As you might guess, the cost of a drip irrigation system varies according to the size of your target area and the materials needed for your system. No matter what the size of your space, there are upfront costs for items required in every system such as the pressure regulator and backflow preventer. Ask Outdoor Development for an estimate for incorporating drip irrigation into your own home’s landscaping.

Pergolas versus Arbors

Structures are often used in landscaping to enhance or complement the beauty of the area. They can incorporate a variety of features such as roofs, benches, swings, and vines to make your garden more attractive and comfortable. Pergolas and arbors are two types of overhead structures that are often referred to interchangeably, but there are actually some notable differences between the two.

What is an arbor?

Usually comprised of a trellis as some part of its makeup, an arbor tends to form a tunnel-like passage of climbing plants. Arbors are often shaped like an arch, and most have a continuous length of latticework running from one side to the other. These garden structures are usually relatively small.

What is a pergola?

Also designed to support climbing plants, pergolas are larger structures and have posts that support a roof. They are often used to provide shade for a walkway, patio, or deck area. Pergolas typically include more extensive architectural design than arbors, such as columns reminiscent of their original Italian background. Vines may be incorporated to create a canopy over the roof of the pergola, providing even greater shade. Pergola roofs may be made up of lattice, vines, fiberglass or other materials.

Why should I consider adding a structure to my landscaping?

Whether you opt for a pergola or an arbor, these structures can extend your living space into your yard and provide a lovely transition from inside to outside. You can create the effect of an outdoor room, especially with a larger roofed pergola, and add valuable shade. The results of incorporating a pergola or arbor can add interest, value, and appeal to your landscaping to transform your area from ordinary to exquisite. C4 Landscape & Design can assist you in choosing the right plants for your structure. This may include climbing vines to add color, depth, and beauty as well as plants and beds to surround your structure and tie all of your landscaping together perfectly.

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.

The Best Tree Choices for the Houston Area

The Houston area is rather unique in the requirements that this environment places upon its landscaping to grow well. This is true for trees, because the healthy ones must be able to thrive in this setting. The soil here is acidic and dark brown or black clay. With a subtropical climate that brings occasional freezes during the winter, the Houston area has an average yearly rainfall of over 40 inches. However, some years bring drought conditions with much less rain! Trees need to be able to survive in drenched soil mixed with periods of drought, which is a tough requirement. Also, trees must be resistant to fungus and mildew common to the high humidity that Houston is famous for.

So what are some trees that are able to thrive even with these difficult requirements? Here is a list of the best options for trees that will be successful around Houston.

Live Oak

A large spreading tree with very strong branches, live oaks typically grow to be 35 to 50 feet tall. Their spread can be as wide as 75 feet. Live oaks grow very slowly, not being considered a mature tree until age 50. Healthy live oaks can live for 400 years! It is an evergreen whose leaves drop in February, but the tree quickly begins forming new growth.

Shumard Oak

Shumard oaks are most known for stunning Fall color, adding yellow and red leaves to your Houston landscape. Shumards are low maintenance trees that grow to be 75 feet tall with a spread of 45 feet.

Bald Cypress

These tall trees can reach 100 feet in height and 30 feet wide. Tolerant of both wet and dry soils, the foliage turns to a beautiful burnt orange color in the Fall. Sometimes bald cypress trees product knobby growths from their roots that may impede lawn equipment, but other than that the bald cypress is a great landscape choice for the Houston area.

Southern Magnolia

Known for producing great big fragrant white blooms in the late Spring, magnolia trees are drought tolerant but also grow well in moist acidic soil. These trees can reach 90 feet tall with a spread as wide as 50 feet. It is an evergreen tree with broad dark green leaves. Magnolia trees can grow a lovely thick canopy with their large leaves and branches.

Dogwood

The smallest of the trees discussed here, dogwoods reach 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide. They are known for their beautiful white bracts resembling flowers that appear in early Spring prior to the foliage on the tree. Dogwoods grow most successfully when planted beneath other shade trees or areas that are protected from the hottest sunlight.

Sweetgum

Shaped like a pyramid, the sweetgum tree grows up to 100 feet tall and 25 feet wide. With broad leaves that provide outstanding color in the Houston area, they glow in shades of red, yellow, and orange during the Fall. The downfall of sweetgum trees is that they produce spiny balls that may be frowned upon as messy in your yard.

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.

Landscaping Tasks for Late Winter and Early Spring

There’s one thing you can count on for sure about the weather in the Katy area: you can’t count on it! One day it’s 30 degrees outside and the next it’s 80. You just can’t predict what to expect, especially in February, when the yards of Katy don’t know if it’s winter or spring. You don’t want to jump the gun with your landscaping, only to have another hard freeze undo your work. But then again, you don’t want to be left behind in landscaping tasks that can prepare your lawn and garden for a beautiful spring ahead. Here’s some advice about what you should be doing now, as the growing seasons approach.

Pruning

One of the big keys to gorgeous landscaping in the months ahead is to prune now. Pruning is a regular task in maintaining your plants, and involves selectively removing certain plant parts. Some great reasons for pruning include improving the appearance and health of plants, controlling a plant’s size, training young plants, preventing property damage or personal injury, encouraging flowering and fruiting, and restoring old plants. Here are some guidelines for pruning in February:

• Trim dormant native plants and woody perennials that resemble sticks. This helps new shoots flourish later.
• Prune trees, especially the oaks that are so common in Katy landscaping. Doing this in cooler weather helps avoid diseases like oak wilt. Don’t forget to prune your crepe myrtles too.
• Tend your roses by fertilizing and pruning them to encourage strong, healthy leaves and attractive buds.

Weeding

There’s no way to put this strongly enough….WEED your landscaping now!!! If you neglect this important landscaping task, you’ll be dealing with the seeds for months and months to come. Don’t succumb to using chemicals during this time of year, because they won’t successfully do the job. Weeding needs to be done the old-fashioned way of digging them out with a shovel, getting all of their roots, and consistently watching for new sprouts and yanking them as soon as they appear. It’s also a good idea to mow the lawn regularly to help control weeds, even though you may not think your grass needs mowing.

Preparing

Any planting or transplanting of shrubs and trees should be completed very soon, before the Katy heat kicks in for good. Prepare your gardens and flower beds by testing the soil, adding fertilizer, and turning the soil. Don’t forget to take a good look at your lawn. If you notice any brown patches, treat the lawn in late February with a fungicide. This is the right time to protect your lawn from further damage and to get it in good shape for the warmer seasons ahead.

Contact C4 Landscape & Design today for all your landscaping needs.