No matter the wins and no matter the losses, KC Royals fans continue to flock to Kauffman Stadium on warm summer nights.
It’s the whole experience; the hotdogs, the crowd cheering, the glowing fountains, the fireworks and…the grass?
Maybe that last one isn’t the first thing that pops into your head, but according to Trevor Vance, the Royal’s head groundskeeper, the pretty grass is for the fans enjoyment. This is mainly because in a given game, only 3 players actually stand on it at one time.
The Royal’s turf is bluegrass and ryegrass which is a cool-season type. Since temperatures here are so hot in the summer, it takes a lot of time and care to keep it looking great.
Vance is also the head landscaper for the stadium leaving him in charge of Kauffman’s 50,000 plants. And you thought your garden was a lot of work!
Read more about Vance and his unique job as a major league baseball stadium groundskeeper in this article from the Kansas City Star.
To make sure your garden looks great and continues to bloom throughout the summer, pluck off the dead heads of your flowers. This will allow the flower to have more energy to create more flower heads, since it won’t waste its time sending energy to a flower bloom that is already dead. Makes sense, right?
To “dead head” a bloom, you will need to follow the stem of the dead bloom down to the first junction where the stem meets with either a leaf or another stem. Use clippers when dead-heading tall flowers or roses. For smaller flowers, gently snap or pinch off the dead buds with your thumb and forefinger.
Keep in mind that plants respond differently to deadheading, depending on climate, variety or rainfall, so experiment. Take comfort in the fact that in most cases, the worst you can do is give them a bad haircut. It’s almost impossible to kill a plant by deadheading.
Your lawn is a gathering place for family and friends during the summer months. From backyard get-togethers and gardening, to playing ball and barbeques, it’s the central hub of excitement and activity when the weather heats up. All of this action and hot, humid summer weather can leave your lawn looking less than lovely. While sprucing up your whole backyard may seem like a daunting task, with some quality seed, water and a little love, your lawn will be an enjoyable spot for fun all year long.
Follow these tips for a beautiful lawn.
If you have a Midwest lawn, seedin late summer or early fall. This can prevent thinning under trees, fill-in bare or uneven patches and give your lawn a boost of health and color.
Warm days and cool nights are ideal for grass germination. During the fall, seeds have less competition from perennial weeds. The cooling conditions in September also help to keep the soil moist and give young roots a chance to become established before winter.
Over-seed your lawn annually. Seed developers constantly cultivate grass varieties that are greener and more resistant to drought and disease. Over-seed older grass to give your lawn all the benefits of new seed varieties. Further, many homeowners don’t realize that a blade of grass only lives 40 to 60 days before it dies. Grass must produce new blades to replace the ones that are dying back and the growth of your grass will slow as it ages. Eventually the production of new grass blades will fall behind the rate of older ones dying back so keep your lawn looking thick, healthy and vibrant by over-seeding annually.
Seed your Midwest lawn with cool season grass varieties, which thrive in our moderate climate. Choose an improved tall fescue variety, like Defiance XRE Seed Blend. Your seed should be free of weed seeds, inferior grass varieties and any type of rye grass. These details are on the label. Tall fescue seed is adaptable, germinates quickly and is resistant to drought. It grows well in the shade and forms a dense, attractive lawn.
If you wish to re-seed your lawn, follow these seeding instructions on our website.
Having a healthy lawn doesn’t have to be an impossible goal. If you choose the best seed variety for your climate, plant during the right season, and give your lawn regular water and fertilization, a shining, green yard is yours to enjoy year-round.
CoverMaster came out last week and top dressed all of my landscape beds with this beautiful, dark brown mulch. The contrast with the lawn really makes the yard pop. Now, if I could just find someone to take care of the rest of my To Do List…
Well, I think it is official. Spring is FINALLY here. Lawns are started to fill in and look great, the leaves on my trees are starting to unfurl and rain has been falling.
It is time for me to start planting and spend more time outside in my landscape. I think I will pick up some Impatiens and Begonias this weekend and get started on my landscape beautification projects.
Here are the other things on my list:
1. Get rid of any leaves that are still lurking in the neglected corners of my lawn.
2. Make sure I am good to go on my second crabgrass preventor for the season. (If you haven’t put a preemergent on your lawn yet, try to do it this weekend. Once crabgrass germinates it is much more difficult to control.)
3. Prune any dead branches out of my shrubs.
4. Take the plastic “guard” of the crabapple tree we planted in the backyard last week.
5. Wash the outside of my windows. (I am not looking forward to this one. Do you think the attachments you put on the end of your hose work?)
It is mid-March already. Time has been flying by — spring is practically here, as evidenced by my tulips, daylilies and hyacinths slowly emerging. (I am afraid I missed my witch hazel blooming — I will have to be more observant to catch it next year!) I even saw an eager gardener planting annuals the other day. I am not falling for THAT trick, Mother Nature!
So much is already going on in our landscapes, and I am admittedly a little behind in spreading the word. No more. From here on out you will get too much information about the great outdoors. (Okay, maybe I am overstating it a bit!)
A few tips to get you started:
If you have not already put a preemergent on your lawn, get in gear. Once crabgrass germinates it is a nightmare all season-long.
Pick up those piles of leaves. (Okay, tell me you didn’t leave piles of leaves on your lawn all winter.) Just in case you have some laying around in your landscape beds, now is the time to get them picked up.
Top dress your flower beds with fresh mulch. If you don’t have mulched beds, I highly recommend them. If you do, then now is THE BEST time to spread some fresh mulch on top. It is much easier to do before our shrubs are leafed out and our bulbs start blooming.
Enjoy this beautiful weather. Seriously, it is gorgeous.
P.S. Sorry about the absence of a picture today. It appears I am out of memory/space. I fear I am going to have to start compressing my pictures before I upload. Ugh.
The leaves are changing, gourds are appearing on doorsteps and mums are well-stocked at nurseries – both are sure signs of fall. (That and the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, so I hear.)
Autumn is here!
Our landscapes are starting to slip into their winter slumber, but there is still work to be done.
Byron in Overland Park does a great job of grouping color next to his front door. This practice draws the eye to the front door, masking small blemishes in the lawn and welcoming visitors. I, for one, am a little bit jealous of his setup.
It’s not quite time to rake yet, but it will be before we know it. Raking leaves is one of my least favorite chores. The raking itself isn’t as bad as the bagging, in my humble opinion. Luckily the other day, our pruning crews were out pruning the shrubs around our office. I got some footage of them disposing of all of the tiny clippings from the shrubs. GENIUS! I defintely think the same principle can be applied to leaf raking.
I think you can easily use the tarp as a funnel to capture leaves in bags. Better yet, you can drag the whole lot of them to a compost pile. (We leave several in our garden. As they break down they add great nutrients to the soil.)
Ryan Lawn & Tree was listed among Landscape Management’s list of Top 150 Landscape Contractors in the June issue. RYAN was ranked 86th Nationally and 19th in the Midwest based on revenue.
The World Cup has garnered the attention of much of the world the last few weeks. Analysis of star players, officiating missteps and which team is best positioned to win have been hashed and rehashed. Less attention has been focused on the playing fields themselves.
The 9 fields of the World Cup have been seeded with a combination of 2 varieties of Kentucky Bluegrass and 2 varieties of Perennial Ryegrass. The seed was supplied by Oregon-based Corvallis’ Seed Research. FIFA has strict regulations when it comes to playing fields for the World Cup. Africa’s native warm-season grasses (Bermuda varieties) were out, as was artificial turf. Corvallis spent 4 years perfecting the blend used on the fields.
And those ties to Kansas City I mentioned? Corvallis provides the seed for the Kansas City Chiefs practice and playing fields, as well as the seed used at Augusta National.
