Welcome to the to start with episode of Today’s Homeowner’s new podcast, “Ask Danny.”
Each 7 days, I chat with an marketplace good friend to tackle your home enhancement issues. We’ll share pro guidelines and sensible assistance to assistance you be successful! Plus, there is generally a one of a kind or funny tale along the way.
Today we are conversing about garden treatment and sodding, with Sid Sexton. Sid is the founder of Sexton Garden & Landscape in Daphne, Ala., and is accredited in turf and ornament spraying, landscape structure, and location of landscape plants.
About Sid Sexton
As the founder of Sexton Lawn & Landscape, Sid is a down-to-earth, straightforward businessman with a love for garden treatment, landscape structure, and delivering the ideal merchandise to his customers.
Setting up at age 16, Sid used his summers working for a regional landscape firm and the nearby state club and golfing training course in his hometown of Muskogee, Okla.
Just after earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a slight in horticulture, Sid joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed in Hawaii, where he fulfilled his future spouse, Jourdan.
He was honorably discharged just after two many years and commenced performing as an account supervisor for a landscape firm. In January 2004, he launched Sexton Garden & Landscape.
Sid is licensed in turf and ornament spraying, landscape design and style, and environment of landscape crops. He is also a Licensed Landscape Qualified and continues his schooling through workshops, on the net courses and other situations quite a few occasions throughout the year.
Continue to keep studying for his information on widespread lawn challenges.
Controlling Weeds
“We laid sod in our lawn a number of years back and it is held up perfectly right up until recently. We’re beginning to discover a whole lot additional weeds than usual. What ought to we do?”
Sid: The very best weed control is a balanced garden. Grass requirements 3 significant items to prosper — daylight, water and vitamins, and in that purchase.
See if the sod is receiving plenty of daylight. Trim any branches that could be casting far too a lot shadow on to the grass.
Also, assume about the style of grass. Some kinds of grass thrive in 1 spot and fall short in yet another. The style of sod could not be shade-tolerant. There’s no genuine shade-loving turf, but there are some that tolerate a specified amount of shade.
Up coming, think about irrigation. Are you watering also significantly or as well minimal? The correct balance is dependent on the style of turf you have.
The last stage must be fertilization and weed management. If weeds are the difficulty and you feel like you have sufficient sunlight, water and nutrition, speak to a qualified for a weed command plan.
Lawn Aeration
“Should everybody aerate a garden, or is that in a problem when you suspect the floor has gotten much more compacted?”
Sid: The solution relies upon on how substantially targeted traffic you have on your garden.
Do you have some mature trees and are individuals roots are obtaining larger sized and larger sized and having up much more space underneath the grass. Do you have dogs or kids? Is there a soccer match in the yard each and every weekend? This will bring about compaction.
If this is the situation, you should really core aerate. If it’s a sports turf, you really should core aerate twice a calendar year.
For typical property owners, at the time a calendar year, if that, is enough.
And before you aerate, mark the spots of your sprinkler heads.
Prepping for Sod
“What need to you do prior to sodding your lawn?”
Sid: Right before laying sod, take five or 6 soil samples from the front and backyard.
Label them so you will know what area of your lawn wants soil amendment. Talk to with your community extension office environment to see what remedies you should do.
After your soil is amended and you are completely ready to lay the sod, commence prepping. There is no have to have to eliminate all vegetation, but you do need to have to get rid of the weeds.
Right before laying the sod, break up the soil with a until. This will create a gentle transition layer of soil that will make it a lot easier for the grass roots to get hold.
Then, incorporate some natural and organic subject to make a dwelling soil for your sod to thrive, like Black Cow. (This is an affiliate website link. If you obtain this product, we will get paid a smaller fee at no supplemental value to you.)
Sid Sexton’s Mowing Ideas
- Sharpen your lawn mower blade at minimum when for each year. A sharp blade will make a good clear reduce and won’t tear the grass blades.
- Change up mowing designs. Don’t mow in the very same path each individual time each yr. It allows the grass to grow a distinct way and lessens the chance of ruts in your yard.
- Make absolutely sure you know the mowing peak for your turf variety. Distinct grasses develop finest when at selected heights. For instance, the encouraged top for St. Augustine grass is 3-4 inches, while Bermuda grass needs to be slash at an inch and a 50 percent.
Sid’s Experience with the Elusive Ground Pearl
All through the class of his horticulture experiments in college or university, Sid acquired about an insect known as a ground pearl. Floor pearls live in the soil, feed on turf roots and appear like a pearl, as their name suggests.
Around the several years, he’s heard about floor pearls in seminars and browse about them in textbooks, but he had hardly ever noticed one in real life.
“I considered it was the Loch Ness monster — anything you claimed when you couldn’t figure out what was incorrect with a lawn,” Sid claims.
This changed, while, when he bought a household in 2012. For 9 months, he struggled to find the trigger of why the grass’ health was declining. The remedy grew to become obvious when he was digging to plant a tree and pulled out a huge wad of soil.
There were white and pink dots in all places! Lo and behold, it was the elusive ground pearl.
Now, he sees them everywhere!
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