Some of these tips include seasonal references (like crabgrass control in April). Please note that these recommendations are for the Boston area, where we work. If you live in South Carolina or Tasmania, you'll need to adjust the schedule.

Landscape Therapy

Snow Mold

Crabgrass Control

Crabgrass and Forsythia

Spot Seeding and Plow Damage Repair

Seeding

Proper Watering

Lawn Mowing

June in the Garden

On Hiring a Landscape Contractor

Landscape Therapy

Thirty-six years ago I started cutting lawns and raking leaves. I was 16 years old. Physical, outdoor work was fun, it was healthy, and it gave me time to think. Landscaping was therapeutic.

Now I run a microbusiness. My primary business goal: keep my stress level down. My goal for you: don't make your landscape into a headache.

Common Stress Points

1) Pesticides

If you do not use pesticides in your landscape for one year, these are the potential consequences:

• Cinch bugs or grubs will kill the sunny areas of your lawn (10% chance).
• You may get crabgrass in the sunny areas of your lawn (30% chance).
• The leaves of your birch trees may become unsightly from birchleaf miner (50% chance).
• You will have to eliminate poison ivy by hand or live with it.

You can live without pesticides entirely if you are afraid of their impact on your family and the environment.

2) Lawn

If your lawn looks lousy now, it probably looked lousy last fall. Simply decide this: compared to last year, I want my lawn to look:___Better ___Worse ___The same ___I could care less. If you want to know what to do about it, call a professional for a free estimate. A pro will be able to give you prices for annual lawn care and for reseeding/resodding damaged areas.

3) Shrubs and Trees

If Hemlock and Pines along primary roads are partially or totally brown, they are not dead. The spray from the road salt has burned the needles. They will survive. Wait until the new growth starts before pruning them.

If Rhododendron leaves are curled and brown, remember 1993. The brown leaves will fall off, but new ones will replace them. Be patient. They will recover.

Dogwood anthracnose continues to devastate our dogwoods. If you have dogwoods, and if the lower branches are dying back, and if some of last year's leaves are still hanging on, that tree is in big trouble.

If you like to garden, you should. I do. If you do not, I am offering myself as a reasonably priced, stress-free alternative to the way you presently handle the management of your landscape. 

Snow Mold

You may notice significant circular "dead" spots on your lawn that you don't remember seeing last fall. The problem could be snow mold, a spring fungus problem that those of us in the trade call Fusarium Patch.

The bad spots appear in circular patterns ranging from several inches to one foot in diameter. When many of these circles are close together they may form very large irregular patches. They're visible as soon as the snow recedes. Additionally, you may notice cobweb-like threads on the edges of the circles, or a faint pink tint.

The solution: Rake out some of the damaged grass, let the lawn thoroughly dry out (7 days), and then fertilize. Most fungus problems are caused by excessive moisture. Our lawns haven't been dry since October.

After watering the fertilizer in, if the lawn does not improve you'll need to reseed. If the problem gets worse, call a pro.

I do not recommend that you use a fungicide to control snow mold. Fungicides are potentially dangerous and their use should be restricted to proper application.

Crabgrass Control

Crabgrass is an annual pest, no different from grubs, chinch bugs and dandelions. Pesticides are needed for their control. Crabgrass preventer (or preemergent) should be applied before crabgrass becomes a problem. The pesticide creates a barrier in your lawn that prevents crabgrass seeds from germinating.

Crabgrass seeds begin to germinate when the ground temperature exceeds 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not put a meat thermometer in the dirt -- we'll tell you when the time is right. Apply preemergent before May 5 or don't do it at all.

• Crabgrass absolutely will not grow in the shade, so if you have a shady lawn don't apply preemergent. Don't apply it on the shady perimeter of your lawn or under the canopy of shade or ornamental trees. Save the money and save the environment.
• Don't rake, aerate, or dethatch your lawn after applying crabgrass preemergent. All of them will destroy the barrier.
• Preemergents will prevent most crabgrass but won't necessarily eliminate it entirely. Try to live with the few blades that show themselves in late June.

Crabgrass and Forsythia

Crabgrass and Forsythia have a relationship. That is, the control for crabgrass should be applied while Forsythia are in bloom.

Forsythia is nice. It's bright, it's yellow, it's sunny! Crabgrass is ugly. Pervasive, noxious .. crabby. So I'll talk about crabgrass.

Crabgrass appears in late June, July and early August. However, since there is no postemergent control, a preemergent must be applied at the appropriate time.

The appropriate time is when the Forsythia are blooming. The preemergent establishes a chemical barrier in the turf that prevents the crabgrass seeds from germinating. If that barrier is broken, you will get crabgrass. Raking, aerating, heavy foot traffic and excessive heat will break the barrier.

Crabgrass preemergent is a pesticide. Respect it. Crabgrass does not grow in the shade, so don't apply the chemical in shady areas.

Spot Seeding and Plow Damage Repair

If you have any energy (or money) left after doing your spring cleanup, get that plow damage repaired before you hang up your bamboo rake. If you don't do it now, baseball season will start and you won't get around to it.

The chunks of sod that the plow relocated will live if replaced but will look ugly and be difficult to mow. Remove the displaced turf, then add a little loam (not pronounced loom), which is topsoil, potting soil or compost. Grade and level it with a steel rake and sprinkle a handful of seed on it. While you're at it, and since you bought a five-pound box of seed when you needed only three handfuls, look for other bad areas. Rake up the dead stuff, loosen the soil to a depth of a half inch or more, add new soil where required, and seed.

• Don't put that open box of seed up on the garage shelf. It won't be any good at this time next year.
• Don't bother putting starter fertilizer on these little areas.
• Water these spots as frequently as possible. However, while the weather is still cool you'll most likely get 50% germination even without watering.

Seeding

You must determine if the area to be seeded is shady or sunny. The amount of sun will affect the choice of seed and the recommended time to do the job.

Shady area:

• Less than 2 hours of afternoon sun.
• Needs fine fescue grass seed which takes 10 - 14 days to germinate.
• Can be seeded until October 1.
• Touchup work or the entire job can be done in the spring because crabgrass (which doesn't grow in the shade) is not a factor.

Sunny area:

• More than 3 hours of afternoon sun.
• Needs bluegrass seed, which takes 3 - 4 WEEKS to germinate.
• Sodding is an alternative in full sun only.
• Must be seeded between August 15 and September 15. If the seeding isn't done during this period, it had better be guaranteed.

Proper Watering

Proper watering is essential in maintaining a healthy, vigorous lawn. Follow these guidelines for proper watering:

• Water deeply and infrequently. Apply 1 to 2 inches of water during each irrigation. Water every 3 days (in hot, dry areas) to 10 days if it doesn't rain. If the lawn wilts, water immediately.
• Light and frequent watering promotes disease and encourages shallow roots. A lawn with shallow roots is more subject to drought damage than a lawn with deep roots.
• The lawn will use more water in hotter areas or where there are tree roots near the surface.
• Water less often during cloudy or cool weather, and more often during hot and windy weather.
• Check to see if you're applying enough water by digging a hole with a trowel a couple of hours after watering. The water should penetrate at least 8 inches.

Lawn Mowing

I've been cutting grass professionally for 36 years. In fact, I am of the species Homo Sapiens "Self-Propellus," a breed that actually enjoys the task. Plus I know what I'm talking about.

Grass clippings should never be bagged. However, one should not get grass in the mulched beds either.

Grass clippings do not contribute to a thatch problem. In fact, clippings contribute valued nitrogen to the soil, which reduces the need for chemical fertilizer.

GRASS SHOULD BE CUT AT 3 INCHES. The taller the grass the lower its maintenance. Deeper root growth, fewer weeds, less crabgrass, and better drought tolerance are all benefits of cutting grass at 3 inches. Grass that needs to be cut every week should be cut every week. When a lawn grows for an extra week, the clippings will smother the grass, the lawn will look lousy, and you will risk serious damage to the lawn by such dramatic "pruning."

June in the Garden

• Water your annuals daily. If you don't, not only will they die; they'll look ugly in the meantime.
• If you're concerned about having a green lawn, WATER heavily. The thunder shower last Saturday did not help.
• Raise your mower blades to a higher setting. The second highest setting is usually best.
• Remove foliage from spring flowering bulbs after they turn completely brown.
• If you fertilized your lawn in April or early May, fertilize again. Water after fertilizing to avoid burning.
• Prepare for summer crabgrass.
• Decide how you're going to prune your flowering shrubs. My advice: do it right or don't do it at all.
• June is a good time to plant shrubs and trees. Plant selection and availability are good. Just make sure you can provide water every 2 days.
• Don't even think about seeding a sunny area during June. I promise it will come up crabgrass.

On Hiring a Landscape Contractor

I generally offer specific horticultural tips: How to prune, proper care for roses, pesticide precautions, how to plant bulbs properly, etc. But many of you have neither the time nor the inclination to do your own gardening and lawn care. You are, therefore, faced with the decision of finding someone, the right someone, to do it for you.

After 36 years in business I am resigned to the fact that not all of you will hire me. I can live with that. But as an active member and past president of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Massachusetts (ALCM), I am extremely concerned with the integrity of my profession. I do not want any homeowner to have an unpleasant experience with the landscape contractor they hire. So, as someone who knows, before hiring someone, consider:

• What do you want to have done and what do you want to do yourself?
• How does one find a quality landscape contractor?
• What is a quality landscape contractor? What should you be paying? What is a fair price?

What Do You Want Done?

A landscape contractor should be trying to give you what you want, not what he or she wants to give you.

You should decide what you want to have done before talking with your prospective landscaper. Ask for it and stick to your guns. If he gets you to change your mind or sells you additional work, that's fine. Here are some points to consider:

• Do I want the lawn cut weekly or as needed?
• Do I want hand pruning or shearing?
• Do I want more color? Annuals and/or bulbs?
• Do I want spring cleanup? How, exactly, do I want it?
• Do I want my debris removed or dumped in the woods?
• How do I feel about pesticides?
• Do I want to deal with one contractor -- plowing, lawn, trees, etc.-- or are several contractors all right? How about subcontractors?

Make a list. How a contractor responds to your questions may be more valuable than the answers themselves.

A Quality Landscape Contractor

There is nothing illegal about being a lousy contractor. If you hired one, it's your fault, not his.

Two aspects determine a quality landscape contractor:

• Proficiency as a business person, and
• Quality of service

Michelangelo was a great artist, but if he hadn't called the Pope back promptly, he wouldn't have gone belly up, so to speak. A contractor can do great work but still cause major headaches.

Here are a few tips:

• Never hire someone who is "difficult to get a hold of."
• Never hire someone who makes recommendations before getting your input.
• Never ask for references; they are meaningless. Jack the Ripper could give good references.
• Ask, "Do you stand behind your work? Your service? Your people?"
• What is the procedure when a problem does arise? (No one is perfect.)
• Whomever you hire had better understand and respect pesticides.

A Fair Price

A business person, or the high school kid next door, can charge whatever he wants, and the consumer needn't agree to a price that is too high.

You want the best value for the money. A good business person wants to give it to you. Value will have different meanings for different people.

Focus on Total Cost, not Unit Cost

• The unit cost of plowing is $20. Who pays for the plow-damaged lawn?
• The lawn mowing price is $40. What is the total cost of a lousy job? Who pays if the lawn is damaged by grubs?
• What is the total cost if an uninsured contractor is injured on your property?
• What is the cost of bad service?