Outdoor Planning Archives - Goldberg & Rodler, Inc.

Is the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? It might be because that greener, healthier looking lawn is given the attention it needs in the fall.

Throughout the summer we are often playing on our lawns and regularly mowing them. This

additional foot traffic causes compaction which prevents the lawn from breathing. It also prevents water and nutrients from reaching down to its roots. When a lawn cannot breathe and take in nutrients, it becomes weak and susceptible to weeds, insect damage and disease.

Aerating, slit seeding, and over seeding are all methods we employ at Goldberg and Rodler to rejuvenate lawns after the dog days of summer have passed.

Aeration:

One approach to repair the lawn in the fall is aeration.

Aeration creates small holes which enable the lawn to breathe and helps water and nutrients penetrate down to the roots of the grass. This then creates a stronger and more vigorously growing lawn. After aeration, adding compost will provide an extra burst of nutrients for rejuvenation.

Slit Seeding:

Slit seeding opens up the lawn to help it breathe.Similar to aeration, it also removes thatch. Thatch is dead grass, old roots and organic matter that builds up on the lawn. The tool used to

remove the thatch and open the lawn creates rows of openings. These new openings are perfect for adding seeds, ensuring contact with the soil, rather than just spreading seed on top of the existing lawn.

Over Seeding:

If your lawn isn’t looking it’s best, but also isn’t suffering

from compaction, an over seeding can give your lawn the boost it needs. Over seeding adds new grass seed right on top of your existing lawn, producing new growth that will make your lawn green and lush. This prevents weeds from taking over where the existing lawn has become thin and weak.

Make Your Lawn Greener & More Lush:

Contact us today for a lawn assessment. We will determine the best course of action to improve the health of your lawn. Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on this fall, your lawn will be greener, healthier, and more lush.

– Corinne Iasilli

Sheltering-in-place and social distancing have unfortunately become the new normal these days. We are feeling the effects of missing our friends and loved ones, and the plethora of overwhelmingly negative news. Finding ways to stay positive during these trying times is so important as many of us are suffering from the fear and anxiety of not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

Getting out into our yards (while of course maintaining appropriate social distances from our neighbors) is a good way to help change our perspective on our current situation. It is also an excellent way to improve our mood and beat cabin fever. The spring air is a welcome break from the couch and whatever shows we’ve been binge watching. Spending time in the sun can improve our mood, help us sleep better, and can offer a sense of calm. We do need to remember to use sunscreen and wear a hat if we’ll be outside for more than a few minutes, which we should be!

Working in the garden provides even more benefits than just a casual stroll. Gardening is a physical activity and physical activity helps lower blood pressure. Physical activity also relieves stress and reduces anxiety. Immersing ourselves in nature takes us away from our electronic devices and gives us a break from the constant news cycle. While we can choose to garden on our own as a way to take a little break from being with our immediate family 24/7, we can also get our families involved. Gardening is a wonderful way to bond and to teach children about where food comes from and about the natural world surrounding them. It will also help them burn off some energy and encourages them to take a break from their devices.

Fortunately with the arrival of spring we can toil in the garden in any number of ways. We can tend to the gardens we already have by adding new spring flowering plants such as pansies and we can give our beds a refresh by adding new mulch. We can start a new kitchen garden full of herbs and veggies, or we can sow some seeds and pull some weeds. Even just dusting off a lounge chair or bench so we can enjoy a cocktail al fresco is a great way to get out into the garden. This is the time of year when our favorite local nurseries start selling their vegetables, herbs, and fruit plants. As they provide edible plants and seeds, they are deemed essential agricultural businesses and many are now open and eager to serve us, their loyal customers.

Prioritizing customer and employee safety is of the utmost importance to all of us and local nurseries are offering new ways to shop, from online shopping, to calling in orders that will be ready for curbside pickup, or offering delivery services. Goldberg & Rodler is still open and we’re here for all of your landscape needs. Maintenance, emergency tree work and repairs, and plant healthcare for pest and disease control are all currently deemed essential business and our design staff is working from home.

With a multitude of technology options at our disposal, we can meet via video chat or we can walk your yard “social distance-landscape style” and use our mobile phones or tablets to talk while keeping physically apart so our team will have a plan and be ready to hit the ground running for you when NY’s PAUSE ends. With the amount of time we are all currently spending at home, now more than ever it is important to have a place we enjoy being, whether it’s relaxing on a lounge chair with a good book, picking fresh berries from your own garden, or taking a dip in a pool, make your home and yard the place you and your loved ones will always want to gather, quarantined or not.

A quote gardeners love to share is, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Audrey Hepburn said this while speaking of the work she did as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Tomorrow will come, so join us on Instagram and Facebook and let’s #believeintomorrow, get planting, and look forward to all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers today’s hard work will bring us tomorrow!

– Corinne Iasilli

Photo Credit: Corinne Iasilli