Posted by Erica Williams on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 02:33 PM
Fourth grade science class was—let's just say it was a long, long, LONG time ago. I was talking with a landscaper friend of mine about the condition of one of his clients' lawn. The grass was brown and ugly. Thinking aloud, he was brainstorming reasons, why he why he thought it was so unhealthy and we came up with lots of reasons and elements that could turn the grass brown. Then as a question to himself, he muttered under his breath “I wonder what makes grass green?”
I didn’t answer him. He wasn’t really talking to me.
And the fact that I did'nt know the answer off the top of my head, gave me pause too.
That seemingly simple question stayed on my mind for about 2 or 3 days before I started to do a little research. My first and only resource I checked was my little sister, she’s in the 5th grade. (yeah, the theme music from the game show plays in my head too)
The first thing she said to me was “Do you know what chlorophyll and photosynthesis is?” "Well of course I do", I lied, "But why don’t you tell me what it is and I’ll tell you if you’re right” I had to try and save face. Once upon a time, way back when I knew what chlorophyll was so technically, I wasn’t lying. Here are the cliff notes of her mini lecture. "Chlorophyll does not absorb the green spectrum of light so thats reflected back to your eyes which gives grass the nice green color.Then there’s photosynthesis. Photosyntesis “is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds using the energy of sunlight.
So there you have it folks! Combine chlorophyll with the process of photosynthesis and you get green grass. Now take this information and impress a kid! Just end the conversation before they ask you why the sky is blue! THAT deserves a separate blog post.
Posted by Erica Williams on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 @ 07:55 AM
I’d like to have a garden party this year at my Grandmother’s house just for the family to get together and enjoy one another. This will be a first for me and the family so, in order to get some ideas of what a garden party should consist of, I, of course, googled it. Not surprisingly, I found tons of information!
Tablescapes, flowers, lawn cutting techniques, activities and best of all the menu! I love to cook and I’d like to impress with little effort. Here’s a video I found on Youtube from the CBS Early Show. I’m going to try to make the curry chicken salad and the lemon pie.
Do you have any suggestions or ideas that you have used for a garden party?
Posted by DataCentric Support on Thu, Jul 01, 2010 @ 01:10 PM
Hi Everyone
My name is Erica Williams and I’ll be a guest blogger here on the “Mulching Mind”. Like many of you I’m a beginner gardener and new to the world of landscaping. I’m learning techniques and valuable information little by little, like how different grass is used for different parts of the golf course. Did you know that? I’ll be sharing my beginners knowledge with you. Hopefully we can learn more about landscaping and mulching together. Feel free to leave your questions and/or concerns in the comments section. If I don’t know the answer, trust me I’ll find it. Hope to see you again here on The Mulching Mind.
What I learned on the golf course.
I’m not much of a golfer but that doesn’t stop me from going to the local golf course. I’m not worried about the score, I don’t even know how to keep score, but I am intrigued with who’s cutting the grass. Aren’t you? Have you ever taken a look around as you were setting up and noticed how perfectly manicured the lawn is? Just me?
I’m not one to be kept in the dark for long, I ask questions. So I did a little digging, and after a few bribes -I learned a few lessons. Lucky for you, I’m won’t be stingy-this time. I’ll share with you the really simple lessons about how the golf course keeps their lawn in top shape.It takes a lot of work and a team of people.Ok maybe that’s not really a secret but, I had to ask. I never saw anyone actually doing any lawn work the times I went, so I had to know.
- It’s really simple to mow the lines in the grass.First, begin mowing the lawn in a perfectly straight line. Turn around at the end of that line being sure not to affect the pattern. Next, mow another line directly beside the first in the OPPOSITE direction. Continue in this manner until complete.
- Avoid mowing a wet lawn.Wet lawn equals grass clipping everywhere except the bag.
- Fertilizer, Fertilizer, fertilizer. Fertilizer is like hair conditioner. It protects and treats the roots. Don’t skimp on the quality of fertilizer. But the best quality of fertilizer you can afford. Do your research on the best kind of fertilizer for the type of grass you have. Fertilizer can mean the difference between a bad looking lawn to a breathtakingly beautiful lawn.
- Consistency is key. Once you’ve developed a working routine for keeping your lawn in the best shape, stick with it. Be diligent and vigilant.
Pretty simple right? Just follow these simple steps and you can have a lawn as beautiful as your local golf course. Just don’t go ruining your lawn by playing golf on it!
Posted by Sean Kennedy on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 10:34 AM
Doing research for EnviroColor's 4EverGreen I came across this on the HGTV website. This is great advice from Master Gardner Paul James. I added my thoughts in between. I hope to hear your ideas too.
There are usually two reasons for the two-toned lawn, says master gardener Paul James. "One is that many homeowners desperately want a green lawn year-round so they over-seed warm-season Bermuda or zoysia lawns, which go brown during the winter months due to dormancy, with a cool-season grass that stays green throughout the winter months. In nearly all cases, reseeding must be done every year, and unless the seed is spread uniformly, a two-toned lawn is inevitable."
If you reseed on a regular basis and at the right time for your area, you can achieve the uniformity you desire. Bear in mind, though, that with this kind of lawn, you may extend the mowing season by at least few weeks and you'll have to continue watering for perhaps a few months.
This extra water usage and mowing can come at high expense. Some areas under drought restrictions may not be able to water at all.
The other reason for a two-toned lawn has to do with growing conditions, especially in landscapes with lots of mature trees. Throughout the country and in older neighborhoods in particular, parts of the lawn may be in full sun, while parts may be in the shade cast by large trees. This creates a real problem because warm-season grasses like to grow in full sun and don't like to be in the shade, and cool-season grasses love the shade, but they don't really like growing in the blazing sun. As a result, people wind up with two-toned lawn.
In this type of situation, there is no easy solution, says James. "You can open up the canopies of the trees by removing several of the large branches to let more of the light in, you can limb up the trees to achieve essentially the same effect, or you can forget trying to grow grass under the trees all together and opt instead for rugged, shade-tolerant ground cover, or maybe just a bunch of mulch," he says. "And in fact, that's often the best solution, especially since all the water and nutrients are quickly sucked right out of the soil by the dense tree roots, making it next to impossible to grow grass beneath them anyway."
Using mulch under these tree canopies provides a great looking, cost effective solution to this dilemma. Make sure you mulch all the way to the trees drip line. And remember from previous articles, no mulch volcanoes!
Plus, we at EnviroColor offer 4EverGreen grass and lawn painting colorant as well as Sierra Red, Black Forest and Cocoa Brown mulch dyes.
Posted by Sean Kennedy on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 @ 09:54 AM
New businesses are popping up all over the American southwest as drought conditions and foreclosures continue to hammer the region. This new business is coloring, painting or dying brown grass green. Here in the southeast as temperatures drop our bermuda lawns go dormant and turn brown. Some of choose to over seed with a winter rye. This poses a couple of issues. First, the amount of water needed to ensure germination is substantial and even though the "drought is over in Georgia" I personally feel that each individual needs to be very conscious of their water usage. Secondly, the introduction of a new grass presents a list of problems unto itself. I won't bog down this article with a huge list of disease issues and whatnot, just know that the transition period back to bermuda can be tumultuous. Golf courses, natural grass turf stadiums and cemetaries have been using the "painting" method for a little more than a decade saving on water costs and presenting a great aesthetic to their patrons. This unique product and process is something that we at EnviroColor® have studied this product and process for nearly a year and are ready to help those individuals who desire a green lawn in the dormant season. We produce, supply and apply only the best environmentally friendly top spray colorants for pine straw and mulch, and now for grass too!
Posted by Sean Kennedy on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 12:43 PM
These are some great ideas to deal with the issues slopes create in our care of our lawns and gardens. Mr. Fech points out some great ways to deal with water, fertilizer and ground cover. To learn more follow here...index.html
As you can see pine straw is used widely in the southeast because it can stay in place better than wood mulch.
Posted by Sean Kennedy on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 @ 12:21 PM
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