"The Mulching Mind"

What makes grass green?

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 5^th 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.

Quick Curb Appeal Ideas

Simple Landscaping Improvements Add Value:
Planning to sell you home? Improve curb appeal with simple landscaping improvements and increase your property value. Choose your landscaping project carefully. The value of landscaping is directly related to its permanence, yielding up to a 100% return on your investment. We can not tell you how many times we have driven up to a fantastic home only to be told by the buyer to drive on. You don't want that to happen to you.
Trees add the most value, following by flowering shrubs. Plants that need to be replanted every year or require excessive care and pruning hold the least value but depending on the time of year make the greatest impact.
Keep you design unified and proportional to the size of your yard. An overpowering landscape may be attractive for a city park, but a turn off to prospective buyers. Remember they are going to be caring for the landscaping and if they think it will be too much work that is a turn off.
Cover the difficult area. Bark chips, mulch and crushed rock are good solutions for the areas of the yard where it's difficult to grow or mow the grass. Remember the cheapest cover in the GA and AL areas is pine straw.  Plus with the a treatment of EnviroColor solutions you can keep that freshly laid look for 6-9 months instead of 60-90 days.