Homeowners in Broward face a unique set of challenges in maintaining a well landscaped yard. The tropical climate that Floridians love can play havoc with your home’s curb appeal. Your Broward yard endures excessive heat, the rainy season or drought, high humidity, salt infringement, persistent insect infestations and more.
For instance, the climate causes bugs to be prevalent most of the year. You need to know how to identify between beneficial bugs which help your plants and detrimental bugs which can do much damage. It is most important to only apply insecticides to the damaged or effected landscape and NOT to the whole landscape. Otherwise your yard may suffer serious damage.
St. Augustine grass is the typical choice of South Florida homeowners, because it flourishes in tropical areas. Sunshine makes St. Augustine grass happy and Broward yards get a gracious plenty of direct sunlight. Also, it is resistant to drought and tolerates high salt levels.
Yet, St. Augustine grass comes with its own unique problems, such as overgrown thatch causing your yard to develop brown patches. Webworms, cutworms and grubs are attracted to St. Augustine and can cause massive damage to your yard.
Watering your lawn is vital in Broward; however, over-watering can encourage growth of fungus.
Over-mowing can increase your yard’s susceptibility to disease. Besides mowing for aesthetic reasons, it contributes to thicker grass, which helps resist weed growth. It’s also important to know when and how much grass to cut when you mow. Setting the mower too low takes away too much of the leaf surface for your grass to generate food via photosynthesis. As a result, your grass will waste away from hunger. Your lawn starts appearing scraggly. Alternatively, setting the mower too high detracts from its beautiful appearance. It is highly recommended from the University of Florida to set your lawnblade of grass mowing height at between 3.5″- 4″ for a healthy lawn.
Of course, lawn maintenance involves more than setting your lawn mower to the right height. After mowing the yard, you need to use an edge trimmer around the edges and for sprucing up areas the mower couldn’t reach. Hedges require regular trimming and trees should be trimmed annually.
Fertilizers for use in Broward should contain 4 percent or less phosphorous. South Florida soil is rich in phosphorous and excessive use contributes to pollution of springs and waterways.
Optimal ingredients of fertilizers include: nitrogen, potash (lime) and phosphate. You may not know that different fertilizer blends are necessary for a healthy lawn depending upon conditions of your grass and at change of the seasons.
If you’re not familiar with aeration, this is the process that lets your grass breathe and foster a strong root system. Further, aeration opens a path for essential nutrients to go deeper into the ground.
You’ll also need to be vigilant about common weeds that grow in Broward, such as Florida Pusley, Dollar Weed and sage. It’s hard to restrain weeds, after they start spreading. If you weed and water weekly. But weeds continue to thrive, ensure you’re not watering too much. Weeds prefer a moist location.
Landscape professionals discourage inexperienced homeowners from using weed control products. Optimal results of weed control consists of applying a pre-emergent herbicide in winter months, which thwarts the germination of weed seeds. In summer months, they will use a post-emergent herbicide to eradicate weeds that managed to germinate.
Homeowners typically miscalculate the sweat-equity involved in maintaining a healthy, verdant lawn. Unless you are committed to correctly nurturing your yard year ‘round, it’s in your best interests to engage landscape professionals. Lawn care specialists are experienced in creating and maintaining a “Florida-friendly” yard.
Suppose you’re browsing a seed catalogue and find a picture of lovely flowers. Before you decide these are a must-have, understand this plant may not thrive in the Broward climate. Landscape designers operate on the basis of “Right plant. Right place”. Like you, flowers are particular about where they live.
If you are having trouble in your landscaping, we at Garden Services are fully licensed & insured to handle all your irrigation, landscaping, lawn maintenance and tree service needs whether it’s a residential, commercial landscaping or homeowner association property. If you ever have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email me and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Happy Gardening!
