How To Install Sod In Your Garden – Tips By The Lawnfather

Are you fed up with dry grass or patches of yellow grass? Want a beautiful lawn or garden in very short time? Laying sod is the best way to achieve good looking time. It is the greatest way to save your hard earned money and precious time. The most important benefit of sod laying is it safes your garden from weeds and other dirt patches.

In these busy days, no one has enough time to enhance the beauty of their lawn or garden. But sod installation contractors in Calgary can help you to give a new beautiful look to your garden or lawn.The best time to lay sod in the garden is morning, before it gets too hot. It is so easy to install a sod. You can do this on your own, just follow these given tips.

1. Take a soil for test: Before laying the sod in your lawn, take a soil test. To know about your soil, dig out a little amount of soil. Place the soil sample in a glass container. You can test this sample in your local nursery or state cooperative extension office. After getting the result of your sample, you can lay a sod according to your soil condition.

2. Tools: To install a sod or turf, you need various different tools for laying it properly. These tools are a sod cutter, spades and rakes, rototiller, starter fertilizer, lawn roller, sod staples and others.

3. Measure the area: After taking the soil test and all tools, measure the area where you will be sodding. Take the measurement of your area very carefully to avoid the extra expense. If you don’t need an extra sod, why you for it. That’s why, before going to market to buy it, measure the whole lawn area. If you don’t know how to measure it, you can get the help of a professional.

4. Remove debris: Before laying the sod, loosen the soil to a depth of eight to nine inches. If it has any garbage or debris, remove it very well. When you remove all debris from the soil, water it. Make you water the soil before 24 to 48 hours of installation.

5. Unroll sod: Unroll the every single piece of turf. Unroll them one by one. After that, start laying them. Make sure, you don’t walk on the turf as you install it. To get wrinkle free sod, place it very carefully and make sure there is no air bubble between sod and soil.

6. Roll sod: To place sod firmly, you can use a lawn roller. To make a tight connection between soil and sod, move the roll over the sod very well. Remember, for the first three weeks don’t walk on it more. You can take just a little walk. But after three weeks, you can use it as before.

7. Watering: Water is crucial for your newly installed sod. If there is hot outside, water it daily. But the weather is not so hot or you have cold climate, you can reduce the time of watering. After a few days of installation, if your sod starts to yellow, you need to call a professional.

You need to pay attention on lay sod for a few days after laying and avoid the heavy use of the new lawn. Then in return, it will give you a good looking beautiful garden or lawn. If you are interested to installing the sod in your garden, you can talk with our lawn care contractors in Calgary.

5 Tips To Repair The Bare Spots In A Lawn

A healthy and shinier lawn forms an important part of a home. It helps a home-owner to grab attention of visitors towards his yard. A greener lawn not only enhances curb appeal, but also increase the hygiene of a home by offering cool and fresh air to breathe in. If a garden is properly maintained, there are chances that it would remain greener for a longer time.

In few cases, a yard may develop bare spots where grass doesn't grow despite seeding again and again. To tackle such patches, one needs to follow effective lawn care maintenance practices regularly. If a home-owner isn't have enough of time to practice these techniques, he can get the problem solved by hiring landscaping experts Calgary.

Tips to handle brown spots are:

1. Water alone won't work: Just hoping that the bare spots will fill on their own is quite impractical. Watering them daily, wishing that grass may spurt out is a foolish idea. Water is a necessary measure that tempts a lawn to grow healthier and greener, but it is not responsible for spurting. So don't water the brown patches in a yard regularly, as it will make the soil wet and greasy which effects the respiration process.

2. Repair: Major cause of bare spots is daily wearing out. This wear out is often done by kids who play in the garden or by the pets who roam freely everywhere searching for insect hunts. Apart from these agents, another factor responsible is droughts. Its crucial to aerate a lawn once in a month, so that nutrients and water effectively reaches the roots of the grass. After aerating, sprint good quality grass seeds. A combination of high quality seeds and fertilizer will prevent the grass from dying. Keep the soil loose after planting, so that water can reach its roots.

3. Soil and sod: Sometimes, soil can be blamed for uneven growth of grass. One cannot replace the whole of the soil just for few brown patches. The effective solution to this problem is, plugging sod grass. One can purchase few pieces of sod to cover the bare spots. Prepare the area by tilling it a little, then apply a layer of fertilizer to improve the moisture retention. After this, lay the sod pieces directly onto the topsoil and press down the soil with hands.

4. Water well: Water the newly seeded or sodded area regularly for a week to ensure that the grass doesn't dries up. It's best to water the whole garden deeply at least once in a week under normal weather conditions. One can even follow water sprinkling technique to ensure that water reaches the root system. This helps a strong and thick growth of lawn.

5. Follow with food: All kinds of seeds, grass, plants and trees need nutrients to grow. Tender seedlings are in more need of minerals so that they can spurt evenly. Therefore, its advised to offer high quality fertilizers for effective results.

A graceful lawn is necessary for improving the looks of a yard. Maintenance isn't a tough task, but it needs time and care. These were the few ways to remove the brown and bare spots from a yard, thereby keeping a lawn lusher and greener. The Lawn Father is a reliable company that offers high quality lawn installation and maintenance solutions at affordable costs including snow removal services in Calgary.

Calgary Lawn Care | Four Essential Tips For Healthy Lawn

A lawn inside a home acts as a welcome mat that offers a great feeling of comfort. It's usually the first thing visitors may notice while entering inside your residence. A lush green garden with blooming herbs and hedges in Calgary can make a person feel like he's close to mother nature. Owing an attractive yard with low overall maintenance is quite important for home-owners. A good lawn care with efficient mowing, fertilizing and watering techniques is crucial to keep it healthy, without an excessive burden of maintenance. 

Tips that should be kept in mind for a healthy lawn are:

How Often to Mow: A magnificent looking lawn requires regular care along with mowing and trimming. Practice mowing every two weeks to ensure regulated growth. This will force the grass to shade out unwanted weeds and also helps in developing stronger root system. Its advised not to trim it more than one third of its overall length. Also, mow using a sharp blade only when the grass is dry to ensure cleaner cutting.

Prevent Weeds in the Lawn: A lawn is only said to be proper, if it doesn't contain bare spots or patchy areas. If there is any bare area, aerate it to reseed the grass bed. In some situations, grass isn't able to grow properly leaving behind patchy spots. One should try to grow a flower bed there. Weed and wild grass generally grows in an ill-maintained lawn. If you think your garden is well-manicured, then try to find any weed growth. A weedy garden can't be considered healthy. Use sprays to reduce unwanted plants. They can be even plucked with hand.

Fertilizing A Lawn: If one is aiming for effective lawn maintenance, there is a huge need to fertilize it with nitrogen to sustain a thick, lush green grass. Phosphorus and potassium can also offer enough nutrition to grass bed. Soil quality differs from place to place, so there's need to regulate soil nutrients in an equivalent manner throughout the yard. Using slow-release fertilizers will take time to offer nutrients, ensuring you don't need to apply them more often. Its recommended fertilizing a lawn after the mowing technique, to offer more nutrition. Aerating it before offering fertilizers will ensure proper air and nutrition to reach till the roots of grass. A healthy and well nutritive yard will resist the attacks of pests and grass diseases to a great extent.

Watering A Lawn: It's one of the best lawn maintenance technique that works more effectively after aerating and mowing process has been applied. If you are living in a normal temperature area of 15-20 degrees then, its sufficient to water your yard twice a week. For higher temperatures, frequent watering may be needed. Rather than using a pipe to water a garden, sprinkling technique is more favoured. Native grasses and organic lawns generally require less water. Watering needs can also be reduced by improving the soil quality of a yard.

These were the few tips that can help in improving looks and maintaining health of a lawn. The Lawnfather is a leading company that offers high quality lawn installation, maintenance and snow removal services in Calgary.

How To Maintain A Healthy And Beautiful Lawn | Tips & Ideas

A beautiful lawn is necessary for curb appeal of a home. It not only beautifies but also provide a healthy environment to stay. A marvellous lawn depends on quality of sod and the level of hard work done to take its care. There is no better technique to enhance lawn beauty other than improving the soil before sod installation. Loam soil is considered best for producing a high yield and low maintenance lawn. The soil depth should be 4- 6 inches. A graceful and a healthy lawn is a desire for one and all. It needs to maintained from the first day itself for good results.

Steps to follow for lawn maintenance:

1. Clear the site: The first thing that should be prioritized is cleaning the site for any building materials such as wood, cement, buried stones or other debris. The dried leaves should also be picked or removed for a clean and appealing look.

2. Rough grade the entire area: To provide a plain ground level and to avoid any excessive water drainage problem inside the lawn, you need to fill the low lying areas of the yard. A tractor-mounted blade is often used for rough grading an entire area. If the lawn is smaller, then it can be graded using hand tools. This technique is done to uncover debris that should be removed instead of burying.

3. Eliminate weeds: Weeds are the unwanted plants that take away the nutrition necessary for sod growth. They grow very fast as compared to grass. It is recommended to spray the sodded area before initial tilling with a non selective herbicide. After tilling, fertilize the soil and water the lawn to encourage new weed growth. Allow the weeds to grow at their speed. After two weeks, spray the herbicides for the second time aiming to remove their entire generation.

4. Initial tilling: The good depth to install sod and turf grass is at least 3- 4 inches deep. Till the soil for about 5 cm to add any topsoil or soil modification. This will control the weed growth, alleviate soil compaction and bond the topsoil to the subsoil to improve water movement and root penetration.

5. Test the soil pH:  pH testing is necessary to check the quality of soil. It is a chemical test that determine, if any correction materials are required to improve the quality of soil. pH levels range from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The optimal pH required for good growth of plants and grass is between 5.5 and 7.0. Acidic soils can be improved by adding lime and alkaline soils can be improved with addition of sulphur or gypsum.

6. Fertilize and aerate: Fertilizers provide proper nutrition used for growth. It is advised to use a fertilizer that is high in phosphate. Don't use it in excess, as it can lead to grass decaying. Before applying fertilizers, aerate the yard. Aeration is a technique of removing or pumping holes to the upper tough layer of soil, so as to allow water and air to reach till the roots of grass. After aerating, fertilize the yard so that good amount of nutrients can reach it. 

 
A cultivated sod grass can allow you to own an instantly beautiful lawn without any time-consuming hassles of seeding or springing. When purchasing turf or sod, consult a lawn care professional to be assured of buying a fine quality grass. The Lawnfather, is one of the largest lawn maintenance company in Calgary that specializes in lawn care, landscaping and snow removal services in Canada.

How Can You Save Time And Money On Lawn Care

Green lawn and well-kept yard is an essential part of every house. Most of the home-owners love their lawn and always try endeavours to keep it green. Lawn or garden lovers spend almost thousands of dollars every year caring for their lawns. Investing a lot of money in a lawn care project is not a good idea. You can save your hard earned money by doing some DIY projects and also save your time.

 

As a home-owner, you may don’t have a sufficient information about how to take care of your lush green lawn.

Water smartly: When you water your garden or lawn, it can be confusing for you that how much water your lawn requires. By knowing the water need of your lawn, you can save on your water bill. Over-watering can cause of a high bill. On the other hand, watering at the right time is also important. You can use a sprinkle instead of one that distributes a fine mist of water. Remember, your garden or lawn needs only one inch of water.

Mow to the right length: A too short mow can ruin your lawn, especially during the summer season. So, don’t let the mow get shorter than two to three inches. Proper mowing helps to keep your lawn and garden healthy and also eliminate pests from the grass which are harmful for your lawn.

Fertilize your lawn at the time: Feed your lawn at the right time is the best way to keep your lawn green and healthy. You can use natural organic fertilizer for your lawn. Feeding your lawn at least once or twice a year will improve the condition of your lawn or garden. Do not fertilize your grass during the hot summer days.

Aerate your lawn: In order to get a healthy and lush green lawn, you should do some basic lawn care practices like mowing, fertilizing, watering and aerating. Aeration is the most important because it allows the air and water to the penetrate build up grass. The growing season is the right time for aeration.

Seed your grass: If your grass is more prone to disease and it requires more water than newer grass, you should think about to replace it. Reseeding helps to introduce the new healthier species of grass. People often reseeding at the wrong time of the year and waste their lot of money. In order to get the best result, September is the right time for reseeding.

These are some effective tips that save you money and time and also provide you a healthy lawn to enjoy. If you want to give a new look to your lawn and want to enjoy a lush green garden with your family, make a call to Lawn Father in Calgary. Our experts will protect your property.

What Makes Your Lawn Healthy, Lush Green Garden? Here Are Some Effective Tips

It is not easy to get a great looking green and healthy lawn. Everyone likes soft, healthy and green garden. This is possible by proper cutting, watering, fertilizing and mulching. Getting the green garden can take time, but you may find it worth the effort. Using the latest tools and techniques at the time means you don’t need to make much effort to transform your yellow garden into green. A lawn or garden offers a relaxing environment to you and your family or it serves as a playground for kids. Proper and regular lawn care can boost a curb appeal of your house. Getting a healthy and green lawn may be depending on the type of grass you have and your geographical location. There are numerous benefits to have a green lawn at home. Growing your own vegetables and fruits in your home can save you bucks.

Here are some simple tips to get a terrific garden.

 

Cutting or mowing: A regular cutting of lawn’s plants is crucial for the growth of plants. If you want to do cutting on your own, make sure you know all the latest techniques. When you cut the grass there is able to grow new grass plants.  Frequently mowing or cutting depends on weather condition, lawn’s growth pattern and time of year. It is highly recommended that you cut the grass every Saturday or Sunday.

Watering: If you want a lush green lawn or garden during summer, watering is important. How you need to water your garden or lawn depends on weather condition, humidity and temperature. When grass and plant needs water, they will begin to turn into yellow color.

Weed control: Using the right techniques and tools to remove weeds from the lawn and garden. Here are so many home-made organic weed killers available such as pouring boiling water, smother them, salt them, and pour vinegar on them. Except all these, you can pull them. Remove them from the roots is an essential way to prevent the regrowth.

Fertilizing: Like a human, grass and plants also need food to survive. When you cut or prune extra grass and plants, it removes nutrients from the grass and plants. So, it is a very important that you fertilize your lawn or garden every four or five weeks. Phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium are necessary. Use them to give a new lush green look to your lawn.

Keeping your lawn or garden healthy and green around the year can be hard work for every busy person. You need to take some time from your busy schedule and help your garden to get the lush green look. If you want to transform your old garden into a new one, you can make a call to Lawn Father in Calgary. We will assist you.

Fall Clean Up Tips For Better Garden And Yard By Lawn Father

Most of the people have the habit to totally ignore their garden and backyard. They don’t like to sacrifice their weekend to weeding and raking. But clean up the garden is essential. It is crucial to clean the yard and remove all the debris from it. You just take a few hours from your weekend and clean up the garden.

It is a very good news that you can do it yourself. You just need some right tools to remove extra leaves and other debris from the backyard or garden. Here are some easy tips that show you how to start. Lawn care and spring fall clean-up, both are essential for the health of your garden.

If you live in Calgary, Lawn Father is here to provide you professional lawn care services .

1. Remove the debris and leaves: Removing extra leaves and debris from the garden is important, because it kills the grass. Take a leaf rake and clean up the backyard or garden very well. Use a lightweight rake to eliminate it. Probably, you don’t have lawn debris on a regular basis. It means, you just need to clean your lawn on weekends. You can use these extra leaves as a mulch or make a compost.

2. Remove weeds: Weeds are the enemy of your beautiful plants and garden as well. After watering the plants, you can pull weeds. Because the soil moist with water and you can easily pull them. There are numerous methods to kill weeds including salt them, burn them, kill with hot water and many other home remedies. By using the correct method you can keep the weeds out of your lawn or backyard.

3. Feed your garden: Feeding is vital for everyone, whether it is human or plants. Feeding is the most important thing that you do for your garden. For the lush and green lawn, feed it on the regular basis. Regular feeding schedule makes it healthier. Make sure to water your lawn before a day of fertilizing.

4. Trim extra shrubs and trees: You have so many trees in your garden, that’s great. But you may notice your trees have some extra branches that cover other little plants. Trim them with as soon as possible. Trimming the extra branches and dead limbs help the tree in growth.

5. Plant some new flower plants: If you plant lover and want to give a beautiful look to your garden, plant some beautiful flower plants. You can plant some annual plants and some seasonal, whatever you like.

So, ready to clean up your garden or lawn? All of these given fall clean up steps are very easy to perform. It does not take your too much time. No matter what the season, just keep the garden clean. Have you any question or query, ask from our professionals.

Protecting Your Lawn From Powerful Summer Heat

You may have noticed that summer is almost here, it means bright, hot and long days. Fortunately, you can easily protect yourself from summer heat by simply cranking up the air conditioner. But in case of your garden or lawn, you cannot do this. There is no doubt that you have so many plants in your garden.

Some of them are love sunny and hot days and some are not like summer days and they suffer in these hot days. Many of them plants are die if the temperature rise. Here are some garden protecting tips shared by lawn care service in Calgary.

1. Keep grass longer: Lawn mowing is important but to protect your lawn from harsh summer heat, you have to keep your grass little longer to shade the roots in hot months. When you mowing your garden, make sure your mowing just cutting the grass not tearing it. One more thing, keep your mower blades sharp and high because dull mower blades just shred the grass. Due to this, grass start turn into yellow colour.

2. Watering: As you know water is vital for everyone. Your lawn need more water in severe summer days. Avoid the watering at midday hours. Watering your lawn only in early morning before sun rise and in evening after sun set. It is the perfect time of watering. Be careful, don’t get it to direct flowers or leaves of plants. One more thing, more watering can also damage roots of your plants.

3. Mulching: Mulch is as important as water for your garden. Mulch protect your lawn from cold in winter and also protect from harsh heat in summer. Spread a three to four inch layer of mulch over your lawn. It save your lawn or garden soil from powerful sunlight and prevent it from drying out.

4. Don’t walk on grass: Perhaps, you cannot avoid walking on the grass. But if you walk on wet grass, you damage the grass. Walking on wet grass in the morning time is good for health but it can be damage your lovely lawn. If it is possible, avoid walking on wet grass to protect it from any damage. A little walk is good but a long walk can harmful for the health of grass. Walk on wet soil can also lead to it compaction which means keep air from getting the grass roots.

5. Don’t over fertilize: If your lawn looking stressed, too much feeding will not help. Stressed out lawns are not growing. It is best to stop fertilizing it. Extra fertilizing or too much feeding can burn your lawn. Wait until it green up again.

If you have lush green lawn in your house, these tips will help you to protect your garden or lawn from harsh summer heat. If you have any question or query regarding lawn care service, you can make a call to Lawn Father in Calgary. Our professionals are 24/7 ready to help you.

Lawn Care and Yard Maintenance Tips to Take Care

Are you looking for Lawn Care Calgary? The worth of your property and comprehensive appearance of your neighbourhood rises manyfold because of a green and healthy lawn. It acts as a great place in your residential property where your family and yourself can relax and unwind.

Here are a few tips you can keep in mind to take care of your lawn and make it greener.

1. Watering

Deep roots are encouraged by frequent watering of the garden. The amount of water depends on various factors like species of grass, soil type, mowing height, wind, temperature etc. One inch of soaking is generally considered to be adequate. South facing slopes and higher areas would require more water than other areas. Areas which receive less than 4 hours of direct sunlight require less water. The grass beneath a large tree requires more water as the roots of the tree tend to soak most of the water. It is advised to water lawns in the morning since it decreases likelihood of evaporation. Watering lawns in the evening leave it wet for a long duration of time and increases chances of diseases.

2. Mowing
Mowing the grass too short gives and opportunity to weeds to contest with the grass. You should allow your grass to be 2.5 to 3 inches tall. Mow in alternate direction and change the pattern each time. It will help in cutting down on soil compaction and wearing of the turf from wheels. Dull blades in the mower tear off grass rather than cutting it. Hence, sharpening your blades at least once a year is advisable.

3. Pests

Lawn care Calgary can play a crucial role in providing protection against pests. The perfect defence against weeds and pests is a healthy, dense and vigorous turf. It is advisable to manually remove weeds before they start producing seed heads. You can also spray herbicides on the spot where weeds grow.

4. Taking Care of weak spots

A healthy lawn has the ability to take care of itself. Small gouges, thinned areas and dead spots will fill in with appropriate fertilizing and watering. Large dead patches can be repaired with the method of reseeding. The grass seed is mixed with soil in a container and spread over the dead spot. Pack it lightly by stepping on it but make sure that the spot is dry before doing it. Keep the spot watered till the time the seeding are established.

5. Thatch

A layer of dead and living stems, shoots and roots that builds between the soil surface and green vegetation is called Thatch. It tends to restrict penetration of water also decreases the movement of fertilizers and air into the soil. You can get rid of thatch problems with the method of aerating. It requires a core aerator which punches small holes of several inches and pulls out the core. The core is left on the surface to dry and crumble and later spread with a rake.

Do you find all this to complex and difficult? Get in touch with The Lawnfather. We are the best in  Lawn care Calgary and provide reliable and affordable maintenance of property at highly competitive prices.

Expert Tips For Safe Snow Removal Calgary

In Calgary, winter typically synonyms with snow, and the winter this year seems to have followed the same concept. Once the charm of a new snowfall wears off, property owners are often left with snow mountains to remove from their driveways and front yards.

Snow removal Calgary is a must, but it is important to do so in the safest manner.  Let's have a look at some expert tips to keep in mind.

1. Understand the Dangers

The first step to keeping yourself safe during the snow removal process is to understand the dangers you may face. When it comes to snow removal, the leading cause of injury and death is gravity. There is a risk of falling off the edge while removing snow and ice from the roof. The cold-weather is another concern, especially when the temperatures fall to sub-freezing levels.

2. Know your roof

If you are familiar with your roof, it becomes easier to minimize the risk of accidents caused by unexpected factors. Familiarize yourself with things such as the maximum load your roof can take – taking into account the weight of all the snow and ice. If there are any gutters that could pose slipping hazards, make sure you are aware of them. These things often get concealed by snow and it is easy to trip over them.

3. Avoid heights

One easy way to ensure you don't fall off the roof is to simply avoid going there in the first place. It is recommended to clear the snow and ice from the ground. Better yet, call the professionals for snow removal services Calgary. They can apply deicer to prevent the formation of more ice.

4. Don't let snow accumulate

It is much easier and safer to remove 2 inches of snow than trying to shovel 20 inches. Snow accumulates very quickly, and as new snow falls, the snow beneath may freeze, creating a stiff layer of ice that's even more difficult to shovel. Don't wait until snow piles up into a bigger problem before addressing removal.

5. Practice proper lifting form

Much like lifting heavy boxes and equipment, moving huge amounts of snow can pose a risk to those who don't use the right tools and techniques. Do not attempt such difficult physical task without warming up your body first. In fact, since snow removal Calgary takes place out in the freezing weather, it's even more important to warm up your body.

Not only can pile up snow create inconvenience by blocking walkways, it can also be a risk if allowed to accumulate on your property, and can even cause expensive damage. Contact snow removal services Calgary to ensure the work is done professionally and safely.

If you are looking for snow removal services in Calgary, contact Lawnfather. We efficiently remove snow from both residential and commercial facilities.