Lawn Care Guide

Snow Mold
You may have noticed round white, gray or pink fuzzy patches on your lawn early this spring. This is called snow mold. Read More

Vole Damage
If your lawn has brown narrow stripes (3 or 4 inches wide) that wander aimlessly over the area, you may have had a vole problem this winter. Read More

In Lawns, Worms Are Our Friends!
The problems worms (and their piles of castings) create are only temporary and can be viewed as a trade-off. You can’t buy a better lawn aeration service. Worm tunnels break up the soil leaving avenues for air and water to penetrate more deeply and they digest organic matter, converting it into natural fertilizer.

A Lawn is a Complex System
The key to a healthy, beautiful lawn doesn’t necessarily involve lots of work, fertilizer, chemicals and time. Think of the grass as just one component of a complex ecosystem. It relies heavily on the condition of things you don’t see...the grass root systems and the soil.

One Size Does Not Fit All
Just like its customers, Bachman’s wishes that there were easy, one-size-fits-all answers to lawn questions. It can be frustrating to do what your parents or neighbors do to their lawns but not have it work in yours. And you may find yourself wanting to throw something at the television when you see those advertisements that imply all you need to do is buy this one product and your lawn will look like the cover of a magazine. Don’t worry about that. Look at your lawn as an opportunity. Challenge yourself to be a detective when it comes to your grass and look for clues to help you come up with a lawn-care program that suits your situation.

Evaluate the Site
To ensure long-term success, a lawn needs to start with careful evaluation of the site that goes well beyond how much sun or shade the site receives. It is important to know the soil type, structure and compaction level. Appropriate steps taken during preparation are much easier than dealing with future problems.

Spring Raking
It is important to remove twigs, leaves and plant debris from your grass in spring. Left on the lawn, they can smother grass and encourage diseases. Before cleaning up your lawn in spring, be sure the ground has thawed and absorbed excess moisture. Walking on a wet lawn compacts the soil making it much harder for the grass roots to access the water and air they need to thrive. When the lawn is dry enough, it can be gently raked. The crowns of newly growing grass in spring are tender and can be damaged by over-zealous raking.

Spring Seeding
Research clearly shows that the ideal time to establish turf grasses in our climate is very late summer through early fall. The second best time is spring, but spring seeding should only be viewed as a temporary solution so your lawn looks good for the summer. Lawn grass seeded in fall has good long-term survival prospects. Lawn grass seeded in spring does not last as long, nor will it be as healthy. Bachman’s suggests if you need to seed this spring, do it in May and mark your calendar to remind yourself to overseed the same areas this fall. Overseeding large areas is best accomplished with a slit or power seeder.

Match the Seed to the Site
There are several varieties of grasses that perform well in our area including bluegrass, rye and creeping red fescue. There are also many custom blends and a grass seed that is more salt tolerant than others. To select the best variety of grass for your site, you’ll need to know how much sun and shade it receives, the level of maintenance you can give and how much foot traffic the lawn will get.

Aerating and Dethatching
Aerating is a useful maintenance practice when done in fall. Done in spring, it damages the freshly active grass crowns and creates conditions that encourage more weeds. Dethatching isn’t usually needed on a healthy lawn. If you do have excessive thatch (deeper than 3/4 inch), dethatching is a temporary solution while you adjust the maintenance practices that encouraged thatch to build up.

Mowing Basics
How you mow a lawn makes a big difference not just on how it looks, but also on how healthy and winter hardy it is. Mowing practices also have an effect on how many weeds you’ll have to deal with! Read More

Watering
How often and how much you water an established lawn also impacts lawn health. Read More

Timing Is Important!
When it comes to lawn care, as the old saying goes, timing is everything. Knowing when to treat for weeds, fertilize, water and such can make the difference between a lawn that thrives and a lawn that just survives.

Spring Weed Control
If you determine spring weed control is needed, make sure you select the right product for the job and apply it at the correct time. The wrong product or timing not only fails to control your weeds, it may weaken your grass and make it more susceptible to weed invasion later. Read More

Spring Lawn Fertilizing
To determine if your lawn needs fertilizing in spring, you need to know what type of grass you are growing. Read More