EcoTurf of Northern Colorado’s Blog
Lawn Care and Gardening Tips
Irrigation: Cycle & Soak
Want to get more bang for your buck from your irrigation system? Start utilizing the cycle and soak method. What is cycle and soak? Cycle and soak method increases the number of irrigation cycles and reduces the time in each cycle. Colorado has heavy clay content in...
Irrigation: Sunken Sprinkler Heads
One cause of improper sprinkler coverage is sunken sprinkler heads. Sprinkler heads settle after a few years (ours needed to be raised 3 years after installation) and are too low to reach beyond a small area. We call them crop circles and once you know what to look for you will spot them yourself.
Weed of the Week : Redstem Filaree
Redstem Filaree (Erodium cicutarium) is a winter annual or biennual here in Northern Colorado. The weed got its' name from the red stems on the plant which makes it easily identifiable. The stems are hairy and plants grow in a rosette pattern. Some of the information...
How To Make Your Landscape More Pollinator Friendly
What do we have in our yard that makes it pollinator friendly? A variety of flowering plants that bloom from spring to late fall. Bulbs in the spring such as daffodils and tulips, violas, pansies, early spring ground covers and a lilac bush, for example. Bees and other pollinators love our butterfly bushes, roses, huge variety of coreopsis flowers, zinnias, poppies, dianthus, hollyhocks, cosmos, and too many to mention. In fall, mums, Russian sage and sedum and other frost resistant flowers continue to provide color and food sources.
Why Wind Speed?
One of the questions we frequently get asked is “why the wind”? The question is often time asked after we have to reschedule part or all of a route due to high wind speeds. This decision has less to do with preference and more to do with legality and prudence. Therefore, I want to take a moment and address this issue in three succinct points. The Label is the Law, environmental stewardship, and professionalism.
What Is In A Bag Of Fertilizer?
So why Carbon? It functions similar to a coral reef in the ocean, as a place for bacteria, beneficial fungi, and soil microbes to dwell. It also creates soil porosity which is important in clay soils.
Snow Mold In Northern Colorado
Every year some lawns develop snow mold. This week when I was outdoors, I saw snow mold in some yards here in Northern Colorado. From far away it looks like matted down grass, but a closer look shows a gray web-like substance on the grass. Up close it can look quite...
Weed of the Week: Purslane
This week's weed is Purslane. A weed often confused with Prostrate Spurge the difference between the two is the leaves are thicker and more succulent than Spurge. According to the CSU Extension Site, Purslane is easily pulled out and killed by herbicides when the...
Weed of the Week: Kochia (Tumbleweed)
We were at a restaurant and on their very large patio between almost every paver were these tiny weed seedlings. Here at EcoTurf, we study weeds but immature ones often do not look like the more easily recognizable adult weeds. I couldn't rest until I knew what they...
Cultural Practices – Mowing
Here at EcoTurf we want to highlight the cooperative relationship we have with our customers which is necessary to have a healthy lawn. While we are in charge of the fertilization and weed control, there are cultural practices affecting the health of the lawn outside...
Feast or Famine Cycle–What Not To Do To Your Lawn
Have you ever fertilized your grass and you had to mow and mow and mow for weeks, and then it starts to calm down and they come and do another round and the cycle repeats? This cycle is called feast or famine. We want to have a lawn fertilization program that has a...
Lawn Brown Spots 201: Ascochyta Turf Blight
Here in Northern Colorado we have been receiving a lot of rain, this should be good for your lawn, right? A significant increase in temperature, following a lot of rain in a short amount of time, is one of the factors that can trigger an outbreak of Ascochyta in...
