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Tick-Safe Lawns: Why Professional Lawn Care Matters for Your Family’s Health

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Lawn Maintenance Tips That Can Protect Your Family From Ticks

Here in Kent County Maryland, well let’s be honest throughout much of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the presence of humid, moist environments is common. Although, we enjoy our beautiful countryside with its scenery, natural beauty and adorable creatures, unfortunately, ticks do as well.

Now that the warm weather has set in, our families are beginning to spend more time outdoors enjoying their lawns and gardens. However, the warm season also brings the increased risk of tick bites. As we have learned ticks can carry many diseases, which can make your family members ill, including your fur babies.

For this reason, we at Happy Grass Lawn Care and Maintenance want to offer you a few strategies to reduce the chances of your loved ones being bitten by these pests. One of the first strategies to employ is learning about and understanding ticks and what makes them tick. (Yes, pun intended!)

Understanding Ticks and Their Habitats

Ticks thrive in warm, humid environments. Although they do crawl around on the ground, they prefer and are commonly found in tall grass, shrubs, and wooded areas. They require a habitat with plenty of moisture and prefer shaded areas. They avoid direct sunlight, preferring to hide in the darkness (sort of like vampires.)

Armed with this knowledge we can take necessary steps to ensure our family is able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors without the constant worry of ticks and other pests that like to invade our space. One of the first things we can do is to create a landscape that deters them and design a regular lawn maintenance schedule.

Regular Lawn Maintenance

Regular lawn maintenance is one of the most effective ways to keep tick populations in check. Here are a few things to consider when you’re creating your lawn maintenance schedule.

Mowing: Keep your lawn mowed to a height of around 3 inches. Remember ticks thrive in tall grass, so regular mowing reduces their habitat. Avoid allowing grass to grow too long, especially near areas where your family and pets frequently play.

Clearing Debris: Remove leaf litter, tall grasses, and brush from your yard. These materials provide a perfect environment for ticks to hide and breed. Create a perimeter around your yard that is clear of debris to create a buffer zone.
Creating Tick-Free Zones: Do you live in an area surrounded by trees? Establish a tick-safe zone by placing a 3-foot wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between your lawn and the wooded areas. This helps prevent ticks from migrating into your yard. Most importantly, keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from tall bushes and trees and creeping vines. The closer the fauna, the easier it is for the ticks to just walk right over to your family space.
Using Tick Control Products: Consider using environmentally friendly tick control products on your lawn. Organic pesticides, such as diatomaceous earth, are great for controlling ticks and other harmful pests, such as fleas. Yet it is such a safe product that even dogs and cats can eat it! And it doesn’t harm the beneficial insects that help our lawns and gardens.

Natural Plants That Repel Ticks

Incorporating certain plants into your garden and landscape can naturally repel ticks. Here are just a few of natures pride and joys that can make your lawn and garden beautiful and relaxing:

1.Lavender: Plant lavender around your garden to keep ticks at bay while enjoying its soothing scent. Lavender has been known for its pleasant fragrance for hundreds of years. It’s also known to help people feel relaxed and renewed. However, it also has the ability to repel ticks!

2.Rosemary: This herb not only enhances your culinary dishes but also acts as a natural tick repellent. You can plant rosemary in your garden or in pots around your outdoor seating areas. The tantalizing earthy, yet minty scent will have you thinking up new dishes to try as you’re sitting out on your deck this summer. Barbecue anybody?

3.Mint: Mint is another effective tick repellent. Placing a few planters around your lawn chairs you’ll be tempted more than once to grab a glass of fresh cool water or iced tea and place a few sprigs of mint in it for a refreshing boost of flavor on a warm sunny day. Just remember to plant them in pots, they may be delicious and scare off ticks but they have an invasive nature and need to be contained!

4.Marigolds: These bright, cheerful flowers contain pyrethrum, a compound used in many insect repellents used to repel ticks. Plant marigolds around the perimeter of your yard, in flower beds and even your vegetables to deter other pests. The beauty of these colorful flowers is that they may scare off ticks and mosquitoes but butterflies love them! So you can sit back and enjoy the beautiful show.

5.Lemongrass: Lemongrass contains Citral, a natural oil that repels ticks. Plant it in sunny areas of your garden for an added layer of protection. Its fresh citrus smell on a warm summer night is perfect not only for keeping ticks at bay, but an added bonus is that mosquitoes aren’t fond of the fragrance either.

If you don’t have the time to plant and care for these and other plants that have the ability to protect your family organically, just give us a call. Planting and maintaining gardens and keeping a landscape free from debris and looking great is Happy Grass Lawns specialty.

Personal Protection: Clothing and Repellents

In addition to maintaining your lawn, it’s important to take personal protective measures when spending time outdoors. Especially if you have tall ornamental grasses in your yard that you stroll past on a cool summer’s evening. Here are just a few tips to keep in mind before you take your walks through the countryside.

Proper Clothing: If you and your family enjoy leisurely strolls, wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and socks to minimize exposed skin. Light-colored clothing makes it easier to spot ticks. Tuck your pants into your socks and your shirt into your pants to create a barrier against ticks.

Use Insect Repellents: Applying insect repellent containing DEET, Picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus to exposed skin and clothing can help, especially if you’ll be strolling through wooded areas. For additional protection, treat your clothing and gear with permethrin, an insecticide that kills ticks on contact and remains effective through several washes.

Check for Ticks: After spending time outdoors, thoroughly check your body for ticks. Pay close attention to areas like the scalp, behind the ears, underarms, waist, and behind the knees. Promptly remove any ticks you find using fine-tipped tweezers and clean the area thoroughly. For more information on tick bites and what to do if you find one attached to you or a loved one here is a link on necessary steps you can take.

Additional Tips for Tick Prevention

Pet Protection: Regularly check your pets for ticks and use veterinarian-recommended tick prevention products. Pets can bring ticks into your home, increasing the risk of bites.

Outdoor Furniture: Keep outdoor furniture, playground equipment, and other items away from the edge of your lawn, especially if it borders wooded areas. This reduces the chances of ticks migrating onto frequently used surfaces.

Firewood Storage: Store firewood in a dry area away from your house and off the ground. Ticks often hide in piles of wood and debris.

Need A Helping Hand?

Remember, a well-maintained lawn is not just aesthetically pleasing but also an essential part of tick control. Taking these steps not only reduces the risk of tick-borne illnesses but also ensures that you and your family can enjoy your outdoor spaces without worry.

However, if you find that trying to prepare and maintain your lawn throughout the summer is a bit overwhelming,

If you would prefer to enjoy your time on your deck overlooking the yard, or playing a game with your kiddos,

Our team is here to help!

We can create a well designed landscape and prepare a maintenance schedule that fits your lifestyle and schedule.

Stay safe and enjoy your time outdoors!

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Mosquito Control Ideas For Kent County MD

Leave a Comment / Lawn Maintenance Tips / Angelena Sewell

Don't Let Mosquitoes Ruin Your Summer Evenings!

Now that summer is here in full blast, mosquitoes have arrived with a vengeance.

While there are many reputable pest control companies in the Chestertown and Kent County areas to help you keep those annoying pests under control, there are also a few steps you can take to not only help deter mosquitoes, ticks and fleas, but also have the added benefits of creating a beautiful garden as well.

Summer Mood Lighting For The Adults?

As an example, some people like to use what are known as Tiki lights. They can be placed around an area where you can spend time in the evening on the porch or share a meal from the barbecue with your family and friends. The lights create a nice ambience in the dusk as you’re enjoying your time together.

However, there may be times when you may not want a Tiki light burning around your sitting area. Such as when you’re enjoying time with young children or rambunctious puppies and don’t want to worry about an open flame hurting them.

That’s when Mother Nature comes in to help with a hint of fragrance, taste and beauty. There are several plants that can help reduce pesky mosquitoes, flies and other annoying pests from your patio or garden.

Herbs: The Plants With Many Surprises

There is a group of plants better known as herbs! Herbs taste great in salads and are used in many recipes, including those meals cooked on a grill! They even add beauty and a gentle fragrance to our gardens and landscape.

However, what many people don’t realize is that many herbs also have the added benefits of sending mosquitoes, flies and other pests in the opposite direction. Many of us are familiar with the typical herbs we cook with such as basil, thyme and oregano, but there are many others that are just as enjoyable and also offer the benefit of scaring away those pesky night time biters.

For instance, citronella plants produce a soft, lemony fragrance, but also give off a scent that mosquitoes do not enjoy. They produce small, yellow flowers and can be kept short and close to the ground, or allowed to grow tall and used as background plants. Planting citronella in pots close to where you like to enjoy your outdoors helps to ward off those pesky little biters and can be moved to different areas of your garden, depending on where you wish to spend your time each evening. And, if you’ve never considered citronella as an herb before, try a leaf or two in your salad for a tangy flavor. You may be surprised that a plant that wards off mosquitoes could taste so good on your plate.

If you’re a cat lover, consider planting the herb catnip. Your cats will thank you, immensely! Catnip not only makes cats happy, it also helps to ward off mosquitoes in your garden. Just be sure to keep it in planters since it can become invasive and spread throughout your garden.

As an added bonus, happy cats can lead to less mice in the house. 🙂

There are many other herbs that ward off pests such as peppermint and thyme. If you want to know more about herbs we will have another post about them coming soon.

Don't Forget The Fall Flower, That Ticks Hate!

The beautiful chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemums can be grown in pots or around hedges; they can line the driveway or encircle a patio. They also come back every year, stronger and thicker, and can be separated to create more plants to spread around your yard. They come in many styles, shapes and colors, but most importantly, not only do they repel mosquitoes, they also repel ticks! So planting them during the warm months will help in the deterrence of those Lyme-spreading pests .

Chrysanthemums form small bushes that can make a nice backdrop for your summer blooming plants. And then, just when most of your summer flowers have become exhausted, chrysanthemums come into full bloom, giving your garden a new burst of color that lasts up to and sometimes through the month of November.

Just Want To Relax This Summer?

If you find that you just want to enjoy sitting outside with your family and friends, watching the fireflies and breathing in the fresh scents of lemons, peppermint or lavender, and don’t have the time to plant and manage them, just give us a call. We enjoy planting beautiful landscaped gardens and caring for them as they grow and thrive throughout the seasons. We can offer a one-time planting or you can ask to be placed or our maintenance plan.

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Benefits Of Raking Your Lawn

Leave a Comment / Lawn Maintenance Tips / Angelena Sewell

Benefits Of Raking Your Lawn

Have you ever wondered why grass doesn’t seem to grow easily when you have multiple trees in your yard? Especially here in Kent County, Maryland, where the air and ground hold moisture for long periods of time.

One of those reasons could be your ground is starving for nutrients due to densely packed wet leaves. That’s why raking the leaves in your yard is a great way to improve your lawn’s health and appearance.

If leaves are just left on the ground and pile up season after season, they aren’t able to break down quickly enough and begin to block sunlight from the ground, growing molds and other fungi that are harmful to your grass, trees, and other plantings.

Raking old leaves also loosens up grass that has been matted down and become thatch, which prevents other healthy grass from being able to take root and grow strong. Breaking up the matted grass is like taking a comb through unruly dog fur. It may take time, but it leads to a healthy lawn, or in the dog’s case, a healthy coat.

What To Do With All Those Leaves

Once you’ve finished raking, what do you do with all of them?

One thing we do not recommend is placing them in bags and sending them to the dump. Plastic bags are toxic to the environment, and the pile of leaves takes up much needed space in the landfills. Plus, leaves are actually a great natural fertilizer material if used correctly. For instance, you can use them for compost.

If composting isn’t for you, perhaps using your leaves as a mulch is something to consider. To do this, simply begin by raking your leaves into small piles. After you have several piles no more than 3-4 inches in height, wait until they are dry, and then run your lawn mower over them. This will cut them into tiny pieces that can be used as a mulch to help feed the lawn.

If neither of these ideas seems ideal to you, ask a few of your neighbors if they enjoy composting, and allow them to take advantage of the leaves for their own yards. They’ll be grateful, especially if they are avid gardeners. Either way, your grass will be thankful for the breath of fresh air.

Of course, if raking leaves is just not your cup of tea, give Happy Grass a call. Let us do the work for you. That’s our cup of tea.

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Winter Lawn Tips

Leave a Comment / Lawn Maintenance Tips / Angelena Sewell

Winter Lawn Care Tips

Now that winter has hit Kent and Queen Anne’s counties with a harsh blow, chances are most of us just want to snuggle up in our warm clothes in front of a fireplace with a steaming cup of cocoa, coffee or even tea and perhaps binge watch our favorite shows. After all, it’s winter, nothing is growing outside, so why worry about the lawn until spring, right?

However, even during the winter, your lawn needs some maintenance and care if you want to have a beautiful landscape come spring and summer. Below are a few tips to keep in mind during this cold and what appears to be dormant time of year.

1. It's Never Too Late To Rake

So many times we think of raking as the chore only to be done during the late summer or fall weather. However, if you weren’t able to find the time to rake during those warm months, it can be done during the winter months as well.

If you have piles of leaves throughout your yard, they can prevent your lawn from receiving the nitrogen and other nutrients your landscape needs. Without those nutrients your grass will become weak, and if heavy patches of wet leaves sit on the lawn for too long, fungus can begin to grow destroying the roots and leaving bald patches in your lawn come summer.

If you’re still not fond of the idea of grabbing a rake in the winter, here is a little extra incentive to think about. Raking burns anywhere between 350-450 calories per hour. So if you’ve set a New Year’s resolution to have a “beach body” by spring, raking will not only help burn off some extra calories it will also build and strengthen your upper body and core muscles.

2. Clean Up Debris

Winter in Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties can bring both easy cool days or cold days with blustering high winds, heavy snow, and even ice. With those bitter cold days comes the inevitable issue of fallen branches and other debris. Sometimes it can seem so much easier to wait until spring to start clearing away all those heavy branches that came down with the snow and wind, but that’s not the wisest choice of action.

Heavy branches scattered around your lawn can cause damage especially if left to sit for too long. They can cause the soil to be compacted and hardened and prevent vital nutrients from reaching the grass under them. They also become home to molds and other diseases that can spread through the lawn wreaking further havoc on your landscape.

Getting outside on a sunny, warmer day after the initial storm, and picking up those branches and sticks, is a great way to keep your lawn in healthy, oh and also is a great work out for those biceps!

However, if those branches and other debris are a bit too much or you are on vacation in some sunny, warm location, just give us a call. We’ll head straight over and gather up that debris for you.

3. Lay Down Sod Or Plant Seed

Have you ever found yourself walking outside, perhaps with your furry friend, and nearly slipped on the ground that has turned muddy from the melting snow? Those existing patches of ground can be easily remedied by laying down some sod during a day when the ground is above freezing. Sod already has a strong set of roots and won’t take long to attach to the patches of ground in need of some help.

Not sure how to go about laying down sod? Give us a call, we can help get those sections back to being healthy and beautiful as well as safe for you during the rainy or snowy weather.

4. Fertilize In The Winter

We realize that may seem a little strange but think of it this way, just as your body needs vitamins and minerals year round, so does your lawn. With all the advancements in horticulture there are products designed to slowly release just the right amount of nutrients to keep your lawn strong throughout the winter months. It’s like taking vitamin D supplements during the winter because we don’t have those long summer days to soak in the sun’s natural vitamins.

Winter is also a great time to spread some lime to tame down any high acidic soil that is in your yard. If you’re not sure whether you need to add lime, check the pH of your soil with a simple test kit, then apply as needed.

5. Weeding In The Winter

Weeding? You read that correctly. Weeds will sprout after just a few days of mild weather. During those intermittent warm days, grab your gloves and attack those newly sprouted nuisances before they get a foothold around your favorite bushes and deck area. It’s also a great time to kill off any new poison ivy, oak, or sumac that may be lurking around your landscape.

If pulling weeds in the winter or attacking poisonous vines is not something you want to do, just give us a call. We can tackle them for you, through either the old fashioned way of pulling them out or spraying those ivy, oak, and sumac vines with an environmentally safe weed killer.

6. Watch Where You Walk

During the winter it can become easy to choose a certain area to walk, especially if you need to take you pets outside several times a day and your hands are just barely able to grip the leash!

However, changing up your routine and choosing a different area throughout the winter will prevent the grass from becoming broken and worn thin and the earth from becoming so hardened that rain can’t easily reach the roots of your lawn.

7. Use The Correct Form Of Salt

When snow and ice begin to make walking a challenge the safest thing to do is shovel and then spread some salt. However, certain types of salt can cause damage to your lawn. When purchasing salt or other products that will improve you safety when walking on snow or ice, try to find products that are lawn and pet friendly such as calcium chloride.

If the salt from the road clearing makes its way to your lawn take the time to water your grass in those areas as soon as the temperatures have warmed up enough. Giving it a thorough soaking can help minimize the damage caused by the caustic ingredients used to treat our roads during inclement weather.

Small Steps In Winter Can Reap Great Rewards

Spring can be a time of celebration, a time to enjoy watching your tulip bulbs peaking through the dirt and prepping your garden for annuals. Although, there are times it may seem as though spring will never come again, warm weather will soon arrive. We hope that if you are able to follow some of the tips mentioned above now, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy a healthy lawn in just a few short months.

However, if you find some of these tips just a bit overwhelming, or are enjoying warmer weather in a different place at this time, but still want to have a beautiful lawn come spring, we offer estate and vacation property management services. Just give us a call today. We can help you give your lawn the best possible care during these long hard months so that when spring arrives you’ll be able to enjoy the rewards of a well cared for lawn.

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