Out With The Dead! (Grass That Is)

We’re getting closer to one of the greatest perks of living in North Florida! That’s this incredible weather we are seeing more and more the past couple weeks. Although the thermometer is still riding the roller coaster, I think the worst is behind us and the grass is starting to wake up. It’s time to start “dead heading” all that ugly brown grass and weeds in our lawns and that’s what we have started doing this week. What that will do, besides getting rid of the ugly, is let that warm Florida sun reach the soil and lower new growth, and before you know it, we’re back green and plush! What else is crucial to get done right now?…pre-emergent to your lawn. Be sure you or your fertilization company is getting that most important treatment down for weed control. It’s also time to trim back the crepe myrtles and other shrubs. Personally, I will be cutting back several of my frost damaged perennials this weekend, however for some of the less cold tolerant palms and tropical plants, I am still going to hold off another week or two. I do see some overnight temperature drops into the upper 30’s in the 10 day forecast, so you don’t want to open up what growth we have in those tropical plants to more frost.

The image above is a hard scalp I did on my Bermuda exactly 1 year ago. Since I have kept mine short throughout the year and the winter, I won’t be scalping as hard this year. People thought I was crazy but that’s part of the high maintenance of Bermuda grass. Those same people didn’t think I was so crazy the rest of the year when I basically had carpet for a lawn! For St. Augustine, it just needs a much more subtle cut, probably about an inch below your normal summer cut height (which should be around 3.5″ to 4″).

We hope these tips are helpful for those DIY gardeners and weekend warriors. Things are really starting to heat up with Bikini Groundskeeping and the full time mow season is getting so close! Feel free to contact us if you ever have any questions, or if you have any landscape projects in mind, and especially if you are looking for top shelf lawn maintenance!