The time has finally come to begin planning your fall Gainesville landscaping tasks with Fall just around the corner. It may not feel like it, but cooler days will be here in a month or so, and evening temperatures are already on a downward slope. Get ready for fall landscaping activities by planning for and scheduling tasks those hard-to-get-to tasks now.

Schedule the projects, purchase supplies, and plan what your priorities are -although the actual work won't begin just yet. You will be fertilizing your lawn, monitoring lawn pest and weed activity, and dialing in irrigation schedules. You may also choose to add some fall seasonal color or add new shrubs and trees.

Plan Cool-Season Annuals
Right now, your warm-season annuals are still looking good. Angelonia, torenia, vinca, zinnias, coleus, and caladium are blooming well. In our Gainesville, Florida lawns, these will continue thriving into mid-October. Depending on if you're using Fall color such as Mums or moving straight to Pansies and Petunias, you can delay purchasing and installing cool-season annuals until November. For Mums it would be an earlier timeline though.

If you like to grow flowers from seeds, however, now is the time to start thinking about it, especially if you plan to order supplies and seeds online. Setting up your seedling areas can be a project if you want to sow lots of seeds. This can also be a great project for kids to see as the plants grow.

Consider these Gainesville area cool-season annuals for your flower beds:

Snapdragons, Pansies, Violas, Mums, Petunias, Phlox, or Sweet Pea

Fall Gainesville Lawn Fertilizing
Be ready for the year's last round of nitrogen feeding in September or October. General garden fertilizer is suitable for most trees and shrubs (12-4-8 or 15-5-15 or 15-4-8) and your turf mix would vary depending upon your grass type - St. Augustine, Zoysia, or Centipede.

For tree and shrub fertilization (Ornamental fertilizer), spread it evenly on the ground under the tree out to the drip line (edge of the outer mimbs of the trees).

For lawns, look the turf fertilizer depends on your breed of turfgrass. St. Augustine and Bahia get their final feeding of the year in September; Zoysia and Bermuda will be later in the year, although continuing to feed other micro and macro nutrient s is important for root density and health through the winter. 

Add New Shrubs
Want to add new shrubs or flowers? Fall is the perfect time. If you wait until October when the days are cooler, the planting process doesn’t stress shrubs as much, and our winters aren't extreme so it gives new plants a long time to adjust and root before the next heat wave of summer.

Use September as the month of ground prep for new shrubs. Get rid of all weeds, either by hand-picking or spraying weed contorl. Remove plants that are failing. Dig up the soil and turn it over, adding enriching amendments such as cow manure (purchased in a bag at a nursery or garden center), grass clippings, wood chips, straw, and wood ash.

The ground will be ready for installing new shrubs in late September or October. Fall is also a good time to add new trees.

Keep a Watch for Pests
Until the days really cool down, pests remain active. On shrubs and plants, keep a watch for aphids, mites, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Crape Myrtle's will regularly struggle with black sooty mold from Aphids,

As for your Gainesville lawn pests, look for chinch bug damage (dry patches by concrete and curbs), moths fluttering in the lawn (which is the adult sod webworm), and their damage of chewed leaf blades. Leave the beneficial insects alone: lacewings, spiders, mantids, and ladybugs. These good bugs eat the destructive ones. You can also look for lawn fungus, leaf spot, and melting out this time of year as well.

Turn on Irrigation as Needed
Early September may still see afternoon showers. As the fall progresses and less rain falls, homeowners should be prepared to turn on irrigation systems more fequently. Fortunately, many systems are equipped with rain sensors or smart controllers to keep them from running too often. However, the grass still needs monitoring to ensure that it is receiving enough water. 

I hope this is helpful as you plan your Fall Landscape To-Do List. Let us know if we can help your Gainesville lawn or landscape in any way by calling/texting (352) 378-5296 or emailing us at info@themasterslawncare.com.

If there’s anything more annoying than weeds sprouting up throughout your Gainesville lawn, it’s pulling each of those weeds. It might even seem like the old wives’ tale about pulling gray hairs applies to weeds: pull one weed and two more grow back. But if you time your weed pulling or weed control program applications right, you should see a decrease in the following season.

Lawn care specialists advise that if your Gainesville lawn is comprised of 50% or more weeds, then it’s time for new sod installation or plugs. But if you haven’t quite hit that limit (even if sometimes it seems that way), then you just need to strategize your weed control and come up with an effective battle plan to take your lawn back.

For optimal weed prevention, Gainesville lawn care experts recommend weeding in the spring and fall when they’re at their weakest point. During the spring, all plants are gearing up to grow- even weeds. But, if you're tired of pulling weeds and want a better plan than removing them by hand, pre-emergent weed control is the way to go.

The better option, Gainesville lawn treatment experts recommend, is treating the weeds with liquid pre-emergent controls, and then working to eradicate the existing weeds. The old saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" works in lawn care too. This service eradicates the weed seeds before they germinate, minimizing the number of weeds that pop-up i spring and summer.

If you’re tired of weeds, call your local Gainesville lawn care company, The Master's Lawn Care, before summer to get a jumpstart on your weed battle! TMLC provides lawn weed and pest control services in Gainesville, Alachua, Jonesville, and Newberry! 

Your TMLC Gainesville lawn experts are trained to determine what is ailing your lawn and if a weed control treatment is really what you need. We can provide valuable advice on how to treat Gainesville weeds as well as give tips for proper mowing and irrigation. In addition, the ongoing support they offer can greatly reduce the likelihood of weeds or pests reappearing in your lawn and will fortify your lawn weed control. Fill out the form above or call (352) 378-LAWN today for more information.

March is just around the corner, which means it's about to be prime growing season for grass; and something else. A lot of harmful weeds like dollarweed and sedge are beginning to spread right now, and the best way to keep those pesky weeds away is by using a Pre-Emergent weed control. A lot of companies prefer to treat them after they've invaded your Gainesville lawn, but a good dose of prevention is better for your lawn and the environment.

A Pre Emergent controls unwanted weeds and grasses by targeting the weed seed just before or immediately after the seed begins to germinate. A good dose of Pre Emergent product applied at the right time keeps weeds from germinating for up to 6 months. The time for that application is now through, and the window is limited to get your prevention applied before the seeds have already hit the ground running for spring.

Was your Gainesville lawn fertilization program everything you wanted it to be in 2013? If not, give your locally-owned and operated lawn care company a call at (352) 378-LAWN. Wev'e been in the lawn business for over a decade serving Gainesville, and we would love the opportunity to develop a specialized program for your particular lawn. 

We'll even give you the first month free on our program when you call this week. Don't hesitate. Just fill out this online form or call 378-LAWN for your free lawn analysis.

The presence of weeds can severely decrease the aesthetic value of lawns and landscapes in the Alachua County area. In certain situations some degree of weed growth may be desirable where no other turfgrass can be established, but for the most part. a weed control program in Gainesville is neccessary to have a beautiful lawn. Our Gainesville lawns are a complex and dynamic system that is subject to a myriad of stresses from drought to disease to overwatering. This is particularly true of Gainesville landscaping which has undergone tremendous demographic growth in the last decade. With the continuously increasing demand for Florida's resources, it is essential that they be managed in the most prudent fashion. Because of Florida's geographical setting and meteorological conditions, much of the state supports an extensive growth of weeds, many of which are not found in other parts of the United States and are difficult to kill with normal Gainesville weed control products.

Our service is designed as an aid to the homeowner and business owners in Gainesville that struggle with weeds in their Gainesville lawn. Modern methods of weed management require that a correct name be applied to the weed so that appropriate control measures can be taken. Biology and history are included as an aid in adapting control measures and research involving these species. The use of integrated programs may be more efficient than the use of any single weed control method, which is why The Master's Lawn Fertilization and weed control program of Gainesville uses pre and post emergent herbicides as well as wet and dry methods of application.

As changes occur in names or in biology of the weeds that are discovered in Gainesville and the north Florida area, the program can be updated rapidly in this company to better serve our clients. If you are interested in our Gainesville weed and pest control service for lawns, please give us a call at (352) 378-5296.