Spring Planting Season in Oklahoma takes a lot of strategy.
You know the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers” not in SW Oklahoma…
Rain, Rain, Rain….Â
But temperatures will begin to rise. The grass is greening up nicely already, but of course those weeds are coming up as well…UGH!!! Remember with warmth comes the good and the bad. For the lawn, you should have already put down pre-emergent herbicide to help keep the crabgrass out. Chocking the crabgrass out with thriving lawn grass can be a better alternative than poisoning the crabgrass. For landscape beds and flower beds you should have already done the same.
Pre-Emergents
A granular product that is pre-emergent is used only for the beds. Remember to read the label on any product you put on your lawn or landscape. Just one slip up or using the wrong chemical in the wrong place can cost you thousands of dollars and lots of time time. We get calls each year from distraught people who have “something wrong” with their shrubs and flowers. Sometimes it takes some detective work to finally get the people to admit that they put something on the plants or the lawn, and it is a terrible thing to see. And I’m sure the people are just crushed that they are responsible for killing their own Lawn or Landscape.  The main point here, is to read the label, don’t guess.
Mowing Tips
Mowing has begun. It’s time to enjoy the sun, so be sure to have your mower serviced before you get started. One very simple thing you can do to keep your lawn looking better is to always have sharp blades on the mower. A dull blade will tear the grass instead of cutting it. This leaves a brown, or tan haze across the surface of the lawn as the grass grows back out. Lawn grass grows from the bottom out, so the frayed edge of the grass blade will stay frayed and yellow looking until you cut it again. You may not even realize it until you get down and examine the grass closely. You will see a torn grass blade tip if your mower blades need sharpened.  It doesn’t cost you a thing to keep them sharp, if you’re sharpening your own blades. However, even if you have to pay someone to sharpen them for you, it’s one of the least expensive things you can do for your lawn to make it look better.
Another very inexpensive thing you can do is aerating For the money invested, it returns more to you than any other lawn care item you can do. Â
Check Out The Irrigation System
Your irrigation system should already be turned on for spring planting season , and thoroughly checked out. It should be warm enough in most parts of Oklahoma to not have any freeze damage. However use your own common sense. If you are in an area that is still cold and freezing, you won’t need any irrigation for a while. In the area of West Tennessee, if they have seeded a new lawn, they start using irrigation in March. Then, by May, they need the occasional watering.  Given the last couple of years, rainfall totals leave us hoping for more rain. But if not, get the system up and running, check out all the heads to be sure they are working properly, make sure all the zones operate like they should.
Funny things happen to an irrigation system through the winter. It was working just fine last fall, when it was winterized, but now it wants to act funny. Heads start pointing the wrong direction, valves won’t work. Who knows why, but it happens. Get it working now when you don’t need it so when you actually do need it, it will be working fine.
Annuals and Perennials
 Annuals and Perennials can be planted in most of the areas in the south by now. As long as you’re past the average last date of the last frost in your area you can be pretty safe planting those delicate annuals outside. You may need to keep some sheets and buckets ready in case you get a rogue cold spell coming through.
As your planting those plants remember to use a fertilizer/weed control product like Preen n Green or a similar product. These combo products will provide the fertilizer the flowers need while doing weed control. The product doesn’t kill an existing weed, but it keeps a weed seed from coming up.
And as you may know, when you work in your garden, you turn over the soil and expose weed seeds that were buried, but now they can get the light and temps they need to germinate, so you give life to the weed seeds.
Also, if you have some shrubs that need a little pruning, you can do it now with no harm to the plant due to heat stress, but keep in mind any shrubs that have not yet bloomed will not bloom as much if you do.
Gordon’s Landscaping is the landscaper that your want to call in the Lawton, OK area. We also do custom landscaping in Duncan, Elgin, Apache, Medicine Park, Marlow, Fletcher, Altus, Cache, or anywhere else where people want beauty.
Give us a call today.
prune them now. General rule of thinking is prune after they bloom, but not always.
See you next time…
Gordon
