941-809-8735Sarasota Landscaping – State Of The Art Landscaping.com

Using landscape mulches in Sarasota benefits your landscape greatly.  Remulching as needed also improves the look of your landscape.  I have alot of customers that wonder why there landscape looks under over par from their neighbors, well most of the time the neighbors remulch every six months, not only looking better but getting all the benefits that mulch provides for your Sarasota landscaping.  here are some benefits of using mulch in your landscape beds.  Mulch prevents the loss of water, mulch helps use less water and better results, With out mulch, weeds are going to be present, with out mulch weed prevention is almost impossible.  mulch also decomposes and adds beneficial nutreints that help the health of the plant. there are many diffrent mulches to choose from visit our web site for more information on landscape mulches in Sarasota.

Fertilizing in Sarasota Responsibly is a practice we all have to educate our selves with.  If you fertilize turf, shrubs, Trees, or Citrus in Sarsota make sure yu are following all county, and state regulation,  Applying fertizizer can be very harmfull to our environment,especially our water ways.  the Nitrogen and phosphates in fertilizer pollutes water ways in Sarasota making the water murky, choking off oxegen that is vital to marine life, and exploding algea growths.  As we should all know Sarasota county passed a new rules on applying fertilizer, from June 1 untill Oct. 1 no granule fertilizer is to be applied to any turf, shrubs or trees, if you applied a good slow release in June and your yard was in good shape at that time,you should be alright, however if you need a boost apply liquid fertilizer such as Miracle grow, this releases no nitrogen into the water ways the very thing we are trying to protect.  Apply often especially to flowers and vegatebles, applyng a little each week is known as micro dosing feeding the plant, tree or turf in small amounts so that they use all of what is applied, plants only each so much and they stop.  If  Applying granule it takes very many veiables such as heat, jmoisture, and the perfect amounts of this to make the fertilizer break down to much it runs off the property, too little and it wont break down, this is why I install ez flow fertigators on all my properties, each time the irrigation system comes on a little fertilizer is applied to plants, trees and turf, making them more healthy each week, with no envirnmental impact other than healthy plants,trees and turf using less water as the foilage gets healthier, we use 63% more water than the same property used before the ez flow is installed, what a savings.  For more information contact your local extension service or visit www.stateoftheartlandscaping.com

Venice FL sprinkler repair is unfortunately a fact of life. Lawn sprinkler systems are comprised of many moving parts, and like any sytem made of moving parts, eventually they will fail. Add to that lawn mowers and growing plants (roots) and sprinkler repairs at some point are inevitable.

Here are some quick tips to help keep  Sarasota sprinkler systems in top shape.

1. Turn on your irrigation system only when you notice that one third of more of your landscape looks dry. Your yard does not need water just because it is Thursday (or whatever your legal watering days are). This will also keep your system free of some repairs due to less use.

2. Move sprinklers obstructed by plant growth. Landscapes evolve and change over time. Make sure that the spray from your sprinklers can still reach all intended areas.

3. Check your sprinklers once a month. If you have a digital controller it is quite simple to set up a one minute per station program to simplify the process.

4. Adjust your sprinklers. Sprinklers do get out of adjustment and require periodic care. This can save you (and all of us) a large amount of water.

If you are too busy to preform a “sprinkler tune-up”, you can always contact us and we would be happy to help you with your Sarasota sprinkler repair.

Venice lawn care, what’s the secret?

Landscape maintenance in Venice Florida is something we all have to do if we own a home with a lawn and landscaping.  Mulching, mowing, watering, fertilization and pruning will be the practices you will have to educate your self with to make your landscape maintenance not only enjoyable while keeping your turf and landscape healthy as well.  Landscapes in Venice Florida thrive on our warm climate, choosing the plant material that does well in our region along with shade trees that will benefit your landscape and protect it from our harsh hot summers along with installing a professional irrigation system that is designed to water your turf and landscape properly will be one of the biggest parts of how your landscape will not only look but how maintenance friendly it will be.  Selecting the correct turf grass will be critical in maintaining your lawn successfully.

Always conduct a site evaluation before designing your landscape, such as areas of sun or shade, salt spray exposure, water drainage, soil types and ph.  Also make sure you have a good idea of what type and how much maintenance you will be able to provide, are you going to do it your self or hire a professional, with a well designed plan on paper any professional landscape maintenance company will be able to price your maintenance.  Try to hire a full service landscape management company such as State Of The Art Landscaping in Venice.  After your irrigation, landscape, and turf are installed the maintenance will begin.

Mowing your turf in Venice will consist of one time every seven days in active growing season, and one to two times per month in winter, mowing at the correct height increases density and helps keep weeds out of your turf, well maintained turf also helps with erosion, keeping your turf healthy promotes a healthy root system which will absorb water and nutrients, meaning less herbicides and fewer weeds. Pruning and trimming will be another big part of your Venice lawn care program, make sure either yourself or your lawn care provider know the growth characteristics of the plants you have selected, over pruning plant material will damage the plant, under pruning will cause big work loads at time of pruning, educate yourself on how and when to prune or trim, your local nursery and extension service will be more than happy to give you this information.  Fertilization of your landscape and turf is very important to be applied correctly, never fertilize just because you think its time, evaluate your plants and turf, fertilizer should be applied if trees and shrubs have been newly planted, if homeowner or client desire faster growth, if landscape beds have been leached of nutrients by over irrigating, if established landscape lacks in color or density.

Your irrigation system is of the most importance because of South West Florida’s water woes, our water is a precious resource and should be treated as such, over irrigating is rampid in Venice, not only does this waste or water but can harm your landscaping by promoting fungus, leaching nutrients, and causing excusive growth, or keeping your landscape in decline until its needing replacement.  Irrigation should only be used when needed just because its your watering day does not mean you have to water, if sufficient rain fall has fallen do not water, in dormant months you can cut your water off to all plant material, designing your irrigations system to separate turf from plants is very important, turf requires far more water than plants, after plants are established and you have correctly selected your plant material you should be able to have beautiful plants with mother natures rain fall and cut irrigation off to them except in times of severe drought.  Turf requires ¾ to 1” of water every seven to ten days so having your irrigation system installed by a professional that has a good tract record of installing systems properly is vital. There is more information that you should study while caring for your landscape and turf, such as nitrogen rates when fertilizing, how to apply pesticides safely and correctly, what are micro nutrients, soil testing practices and an array of other factors that will  make your lawn and landscape not only enjoyable but as healthy as possible.

Venice lawn care, what’s the secret? Now you know!

Sarsaota landscape design using cultural practicesis a great mangement tool that we should all use to reduce our pesticide use in our landscapes.  Using plant material that have a good tract record of being pest resistant is a good start.  Make sure when choosing your turf and plant material that you choose what will be best adapted to the enviromental conditions of the site and geographic part of the state.  Proper cultural practices in Sarasota include nmowing, fertilization, irrigation, pruning, and supplemental cultural practices such as aerification, and dethatching.  Make sure when mowing your grass in Sarasota that it is mowed at proper height, cutting too short will stress turf and cause problems such as weeds, insect, and disease pest.  When pruning in Sarasota use proper pruning techniques which will improve its health, control growth, and enhance its fruiting, flowering, and appearance.  fertilizing landscape in Sarasota is as important as any of the above, proper fertilization will result in your lawn and landscape thriving istead of needing constant attention, such as more pesticide being applied, water being appleid and so on.  Never over fertilize your landscape or lawn, this will cause more damge than not enough fertilizer, remember palnts and turf use very little fertilizer at a time, over fertilizing causes exsessive growth causing more maitenance and can harm the plant or turf you are applying it to.  For more information on proper cultural practices concerning your landscape vist us at www.stateoftheartlandscaping.com or call your local extension service.

Landscape design in Sarasota can be very rewarding in the aspect that we have so many beautiful plants to choose from.  One of my favorite landacape plants in Sarasota to work with is Bougainvillea.  Bougainvillea brings so much in veriety, such as color, size, drought tolerant and insect resistant, very easy to care for does not require alot of  trimming.  The reason so many professional landscapers in Sarasota use this plant is because of its vibrant colors, it can be used in almost any landscape situation, from formal to tropical, it also makes a wondrful trellis climber for entrance ways, or front of buildinga that need that color to signify the entrance. Here are some tips on how to care for bougainvillea, Watering,  the amont  of water needed is directly related to climate, soil type, and weather conditions.  Bougainvillea require very little water which is a huge plus in light of our states water problems and the 7 year drought we have been dealing with.  Bougainvillea do best with infrequent soakings, letting the soil dry out completly between waerings, when the plant starts to wilt that isa good indicator that its time to water.  As for light rquirements, Bougainvillea thrive on Sarasota’s hot summer months they need about five hours of direct sunlight a day however you can get them to do well with a little less or more, they are prone to freeze damage, cover if freeze is in the forecast.  Pruning is important to promote strong branches and promote flowering.  Bogainvillea will get out of control if left unattended, try to prune at least quarterly.  For fertilizing your Bougainvillea, every thirty days or after pruning using a slow release 6-8-10 with minors will keep them flowering year around.  For more information on Sarasota landscaping with color visit us at www.stateoftheartlandscaping.com.

Here we are at the first of June already, we have had significant rain fall however we need to keep sarasota water restrictions in place.  Here are a few tips to make sure your Sarasota irrigation syatem is in good running order.  make sure the rain sensor is working affectively, With the first of rainy season upon us adjust run times accordingly, do not run if suffecient rain fall has fallen.  Consider rain barrels to capture rain water run off.  Check and clean irrigation filter at pump and at the sprinkler heads themnselves.  and of course fis all leaks.For more information and helpfull tips go to water matters .org.

With so many palm trees in Venice I see a lot of palms suffering from Nutrient deficiency.  Here are some tips on how to identify nutrient deficiency in Plms. The most common problem I see is what we call frizzle top, the reason we call it that is obvious, the top of the palm will get an uggly frizzle to it, this is caused from Mangenese Deficiency, apply a good water soluble Mangenense  nutrient as listed on label.  Palms with iron deficiency usually causes new leaves to emerge yellow-green to almost white in color.  Older leaves usually remain darker in color. Iron deficiency in palms is usually caused by poor soil aeration, deep planting or too high of a ph in soil.  Freeze damage is one of the easiest to identify, most all of the leaves will turn brown, and of course soon after a freeze and most freeze temperate palms in the area will be damaged, this one thing only time will cure, always check planting zones before planting palms in Venice .  Lightning damage appears quickly, usually with in 1 to 2 days, the entire crown will fall to one side, the trunk may have a crack, and could bleed sap, lightning strikes are usually lethal to palms.  Make sure your palms are getting enough water but not too much, usually they can survive from mother nature however in drought water by hand or instll tree bubblers to insure proper water requirements are being met.

Mowing your lawn in Venice Florida is a key maintenance operation. With our hot Florida weather you need to keep your turf at an appropriate height to increase root health and suppress weeds, keeping your lawn beautiful in Sarasota. Keeping a dense turf in Venice is essential for home owners because when we have substantial storm water runoff dense turf helps retain high nutrient runoff that pollutes our waterways. Turf can can be damaged from Florida’s hot summer sun so you should make sure your grass is getting plenty of nutrients and has a healthy root system, so all the nutrients are absorbed and not wasted. Cutting your grass at he appropriate height never remove more then 1/3 of the blade of grass at one time. And when you take care of your grass that means fewer weeds which means you don’t need as many herbicides.