75 Howard Place, Kitchener, ON
24 Jul 2022

What To Do During A Drought

We have been experiencing a drought in the Waterloo Region as of late and our lawns are showing the signs! Unless you have an irrigation system installed, your grass and plants might be looking a little worse for wear.

Early Signs of Drought

One of the more obvious telltale signs of hard ground, brown grass, and dying plants is a solid indicator that we are experiencing drought conditions.  But you may be able to proactively protect your grass, plants, and trees to help them become drought-resistant.

Have a look at the leaves on the trees of your yard. Suppose you notice them curling towards the middle of the leaf. This is an early indicator of drought conditions and your plants, lawn, and garden could benefit from a good watering (following the Region of Waterloo watering guidelines, of course)!

If it is early enough in the season, the foliage may drop off. If you introduce water fast enough, the tree and plants may re-generate their leaves.  The faster you introduce water to the root systems, the better the chance that the tree will return to full strength.

When you start to see the signs of curling leaves, we recommend watering your trees in a four-foot (4’) diameter around the tree as this is where most of the root system lies (at least 12 inches down). Give them a good drink!

Early signs of drought

Consider Aerating your Lawn in the Summer

Another way to curb the impacts of the lack of rain is to aerate your lawn. Most residents aerate in the springtime, but the summer is a great time too! Mechanical aeration opens the hard-packed ground up to allow moisture to better penetrate the soil and get to the roots of the grass. This will help your lawn recuperate much faster. Otherwise, the rain will have difficulty penetrating the compacted soil and will end up running off into the storm drains.

Tips to restore your lawn in a drought

Break up your mulch in your garden

Loosen up the mulch around the drip line (the edge of your plant) with a fork or a cultivator. Work up the mulch or soil down about 1.5 to 2 inches, so as not to disturb the root system. Check the depth of the mulch with your fingers, you should be able to dip down to your knuckle. Give the garden a good drink of water and the work you’ve done will help get the water right to the root system.

Get water to the root system cover

Feel free to give us a call to discuss our lawn maintenance programs which help your property maintain peak drought-resistant performance.

08 Jun 2022

Introducing the Green Ventures Grass Seed Blend

We’re very excited to provide our customers with our new grass seed blend that will produce a low-input and amazing-looking green lawn!

We have spent the last year researching the most optimal seed combinations and have arrived at a blend that requires much less water, protects against pests, requires less fertilizer, and thrives in both sun and shade.

New for 2022, we are introducing the Green Ventures Grass Seed Blend!

ABOUT THE GRASS SEED:

The seed is a blend of a couple different of fine fescues which are dark green in colour. They have a natural resistance against pests like chinch bugs. Each blade of grass contains endophytes that the chinch bugs don’t like to eat.

The grass releases natural amino acids that crabgrass and dandelions don’t find as a suitable habitat. It’s a great way to curb the amount of pesticides and herbicides used. The thicker the grass, the more effective it is at choking out weeds.

Because the fine fescues are so hearty, they require much less water (1/4” to ½” of moisture is required per week). A traditional Kentucky blue grass requires about 2-2.5” of moisture per week on average.

Our grass seed will assist in creating a great-looking & full lawn. We’ve tested it at a residence in Waterloo and it has performed very well, especially during drought conditions.

picture of our waterloo test plot of grass

USE LESS WATER IN WATERLOO REGION!

Currently, WR By-law 07-069 states that residents of the Region of Waterloo may water their lawn once per week during the period of May 31 to September 30. For more information about the Waterloo Region lawn watering rules, please click here. 

Once the grass seed is established and is doing well, it will need 1/4 less water than a Kentucky bluegrass and 1/3 less water than perennial ryegrass.

You’ll notice savings in time and the amount of water used for maintaining your lawn. If a water ban is in place, the grass will retain a dark green colour in drought conditions!

FAQs ABOUT OUR SEED:

HOW DO I GET THE GREEN VENTURES GRASS SEED BLEND?

We’re offering our new grass seed exclusively to our customers. We can add to the robustness of your lawn via slit-seeding and aeration/overseeding if your lawn is already established. We recommend slit seeding every so often to get grass varieties to your lawn.

Slit Seeding: We use machines that will cut a slit in the soil and will drop a grain of seed directly into the soil. It prevents birds from eating the seed keeping it shaded & protected and holds moisture much better. This gives a more balanced look to your lawn instead of random patches. If you have more dead patches, we recommend a top-dressing of soil and raking the seed in.

Ready for a more resilient & low-input lawn? Contact us and experience what GVLC has to offer!

SUN OR SHADE?

With our seed blend, it doesn’t matter. The fine fescue blend does well in both sun and shade.

CUT HIGH OR CUT LOW?

Again, it doesn’t matter.

While we did our research, we contacted golf course groundskeepers in the United States. We found that most use 100% fescue for both their greens and the rough on the courses. The grass is not impacted by the height of the cut! Fescue is a very versatile grass species and is excellent at self-repair.

If you do choose to cut it shorter, we do recommend watering it a bit more frequently.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO SOW THE GRASS SEED?

You can do it anytime – Spring, Summer, or Fall – it just depends on how much you will have to water it. The spring & fall seasons typically have more moisture than the summer months. Grass will still grow in the dry summer months, but the grass seed is more prone to dry out – you’ll have to keep the seed moist. If it doesn’t grow, you might still see it pop up in the spring of next year; the grass seed is very resilient.

Grass seed typically goes bad if it rots. You can avoid this by keeping any standing water off of your lawn.

HOW LONG IS THE GERMINATION PERIOD?

Our seed blend will take 12 to 18 days to germinate. During this time, you want to keep the seed moist and avoid standing water.

Use less water in waterloo region

Interested in our new grass seed blend? Contact us today!