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Thursday, March 15, 2007

We are getting calls from people who are unhappy with the pathways and runways that they are finding in the lawn as the snow disappears. Are they moles? Actually they are "Voles". Voles are basically the proper name for field mice. During the winter, the voles are able to run around the whole lawn under the protection of the snow. During the summer, they tend to stay in the bushes or in the fields where there is more cover. Where snow is piled up, the snow acts as a giant inflatable building which protects the voles from predators.

Vole damage in lawns

If you live near a field, you are more likely to have problems with voles. The voles will migrate from the field to the lawn and the protection of the snow piles.

 How do you get rid of the voles? Once the snow cover is gone, the voles will go into hiding again. If they go back to the fields, that's great. They may take up residence under the shed or under the protection of a dense shrub. So, normally, there is not a lot to do to get rid of the voles.

 As far as the lawn goes, most of the lawn will recover. Often the pathways are on the surface and the grass roots will recover and grow back. There may be the odd spot that will not. We recommend that you sprinkle a little topsoil and some grass seed to speed up the recovery process. That can be done starting in early April.

  If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care - get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home

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 or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

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 Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

It is supposed to get warm this week and a lot of snow is melting very quickly. Which got me to thinking about all the attention "Global Warming" has been getting lately. Not that you would have noticed with the record cold temperatures last week.

So do lawns help with global warming? Maybe or maybe not, but they can keep the area around your home cooler, certainly at least compared to pavement and asphalt.

Temperature Moderation - Turfgrass reduces temperature heat extremes by natural transpirational cooling. The front lawns of just 8 average houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons of air conditioning. The average home-size central air unit has a 3 to 4 ton capacity.

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care - get The KING OF GREEN:

Turf King Home

Click here to Request a Quote Online -

or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

If you would like more information, please Contact us

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Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

March 13, 2007

I usually try to place my bird feeders in the garden, depending on what kind of seed they contain. I am down to only three kinds of feed lately.

I like whole unshelled peanuts for the woodpeckers and chickadees. I have a metal peanut feeder which works great. But I also use some onion netting as well. I saved a couple of netting bags from the small white onions or from a garlic netting bag. I put the peanuts in the netting, tie up the end and hang the bag in a tree or bush. It does bother me when the small downy woodpecker laboriously pecks a hole in the peanut shells, only to be chased away by the bully bluejays once the peanuts are accessible.

I keep the feeder for the niger thistle in a spot that hangs over a lawn area. Last year, the seed sprouted in a pathway/garden area and I had to keep pulling the thistle out. In the lawn, they won’t grow to any height once the lawn mower starts its regular rounds.

Black sunflower seeds seem to disappear overnight. When the birds are ravenous, I could be filling the feeders every other day and still not keep up. The goldfinches, sparrows, purple finches, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals and mourning doves all flock to the feeders. I don’t mind if these feeders are situated over certain garden beds. In those beds, I don’t mind if a few sunflowers sprout up later in the spring.

In fact, I usually save some of the sunflower seed to sow in the garden. A handful of bird seed bought at bird seed prices costs only pennies. A package of sunflower seeds costs a couple of dollars at a minimum. If I feel extravagant I will splurge on a couple of packages of the fancy sunflowers, but for a mass planting, the bird seed variety is good enough for me (and the birds that do come along late in the summer to feed on the seed).

 

If you have a lawn/tree/shrub that needs some Tender Loving Care - get The KING OF GREEN:

 

Turf King Home

 

Click here to Request a Quote Online -

 

or call us at 905.318.6677 or 1.888.TURFKING (887.3546)

 

If you would like more information, please Contact us

 

Follow us on Twitter  http://twitter.com/turfkingofgreen

 

Join our Facebook page  

http://www.bit.ly/FacebookTK

 

Copyright 2007 Turf King-Hamilton. All Rights Reserved.

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