Avocados are a great addition to any meal and can add an interesting flavor to a great number of dishes, but the high costs of this fruit may discourage some people from partaking. Save yourself some money and try growing your own avocado tree! Imagine thinking up a tasty southeast cuisine that would be complete with a perfectly ripe avocado. Instead of running to the store and paying an outrageous amount of money for only one avocado, you can step outside and pick one right off the vine.

If you live in a colder area and the winter months are not ideal for growing, it is wise to start this plant off indoors, making sure to give it the amount of light it would have if it were outside. Place an avocado seed in a medium to large planting pot and keep the soil damp, but not saturated. If you decide to plant the seed outdoors, choose a section of your Salt Lake City landscape that has well-drained soil and in an area where it won’t get too much sunlight, as the leaves can become sun-scorched. It is also important to choose an area in your yard where the avocado won’t have “competition.” It won’t be bad to plant a couple of trees together, but make sure there aren’t any other plants whose roots could be cut off by the roots of your avocado trees.

In the first year of growth, it’s important to keep the tree safe from pests with a mesh fence. Fruits should start to grow after seven months or so, but it could take longer depending on the climate conditions. Landscaping experts also recommend using organic fertilizer after the first year, especially if you notice a yellowish tint to the leaves, indicating an iron deficiency. If you aren’t sure what kind of fertilizer to use or you want to protect your avocado trees from pests and diseases, contact your local landscaping company and have an expert come out to tend to all your landscaping needs.

If nothing else, Salt Lake City landscaping professionals insist that you water your Salt Lake City lawn. If you do nothing else, watering at least should be a priority. But as it goes, life has a funny way of getting in the way of things that you need or want to do and the next thing you know, a couple of weeks have passed and your Salt Lake City lawn is as dry as dust. So what’s the remedy? Why, an irrigation system of course!

Many Salt Lake City landscaping companies are adding sprinkler system installation to their menu. It does no good to aerate, fertilize and maintain your Salt Lake City lawn’s pH level if you’re not properly hydrating your turf. Grass needs water more than it needs anything to remain healthy, durable and vibrant. A Salt Lake City lawn that is dehydrated is susceptible to disease and will often have brittle grass blades and look dull in color, sometimes even brown if the dehydration is severe enough.

Installing an irrigation system might seem like a luxury, but if you take into the consideration of what you might have to pay to renovate or repair your Salt Lake City lawn after a severe bout of dehydration, it’s more than worth the cost. A sprinkler system can include features such as timers to ensure that your Salt Lake City lawn is watered at the same time everyday and with just the right amount of water. Don’t want a visible system? No problem! Most irrigation systems are installed underneath the ground and some Salt Lake City landscaping companies also offer products that blend in with your Salt Lake City landscaping.

If you’re looking for a guaranteed method of keeping your Salt Lake City lawn hydrated throughout the growing season, consult your local Salt Lake City landscaping company and ask about how an irrigation system can benefit you!

If you live in an area of the country where clay soil is an option, Salt Lake City landscape specialists say this might be an ideal alternative to typical soil in order to produce a beautiful lawn.

Typical soil is often subjected to erosion, especially in climates with heavy rainfall. When the soil is washed away, the roots of your lawn and other plants become exposed, making them vulnerable. Clay soil also is better for retaining moisture. If you live in an area where the heat often dries out your lawn, clay soil could be a better alternative so your lawn doesn’t become brown and brittle. Because clay soil holds moisture in better and longer, you can save money by watering less!

Another reason Salt Lake City landscape specialists recommend clay soil is because its pH level rarely needs adjusted. Most clay soil is neutral, which is exactly what it needs to be in order to grow a perfect lawn. Soil lawns need to be tested annually to ensure the pH level is correct. If it is too acidic or not acidic enough, you need to apply pH conditioners, which cost money and take some guesswork to figure out the right amount.

Clay soil is typically devoid of nutrients, which may seem like a negative, but it is in fact a good thing. You can add the nutrients you deem necessary and have greater control over your fertilization regimen.

If you are considering a lawn soil change, contact your local Salt Lake City landscape professionals and find out more about whether or not clay lawn soil is right for you.

Cedar trees are a favorite tree to plant on many Salt Lake City landscapes and are relatively easy to take care of due to its drought tolerance. This tree has a pyramidal shape and grows relatively slow. There are different varieties of cedar trees and their height varies from one species to another. The eastern red cedar typically grows anywhere from 30 to 50 feet high, while the western red cedar can reach heights of up to 200 feet (however this is usually only typical for western red cedars that grow in the wild).

Many homeowners or commercial property owners use cedar trees as a pleasant-looking privacy screen on their Salt Lake City landscape. Others may plant cedar trees for the purpose of being windbreaks or hedges. Whatever the reason you choose to introduce cedars onto your Salt Lake City landscape, Salt Lake City landscaping specialists say that mulch is an important part of caring for this special tree. Mulch will help keep the soil around the tree damp and loose.

Your professional Salt Lake City landscaper can help you select the best type of mulch for your cedar tree. There are several different options:

• Sawdust or straw: Cost-effective, but doesn’t offer much in the way of nutrients to the soil.
• Bark nuggets/wood chips: Offer an eye-pleasing aspect to your Salt Lake City landscape, has a slow rate of decomposition and stays put even through strong gusts of wind.
• Composted yard waste: Cost-effective, eco-friendly and offers an abundance of nutrients.
• Grass clippings: Making use of yard waste is always a plus, but tree care authorities warn of using grass clipping too much. The clippings can become compacted when frequent or hard rain occurs and stop moisture from being absorbed into the soil, dehydrating the roots of your cedar tree.

Once you have decided on the right kind of mulch for you, you or your Salt Lake City landscaping authority will need to pull out all of the weeds around the area to be mulched, so the mulch can be applied to bare soil. If mulch is applied on top of existing weeds, it will not only appear unkempt, but it also won’t prevent the growth of the weeds.

An area of three to six feet in diameter and two to four inches thick around the tree should be covered with high-quality mulch during any time of the year except in the beginning of spring. The ground is still thawing from the cold weather and the soil and the roots need time to thaw and respond to the warming sun. Mulch will prevent that transfer of heat. Although you want a wide area around the tree to be mulched, leave a gap of about six inches between the base of the tree and the mulch to deter insects and other unwanted pests.

If you want more information on mulching your cedar tree, call your local Salt Lake City landscaping professional for expert advice.

There are several different varieties of mulch to choose from, but many homeowners and commercial property owners seem to prefer cedar mulch. Cedar mulch offers the Salt Lake City landscape a hint of rich color, and of course there is the aromatic cedar smell that adds an extra incentive. Cedar mulch also offers Salt Lake City landscape beds superior protection against soil erosion and compaction, weed growth and protects the roots of your plants from the hot sun. If you think cedar mulch is only useful when the weather is warm, you’ll be happy to know that mulch also protects the roots from freezing during spells of cold weather. So now that you know all the benefits of cedar mulch, you may wonder how you can make your own.

In order to make your own cedar mulch, according to professional Salt Lake City landscapers, you will need cured cedar wood in the form of a stump or logs, a chainsaw, a hatchet and a hammer. Using the chainsaw, cut the cedar stump or the logs into two-inch sections, stacking the pieces atop one another. Once you have a complete stack, use the chainsaw to cut vertically down the stack again in one- to two-inch sections. Gather the stack back together and proceed to perform another vertical cut, this time forming a crosshatch pattern. All of the resulting wood shavings and pieces will serve as part of your mulch.

You will still have some smaller pieces that need to be broken up into tinier pieces. Use your hammer and hatchet to bust them up in whatever sizes you prefer. Place all the wood in a large container and add an amount of water that is proportionate to the wood chips. Landscaping professionals say for this project, a gallon of water is usually plenty. Make sure all the wood chips have been dampened by the water and let sit for three days. Drain the water from the container and let the cedar mulch dry in the sun for a day, turning it occasionally to make sure the undersides of the wood chips have a chance to dry out as well. Once all the pieces have dried, you have your very own source of cedar mulch to adorn your Salt Lake City landscape!

Making your own cedar mulch may be a fun activity, but perhaps you’re looking for a more professional approach. Call your local landscaping company and ask about their mulching services.

Ever wonder what to do with those scraps of food that shouldn’t go down the disposal, but create a terrible smell if left in the garbage for more than a day? Or perhaps you’re looking to enhance the growth of your Salt Lake City landscape plants in a more natural and cost-effective manner? Landscaping experts recommend using your kitchen waste to make your own all-organic mulch.

The first step in this journey toward a more eco-friendly way to fertilize your Salt Lake City landscape is by choosing the right type of composter. Many Salt Lake City landscapers recommend using worm bins. Filling the bin with live worms, your kitchen waste will be broken down by the worms and voila! You have a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your Salt Lake City landscape! Using a worm bin is also beneficial because you can keep it inside your home if you wish for easy access. The only rule when it comes to worm bins is to not leave it in direct sunlight.

If you’re not sure how to use a worm bin or where to get the materials (or the worms), check with your community’s Department of Water and Power; they may offer worm bins as well as instructions on how to use them.

So what can you throw in the worm bin? The ingredients that make up worm bin mulch can range from fruit and vegetable rinds and pieces to most Salt Lake City landscape debris, according to Salt Lake City landscaping experts. So instead of throwing your kitchen scraps in the trash, or even to the dog, think about creating your own personal brand of all-organic mulch.

If making your own mulch is too much of a hassle but you still want to bring a more organic approach to fertilizing your Salt Lake City landscape, call your local Salt Lake City landscaping company and ask about their organic fertilization program.

Because Leyland Cyprus trees are coniferous and not deciduous, they are resilient to most diseases and insect infestations that are devastating to other trees. However, because they are coniferous and not deciduous, some of the insects they do attract are among the most harmful when it comes to a tree’s health.

Leyland Cyprus trees still have a few environmental enemies that are capable of severely damaging, if not altogether killing the tree, including bagworms and spider mites. One of the ways to prevent these infestations, as well as the damage that occurs along with the presence of these tree pests, is to engage in helpful tree care practices. As with all plants, Salt Lake City landscaping experts insist that correct pruning procedures must be engaged in order to keep the tree healthy. According to landscapers, if proper techniques are not followed, the tree can become severely and irreparably injured.

Landscaping specialists say Leyland Cyprus trees will greatly benefit from bi-annual shearing. Over-shearing, which means shearing more than twice a year, can actually weaken the tree and leave it vulnerable to fungal infections. Landscapers recommend spaying the Leyland Cyprus with fungicide immediately after it has been sheared. In addition to fungal infections, the Leyland Cyprus usually only suffers from four other diseases: Seiridium cankers, Botryospaeria, Cereosporidium and Phytopht, also known as root rot. The good news is that with the right preventative care, the Leyland Cyprus may remain unaffected by these diseases.

To find out more about proper Salt Lake City landscaping techniques for the Leyland Cyprus, call your local landscaper and schedule a consultation.

Winter pruning allows Salt Lake City landscaping experts to fully assess the health and structural integrity of the tree without the interference of foliage. It is important to have this process scheduled early in the winter in order to give Salt Lake City landscaping specialists time to accurately diagnose any problems and devise solutions to keep your Salt Lake City landscape looking beautiful.

Winter is the ideal time for pruning because the limbs can be fully assessed without the weight of foliage on them. Pruning is generally known to encourage growth, so when it occurs during the growing season, new tissue and bark are constantly being added to the branches. When the foliage is no longer on the tree, proper pruning can take place to establish how much dead or decaying material is on the tree.

Pruning during the growing season is encouraged, but can disrupt the tree’s energy. Landscaping authorities say that since leaves are the primary food source for trees, the pruning that goes on during the summer actually decreases the amount of energy the tree is getting. Obviously the tree is capable of getting through the winter on reserved energy sources, so pruning does not have as much of an impact.

Another reason why winter pruning is ideal and beneficial is because the tree is completely dormant, including disease and insect activity. Pruning sometimes makes trees vulnerable to insect infestations and diseases, especially if the pruning techniques aren’t performed correctly and the tree is wounded. If perchance the tree is wounded during winter pruning, it will be able to seal before or during the early spring before insects and diseases become active once again.

For more information on winter pruning, contact your local Salt Lake City landscaping company and schedule a consultation!

Japanese Beetles are a common Salt Lake City landscape pest, affecting both trees and Salt Lake City lawns alike. While these pests cause issues for your Salt Lake City lawn by laying eggs underneath the soil, the affect they have on trees comes from their own feeding. A perfectly healthy tree or Salt Lake City lawn can be seriously damaged if corrective action isn’t taken by a professional landscaping specialist.

Japanese Beetles are often found in clusters because their scent attracts more beetles to the area. So even if you see only a few beetles here and there at the beginning of the season, don’t be fooled; over time this population will rapidly increase and have an incredible effect on your Salt Lake City landscape.

Landscaping experts say the best way to protect your ornamentals is by placing a fine netting material over the foliage. However, this obviously is not feasible when you are dealing with a larger tree. If this is the case, professional-grade insecticides need to be utilized to eliminate Japanese Beetle populations. Most landscaping companies will employ insecticides that are injected into the soil around the tree in order to get the formula directly into the root system. This will cause the Japanese Beetles to die after they consume the treated foliage. And of course, if they die, they won’t have a chance to lay their eggs underneath your soil, saving your Salt Lake City lawn from grubs.

If Japanese Beetles are common to your area, it is important to implement preventative care to ensure your ornamentals and Salt Lake City lawn remains protected. Call your local Salt Lake City landscape company and have an expert help you protect your Salt Lake City landscape!

Bagworms are often the bane of any homeowner’s existence. These stubborn insects can take a perfectly healthy and beautiful Salt Lake City landscape and destroy it in a matter of months. Their incessant feeding depletes trees and shrubs of the nutrients necessary to keep them alive and thriving, thus killing the plants if there is no intervention.

The presence of bagworms is usually not diagnosed until early June, at which time the introduction of pest control applications is usually effective. The key is to eliminate them before they begin to reproduce, which they do at a rapid rate. If nothing is done about their presence in your trees until mid- to late summer, landscaping experts say saving your trees might be much more difficult, if not impossible. As time passes, the “bag” becomes thicker, making it more resilient against insecticides.

The primary method used by many landscaping specialists is removing the bags from the trees and burning them. In addition to this process, professional-grade insecticides are applied to stop reproduction and ward off future infestations.

If you have had problems in the past with bagworms and can’t afford to lose more trees to these destructive critters, contact your local landscaping professionals and ask them for their help in reducing these populations before it is too late.