The Parke Company | The Parke Company

When Should You Prune?

March 7, 2024June 25, 2021 by The Parke Company

As summer begins, property owners across the globe are dusting off their gardening equipment and heading out into their yards. Just like getting your hair trimmed is important for encouraging growth, pruning your shrubs, trees, and bushes is a vital part of a healthy, thriving garden.

All gardening practices take precision and care to be completed correctly, and pruning is no different. But it doesn’t take a gardening professional to prune the right way– check out these tips on when to prune from The Parke Company!

What to Know About Pruning Plants

Preparation and Purpose

According to experts, the right time to prune depends on a number of factors. The purpose of pruning can influence when you should prune. If you plan to prune because of dead limbs and branches, this type of pruning can be completed at any time. It is critical to rid your plants of any dead or dying limbs since these may carry diseases that could spread to the rest of your plants.

To prepare for any pruning jobs this summer, always conduct a quick survey of the plants on your property to check for any dead or dying limbs– these should always take first priority and can be trimmed regardless of the season.

Pruning can also be used to prevent diseases from spreading where they are not yet present. For example, some trees, like oak trees, should be pruned when the trees are dormant in winter. This practice prevents dangerous oak wilt from spreading in the spring and summer when trees are blooming.

This is often the case for trees. Heavy pruning should be conducted in the winter when the tree is dormant, while light pruning can be conducted in the spring. Most flowering shrubs should be pruned approximately two weeks after flowering. Pruning before or after this time period runs the risk of reducing or completely eliminating flower displays, according to the experts at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

When to prune your property’s specific shrubs or plants depends largely on the time in which they bloom. If your shrubs are spring-flowering, they should be pruned immediately after flowering. If they are summer-flowering, they should be trimmed in late winter or early spring to anticipate the summer blooming.

It is crucial that you prune your landscape and that you perform the pruning at the appropriate time. This is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of disease throughout your landscape and simultaneously improve the aesthetic quality of your plants and shrubs.

If you’re not sure when exactly your plants bloom, don’t run the risk of eliminating flower displays by guessing. Hiring the right landscaping services is critical to evaluating your landscape and performing pruning the right way.

Contact The Parke Company Today!

Even if you don’t have much of a green thumb, landscaping services from a landscaping maintenance company like The Parke Company can help you discover the unique qualities of your landscape and determine the specific blooming period of your shrubs.

Whether it is lawn mowing, leaf removal, or more complex projects like hardscape installation, The Parke Company is the right landscaping company for the job. Our experienced professionals are ready to develop a landscaping plan that works for your property and your budget. For residential or commercial landscape maintenance, give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you!

How to Apply Fertilizer to Your Garden

November 22, 2024June 13, 2021 by The Parke Company

When most of us think of simple ways to improve our lawn or garden, fertilizer is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Properly applying fertilizer takes planning, preparation, and careful consideration if you want to reap the full benefits of using fertilizer on your lawn and garden.

But you don’t have to be an expert landscaping professional to properly apply fertilizer– just check out these tips from The Parke Company to get your dream garden started today!

How to Fertilize a Garden

Choosing Fertilizer

Choosing the right type of fertilizer can depend on a number of different factors. If you are looking for the most eco-friendly options, you can use recycled materials that you may even have around your house like torn newspaper, cardboard, or compost from food scraps.

If you are looking for something high powered that may yield quicker results for your lawn or garden, there are inorganic fertilizers with nutrients that are readily available to your garden, nourishing them immediately. Some of these fertilizers are also designed to “slow-release” the nutrients to sustain nutrition over time.

Fertilizers can also be dry, water-soluble, and come in a variety of sizes, material-makeup, and prices. Fertilizers will also differ between lawns and gardens. Never use a lawn fertilizer on your garden and vice-versa.

Whatever fertilizer you choose, it is important that you opt for whatever best fits your budget as well as your particular landscape.

Application

Most professionals agree that soil should be tested every two years. By performing these landscaping services, your soil testing report will reveal the nutrients in your soil in addition to the nutrients your soil lacks. This information can also help inform your decision in choosing a particular fertilizer.

When you get to the point of actually applying your fertilizer, there are typically four different methods of application:

1. Broadcast Before Planting

Using this method, the appropriate amount of fertilizer is spread evenly over the garden, mixing with the soil at 3-4 in depth. This method is usually the most ideal for home gardeners.

2. Band/ Row Application

With this method, fertilizer is added in strips alongside the row before planting.

3. Starter Solution

This method is used rarely and should be considered carefully if you believe it is the best for your garden. Typically used for transplants, you can mix 2 tablespoons of garden fertilizer with a gallon of water and pour it into the hole you will plant in, allowing the solution to soak.

4. Application to Growing Plants/ Side Dressing

Particularly in sandy soils or in nutrient-lacking beds, side dressing can help infuse nutrients into your soil.

To use this method, sprinkle fertilizer along the sides of the rows and water into the soil. The amount and timing for this application method will change depending on the types of plants in your garden.

Contact The Parke Company Today!

Applying fertilizer is a lot more than ripping open a bag and dumping it on your lawn. Proper application of fertilizer takes time and patience, in addition to knowledge of your landscape.

For the dedicated gardener, all of this may come easily, but for those who want a beautiful garden without all of the legwork, hiring a landscaping maintenance company for your projects can help give your garden the jump start it needs to bloom.

Why Choose Shredded Pine Mulch?

March 7, 2024May 25, 2021 by The Parke Company

Even for the experienced green thumb, it can take a lot to get your garden looking the way you desire. Between choosing soil, fertilizer, and irrigation methods, the options may seem endless for your landscape.

Mulch is one of the most commonly used materials for improving and protecting your landscape, but with all of the different options, which type of mulch should you choose?

Pine mulch is a perfect option for many property owners, but is it right for you? Today on the blog, we explore the FAQ: why choose shredded pine mulch? Here is what you need to know before making this important gardening decision.

The Benefits of Shredded Mulch

Aesthetics

While mulch does help to nourish and protect the soil in which your plants will grow, it also adds aesthetic interest to your yard.

A number of different materials can be used in your yard as mulch, including things like shredded newspaper, food scraps, and pieces of cardboard. While all of these materials may be readily available to you, not many people desire the appearance of what looks like piles of trash in their yard.

Some mulches like rubber pellets have a more uniform appearance, but they do not look nearly as natural as a material like shredded pine mulch.

Pine mulch is a design option that can cohesively blend in with your landscape’s design and the environment to avoid mulch that sticks out like a sore thumb like newspaper or table scraps may.

Shredded pine mulch is also available in a wide variety of colors if you are looking to match a landscape design or blend in with a particular area of your property.

Environment Friendliness

Recycling can be beneficial for the environment, but with the limited number of materials that can actually be processed through recycling, in addition to the energy used to recycle materials in a plant, reusing or repurposing is an even better choice for the environment.

Some mulches contain harmful chemicals that are obviously antagonistic to the environment, but even rubber pellet mulch requires more material to be produced than other methods.

Shredded pine mulch is an environmentally friendly method of mulching your yard because it repurposes materials that have already been in circulation rather than producing something new.

Mulch is also environmentally friendly because it is made of all natural materials. While some mulches may contain dyes if you choose a colored option, raw mulch is entirely natural on its own and does not introduce any foreign chemicals to your landscape.

Cost Effectiveness

Some landscape installations like water features and pavers can be incredibly expensive, but shredded pine mulch is a great way to improve the appearance and health of your property without breaking the bank.

Mulch can be purchased by the bag, and you can decide precisely how much or how little you want to disperse over your property. Mulch is very easy to fit to your exact budget since brands and quality vary so widely.

Contact The Parke Company Today!

Choosing shredded pine mulch may be a no-brainer, but most landscaping projects take a lot more expertise than picking out a bag at the lawn and garden center of your local hardware store.

If you are looking to beautify your landscape, make sure you enlist the right kind of landscaping maintenance company for your projects.

How to Use Leaves as Fertilizer

August 26, 2024May 12, 2021 by The Parke Company

For the typical green thumb, it goes without saying that you care a lot about the environment.

Chances are that you do everything within your power to help preserve the beautiful earth you nurture on your property, and you try to sustain the rest of the earth as well.

Conscientious efforts like recycling can have a positive impact, as they often reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills and help to lower the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

One thing you may not have realized, however, is that repurposing is even more effective and sustainable than recycling. While recycling can be tricky, as many products are incompatible with the recycling process and greenhouse gases are produced during part of the recycling process, repurposing is a fantastic way to reduce waste and cut demand while meeting the needs of your landscape.

One of the best ways to do this is through using leaves as a fertilizer. Here are the best tips on forgoing leaf removal and using leaves as fertilizer from the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company.

How to Repurpose Leaves

Leaves as Mulch

Using leaves as mulch is a great way to improve your landscape in a sustainable manner, but it is only beneficial if you do it correctly.

To use your leaves as fertilizer, there are a few things you must do first.

In general, it is best to use leaves that are dry first. If you have wet leaves, you may want to gather and lay them out to allow them to dry. These leaves should then be crushed to spread evenly across your garden or whatever area needs fertilized.

If you have piles of damp leaves with trapped moisture, however, those are not completely lost. These leaves are now decomposing and can still help the state of your garden.

It is best to place the leaves a few inches around trees or shrubs to ensure that you are insulating but not suffocating your landscaping features.

Landscape Benefits

Just like typical mulch, recycled leaves as mulch can benefit your garden in a variety of ways.

Leaves can serve as a tremendous insulator and help to trap heat, protecting some of your more temperature-sensitive plants.

Compost or mulch of any kind can also help to improve the quality of soil. Composting materials from the leaves can improve the fertility of your soil as well as increase the retention of moisture.

Using leaves as a fertilizer is a cost-effective and sustainable way to improve the quality of your garden, all while using materials you already have on your property.

Contact The Parke Company Today

Using leaves can be a great way to save money and beautify your property in a sustainable and cost-effective manner, but to the untrained person, it may be difficult to figure out just where to start.

Avoid the danger and expense of a project gone sideways by hiring the right landscaping maintenance company to meet your specific needs. Whether it is lawn mowing, leaf removal, or more complex projects like hardscape installation and tree trimming, The Parke Company is the right landscaping company for the job.

Our experienced professionals are ready to develop a landscaping plan that works for your property and your budget. Don’t leave your landscaping maintenance up to chance. Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

How to Fix an Old Yard at Your New Home

March 7, 2024April 23, 2021 by The Parke Company

Few things are as exciting as purchasing a new house. Whether the home is brand new or a fixer-upper, there will be plenty of adventures ahead. But before you start making memories, you may have a few things to check off your to-do list.

Even the newest home sits on land that has been there for ages, so it is crucial to give your landscape as much TLC as you give to the home’s interior and exterior.

How to Fix Up an Old Yard

Evaluation

If you have just moved into a new home, prioritizing your projects is key. While renovating the bathroom or installing new kitchen cabinets may be a fun idea, it is critical to consider which projects present the greatest need and complete them in order of importance. While your landscape design may seem like a task that can be left on the backburner, the health of your future landscape is a direct contributor to the health of your property value overall.

Unhealthy trees can pose a serious fall risk if not properly addressed, putting your new home and your family in direct danger. Certain fungi, bacteria, and other invasive species can also threaten the health and safety of pets, young children, and your designed plants if they are not dealt with immediately.

It is crucial to understand the state of your home’s landscape to grasp how and when it should be fixed. Especially due to the seasonal nature of landscaping, it is important to catch issues quickly, so you don’t have to wait for the next spring thaw to address them.

Identification

You can’t fix an old yard if you don’t truly know what you’re dealing with. Especially if you have moved to a new neighborhood or a completely different geographical location from what you are used to, you will need to learn about your new climate.

This is precisely why it is important to hire the right landscaping services provider to meet your needs. Your landscaping professional should have an acute understanding of your specific landscape and the needs of all the plants on your property. To fix an old yard, identify the specific species of plants on your property and work with a landscaping technician to understand your lawn and garden’s needs before you start attempting to fix an old yard.

Repair

Once you understand your landscape, the next logical step is to hire the right services to help you get your yard looking the way you want it to.

Whether through general landscaping services or something more elaborate like a hardscape installation, the best way to tackle an old, disheveled yard is by hiring an expert to get your landscaping project done right the first time.

Contact The Parke Company Today!

Buying a new home is nerve-wracking and exciting enough without the added stress of landscaping renovations. Even so, the fun of interior design can be brought outdoors when you enlist the right kind of landscaping maintenance company for your projects.