Fort Smith Lawn Care | Is Weed Killer Bad For Pets?

Most people and lawn companies use weed killer and herbicides liberally, spraying weeds growing in the cracks of driveways, walkways, and parking lots, and preventing weeds in flower beds and landscaping. Sometimes people will also spray around trees and buildings and other obstacles to eliminate the need for weedeating. One question we get asked from time to time is whether or not these chemicals will hurt their pets. Usually these furry friends are like part of the family, so it would be a shame to unwittingly harm one with spraying chemicals unaware. Because we have pets of our own, we can definitely relate to the concern and want to provide some clarity to this worrisome topic.

These chemicals certainly could be harmful if you use them irresponsibly. If for some reason you were to spray any of these herbicides and weed killers directly on or around your pet and give them direct exposure, it would definitely not be healthy. Your pet could experience sickness, vomiting, and perhaps more longterm effects.

However for the most part, most of these brands of chemicals are considered safe to use around your pets as long as you can keep the pets from the area until it dries. We would recommend taking your pet inside or keeping them in a different part of the your yard while you are applying these chemicals. Once they dry your pet should be safe.

There are some products though that are altogether unsafe for use around your pets. Products like snail and slug bait using metaldehyde, as well as any pesticides that include disulfoton, this is a chemical that has mostly been pulled off the market, but is still found in some stores. It is found sometimes in rose care products. Avoid these chemicals absolutely to protect your pet. Especially because these products attract pets and dogs will eat as much as they can get a hold of. Sometimes they are mixed with fertilizers like bone meal and blood meal, making it even more appealing to canines.

So please take care to know what product you’re using and what is in it before you spray around animals. We hope this has helped give some enlightenment to keeping man’s best friend and other furry companions safe from harmful use of chemicals. You may also consider some natural home remedies for weed killers if you’re worried about any chemical exposure to your pets.

Herbicides can be tricky to use; it’s not always easy to know the right mixture, and the right amount to apply to kill what you want and not hurt other plants around it. You can always save yourself some risk and trouble, and hire the professionals here at Cutting Edge Lawn Care to take care of all things lawn care and landscaping.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | Does Mulch Color Matter?

When it comes time to put down new fresh mulch, whether it’s for your spring cleaning, sprucing up in the fall, or any time of year, you’ll be faced with many mulch types and color. We’ll tackle what type of mulch is best to use another time, but today, lets talk about color. Here at Cutting Edge, we’re big believers in not just knowing “what” but knowing “why”. So lets start with why colored mulch exists and what it’s actual use is.

Obviously, this offers options if you’re bored with regular natural brown mulch. It’s also about longer lasting color, it doesn’t just add color, it locks in the color longer. Any color mulch, once under the influence of the elements for so long, will eventually fade to a dull greyish color. Which isn’t bad, if you prefer a natural look. But mulch isn’t cheap, so you want it to last as long as possible, and get the most for your money.

Now as far as what color to choose, it depends on what your goal is. if you want to be subtle, then you’d want to go for a natural or brown color mulch, then it’s not as much of a pop or statement. But if you want to make a statement, and add color to your landscaping, and if you’re proud of your landscaping and house, then you may want to draw attention to it; which means you would absolutely want a pop of color to draw the eye. At this point, we would suggest going off the color of your house. If you have a darker house, with brown colors, then we would discourage using a dark brown, and sometimes black; it would be a good time to go with a pop of red, or maybe even the natural color, to give some light to the landscape.

On the flip side, if you have a red brick house, it may not be best choice to go with red mulch. if your house is bright and colorful, maybe it would be best to give it a darker contrast, and go with dark brown or black. On a side note, there’s also a myth that roaches hate red mulch. So if you’re having roach troubles, you may try red, and see if you notice a difference.

In the end, it comes down to what you want. However you want your house landscaping to look, we can help you out with it. We have access to all the best deals, and varieties. So give us a call when you’re interested in some color, and we’ll give you a free consultation and estimate. Call the experts at Cutting Edge!

Fort Smith Lawn Care | When is the Right Time for Fresh Mulch?

When it comes to landscaping, one of the biggest difference makers that can set your curb appeal apart from the others around you is fresh mulch. It can make it look like spring has sprung after the messy and bleak fall and winter, or it can make your landscaping look like it still has life throughout the dead of winter. So how often and when exactly should you refresh your mulch?

Well truthfully, there’s not a bad time to put mulch down, that is, there’s no time you “can’t” put mulch down. But there are better times to put mulch down that better utilize it for your lawn and landscaping. Nobody wants to spend the money putting down mulch several times a year, and if you put it down at the wrong time it can be rendered ugly quickly if you’re not careful. This is why it’s important to know the right time to put it down.

Aside from color, the chief purpose of mulch is to make your landscaping look uniform and clean. So the last thing you’d want to do, is put mulch down right before it’s about to get messy again; mainly right before you trim your hedges. If you spread mulch before you trim all your bushes and do some pruning then all the clippings will mix in with the mulch, or you will blow or rake some of the mulch out while trying to clean up the mess.

This is why you want to be strategic, you can save yourself some extra trouble if you coordinate a mulch application with a big pruning, especially your spring cleaning. Then you don’t have to be completely thorough when cleaning up the clippings. You can just pick up the big pieces, and cover up the small clippings with your fresh mulch; then your bushes are trimmed, your bed is fresh with new color, and you can let the natural clippings break down into the soil for compost. It’s a win all the way around

These reasons are why we say, if you have a regularly kept landscape, the best time for mulch is right after a pruning in the spring and/or fall. However if your landscaping has been neglected and needs a big cleanup, then it should definitely be followed up with mulch no matter what time of year; otherwise it will never look truly transformed.

As always, you don’t have to do it on your own, mulch can be a back breaker and a messy pain. So reach out to the professionals at Cutting Edge Lawn Care today, and we can help you with mulch or any other lawn care and landscaping needs.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | When Should You Plant Flowers?

When it comes to beautiful landscaping, it’s really important to have a little bit of color. Some people choose to achieve this by planting flowers. More often than not, the average person doesn’t know too much about planting and maintaining a bed of flowers, and one of the most common queries is just when you should plant these pops of color.

Truth be told, there’s not too many times you absolutely can’t plant flowers, except maybe in the dead of winter. Not much is going to grow then. There are also better times, and not as good times to plant. We also wouldn’t recommend planting in the middle of summer, but you could, if you had plenty of water and shade that the flowers you’re planting require.

For us, there are two typical ideal times of the year to plant beautiful flowers that grow and last. It’s really common and beneficial to plant flowers right after your spring cleaning, around the end of April. By this time there’s not much risk of freezes and frosts killing your flowers with a cold snap, and the spring showers are definitely helpful for keeping them alive.

Then the beginning of fall is usually the best and last chance you have to plant some flowers and let them get a chance to take root and last through the winter. Around October, and certainly no later than November if you can help it. At this time the spring flowers are dying, but there’s still enough heat and sunlight for the late season flowers to thrive and prepare to hold up against winter weather.

Of course you can’t just plant any flowers in these times, there are flowers made to stand the heat and there are flowers made to stand the cold. It’s very important to research the flower you want to plant to know what it needs, and if it’s the right flower for the spot you’re wanting to put it. We will talk more about what flowers to plant in another article, but for now, be sure to plan ahead so you get the right flowers and plant them at the right time and don’t risk wasting your money.

As always, you can skip the hassle and hire a professional who has already put in the research! Call Cutting Edge Lawn Care to bring some color back to your landscaping!

Fort Smith Lawn Care | How to Trim Crepe Myrtles

It may not be spring yet, but we are already doing spring cleaning, pruning crepe myrtles, trimming pampas grasses, monkey grasses, trimming hedges etc. Just waiting for lawn mowing season. We are so ready to for that grass to turn green so we can do what we do best: lawn mowing. But before we get to the lawn mowing season, we have to address one of our biggest dilemmas: crepe murder.

There is a very popular pruning method out there for Crepe Myrtles that is known in the professional lawn care world as "crepe murder.” This is what you see 90% of Crepe Myrtles looking like in the spring, when they’re cutdown to the nubs. it might look nice and uniform and clean, but it’s terrible for the tree.

Now a quick disclaimer: We do sometimes trim Crepe Myrtles this way, but only at the request of the customer. Because while we may advise on the proper pruning method, we will still do what the customer requests.

What is the proper way to prune this popular tree? Well the hint is in the words “prune” and “tree.” What you have to realize is that Crepe Myrtles are not a bush, which is how they are typically trimmed; they are a tree, which is how they must be treated.

When pruning a tree, it’s not proper to cut all the branches off back to the trunk. You prune away the unhealthy, unnecessary, and unbecoming branches. We will attach picture examples of an improperly and properly trimmed Crepe Myrtles at the end of this article, but here are a few key steps and tips for pruning the proper way.

1. trim away sucker growths on the trunk, from the ground up to the where the branches start

2. trim away any branches that are not straight and may be curving in strange directions.

3. trim all branches that are not growing in an upward desired direction as well as any branches that are touching, or less than about a pinky finger's width. The idea is to get it spacious and uncrowded enough where a bird could fly through the middle of it.

If this is all confusing, and hard to understand, then just call the professionals here at Cutting Edge Lawn Care. We love to help people get the landscaping and pruning they desire and deserve out of their lawn care service. Please check out the pictures below for visual examples. (left) improper (right) proper.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | Are Rocks Better Than Mulch?

When Spring cleaning comes around, people are trimming hedges, trimming monkey grass, pruning crepe myrtles, and refreshing mulch, and we get the same question every year. People get tired of refreshing the mulch and having it wash away and blow out into the yard. So they ask, “should I switch to rock?”

Our response is always the same, whatever you want, we will get you. But if you want our input, we would almost always prefer to bring in mulch than rock, and it’s not because we make more money, quite the opposite actually. In the long run mulch usually makes everyone’s life easier. It has be refreshed once or twice a year because it decomposes and loses color, and rock doesn’t. Rock is more permanent which is what seems to be the selling point in the short run. But that means you’re locked in, and should you ever change your mind it’s going to cost you much more time and effort to remove it yourself and much more money to have someone do it for you. Not to mention it is much more expensive than mulch to have applied as well.

If you’re using the typical one inch river rock like most do, then it can still wash into the yard with heavy rain, and get blown out by leaf blowers. But the rock isn’t going to decompose and the mulch will.

If you know you never want to touch mulch again then rock is your best option, certainly better than rubber mulch. But it will cost you more upfront, and down the road should you ever need a change. And it is absolutely going to be more time and elbow grease than you want to expend on your Saturday afternoon, so rock or mulch, call Cutting Edge to bring it in for you!