Archive for the ‘florida’ Category

Review these tips in order to practice proper fertilization for your lawn. Your fertilizer program depends on which grass you are growing, what zone you live in, and what kind of fertilizer is available.

The quality of a lawn depends on the density and absence of parasites and disease. Color is usually overrated as a stardard for a quality lawn, and over-fertilizing for a dark green color can lead to problems. A dense, healthy turf is much less likely to have heavy weed populations.

For a quality lawn you should consider watering, mowing, proper fertilizing, and controlling weeds, diseases and pests. Fertilize your lawn to keep it the right color, thickness, and health. A lawn that is well taken care of tends to recover more quickly from stress and is more aggressive against weeds. Proper nutrition for your lawn is important to prevent disease and insect pests.

Fertilization begins with soil testing to find out what nutrients are in your soil. This leads to recommendations specifically intended for your lawn. Soil testing should be done about once every 3 years because of the constant changing conditions of soil chemistry. Testing acidity levels is important because fertilizers tend to work better when your grass has a proper pH balance.

The main nutrients for a quality lawn include nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and iron. Bermudagrass requires a large amount of nitrogen during the growing season whereas carpetgrass, centipedegrass, and creeping red fescue require small amounts of nitrogen for the best growth.

Potassium, also called “potash”, is indicated by the third number on the fertilizer label. The first number indicates the percent of nitrogen and the second number indicates the percentage of phosphate. There are many kinds of fertilizer strengths and materials available.

Fertilizing before the transition from dormant to full growth aids in weed control because the turfgrass will tend to grow more rapidly and provide a cover to shade out weed growth. In turn, the lawn achieves a darker color and looks better sooner.

Keep posted on our blog and website for landscaping tips, news and advice, and contact us today by email or phone for an estimate on our landscaping services in the Central Florida area!

Consider adding paver bricks to your landscape design to accentuate certain areas and to help bridge walkway paths in your home’s front or backyard. Paver bricks can be used to create beautiful outdoor designs and patterns.

One of the main pathways created by paver bricks is to the front or back door. Some homes use paver bricks for the driveway and that could be a consideration as well.

One of the first options to bear in mind are the colors and style of the paver bricks you intend to use. Either match your existing brick style and colors from your home, or create an entirely new design. The outdoor styles and themes are limited only by your creativity.

Once you decide on colors and styles, you’ll next want to think about shapes, sizes, and types of bricks. Use rectangles, squares, triangles, pentagons, hexagons and octogons to make imaginative designs. Remember with different colors there is the potential to make your brick paver walkway a truly beautiful piece of art.

Interlocking paver bricks are less likely to shift over time, therefore maintaining your creation for years to come. Areas that have heavy traffic such as driveways and busy walkways perform well when fully interlocked shapes are used.

Some common layment patterns include herringbone, standard American, basketweave and the pinwheel layment patterns. You can create unique brick paver designs by varying their size and color, and visit your local home improvement center to see a variety of brick paver designs.

Visit our blog and website on a regular basis for news, tips and advice for your landscape improvement projects. Contact us today for an estimate on our landscaping services in the Central Florida area too!

The climate here in Central Florida is generally milder in the winter months than anywhere else in the country, so there’s never a bad time to install an outdoor gazebo. A gazebo is an architectural monument that isn’t only a piece of art, but also a functional structure.

Enjoy the outdoors any time of day lounging in your gazebo. Invite guests such as your friends and relatives to enjoy these moderate temperatures with you. A gazebo provides shade for your visitors and protection against the rain.

What better way to end a day of gardening than to relax in your gazebo? Enjoy a beautiful view of your garden and landscape as you feel the breeze, protected from the elements.

Hold events such as weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays in a beautifully designed gazebo. Have your wedding cake and marriage reception there, or years later the bride and groom can renew their vows beneath it.

A gazebo is also a popular setting for bands to play, a lounge for employees, romantic dinner dates, marriage proposals, or even just gazing up the stars at night with your partner. A gazebo can be converted to a guest house, a den, a breakfast area, or even a storage area.

Keep posted on our blog and website for news, tips and advice on Florida landscaping topics, and Happy Holidays to you and your family!

At Adams Florida Home Care Specialists we would like to extend a warm holiday greeting from our family to yours. This has been a great year and we hope you’ve benefitted from our year of posts. We always like to inform our readers with news, tips and advice concerning your lawn and landscape.

If you’ve been following along with us, you’ve read about having a healthy lawn and how to prepare for hurricane season. If you’ve been a loyal reader you’d have noted how to eliminate weeds and wildflowers in your lawn, the best time to prune shrubs, ideas for patio and deck landscaping, and what plants are good for dry shade.

Had you been tuned in to our blog for the last year, mulching tips and advice, getting rid of pesky bugs and insects through the summer, benefits of container gardening and some ideas for dramatic residential landscape lighting would be all topics you could pass on valid information to the people you know.

We’ve had a great year, and I hope you stay tuned to our blog and website for future news, tips and advice related to landscaping. Don’t forget to contact us by email or phone if you need landscaping or pressure washing services here in the Central Florida area. Have a happy holiday season, and warmest wishes to you and your family.

Using color in your garden is essential to make your landscape attractive for your guests. Review these tips on garden color to improve your property’s value.

Most discussions of garden design revolve around color. Color is arguably the most prominent factor in garden design and usually the first one that is considered. Practice and experimentation will help develop your eye for color, but a good way to start is to study the color wheel.

One idea is to use analogous or similar colors. By working with two or three colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel, you give a more pleasant transition for the eye as it flows over the arrangement.

Consider whether you want to use pastel or bright neon colors for fluidity. Soft cool colors and fiery warm hues are a good alternative to make your flower garden beautiful.

To brighten shady areas use light colors such as white, light pink or pale blue since dark colors tend to blend into those darker areas. Dramatic color combinations gives your garden a distinctive look such as orange with blue or light pink with green.

Keep posted on our blog and website for more news, tips and advice regarding your landscape, and new ideas to increase your property’s value. Contact us today for landscaping and pressure washing services in the Central Florida area today!

Trees, shrubs and vines provide beauty and shade to your property. They alter the microclimate around them by trapping air pollutants and reducing noise. Carefully selected trees, shrubs and vines anchor your landscape and give it structure for years of pleasure.

Trees provide shade for your landscape and oxygen for the air. Your kids can build a treehouse on its limbs, hang a tire swing from it or sit beneath a tree in the summer while sipping on a cool glass of lemonade. The limbs can be used for timber, and trees provide a home for all kinds of small animals such as birds and squirrels. There’s no reason to buy fruit at the grocery store when fruit trees can produce oranges, apples and grapefruits for your family’s consumption. Trees enrich the soil with nutrients and benefit the adjoining foliage as well.

Shrubs decorate and outline the perimeter of your landscape as well as enrich the look of the entire area. Flowering shrubs can set a theme for your garden and the fragrance can be enjoyed all throughout the neighborhood.

Consider hanging vines throughout your landscape to enhance and decorate your fences and walls. Using vines run on a lattice for privacy, shade or even for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. Vines can even absorb unwanted noise from the surrounding area. Consider trees shrubs and vines to enhance the area outside your home.

Visit our blog and website on a regular basis for news, tips and advice concerning the landscape of your home, and contact us for an estimate in the Central Florida area on our pressure washing and landscaping services today!

We’d like you to fully understand the benefits of our pressure washing services and the money you’ll save in the long run before even giving you an estimate. Pressure washing could be a great alternative to painting your home so consider these great power washing advantages.

Pressure washing is effective for preventative maintenance of your home saving you money on costly future repairs. Exterior washing of your home eliminates contaminates that contribute to rot, decay and premature aging of your home’s coating and building materials. Add years of life to your home’s attributes such as your siding, porch, sidewalk, concrete driveway, decks and fences by taking advantages of our pressure washing services.

In Florida, mold and mildew is a major concern for many homeowners. Add value to your home by eliminating unsightly mildew and stains that may show up. You’ve made a committment by purchasing a home and it should look up to standards.

Another positive effect that pressure washing has on your home is by eliminating health risks such as dirt, grime, mildew and mold. Protect your family from outside allergens, and additionally protect your guests from accidents like slipping on oil spills or mildew deposits.

We recommend mobile homeowners consider power washing every 6 months. That green mildew so typical of the humid climate in Florida is unsightly and if left untreated could pose a health hazard.

Contact us today for a free estimate on pressure washing by email or phone! And remember we offer landscaping services in the Central Florida area as well. Keep posted on our blog and website for news, tips and advice concerning the upkeep of your Central Florida home.

A healthy lawn is a real asset to your home. As a major part of the ecosystem, a your lawn provides a feeding ground for birds with a rich source of insects, worms, and other food. Thicker grass tends to prevent soil erosion and filters the rain’s impurities and airborne pollutants such as dust and soot as well.

A picture perfect lawn is great for lounging, barbecues, ball games and get togethers. Caring for your lawn properly will enhance its appearance and contribute to its environmental benefits of converting carbon dioxide to oxygen to clean the air.

You don’t need to be an expert to grow a healthy lawn. Create conditions for your grass to thrive and resist damage from disease, weeds, and insects.

Your lawn care habits, as well as your neighbors, are responsible for impacting our environment. The lawns across America cover a large amount of ground, so taking care of the environment begins in our own backyards.

Use pesticides with care to get the most benefit out of them and minimize the risks. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so anticipating possible problems can eliminate experiencing them.

Choose a grass type that thrives in your climate. Utilize healthy soil and keep your grass hydrated, watering deeply but not too often. Your soil should have a good texture, key nutrients, and a proper pH balance. Whatever type of soil you have, you can probably improve it by adding organic matter like compost, manure, or grass clippings periodically.

Fertilizer supplies the needed nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on which your lawn thrives. Over-fertilization could do harm to your lawn.

Mow your lawn with sharp blades to prevent tearing or injuring the grass. Mow frequently because grass tends to adjust better to frequent mowing.

We offer landscaping and pressure washing services in the Central Florida area. Contact us today to inquire about an estimate by phone concerning estimate inquiries.

Review these tips on eliminating weeds in your lawn. If you have a problem with weeds returning regularly, follow these steps to prevent their return after removal.

If you want to eliminate the return of weeds in your flower bed, you can use newspaper, paper bags or even cardboard beneath the surface of the soil. Then you can mulch over with bark mulch so that rain will penetrate but the weeds won’t. Plastic isn’t good to use because it blocks the transer of water and oxygen through the soil.

If the battle against weeds is really bad, consider installing landscape fabric between and around your trees, bushes and flowers. This prevents weed seeds from sprouting by providing a barrier from deeper soil. You can cut an “X” in the fabric to allow smaller plants to poke through. Anchor the fabric around the base with pins about every 4 feet for longer flower and plant beds.

At Adams Florida Home Care Specialists we can keep your yard looking in tip top shape. Contact us today for an estimate if you’re in the Central Florida area, and bookmark our blog and website for tips and advice on the subjects of landscaping and pressure washing.

Even though the Spring and Summer allergy season is almost over, consider avoiding and alleviating allergy related symptoms that can affect you any time of year. Review these mosquito and insect bite relief tips, because this is the time of year in Florida they come out.

Although rarely serious, mosquito bites are often higly irritating and itchy. Wear long-sleeved shirts when gardening and spending time outside to prevent bug bites. Bug repellent is a great way to deter mosquitoes and other flying insects from biting your skin. Reapply the repellent occasionally since it has a tendency to wear off after a while.

It is known that over-the-counter antihistamines can deter mosquitoes from biting the user. Don’t allow the mosquitoes to prevent barbecues or any other outdoor activity enjoyment.

When bitten, wash the infected area immediately, keep the site clean and dry, and avoid scratching or rubbing the site of infection. A paste of baking soda and water provide a soothing remedy after the bug bite. Ice is a great way to subdue the itchiness and swelling.

Some other applications that help after the bite include calamine lotion, Benadryl® cream, Anbesol®, Vicks VapoRub®, hydrocortizone, aloe vera gel, Caladryl® and Gold Bond Medicated Cream®. Some cases even got results lowering the swelling using toothpaste, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, epsom salts or lemon juice. Also have a look at our Florida Bug and Insect Relief Tips.

Keep posted on our website for tips and advice regarding your landscaping around your home. Contact us today for an estimate on landscaping projects and pressure washing services here in the Central Florida area.