Ask Danny | Ep. 1: Improving Your Lawn’s Health

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This week’s “Ask Danny” visitor is garden pro Sid Sexton.

Welcome to the 1st episode of Today’s Homeowner’s new podcast, “Ask Danny.”

Just about every week, I chat with an industry friend to tackle your house enhancement concerns. We’ll share professional suggestions and useful guidance to support you be successful! As well as, there is normally a unique or humorous story along the way.

These days we are conversing about garden treatment and sodding, with Sid Sexton. Sid is the founder of Sexton Garden & Landscape in Daphne, Ala., and is certified in turf and ornament spraying, landscape style and design, and environment of landscape plants.


Sid Sexton is the founder and president of Sexton Garden & Landscape. (Image courtesy Sexton Lawn & Landscape)

About Sid Sexton

As the founder of Sexton Lawn & Landscape, Sid is a down-to-earth, truthful businessman with a really like for lawn care, landscape style, and providing the most effective merchandise to his consumers.

Commencing at age 16, Sid expended his summers doing work for a neighborhood landscape company and the local country club and golfing class in his hometown of Muskogee, Okla.

Right after earning his bachelor’s diploma in business administration with a slight in horticulture, Sid joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed in Hawaii, wherever he fulfilled his long run spouse, Jourdan.

He was honorably discharged following two yrs and started functioning as an account manager for a landscape organization. In January 2004, he founded Sexton Garden & Landscape.


(Picture through Sexton Garden & Landscape, Inc. Fb)

Sid is accredited in turf and ornament spraying, landscape layout, and location of landscape crops. He is also a Certified Landscape Skilled and carries on his instruction by way of workshops, on the web classes and other activities quite a few moments during the year.

Keep looking at for his assistance on common lawn problems.


Out-of-control clover weeds are a indication that your garden isn’t nutritious. (LeslieLauren, Getty Photos Signature)

Controlling Weeds

“We laid sod in our garden a few several years in the past and it’s held up very well till not too long ago. We’re starting to discover a large amount extra weeds than usual. What need to we do?” 

Sid: The ideal weed control is a wholesome lawn. Grass demands a few major items to prosper — sunlight, h2o and vitamins and minerals, and in that order.

See if the sod is receiving ample daylight. Trim any branches that could be casting also much shadow onto the grass.

Also, imagine about the sort of grass. Some varieties of grass thrive in 1 locale and fall short in another. The variety of sod could not be shade-tolerant. There is no authentic shade-loving turf, but there are some that tolerate a selected quantity of shade.

Upcoming, take into consideration irrigation. Are you watering way too significantly or much too minimal? The ideal balance depends on the variety of turf you have.

The final action need to be fertilization and weed manage. If weeds are the situation and you come to feel like you have plenty of sun, drinking water and vitamins, call a qualified for a weed regulate plan.


A core aerator only requires to be utilized on highly-compacted lawns. (stock.adobe.com)

Garden Aeration

“Should everybody aerate a garden, or is that in a condition when you suspect the ground has gotten a lot more compacted?”

Sid: The response is dependent on how significantly visitors you have on your garden.

Do you have some experienced trees and are those people roots are getting much larger and bigger and using up much more place below the grass. Do you have dogs or children? Is there a soccer match in the backyard each and every weekend? This will cause compaction.

If this is the case, you ought to core aerate. If it’s a sporting activities turf, you ought to main aerate twice a calendar year. 

For usual property owners, when a 12 months, if that, is ample. 

And prior to you aerate, mark the spots of your sprinkler heads.


To lay the best groundwork for sod, until up the soil and vegetation. (3 Echoes Content Studio)

Prepping for Sod

“What must you do before sodding your garden?”

Sid: Just before laying sod, just take 5 or six soil samples from the front and backyard.

Label them so you’ll know what space of your yard demands soil modification. Seek the advice of with your regional extension office to see what therapies you ought to do.

Just after your soil is amended and you’re prepared to lay the sod, begin prepping. There’s no require to eliminate all vegetation, but you do will need to get rid of the weeds. 

Right before laying the sod, split up the soil with a until. This will create a delicate changeover layer of soil that will make it a lot easier for the grass roots to take keep. 

Then, insert some organic issue to create a residing soil for your sod to thrive, like Black Cow(This is an affiliate website link. If you purchase this product or service, we will gain a little commission at no added price to you.)


Change up your mowing sample each individual so often. (MariusBlach/Getty Photographs)

Sid Sexton’s Mowing Ideas

  • Sharpen your lawn mower blade at minimum once per year. A sharp blade will make a great clean cut and will not tear the grass blades.
  • Change up mowing styles. Never mow in the very same way each individual time each 12 months. It allows the grass to develop a distinct way and lessens the chance of ruts in your lawn.
  • Make confident you know the mowing top for your turf kind. Unique grasses grow most effective when at sure heights. For illustration, the advisable top for St. Augustine grass is 3-4 inches, whilst Bermuda grass requirements to be slash at an inch and a fifty percent. 

A bad lawn might not be induced by the soil by itself, but by what critters are within of it. (Smaglov, Getty Visuals)

Sid’s Come across with the Elusive Ground Pearl

In the course of the class of his horticulture studies in school, Sid learned about an insect referred to as a ground pearl. Floor pearls reside in the soil, feed on turf roots and seem like a pearl, as their identify indicates.

Above the many years, he’s read about ground pearls in seminars and study about them in textbooks, but he experienced hardly ever noticed one particular in authentic everyday living. 

“I imagined it was the Loch Ness monster — one thing you mentioned when you could not figure out what was improper with a lawn,” Sid states.

This changed, even though, when he acquired a property in 2012. For nine months, he struggled to find the result in of why the grass’ wellbeing was declining. The solution grew to become clear when he was digging to plant a tree and pulled out a big wad of soil.

There were white and pink dots all over the place! Lo and behold, it was the elusive ground pearl.

Now, he sees them everywhere!


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