New sod and lawn care.. In November?

The sprinklers may have been shut off or put away, and we have already had our first snow of the season, but it’s not too late to install new sod or to winterize your lawn. While that might sound crazy to some, B&B Hoffman Sod has tips for making sure your lawn is ready to look amazing once the snow melts in the spring.

It’s not too late to install new sod!

You might think that November is too late to install new sod, but yes – it is still possible to do this before winter! As long as the ground isn’t frozen and the temperatures cooperate with your plans, you can still install sod. Although roots may not establish this fall, they will in the spring. Keep in mind, you will still need a water source… think garden hose and sprinklers if you’ve blown out your sprinkler system. Contact B&B Hoffman Sod at 763-434-6572 to see if you can install our premium Kentucky Blue Grass before the snow flies!

Winterize the right way
  • Cover bare areas: If you’re not able to get your new sod installed before the ground freezes, make sure to cover the mud now rather than deal with it in the spring. Your floors will thank you once the snow melts and you’re not constantly cleaning up muddy paw prints or messes from kids playing outside in the warmer weather.
  • Mow one last time: Before you store the lawn mower for the winter, cut the grass short to prevent mold, fungus, or other threats to your lawn (and your allergies!). Long grass provides a cozy home for voles, mice, or other creepy crawlies to hide. Rodents and insects cause damage to lawns with their trails and holes, not to mention feasting on bulbs like tulips or irises. 
  • Use a winterizing fertilizer: Using a winter-specific fertilizer will ensure your lawn gets the nutrients it needs during the long, cold winter months. B&B Hoffman Sod sells the same fertilizer we use on our sod farm available for purchase. Contact us to ask about our fertilizer options. 

For more lawn care tips, explore our previous blog posts for all things sod, grass, and fertilizer! If you would like to get sod before winter, reach out to us at office@bbhoffmansod.com or by calling 763-434-6572 to see if installing this fall is still possible for your lawn.

Fall Lawn Prep: Winterize the Right Way

It’s autumn in Minnesota – time for beautiful weather, brightly colored trees, and pumpkin spice everything. Folks are able to enjoy their valuable weekends at apple orchards or football games instead of spending their time on lawn care. Before you put away the mower for the season, B&B Hoffman Sod is here with tips to keep your yard in tip-top shape over the winter.

Don’t Forget the Tuna Can! (Yes, you read that right!)

Before you put away the hose or blow out your sprinkler system, remember that despite cooler temperatures and the many rainy days Minnesota had this past summer, your lawn still needs water. A healthy lawn needs approximately an inch of water per week, especially if it is less than three years old. It is best to water very deeply once a week—or twice a week if we are enjoying unseasonably hot weather. New sod needs watering everyday with the drought we are currently experiencing. 

One way to make sure your lawn is getting enough moisture is to set out empty tuna cans. To ensure you are watering the right amount, place empty tuna cans in the areas where you are sprinkling. When there is about an inch of water in the can, you’ll know your lawn has gotten enough moisture to get into the roots and stay healthy. 

Feed Your Lawn With Fertilizer

Who doesn’t like a bedtime snack? Mid-October is a great time to start putting winterizing fertilizer down. Winterizer gives your yard a boost of nitrogen for your grass to store through the winter while it’s sleeping under the snow. This nitrogen will help your yard be one of the first on the block to turn green once spring arrives. Be sure to water it in since we are not scheduled to get any rain for the next few weeks.

B&B Hoffman Sod has the fertilizer your lawn needs for each season available for purchase at our farm. Call us at 763-434-6572 to reserve your bags in time to feed your lawn for the winter.

For more information on how to care for your new sod or general yard care, explore the B&B Hoffman Sod website! We have a ton of tips for watering, lawn care, installation, and more!

How to Mow Your Lawn Less (Yes, Really!)

Summer brings beautiful weather, fun outdoor activities, and… yardwork! Are you tired of spending your limited summer free time mowing your lawn instead of sitting by a pool or enjoying lunch on a patio with friends? Maybe you have kids in sports that take most of your free time and your lawn looks overgrown. We have some good news for you: Being smart about yard care can help you maintain a beautiful, healthy lawn with less effort. B&B Hoffman Sod has put together a guide to help you spend less time mowing and more time enjoying your summer!

Choose the Right Grass Variety

Selecting a grass type that is well-suited to your climate can reduce the amount of mowing required. B&B Hoffman Sod’s premium Kentucky Bluegrass is an ideal choice for our erratic Midwest climate!

Mow High

Keeping your lawn mower blades set higher (around 3 inches) allows the grass to grow thicker, which shades the soil and reduces weed growth. Taller grass also holds moisture better, reducing the need for frequent mowing.

Use a Mulching Mower

Mulching mowers produce clippings that decompose quickly and return nutrients to the soil. This reduces the amount of waste to dispose of and helps your lawn grow more heartily – potentially reducing the need for frequent mowing.

Regular Aeration

Aerating your lawn helps to alleviate soil compaction, improve water and nutrient absorption, and encourage deeper root growth. Healthier grass can grow more evenly and require less frequent mowing.

Water Wisely

Watering deeply and less frequently encourages deeper root growth and a more resilient lawn. Shallow watering can lead to shallow roots and a lawn that grows more quickly and needs more frequent mowing.

Fertilize Right

Fertilizing your lawn is a must, but did you know that over-fertilizing can lead to rapid growth and more mowing? Use a fertilizer with slow-release nutrients to keep growth steady and manageable. 

Watch the Weather

Avoid watering during the hottest parts of the day to minimize evaporation. High temps also make it hard for your lawn to absorb the nutrients in the fertilizer so save the 90º days for the pool, not for fertilizing your lawn. 

 

Following these tips can help you maintain a beautiful, healthy lawn with less effort. If you decide you still don’t want to spend the few free hours you have out in the yard, there’s no shame in outsourcing! Hire a lawn care service, find an entrepreneurial teenaged neighbor, or invest in a robotic lawn mower to minimize your time doing yardwork and maximize your time doing something fun. 

If your lawn is looking patchy and bare call 763-434-6572 or email sales@bbhoffmansod.com to see how our premium Kentucky Bluegrass seed or sod can make all the difference in your yard!



Springtime Sod in Minnesota

Minnesotans were lucky to experience a warm and mostly dry winter over the last few months rather than the bitter cold and snow we are used to. Now that spring is here, many of us are realizing that our lawns weren’t as happy as we were with the warmer temps and lack of snow. If your lawn is looking bare or patchy, consider laying new sod or reseeding the bare spots.

If your lawn is only bare in a few small areas, B&B Hoffman Sod Farm has high-quality fertilizer and seed available for our customers. This is the same seed and fertilizer we use on our premium sod fields, so you can be assured that your new grass will look beautiful as it comes in.

Larger bare areas may be harder to seed. Wind, heavy rain, children, and pets can blow away or damage freshly laid seed and fertilizer. If you need to grow large areas of grass, you should skip the seed this spring and contact B&B Hoffman Sod Farm for a quote on high-quality Kentucky Bluegrass Sod. Our sod is bred to be dark green, soft, and durable to withstand harsh climates. 

An added bonus to installing sod – freeing up your weekends! Weeds love to grow in areas where grass is thin or sparse. The sod grown at B&B Hoffman Sod Farm is carefully managed, fertilized regularly, and watered as necessary to produce grass that is resistant to weeds. Less weeds = less yardwork time!

Now is the perfect time to seed or sod your lawn. Contact B&B Hoffman Sod Farm to ask about our seed, fertilizer, or sod. Our beautiful grass is available for delivery or pick up, in big and small rolls for any size job.

Get your lawn ready for summer entertaining

The long, harsh winter was hard on all of us, delaying lawn care and landscaping plans. But, it’s not too late to prepare your yard for graduation parties, family reunions, or grilling get-togethers. B&B Hoffman Sod Farms is ready to serve you for the 2023 season!

Fertilize! We recommend fertilizing early and often throughout May and into June. For the first treatment, use a fertilizer with crabgrass pre-emergent/preventer to start repairing any damage done from the winter and get a jump-start on crabgrass. Ideally, this should be applied before the growing season begins. Crabgrass can germinate when the ground temperature reaches 50 degrees for 3 consecutive days, so early application to prevent growth is key. In Central Minnesota, we typically reach this temperature around Mother’s Day. Visit our Elk River location to purchase fertilizer this spring to keep your lawn lush and healthy. While fertilizing is an important spring lawn care step, it isn’t the only maintenance needed for a beautiful lawn. After a long winter, your yard needs some fresh air too, so be sure to rake and remove thatch as well as old leaves, twigs, and fallen branches.

Aerate! If your lawn has a lot of foot traffic, watch for compaction. When soil is compacted, it has less room to hold air and water to keep it healthy and full, making it difficult for roots to penetrate and fertilizers to be absorbed. To treat a compacted lawn, aerate it at the beginning of the growing season. Aeration creates larger spaces in the soil, allowing more oxygen, fertilizer, nutrients, and water to penetrate. Small lawns can be aerated with special sandals with spikes attached that aerate as you walk your yard. Larger lawns may require a petrol-powered core aerator that can be rented. Regardless of the style of the aerator, be sure to water the lawn thoroughly the day before you aerate to make the process easier.

Finally, tune up your mower and make sure it’s as ready for spring as your family. Raise your lawn mower height to keep grass trimmed and moist, as most types of grass have deep roots to take in water.

To learn more about spring lawn care tips and the products that B&B Hoffman Sod Farms offers, visit us online at bbhoffmansod.com, or call 763-434- 6572.

Early Autumn Lawn Care Tips

As temperatures begin to cool and leaves fall, autumn brings ideal conditions to care for your lawn. Before thinking about dusting off that snowblower, here are a few tips to ensure your lawn will be beautiful next spring.

Lay Sod. If you’ve been waiting to lay sod, now is the time to do so. Cool temperatures and regular rainfall allows sod to retain moisture and root quickly. Since we are experiencing a rather hot fall so far, plan to install sod on an overcast day to avoid stress on the plant. Prepare your soil by removing debris on the surface and filling in any small holes. Use a rake to loosen the soil and add any topsoil you may need. Apply the sod in a brick-like pattern, using a utility knife to fit the sod together tightly. Once the sod is in place water it immediately. Typically, it takes sod 2-3 weeks to root completely; avoid mowing until roots are strong, approximately 14 days after installation.

Let your soil breathe. Aerate your existing lawns in the cooler fall season to reap the benefits year round. Aeration creates small holes into the soil, either by using a spike or a machine to remove a core of grass and soil from the lawn. Benefits of aerating are: stronger grass roots, reduced water runoff, improved air exchange between the soil, and less susceptibility to disease. Increase root growth by allowing your grass to breath and minimizing thatch build up by aerating prior to applying a fall fertilizer.

Apply fall fertilizer. While many homeowners may think fertilizer should be applied in the spring, fall is an ideal time to refresh your lawn before going dormant in the winter. Fall fertilization will assist in storing food and ensuring strong roots throughout the winter, and greener grass after the spring thaw. Apply fertilizer around the first week in October for best results.

Purchase sod and winterizing fertilizer from B&B Hoffman Sod Farms in Elk River. To learn more about us and products we offer, visit us online or call 763-434-6572.

Fall cleanup: rake, mulch, or do nothing?

A common question this time of year is the best way to complete fall yard cleanup. Is it beneficial for your lawn to spend time raking and bagging leaves, or should you plan on mowing over everything and mulching the rest? Better yet, spend a couple of extra hours at the apple orchard or pumpkin patch–and do nothing at all?

The truth is, it’s up to you and depends on your lawn and landscaping needs. Essentially, homeowners want to avoid more than 10-20% of their grass to be covered in leaves when the snow falls. Excessive leaf matter going into winter may smother the grass and inhibit growth, as well as promote mold diseases, and encourage turf damage from critters like voles and mice. Read on for the three most common fall clean up techniques and the pros and cons of each.

Raking. Improve your arm strength by raking (or using a leaf blower) to gather a pile, then bag for disposal, or deliver to a compost site. Depending on the size of your lawn and number of trees on site, this may take an hour or a full day. In order to rake efficiently, lawns should be dry and trimmed. Additional bag fees or compost facility charges may deter people from going this route, but the excitement of jumping in a large leaf pile has its benefits too.

Mowing and mulching. Chopping grass and leaves into small pieces (also known as mulching) so they incorporate into your lawn canopy via a lawn mower benefits the soil in a number of ways. Nutrients and organic matter may add nitrogen to the lawn and assist in root growth. Some leaf types have even been shown to reduce weed germination over time. Mulching may require more frequent mowing in the fall, but specialized attachments and mulching mowers can also be purchased to make this job easier.

Leaving it be. If you have no trees and the wind blows away more than 10% of your lawn coverage, you may be off the hook for raking and mowing. Use your extra time wisely before the snow sets in!

Planning ahead for spring. Already dreaming of epic outdoor parties for next year? Don’t wait to upgrade your lawn! Apply fertilizer every fall to provide nutrients for grass to create deep roots and stay healthy in a dormant season. If you’ve been holding off until spring to lay sod, there is still time yet this year. Cool temperatures and regular rainfall this time of year encourages our Kentucky Bluegrass turf to retain moisture. Make sure to water regularly until the ground is frozen.

Consult with our experts, purchase sod and find winterizing fertilizer at B&B Hoffman Sod Farms in Elk River by visiting us online or calling 763-434-6572.

 

Time to spring clean your yard

Spring is the ideal time to get your yard back in shape after a long winter.  As we turn our attention to lawn care, rather than snow removal, it is time to patch dead grass areas, de-thatch, and fertilize.  Check out our easy pro tips on improving the appearance of your yard.

De-Thatch to encourage growth. Remove dead layers of grass, roots, and debris that accumulates between the soil surface and the green grass blades by de-thatching. If not performed regularly, you  may notice portions of grass that form a thick mat, preventing water and air from reaching the soil. To prevent this, de-thatching should be done once a year in the early spring, before grass becomes bright green and thick. De-thatching, which can be done to smaller lawns with a special rake, allows you to get the thatch out of the grass, allowing air to get at the base of the plant and gives it a healthy start in the spring after a long winter. Those with larger lawns may choose to rent a de-thaching machine, which can be either be pulled behind a lawn tractor or there is a push version likely available at a local general rental store.

Replenish your lawn with fertilizer. Fertilizers are important to lawn care because they can expedite plant growth, making plants and crops grow quickly and appear greener, fuller, and healthier. Most nutrients for your lawn are water-soluble and, over time through snow, rain or irrigation, the water will carry nutrients out of your lawn and leave it nutrient deficient. An unhealthy lawn is susceptible to disease, and fertilizer can replenish those nutrients and keep your lawn healthy. Our experts recommend fertilizing early in the spring, following up every four weeks through the month of June.

Repair or replace your lawn with sod. For new lawns, sod is an excellent option to jump-start the growing process, as it gives you an immediate green lawn with mature density and a solid root system. Turfgrass sod creates a soft, clean and safe playing surface for children, lawn games, and family entertaining. Our easy-to-use small sod rolls make laying turfgrass yourself easy and efficient. There is no expensive machinery needed, making small sod rolls the do-it-yourselfers product of choice.

Prevent weeds and over-watering. Pre-emergent weed control should go down when the ground temperature reaches 50 degrees to avoid any seeds that may have dropped last fall to germinate. No need to water your lawn this early in the season just to expedite greening. Spring rains typically produce sufficient moisture for awakening lawns. Only irrigate if grass shows signs of dehydration.

To learn more about spring lawn care and the products that B&B Hoffman Sod Farms offers, visit us online at bbhoffmansodev.wpengine.com or call 763-434-6572.

 

June Lawn Care

June is an important month for lawn care. Keeping grass vibrant and healthy can be challenging, as temperatures rise and sun exposure reaches its max. Follow the tips below to enjoy a beautiful lawn, all summer long.

Mowing

The ideal grass length to encourage deeper, cooler root growth, is 3 inches. If grass is too short, brown spots may appear, leading to higher occurrences of weeds and disease. Avoid mowing in the middle of the day, as newly cut grass may be damaged in hot summer heat.

Watering

A healthy lawn consistently needs about an inch and a half of water each week. Since weather patterns are often unpredictable, watering is recommended. If you don’t own a rain gauge, and are able to use a sprinkler or irrigation system, set your sprinkler for 20 minutes, three times per week. It is better to water for longer periods, less often, rather than shorter amounts, each day. Watering in the early morning and late evening will ensure a better soaking, as temperatures are cooler and less water is evaporated. During dry spells, check your city watering regulations.

Weeding

To maintain a healthy lawn, fertilize and use weed control. Crabgrass preventer should be applied in May with a second round of slow-release fertilizers spread in June.  Make sure to select the right kind of fertilizer for your lawn type.

To learn more about summer lawn care and the products that B&B Hoffman Sod Farms offers, visit them online at bbhoffmansodev.wpengine.com or call 763-434- 6572.

 

Fall Lawn Care Promotes to Healthy Spring Yards

Fall is a great time to lay sod for a variety of reasons! Cooler temperatures mean you don’t have to water as often because the ground retains moisture better than in the summer heat. The grass also grows slower in the fall so you don’t have to mow as frequently, and you may have better luck getting friends and family to come out and help when it isn’t as hot and muggy outside.

For existing lawns, fall is the ideal time to aerate your lawn. Aeration involves putting small holes into the soil with a spike, or removing a core or plug of grass and soil from the lawn. Doing so allows air, water and nutrients to penetrate the grass roots. This helps the roots grow deeply and produces a stronger, more vigorous lawn. Aerating in the fall will break up compacted soil before the winter hits so that air and water can get at the roots.

Fall is also a good time to purchase your winterizer fertilizer, which should be applied in the first week of October. B&B Hoffman Sod Farms in Elk River supplies winterizer fertilizer, which prepares lawn for winter dormancy by helping lawns store food and build deep roots. It also improves spring green-up by providing nutrients that promote thick and rapid growth.

You can purchase low-maintenance Kentucky Bluegrass sod that is resistant to disease and weed-free at family-owned B&B Hoffman Sod Farms. Call us today at 763-434- 6572 or visit bbhoffmansodev.wpengine.com to learn more about our Kentucky Bluegrass and to get additional tips for fall lawn care.