Antioch lawn growing well with current conditions Every year in the midwest lawns begin an annual ritual of browning up and thinning out by the 4th of July.  This is generally caused by high soil temperautres from long sunny days and warm air temperautres and a reduction in weekly rainfall amounts.  However, 2014 has brought a very different 4th of July to the many lawns in our Lake County area.  Surface soil temperatures normally reach into the 90 degree range resulting in early signs of dormancy.  However, we have received adequate rainfall weekly so far this year along with average temperatures and cloudy days resulting in ideal soil temperatures for turf growth and vigor.  We are averaging surface soil temperatures around 80 degrees which is ideal for bluegrass to thrive.  Lake Forest lawn thriving in ideal 2014 conditions. July is normally the beginning of the "dead zone" as we refer to it, where unless you are adequately irrigating the...

Mushrooms are popping out of the lawn(tip of the iceberg) We have been getting several calls regarding the growth of mushrooms in the lawns recently.  Which makes perfect sense because we have had rain almost every day for the last two weeks!   Why does this make sense?  Let me explain.  Mushrooms are the fruiting body of fungal spores located below the surface of the soil in the lawn.  They are the the mere tops of the icebergs.  The active fungi spores are not large enough to even be seen and are located under the surface of the soil, where they are naturally found in nature and are actively decomposing organic matter in the soil.  This organic matter is usually made up of woody materials like dead tree roots, old stumps, construction lumber and most commonly wood mulch dumped into the lawn when doing the last mulching project in your landscape.  The fungi spores survive in the soil for years and produce fruiting bodies (mushrooms) when c...