PINE STRAW 101 FOR THE YARD WORK CHALLENGED

I own lakefront property; therefore, keeping weeds at bay is a challenge every summer.  It is especially challenging for us single women who are trying to learn the secrets of well cared for lawns, and weed control.  If you have been doing yard work for years, you are probably already familiar with pine straw, but for those of us who are still rookies, this is an exciting discovery.

First of all, my property, in metro Atlanta, but rural Georgia, does not have a lawn you can cut with a typical lawn mower.  There are tall trees preventing grass from growing, but allowing weeds of every kind to thickly cover the land.  One must use a weed whacker on the entire property, not only for trimming or edging.  This is hard work, and requires a great deal of time.  Since I would also like to have time to plant some colorful flowers, I was happy to learn of a way to slow down the growth of the weeds on my land.  Pine straw is such a method.

I purchased pine straw at Lowes, but there are many places to buy it.  It is less expensive than many mulches, and $24 will purchase about six bales.  Bales are large bunches of pine straw packed together, and tied with string.  To use the pine straw, you simply cut the string and spread it over your land.  As a rookie, who is definitely yard work challenged, I did learn a few lessons the hard way, and would like to share them with you.

THICKNESS MATTERS

To prevent weed growth, pine staw needs to be thick, at least three inches thick.  The thicker your pine straw, the less weeds will have to be weed whacked, so lay it on thick.

PINE STRAW IS STICKY BUSINESS

Pine straw needles are sharp, so unless you enjoy a standard finger prick blood test at your local doctor's office, I'd advise you to pick up a pair of yard gloves.  I didn't know to do this, but I received on the job training on this one.  I won't be spreading pine straw without thick yard gloves again, as my finger tips still smart from last weekend.

Using pine straw is actually a simple process that greatly improves the appearance of your property, and offers other benefits as well.  Please click on the link below to learn of other benefits to using pine straw as a ground cover.  It is definitely a green technique for improving the look of your yard, that limits the amount of time you spend using the weed whacker.

 http://www.pinestrawdirect.com/How%20Pine%20Straw%20Mulch%20Outperforms%20Other%20Mulches.pdf