Let’s Get Lit, VAT!
Neighborhood Safety
With shorter daylight hours and the holidays fast approaching it is important to make sure that homeowners are staying up on their safety routines. Below are some good reminders on home and community safety:
- Check and change your batteries – Smoke detectors aren’t the only item in your home that need batteries changed. Outdoor cameras/doorbells, thermostats, and other devices should be checked and have their batteries changed if needed.
- Lights on – Leaving outdoor lights on serves as an important deterrent of crime, consider leaving porch and garage lights on at night. Other lights that can be useful include motion-activated lights for sides and rears of home. Many times these items can be set on timers to not be a nuisance.
- Garages – When possible leave vehicles in a garage and leave garage doors closed. Open garages are ripe for crimes of opportunity, ensure when you enter your home your garage door is closed behind you.
- Use your locks – The simplest methods are often the most effective. Make sure that vehicles are locked at night as well as doors and windows.
- Remove packages from porches – With the holiday shopping season upon us more residents will be having home deliveries. Be aware of when items are delivering and try to make arrangements to have these items removed from porches as soon as possible. Many drivers will try to obscure deliveries by placing them behind pillars or decor on your porch so be aware when packages are delivered they may not always be placed where you expect.
- Keep your pets safe – Recently our community has had several pets get loose in the evening. Make sure you have a current photo of your pet and that they wear tags with up to date homeowner information or are microchipped for a quick reunion. Another option is an LED collar (like this) which can be easily put on your pet before letting them out in the evenings.
- Park vehicles carefully – Please ensure any vehicles parked along streets are parked facing the roadway appropriately. Also any vehicles parked in driveways should not block access to sidewalks.
Thanks to all our neighbors for helping keep our community safe.
VAT turns 30 – Lawn Care
Many lawns within our community (as well as our community park) were badly affected by the sudden armyworm infestation two years ago. Lawns that were once lush and green, quickly turned brown and had dead spots.
While this is an example of a sudden problem it is easy for issues such as weeds/clover, thin lawns and dead spots to expand and turn excellent turf into an unsightly one quickly.
Common issues seen in our community are:
1. Lawn thinning – Typically due to lack of water or turf maintenance issues
2. Crabgrass & weeds – Dandelion and clover are the most common
3. Lack of grass – Generally this appears in areas of dense shade or where drainage is an issue
The good news is there are great resources out there to help homeowners. Repairing issues could be as easy as making sure to use a dense shade grass seed variety instead of a sun and shade mix to get the grass underneath large trees growing again.
Moving into a different set of lawn treatments or making sure to
have your lawn aerated or dethatched periodically can all help provide a strong root system and improve overall lawn appearance over time.
Lawn Treatment and Fertilizing
Seeing progress on lawn treatment can be a multi-year process so it is important to start early each season and stay on top of applications. Many homeowners in our community use local services to provide lawn application/treatments however there are now several options for fertilizer and weed prevention on your lawn turf. These include mailing services that will evaluate your lawn and mail the appropriate products, with an application schedule, to make lawn maintenance an easy task.
For neighbors concerned about using chemical fertilizer for weed prevention several organic options are available as well yard tools to make removing weeds in your turf much easier.
We highly suggest speaking with the professionals at your preferred lawn and garden center for advice on these products.
Here are some great articles to learn more about turf maintenance:
https://www.oasisturf.com/blog/perfect-ohio-lawn-care-schedule-what-to-do-when
https://www.pennington.com/all-products/grass-seed/resources/your-first-lawn-start-here
https://scotts.com/en-us/how-to/how-to-aerate-dethatch-your-lawn.html
Finally a reminder that all leaves should be bagged and stored until the next scheduled recycling/yard waste pickup. Our community’s upcoming recycling/yard waste pickup dates are:
Monday, November 13th
Monday, November 27th
We hope our neighbors find this information helpful. As always the Community Handbook should be reference for all home improvement projects.
Please note: The articles referenced above do not constitute an endorsement. All home decisions should be made with the guidance of lawn or garden center professionals familiar with your lawn concerns as well as products being suggested or used. As always please do your own research and due diligence on any vendors or products prior to hiring or using.