Your lawn is a gateway to your front door. Achieving and maintaining a great looking lawn is not easy to do on your own. Investing in a lawn care service plan can be a great solution. Lawn care encompasses much more than mowing and trimming your lawn. It takes a lawn care service plan that considers the soil, the time of year, and your unique lawn issues. A professional lawn care service company considers your yard as a whole. As a homeowner, you can realize many benefits of having lawn care services done by a professional.

You want to enjoy the summer. Imagine not having to make time to mow and maintain your lawn. Imagine being able to sit by the pool or on the patio without thinking of the next time you need to mow your lawn. Summers are short. Having to spend your time doing STL lawn care takes away from other outdoor activities. You can’t stop thinking about the brown spots in your lawn. Having a lawn care service plan in place allows you to take advantage of the good weather and enjoy great leisure activities. There are multiple elements that contribute to the lawn you want.

Soil Testing

The key to good STL lawn care starts with the soil. As a homeowner, no one expects you to be an expert on the condition of your soil. The Purdue Turfgrass Science Program reports that there are many nutritional and chemical makeups in a lawn. A few include the following:

• pH – pH is measured on a scale from 1-14. Lawns typically thrive in a range from six to seven. Many factors influence your lawns’ pH including mineral content, soil texture and rain. If you have a professional perform lawn care services, you won’t have to guess at interpreting soil results.
• Phosphorus – Phosphorus is needed for healthy grassroots. Some starter fertilizers contain phosphorus. If low levels are detected, a lawn care services company can select and apply the best fertilizer to address the deficiency.
• Cation exchange capacity – This is a complex measurement of your soil’s ability to hold nutrients. This number can be interpreted and used to influence the frequency of your lawn’s treatment as part of a lawn care service plan.

Fertilizer Program

A regular fertilizer program, customized for your yard size and area, is part of a lawn care service program. Your lawn has different nutritional needs throughout the season. Lawns can become stressed without proper nutrients and water. Internet research can lead to conflicting recommendations with all the questions you need to answer.

• Should you fertilize every four or every six weeks?
• What are the right fertilizers for your lawn?
• When do you apply the fertilizer?
• What setting do you put the spreader on?
• What do the numbers mean on fertilizer bags?
• What if you forget an application?
• Can you store excess fertilizer from year to year?
• Is liquid or granular fertilizer better?
• Is the fertilizer safe for your pets?

When you invest in a lawn care services program, all of these questions are answered and taken care of by a professional. A benefit of a local lawn care services company is that they will know exactly what is needed for your lawn, and at what times of the year the fertilizer should be applied. The professionals will make your lawn safe for your children and pets. You don’t have to worry about forgetting an application or purchasing, storing or maintaining a spreader.

Dethatching

Your lawn is much more complex than it looks on the surface. Lawns have layers that contribute to their health and appearance. Thatch is a layer of dead and living grass roots and other pieces that exist between the green grass you see and the soil. If this layer builds up and thickens, it can inhibit the water, fertilizer, and other natural nutrients from reaching the grass roots. It also prevents the sun from reaching new grass seeds. Dethatching should be part of any STL lawn care. A professional will bring equipment and go over your entire lawn. You will then see large amounts of dead material the equipment has brought up. In short work, the team will clean your lawn of the dead material, allowing your lawn to breathe better and be ready to receive fresh nutrients and fertilizer.

Aeration

Aeration is a service that uses special equipment that pokes holes in your lawn. It is an important part of a lawn care service plan. Your soil becomes compacted which inhibits air, nutrients, and water from reaching the roots of the grass. A professional lawn care services company will use special equipment that will bring up plugs of soil across your lawn. The roots will then have access to the surface drainage and be ready to absorb nutrients, The plugs can be allowed to dry out and later raked in with their nutrients returning to the soil.

Overseeding

After a lawn is aerated, a natural next step is overseeding. Overseeding involves spreading and planting grass seed into your existing turf. Doing this after aerating allows many of the seeds to immediately come in contact with the soil. With proper watering, you will see your lawn fill in with any brown spots being replaced by new green grass. Your lawn will be thicker with lush new grass. There are better times of the year to plant new grass. A professional who knows about stl lawn care can easily advise and overseed as part of your lawn care service plan.

Diseases

You want a consistent and green lawn that your whole family can appreciate and use. Diseases in lawns cause brown spots and can potentially lead to more serious issues. There are several diseases that are common and can cause issues in stl lawn care.

• Brown patch – This soil-born fungus can quickly spread from small to larger areas.
• Dollar spot – This typically develops in temperatures from 60 – 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with high humidity and low soil moisture. Dollar spot can be very destructive.
• Leaf spot – This is very common in blue grass, and occurs in the warmer weather. Excess thatch can contribute to this fungus.
• Powdery Mildew – This is common in blue grass in shady areas. It is common in high humidity areas and can often be short-lived.
• Summer Patch – This often occurs in the hottest part of the summer where yellow patches appear in sizes of six to twelve inches in diameter.

As you can see, there are multiple destructive lawn diseases. Having a lawn care service plan can include correctly identifying the disease and using the proper treatment to address the issue.

Pest Control

Insects can cause damage to your lawn. Another benefit of a lawn care service plan is pest control. Each insect can cause damage in a different way. There are three common insects in Missouri.

• Chinch bugs – Patches of turf begin to turn yellow and then die. Some home owners mistake this condition as lack of water and begin to water their lawn. The method by which Chinch bugs inflict their damage is by blocking the water and food vessels in grass stems.
• Grubs – White grubs are one of the most damaging pests in your lawn. They tend to thrive in moist conditions with mild to moderate temperatures. Grubs feed on the grass roots, and the damage cannot be reversed. Lawn care services can include a grub control treatment as part of your lawn care service plan and be proactive and stopping an infestation.
• Sod Webworms – Patches of brown or bare grass can mean your lawn has Sod Webworms in it. A lawn that does not get a lot of water can exacerbate the problem.

These insect pests are another factor that can work against you in achieving and maintaining the lawn you want. A lawn care services professional can easily identify the violator and get your lawn back on track. If your lawn currently has damage, a professional can complete a recovery and repair plan. This could include dethatching, a safe chemical application, hydroseeding or re-seeding. Regular watering after that will get your lawn looking great again.

Weeds

Weeds are another problem that can cause lawn issues. They choke off your turf and create a very unsightly look in your yard. Weeds can take foothold in any part of your lawn. They can be seasonal, and without addressing them, they will continue to come back and spread every season. Better Homes and Gardens has a helpful guide to common weeds. There are many species of weeds; below is a list of a few.

• Dandelions – Without mitigation, these efficient-spreading weeds can easily turn your beautiful lawn into a sea of yellow flowers.
• Clover – These sneaky weeds can grow even with the lawn level until they bloom with their seed-spreading flowers. Without a professional lawn care service, clover can be difficult to eradicate.
• Crabgrass – This fast-growing and aggressive weed can seem to appear overnight. Once it takes hold, it can be difficult to reverse. The plant can grow up to twenty inches wide. It is an annual weed, which means it does not live continually as you would think of your lawn or turf. The challenge is, crabgrass produces a bountiful amount of seeds that take root once they come in contact with the soil.

Some weeds are resistant to certain weed killer applications. As part of a lawn care service plan, a professional can identify which weeds have infested your lawn and use multiple weed-killing agents. If you currently have a weed problem, call a stl lawn care company today. A professional lawn care services company will meet with you, identify the specific weeds and begin the process of killing the weeds. Depending on how wide-spread the weeds were, your lawn may require re-seeding in certain areas.

Mowing and Trimming

There is a lot of behind the scenes work that has been done to make your lawn look great. Depending on the turf and time of year, your lawn can be cut once or twice per week. You can include regular mowing and trimming as part of your lawn care service plan. With the summer weather, you can spend the time you spent on mowing on more important activities with your family and friends. You also won’t have to purchase, maintain and store a mower or trimmer.

Shrub and Tree Care

A lawn care service plan does not have to stop with your grass. Professionals can also help with shrub and tree care. Overgrown shrubs take away from an otherwise well-maintained home. As part of the landscaping, shrubs and other plants are typically planted while the plants are young and small. Season after season, shrubs grow and spread. A professional lawn care services company can appropriately trim your shrubs to regain the nice crisp and complete look of your yard. They are experts in knowing the proper height and width of each shrub. They will also take into consideration the unique needs of your house, such as window height and shade needs.

Tree care requires special tools that you would only use a few times, every few years. A benefit to having a lawn care service plan that includes tree trimming is that you don’t have to purchase, store, and maintain the tree trimming tools. Professionals can trim large and small branches that have overgrown or encroached on living areas or your neighbors’ yards. Jobs like this can be completed in less than one day. A properly trimmed tree can open up living areas and brighten up otherwise dark and shaded areas. There may be some cases where the tree should be removed. A professional can make recommendations and safely remove any unwanted tree.

Economic Benefits

There are also economic benefits to investing in lawn care services. Here are a few that stand out:

• You don’t have to buy your own lawn equipment.
• You save time and money by not running to the store to get the right fertilizer.
• There is no waste; having lawn care services provides exactly the right amount of fertilizer and safe lawn treatments.

 

 

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