Keeping Your Front and Backyards Healthy

How to Maintain a Lawn

Having a front and backyard offer a lot of opportunities to compliment your home, plus additional space. Unfortunately, with all of this external property comes the new responsibility of taking care of it. Sometimes, it may even be a mandatory part of living in a community governed by a Homeowners Association (HOA). For many first-time homeowners, they find themselves asking how to maintain a lawn.

Taking care of a lawn is not like regular chores. Lawn maintenance requires a little extra effort and some special expertise. It should come as no surprise that many people end up hiring external help to keep on top of their lawns.

Benefits of Lawn Care Maintenance

If you don’t have the time, motivation, or tools to take care of your lawn, there are professionals you can hire to do it for you. There are many reasons why people would choose to hire a lawn care maintenance company.

Professionals have the expertise to make your lawn look great. Even if you don’t need something intense or fabulous they will know how to accomplish tasks that meet your aesthetic requirements. They have access to tools that will allow you to get more intense things done, and equipment that would otherwise be very expensive or complicated to rent or purchase.

They know how to deal with the different problems your home is facing, and take care of all of it for you so you don’t have to get your hands dirty.

Finding a Reputable Company

Finding a reputable company is not going to be as easy as waiting for someone to show up to your door. Instead, it's a good idea to do your research and investigate anyone who is going to work directly in your home.

You want to hire companies that you can trust, so many people take advice from friends or family they know they can trust. Contacting people who have been recommended to you is a great way to find someone you like.

If you don’t know anyone that can be recommended to you, you can also consider looking up companies online. When turning to the internet to look for advice on which companies you should hire, keep these three major things in mind.

• Honest reviews: Try to look for sites that have reviews posted. Better yet, turn to third-party review sites such as Yelp. Try to take everything with a grain of salt and understand that people can’t satisfy everyone and there are some hard customers out there. However, multiple of negative reviews are often a sign of bad service.
• Pictures of results: Many platforms that offer reviews will also offer photos. Seeing photos of the work that has been done can offer you some valuable insight into what you should be able to expect from the company. If you are not happy with what you see consider looking elsewhere.
• History: While age is just a number, there is something to be said about a long-established business. Companies who have managed to stay successful for a long time indicate hard work and good quality.

What to Expect

When a company decides to do lawn work for you, they may offer a number of different services depending on their recommendations, your requests, and your budget. There are many different types of lawn care services that are typically offered.

• Weed control: Get rid of the pesky weeds that ruin your lawn, garden, and the crevices between your sidewalk and pavement.
• Aeration: Lawn aeration refers to a special process that is used to break down soil and “allow your lawn to breath.” There are several different ways to accomplish this depending on the severity of your case, but it is often done by strategically poking holes into the lawn. Doing so will allow your lawn to grow better and give it a healthier look.
• Fertilization: Fertilization refers to the process in which you “feed” the plants on your lawn (or even just the grass itself). This helps you give your lawn some extra love and care so it can grow bigger, better, and healthier. The soil on your lawn does not always provide the plants and grass with a constant influx of nutrition, so giving the soil a boost can be a much-needed step to ensure it stays healthy.
• Tree and shrub trimming: When your lawn is growing, it will need to be trimmed from time to time. In addition to the aesthetic bonuses, trimming also helps avoid hazards. The branches of an unkempt tree can easily fall onto your home or power lines in the event of a storm.