Season long maintenance
Mowing, feeding, weed control, aeration, seed, sod and irrigation, scheduled against what the grass and the soil are actually doing rather than against a fixed round. Residential and commercial, out of Auburn since 2001.
The year, in order
Almost every lawn complaint in July was decided in March or the previous October. The programme is built that way on purpose.
Spring
Clean up first, because everything else is wasted on a matted lawn. Then the pre emergent application, timed by soil temperature rather than by date, which is the entire crabgrass job for the year. Irrigation gets charged and walked zone by zone.
Summer
Deck height comes up as the heat arrives, so longer blade shades the crown and holds moisture in the root zone. Feeding eases back because pushing growth in July stresses a plant that is already working hard. Mowing frequency follows actual growth.
Autumn
The heaviest work of the year on a cool season lawn. Core aeration into clay that has spent the summer compacting, overseeding straight into those holes while there is still soil warmth, and the broadleaf application that reaches the roots because the weeds are moving resources down.
Winter
Leaves off the turf before they mat and bring snow mould with them, beds cut back or left standing depending on what is in them. Irrigation gets winterised before the first hard freeze, which is the cheapest visit of the year to book and the most expensive one to skip.
Why clay changes everything
Clay squeezes shut under traffic and under its own wetting and drying. Once the pore space closes, water runs off instead of soaking in and roots stay in the top inch or two because that is the only place they can breathe. Then the first dry fortnight in July finds those shallow roots straight away.
That is why aeration matters more in this part of Kansas than it does on lighter ground, and why watering advice that works elsewhere tends to fail here. Deep and infrequent beats little and often, once the roots have somewhere to go.
The programme services
Applications are made under a State of Kansas Commercial Pesticide Applicator licence. Irrigation is installed and serviced by a City of Topeka Master Irrigation Installer who is also a Licensed Backflow Tester.
Graded, prepped ground and tight seamless sod for new construction, worn out turf and the bare patches seed never fixed.
A cutting schedule set by how your grass is actually growing, with deck height adjusted through the season and clean edges every visit.
Built and repaired with Rain Bird and Hunter Industries irrigation parts, by a licensed installer who is backflow certified.
A four season programme timed to your grass type and the Kansas growing season, applied by a licensed technician.
Core aeration that opens up compacted clay so water, air and fertiliser reach the root zone instead of running off it.
Thatch pulled out and fresh seed worked into real soil contact, so the new grass actually takes.
Leaves, thatch, fallen sticks and winter damage cleared out of the beds and off the turf at both ends of the season.
Call the Auburn office on (785) 256-7300 to talk through a programme for your property, or look at the design and build side.