So you signed up for a lawn care program and you’re pretty proud of yourself.
When does the trailer with the mowing crew show up?
Um, never. A lawn care program does amazing things for your lawn, but it doesn’t include mowing.
You’re thinking of landscape maintenance— a service that goes beyond a healthy lawn to tend to landscaping tasks, like mowing and weeding.
Landscape maintenance vs lawn care: what’s the difference?
Let’s take a look.
First Up, Landscape Maintenance
Landscape maintenance is designed to care for your total landscaping, from mowing your lawn to trimming shrubs to weeding flower beds to keeping pests from damaging your trees.
Removing leaves? Yup. Treating aphids on your roses? Check. Spreading mulch? You bet.
Crews usually show up each week with mowers, edgers and pruners and tackle your entire yard in a whirlwind of spinning blades and whirring motors.
Landscape Maintenance vs Lawn Care
Lawn care is a much more targeted service, honing in on all the needs your lawn has to be healthy and thrive — and be that beautiful green you crave.
Landscape maintenance and lawn care are both important elements of a wow-worthy yard.
A great lawn care program is one crucial element of your total landscaping care, ensuring your lawn is a healthy green centerpiece of your impressive property.
What’s So Great About a Lawn Care Program?
So many things. It takes the hassle and stress away from taking care of your lawn.
Have you noticed how many things your lawn needs to thrive? Fertilizer. Weed control. Grub control. Soil nourishment. Disease control.
It’s a whole thing.
A comprehensive lawn care program handles it all:
1. Food for Your Hungry Lawn
Fertilizer is the food for your hungry lawn. A lawn care program specializes in the meals your lawn needs to thrive.
And the scheduling is important.
The first round of fertilizer and weed control should be done by Memorial Day. Then regularly feed your lawn throughout the summer, with at least three applications.
It’s easy to forget about your lawn in the fall, when you’re all about cider and pumpkins and it kind of seems like lawn care season is over.
But while you’re munching caramel apples, those turf roots are still hungry, too. Fertilize in the fall so those roots have nutrients to grow nice and deep now, with some left over to battle against winter and be ready to roll next spring.
Pro Tip: always opt for granular lawn fertilizer. It's more expensive than the liquid stuff, but it breaks down slowly, giving you consistent benefits from fertilization.
Look for blends that also contain organic nutrients, which give your lawn that beautiful, deep green color and help your soil.
RainMaster uses premium, professional-grade formulations of granular fertilizer. Not every lawn fertilizer service in Eau Claire or Minneapolis does.
2. The War Against Weeds
Lawn care and landscaping both involve battling weeds. And the battle can get ugly out there. A lawn care program fights it valiantly, with the pro-level knowledge and products it takes to keep the buggers at bay.
It’s kind of complicated.
First up: understanding the difference between pre-emergent and post-emergent weed control.
This is all about when to apply lawn weed killer. Pre-emergent weed control is designed to target the weed seeds before they sprout, which is super important when tackling that king of weeds, crabgrass.
Post-emergent products will kill weeds once they already exist. Both are really important.
When it comes to crabgrass, it’s all about timing.
You have to apply crabgrass pre-emergent in early spring. Target those weed seeds as they germinate and take root in the soil so they don’t become more seed-producing plants.
Here at RainMaster, we really double down on crabgrass, offering two crabgrass treatments — one in early spring and another in late spring, so you get extra protection against this pesky weed.
Think you’re done now? Nope. Weed killer needs to happen multiple times a year. Different weeds grow at different times throughout the seasons.
That’s why you get five visits throughout the year in our comprehensive lawn care programs.
A thick, healthy lawn is the best way to prevent weeds.
Great lawn care in Minneapolis, MN & Eau Claire, WI means investing in a complete, proactive lawn care program that includes both weed-preventative and curative treatments from early spring to late fall.
3. All About Aeration
Maybe you think you’re doing everything right, but your lawn still struggles. It might be gasping for breath.
When your lawn is compacted, it can't breathe, its roots can't take in water or nutrients, which weakens your turf and opens the door for disease and weeds.
Lawn aeration uses a machine to pull out plugs of soil, creating spaces so that air and water can penetrate, which leads to healthier roots.
Lawn aeration also helps break down thatch, that layer of dead grass and stems that sits between the grass blades and the soil.
Aeration is often followed by overseeding, as the holes created by aeration are perfect new homes for the grass seed. Aeration is a key part of lawn care and landscaping — the end result is an impressive, healthy lawn.
4. Lawn Care vs Landscaping: Lawn Care Gets Those Grubs
A lawn care program gangs up on grubs, those slimy buggers that feast on your lawn’s tasty roots and cause ugly brown patches in your lawn. They’re bad news.
The key to controlling grubs is to kill them before they hatch and begin to cause damage to your lawn.
At RainMaster, we apply Grub Guard right away in the spring during our first visit.
Then, you’re all set. Grubs? What grubs? Our product lasts throughout the entire growing season. And it won’t kill bees like the cheaper products most other companies use.
5. Foiling the Fungus
Yup, a lawn care program handles ugly lawn diseases, too. The weird, tiny red threads on your grass. The ugly bleached patches.
A healthy lawn is your best bet to avoid all that, and a comprehensive lawn care program delivers the goods to help your lawn fend off fungus.
Bonus: You Get Great Lawn Advice
A great lawn care program includes skilled and experienced pros who love sharing cool knowledge like mowing tall and keeping your mower blade sharp. They love this stuff.
They’ll tell you to water deeper, longer, and not as often. That encourages deeper, stronger roots, which means greener, healthier grass.
Pros know how to diagnose lawn care problems before you even notice anything’s wrong.
Our technicians are trained professionals, so they catch things early — before they turn into ugly, worrisome, and expensive problems that can keep your grass from being as healthy as possible.
Ready for Expert, Targeted Lawn Care? Trust RainMaster
Landscape maintenance and lawn care are both important factors as you work to improve your yard.
Sure, hire a competent crew to mow, blow, trim and weed. But also bring skilled, experienced lawn care pros on board to make sure your lawn is the healthy green centerpiece of your impressive yard.
Looking for great lawn care in Minneapolis, MN or Eau Claire, WI.?
All you need for a healthy, green, thriving lawn is one smart choice: RainMaster.
Ready to make your lawn life easier? Request a quote today! We’ll review your options together so you can make a confident decision. Then, you can finally enjoy your healthy lawn and stop worrying about it.
Image Source | Red Thread
