Why The Summer Is The Best Time For Seniors To Get Lawn Care Services
Many homeowners will tell you that one of the nicest features of their home is their lawn. However, they will also tell you that this is one of the most labor and time intensive parts of their home. Proper and successful lawn maintenance is an ongoing challenge for many of them.
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This challenge is even more difficult for homeowners who are seniors. The work required in taking good care of your lawn is complicated, at times very physically demanding, often involves the use of various chemicals, involves the use of different kinds of tools and equipment, and needs to be done per a schedule to have success. This is daunting for anyone, more so for homeowners who have gotten older.
Thankfully, there are professional lawn care services that can take care of all of this for you. And because the summer is one of the most important and challenging times for proper lawn care, it is also the best time for senior homeowners to hire and use a professional lawn care service. In addition, there are several important benefits for seniors in using a lawn care service all year long.
Benefits of Professional Lawn Care for Seniors
– Safety: Lawn care involves hard work, the use of some dangerous and serious equipment, plus chemicals like fertilizers and insecticides. These present serious health and safety risks to anyone, especially seniors.
– Dependability: A lawn care service will take care of your lawn with the right treatments and at the proper times – it becomes their job to take care of the lawn, not yours.
– Economics: You don’t need to buy and maintain all the needed equipment and tools. Plus, keeping your lawn in top shape helps preserve the value of your home.
– Convenience: No need to break your body by doing it yourself, plus you’ll have extra time and energy to do more enjoyable things.
It is clear that the benefits for seniors to use a lawn care service are many and significant. Below are listed pressing summer lawn care issues that show why it so important and advantageous for senior homeowners to use a professional lawn care service in the summer.
Fertilizing
It is important to fertilize your lawn in the early summer, as it grows best at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This can allow your lawn to grow thick and healthy. Also, fertilizing at the right time can make your grass more heat- and drought-resistant.
However, if you apply too much fertilizer, you run the risk of burning your lawn. Grass already gets stressed during these months, so caution must be applied. It is also important to use a fertilizer formulated specially for summer feedings, and to follow the instructions exactly.
Pest Control
Insects often come out in full force in the summer—but not all of them will hurt your lawn. However, bugs like Japanese beetles, June bugs, and European chafers will munch on your grass, causing wilting and bare patches in your lawn. If your lawn is not properly treated, Japanese beetles can feed on your grass and lay eggs, which will hatch into grubs and start feasting on your lawn. This can be prevented by applying a preventative grub control product, which must be used according to directions.
Weed Control
A major bane for homeowners is the presence of weeds in their precious lawn. By proper and fast action in the early summer, established weeds can be killed before they can bloom and spread seeds. It is necessary to use a targeted post-emergent herbicide designed to eliminate broadleaf weeds, but leave your grass unharmed. Be aware that these herbicides may hurt your grass and can be toxic, so use them sparingly and with caution.
Mid-Summer Fertilizing
Your lawn may need a mid-summer feeding to promote healthy growth. This is especially true of warm-season grasses that are typically found in the South and West. However, you don’t want to burn your already heat-stressed grass by using too much or the wrong kind of fertilizer.
Aerating The Lawn
This is done in the late summer. It is done by using a core aerator machine to break up compacted soil. The core aerator pulls up plugs or “cores” of soil from the ground, creating air vents that let your grassroots’ access air, nutrients, and water. This will give your lawn extra hardiness, helping it to withstand stressors.
Extra Seeding
If at the end of the summer, your lawn is suffering from bare patches or thinning grass, you can restore it to its former glory with overseeding. By sowing additional seed over existing grass, overseeding will thicken your lawn’s turf.
