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A Guide to Choosing the Best Lawn Care Plan For Your Northeast OH Property

Dave Petti

Your Northeast Ohio lawn is more than just the land around your home. 

Your lawn is your sanctuary where you make memories with your family when you kick the soccer ball around with the kids or throw the frisbee to the dog. 

As you gaze upon this oasis you’ve created, you might be wondering how you can take care of your lawn in the best way possible. In addition to proper mowing and watering, having the right lawn care schedule and plan is important. 

But how can you navigate this labyrinth of options that are available out there? It can make your head spin. 

Let’s talk about how many lawn treatments per year you might need and what you want when it comes to lawn care services in Northeast Ohio so that you can get the best lawn for you. We hope this guide can be your compass, leading you to the perfect option for your home lawn. 

Northeast Ohio Lawns Are Unique

Northeast Ohio has some distinctive characteristics that can make caring for lawns in this area challenging. 

Our cool, humid summers and cold, snowy winters demand some resilience from your grass. And our clay soils mean you may have to pay some special attention to your soil health and drainage.

front of house green lush lawn 
Here, we’ll talk about the treatments for your lawn that make the most sense in a complete lawn care plan. 

Assess Your Lawn’s Needs to Determine Your Lawn Care Plan

To find the best lawn care schedule for you, you first want to assess your lawn’s needs. 

You might notice you have some bare patches or weeds, and you might even suspect compacted soil. Talking to your lawn care provider about these concerns can help them determine what plan makes sense for you.

Bare spots and weeds on lawn
While many lawn care companies will talk about their number of visits, the actual treatments you receive are more important. 

How many lawn treatments per year are needed? A thorough lawn care schedule in Northeast Ohio takes into account which services should be performed at specific times of the year and incorporates them into the number of visits the company provides. So, it doesn’t matter what the number of visits are as long as all the services are included. 

While you might be tempted to use visit numbers to compare one company to another, it doesn’t mean you’re getting more for your lawn. They could be charging you for visits you don’t need. No one needs that. 

Find out specifically what’s included in a lawn care program so you can understand what each company offers. 

Lawn Fertilizations Are Essential Treatments For Your Lawn

Lawn care is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. 

You want to choose a lawn care provider that offers a lawn care schedule that includes the application of professional fertilizer during correct times throughout the year to give your lawn the nutrients it’s lacking. 

Nutrients should be delivered at precise times, including early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer, fall, and late fall. Each application delivers nutrients that help the grass at different stages of its growth. 

At Turf Pride, we use an organic nutrient-based granular fertilizer and perform 6 fertilization treatments in our lawn care programs throughout the year. 

Lawn-treatment-fertilizer

A Comprehensive Plan Includes Weed Control 

Weed control applications are important treatments for your lawn. 

Why? Because weeds are usually inevitable, and some weeds are harder to control than others. 

That’s why it’s important to choose a lawn care program that focuses on weed control for Northeast Ohio’s weeds, especially those you have particular problems managing. 

Typically, your program should include two pre-emergent crabgrass prevention treatments applied in early and late spring, as well as liquid post-emergent weed control with granular organic fertilizer treatments from early summer through late fall to take care of those tougher weeds that emerge and need multiple applications to eliminate. Some of these weeds include ground ivy, wild violet and oxalis. 

Since there are a variety of weeds that require different control treatments, a lawn care company that applies multiple weed control tactics knows their weeds and can better manage them.

lawn care technician examining lawn weeds

Grub Control is Important in Northeast Ohio

In Northeast Ohio, grubs can be a lawn care problem. As the larvae of pests like Japanese Beetles, European Chafers, Southern Masked Chafers, and June Beetles, grubs are white with C-shaped bodies. 

Throughout their life cycles, grubs can damage your grass below ground and feed on your landscape plants like roses once they become adults. 

Receiving a preventative grub control treatment as part of your lawn care schedule in early summer is the best time to target these larvae when they are young enough to control and before they have eaten too much of your lawn roots.

close-up-grubs

Our Clay Soil Can Require Aeration and Overseeding

Upgrades to a lawn care schedule include aeration and overseeding.

Annual aeration in the fall helps break up soil compaction and give your lawn a chance to better absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients. Overseeding can help incorporate improved varieties of grass into your lawn, helping you obtain a thicker, healthier stand of desirable grass and eliminate those bare spots. 

If your lawn is especially thin or you notice multiple grass varieties, these could be important services to ask about including to ensure you’re doing what you can to maximize your lawn’s health. 

crew on machine aerating and overseeding lawn 10

Pick a Lawn Care Schedule That Works For You

As you attempt to transform your Northeast Ohio lawn, remember that choosing the best lawn care schedule is not just about achieving a great looking lawn. It’s also about building a healthy, thriving plant that enriches your family’s life. 

A good lawn care company will build these important lawn care services for Northeast Ohio lawns into their programs. As you choose a lawn care program, you’ll want to evaluate what’s included in each level of a company’s offerings to pick the best one for you. 

If you only see one program, and everything else is offered as add-on services, do the math to determine the total cost. While this may initially look inexpensive, you may find that once you add it all up, you’re not saving money. 

Look for a lawn care business that spells everything out in their service offerings very simply for you. That way, you know what you’re getting. 

Determining what your lawn needs can be challenging. We completely understand. Give Turf Pride a call, and we can help you learn what your Northeast Ohio lawn needs and which program would be the best fit. Then you just have to sit back and enjoy your lawn.  

tech showing client benefits of perimeter pest control on flyer

Want to improve your lawn’s health and create a thicker, greener lawn? Turf Pride can help. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we’ll customize a plan that gives you the most attractive lawn on your Northeast Ohio block.

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