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Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Get Lawn Care for Your Cedar Rapids Home

Keeping your lawn healthy is among the most important aspects of maintaining your home. Frequent maintenance not only enhances curb appeal, it also prevent damages from water and pests. By keeping the grass even, soil healthy, and edges trim, beautiful lawn care can increase the value of your property and your neighborhood.

It's important to be consistent in performing lawn case, as new problems can resurface every season. It may be worth it to hire professional lawn care in Cedar Rapids, especially with the amount of tools, products, and equipment required to get lawns into good shape. You can achieve a renewed appearance for your lawn and have the time to enjoy it year-round. Below are additional facts about commonly used lawn care techniques:

Mowing— Among the most common mistakes made in lawn care is mowing at the incorrect height. Depending on which season it is, various grass types require different mowing schedules. Cutting your lawn too short could scalp the soil and destroy the roots and stems. In order to stop lawn damage, grass should be cut according to the recommended height for the type.

Watering— Although plants need water to thrive, overwatering could prevent the roots from growing to its fullest potential. This can lead to lawns becoming more susceptible to weeds, diseases, and other lawn problems. Still, it's important to water on a needed basis, particularly during droughts. In most cases, it's better to water lawns deeply and occasionally as opposed to pouring it over the soil at once.

Fertilizing— Another key lawn care practice is fertilization. There are several factors to consider, such as climate, grass type, and type of fertilizer. Fertilizers can be organic, made from materials like food, compost, and grass clippings, or synthetic with nitrogen, potassium, or phosphorus. Remember that using more fertilizer doesn't necessary mean the grass will grow faster. This is a common misconception that should be avoided.

Aerating— Even though aeration is mostly used on lawns with compacted soil, healthy lawns can still benefit from it. As it breaks up the soil, aeration permits oxygen, water, and nutrients to distribute easily throughout the soil. Regions that experience regular rain or lawns with heavy foot traffic have a greater need for aeration.

Lawn Care in the Midwest

Being aware of the season and the type of grass on your lawn is important when doing lawn care. For residents of Cedar Rapids, lawn care is mostly focused on maintaining cool-season grasses. As the Midwest generally experiences extreme version of each season, year-round lawn care becomes crucial. Among the most common grass types in the Midwest are:

For a healthy lawn, watering, fertilizing, weed control, and general maintenance are required throughout the year.

• Kentucky bluegrass
• Fescue

Spring

For many areas of the Midwest, flooding is a severe issue in spring lawn care. Because of this, watering should be monitored to avoid oversaturating the soil.

Make sure your lawn mower is properly functioning, as Midwestern lawns will need heavy mowing through the summer. Some of the things you'll need to check for are the spark plugs, oil tank, engine stabilizer, and fresh tank of gas.

Spring is also the time to dethatch hardened spots around your lawn. Purchase a dethatching rake and do it yourself or hire help to use a power dethatcher.

Summer

Summer can bring swelteringly high temperatures to the Midwest, causing problems in maintaining lawn hydration. Lawns that lack moisture also become more susceptible to crabgrass, a summertime weed. To keep weeds from sprouting, water frequently and deeply, especially during droughts. Apply post-emergent herbicide on any weeds that have already sprouted.

Apply a slow-release fertilizer during the summers. This allows nutrients to be released over time, rather than at once.

Overseed any bare or damaged areas to fill in the lawn.

Allow your lawn to go dormant during periods of drought. Even though dormant lawns don't need as much attention as active ones, watering should done once a week.

During dry periods, lawn mower blades should be set higher to avoid cutting off too much grass at once. Longer grass is better able to handle droughts.

Fall

To prepare for the winter, cut the grass to a medium height so that it doesn't mat or weight down from the snow. Snow mold can build on the lawn if the grass becomes matted down.

Apply pre-emergent herbicides to prevent new weeds from rooting and sprouting.

Take this time to organize the chemical cabinet containing lawn products. Read the packaging instructions and discard any products you may have that are set to expire in the winter.

Although grass may not grow as fast in the fall, mowing should still happen from time to time to prepare for winter snows.

Winter

Try to stay off the lawn as much as possible during the winter. Walking on frozen grass can cause severe damages.

Shovel the sidewalks and driveway carefully before applying snow melting chemicals. This prevents the chemicals from running off onto your lawn.

Drain the irrigation and sprinkler systems as temperatures drop.

Do maintenance on your lawn mower by replacing the blades, installing a new air filter, and purchasing new spark plugs. This helps you save time and money while lawn care is at its most inactive during the year.

Winter provides an opportunity to take a break from lawn care when snow is heavy and not much lawn care can be done.

Seek Professional Help Now!

Doing your own lawn care can be a worthwhile experience. However, constant maintenance can be demanding. In addition to other household priorities, lawn care can easily go from a hobby to a full-time priority. This could cause your lawn to degrade, losing value on the property, and fall into disrepair.

To keep this from happening, get help from a Cedar Rapids lawn care service that is professionally equipped to meet your lawn's needs. Professional lawn care not only saves you time, but money in achieving a healthy lawn more efficiently. It also saves you from spending heavily on costly damages. Contact a lawn care specialist now to get started on growing your Cedar Rapids lawn to its best potential - call today!