5 Questions To Ask When Comparing Lawn Care Services

It's spring and many of you are in the market for lawn care. If you are the good consumers I know you to be, you'll get a few estimates.

The following five questions should help you zero in on the best lawn care service to hire.

Virginia Tech recommends homeowners get the soil tested for their lawns every three to four years. The purpose is to stay on top of your soil chemistry so it remains optimal for growing grass. One of the main nutrients to monitor is phosphorus, a vital macronutrient for establishing and maintaining a healthy lawn. Unfortunately, for years overuse led to contamination of our surface waters.

Crabgrass and The Pre-Emergent Paradox

Most homeowners are familiar with the concept of pre-emergent weed control. You put down this stuff in the spring and it kills the weeds before they have a chance to come up in your lawn. Easy peasy. Carrying this out to its logical conclusion means that you need to make sure you put this pre-emergent down well before the weeds get a chance to germinate or it won't work very well. While there are several weeds that can be controlled in the spring with pre-emergent, the number one target is crabgrass and putting crabgrass preventer down too early can sometimes lead to trouble.

Spring has sprung here in Northern Virginia. Thoughts easily turn romantic...an idyllic walk hand in hand...the bloom of a delicate flower...songbirds of a morning...Well, I'm here to snap you back to reality. You need to get your taxes done, the basement smells like a lab experiment and if you want to watch March Madness there's much work to be done out in the yard. Tree pruning, building a patio, fertilizing, mulching...there are literally dozens of jobs that need doing.

AKA Pick Me! Pick Me!

You've done your due diligence. You honestly accessed the myriad of to do's that you and your significant other have been mulling over all winter. You have distilled them down to two lists. One list of jobs you will tackle in-house between the two of you, the kids and whatever neighbors are easily bribed by BBQ. List number two contains the projects that need to be hired out. You then sought out references, perused web pages and checked online reviews to come up with three vendors for each project to give estimates. Now what?

Early Spring - The Most Popular Time to Start Improving Your Lawn

Early Spring is a great time of year to get started on improving your lawn. While it's not the best time (the best time is always 'a month ago'), it is certainly the most popular time. At Bio Green, we have more people start annual service programs in early spring than at any other time of year.

How to Find Value when Comparing Sprinkler Estimates

The "golden rule" for consumers is to make buying decisions based on value, not strictly on price. Grand advice but what exactly does it mean? You see, price and value are two different things. Price is determined by the intersection of supply and demand. Value, on the other hand, is the importance, worth or usefulness of any given thing (product or service). The trick, when shopping for big ticket items, is to try and figure out what gives them value to you. Then decide if the asking price is deserved.

Roots vs. Shoots

It's an age old struggle in the lawn care world. Maintenance programs that promote root growth as opposed to promoting shoot (or leaf) growth. I know it's not exactly the Hatfields vs. McCoys when it comes to feuds or even crunchy vs. smooth when it comes to peanut butter...but for lawn care people it's a pretty big deal.

Every homeowner has 'Take care of the lawn' somewhere on their spring to-do list. It might not rank as high as 'Fix hole in the roof' or 'File taxes on time' but it's there.

The thing is, what exactly should you do for the lawn?

It's mid-spring (in the lawn care trade) and time for our second service on the lawn for the year. When it comes to spring lawn care, crabgrass gets most of the ink. Many homeowners have at least a nodding acquaintance with crabgrass and realize the best way to control it is to keep it from coming up in the first place.

The Final Word: How to Mow Your Lawn Correctly

There is a great deal of misinformation circulating out there regarding the seemingly simple task of cutting your lawn. Not to worry. I am here to set the record straight on the do's and the don'ts. To quote Kaa of Jungle Book fame, “trusssst in me.”

Green and Clean Initiative

That's the name of Virginia's initiative to try and set guidelines for the effective feeding of lawns in our state that are compatible with protecting our surface waters. The program is run through the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and my company, Bio Green has been a proud participant since its inception.

On of the great ironies of the green industry is that most folks that have an automatic sprinkler system do not water properly. It's not because they don't care, mostly it's because they were never taught proper water techniques.

The Scoop on Poop

The virtues of organic fertilizer are extolled by expert and layman alike. In many cases, rightfully so. The slow release of nitrogen to minimize contamination of ground and surface waters. The addition of organic matter to the soil to improve its structure. Stimulation of microbial activity. All good stuff.

What Weed Is That?

Invasive Japanese Stiltgrass

Microstegium vimineum has many common names; annual jewgrass, bamboo grass, shady crabgrass, painin deassgrass (just kidding… I made up that last one) but the name most recognized in our area is Japanese stiltgrass.