Caring For Your Lawn In The Summer

Recent rain showers have led to some beautiful green lawns in our area, and our crew are busy!  But, as you may know soon the dry summer months will be upon us and your lawn will begin to dull and dry out. If not properly cared for you could end up with a drab yellow, or patchy, lawn.

So here are a few simple tips to keep your lawn healthy this summer.

1. Don't continue to mow your lawn once the dry months arrive. Once the dry months of summer arrive, your grass will stop growing, and regular mowing is unnecessary.

2. Toward the end of the Spring rainy season cut you grass to a height no lower than 3 inches.  Cutting shorter than 3 inches will promote dryness, when the drought season is in full effect.

3. To help your lawn survive dry conditions and stay healthy all season, raise your lawn mower to its highest setting and leaving the cuttings on the lawn. The clippings also help shade the soil so it doesn’t dry out and compact this will also provide 50 percent of the nutrients your grass needs.

4. Also, keep mower blades sharp. Dull blades leave ragged cuts; moisture leaks out, disease enters, and grass turns brown.

5. You can allow your grass to go dormant which is a natural way to manage your lawn, this will create some browning of your grass.  Or, you can choose to water the lawn to maintain the green. 

6. If choosing to water your lawn, water it deeply at least 1 inch deep or run your sprinklers for at least 1 hour in the early morning or late evening when the sun is not high in the sky.  Watering in the middle of the day can cause your grass to burn and die. 

Follow these tips and your grass will thank you for it.  Not sure you want to spend the time maintaining a lawn year round consider new landscaping.  A new trend in the landscape industry is sustainable landscaping,  a lawn free alternative, requiring little to no maintenance using drought resistant plants and stone accents.  

Enjoy your summer! And, call us anytime for a FREE lawn care consultation (517)945-1204!

Outdoor Entertainment Areas

Spring continues on with it's usual chilly Michigan start, but it doesn't keep us from thinking about all of the great things we can do to the yard to make it more inviting and create a wonderful area to entertain in as we enter my favorite time of the year. Summer!!

When pondering an outdoor entertainment area you should consider a few things. First, you'll have to decide what you really want to do in your outdoor living space. Is it a relaxing space, where you can lounge and visit? Is it a busy space where you can play outdoor games? Do you intend to have an outdoor eating area? Do you have existing landscaping or features in your yard that you want to highlight or blend into the new plan, like a swimming pool, fire pit, fence line, or retaining wall? As you consider some of these issues you can begin to shape your plan for your outdoor space. 

Just like with a major interior building project there are lots of decisions to be made, and you'll want to go into the project with a couple of essential things.

#1 a budget, having an established budget is important because it's easy to over spend and dream big.  By establishing what you can afford to put into your project in advance it will help you and your contractor put together a realistic project plan. There is nothing more stressful than starting a project and getting over your head financially before the work has even started. So, be vocal about your budget; a great landscape contractor can help you create a beautiful landscape while respecting that bottom line. Many contractors can even create staged projects that you can add a new finished section to every year, and after 3-5 years you'll have an amazing outdoor living space that is the envy of all of your neighbors!

#2 there are many different mediums to choose from having a general idea going in can help to give direction to the project. Some people prefer a more rustic feel and like to use natural wood, and stone. While others may prefer the worry free look of vinyl. Maybe something more industrial  like poured concrete, or metal. Write down a couple of your favorite ideas or visit websites like pinterest.com and houzz.com (look for our company on these sites!) to really get your creative juices flowing. Print or cut out pictures of items you really like and share them with your contractor.

#3 be active in your project, evaluate the progress of your project, and if you have questions ask your contractor to make sure you are both remaining on the same page.  At the end of the day you have to live with the outcome, so build a partnership with the crew doing the work, most companies enjoy having the input of their clients, because it's an easy way to make sure that your customers are happy, and happy customers are often return customers. So, ask questions and evaluate progress, and easy step to ensuring the space is exactly what you had envisioned.

Our final piece of advice, enjoy the process, change can be challenging and there is always that initial shock when you see a contracting team tearing up your turf, but try to remember how wonderful the finished project will be, and how much more enjoyment you'll get out of your new outdoor living space.

Call Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape for a free consultation to upgrade your outdoor living space this summer! 517-945-1204

Andy and Courtney Bailey
Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape
517-945-1204
www.greenersolutionslawn.com

Get To Know Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape

We talk a lot about our services and our company, but we think it's important that you get to know us as people, and as a family too.  I always like to know who it is that I am working with when I hire a contractor to do any work at our home, or on our property.  We are huge advocates of supporting local contractors, and our community economy. 

Our President:

Andy Bailey was born and raised in Jackson, MI more specifically in Vandercook Lake.  He is a VCL alumni, having graduated in 1996.  In 1998 he married his wife of 15 years, Courtney (Alldaffer) Bailey, and they continue to live in the Vandercook Lake area with their three children. Jordon age 15, Logan age 12, and Brianna age 10. 

Andrew has held many managerial and sales positions over the course of his career, and has spent more than 12 years in the building and construction trades industry.  He was a top earning outside sales representative for Building Supply of Jackson from August 2000 until the company was sold to Siding World at which time he was selected for store management, where he further developed his skills in customer service and sales.

In 2007, Andy created Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape.  He created a company with a cause, driven to provide the best customer service and the highest quality of work to all of our customers.  Andy also committed Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape to a high level of community improvement and involvement, sponsoring little league ball teams, 4H organizations, and local Relay For Life Events.

In an effort to provide a wide range of services, Andrew Bailey completed his training and licensing as a builder for the State of Michigan, and became a member of the Jackson MI Home Builders Association in 2011. Andrew continues to look for new ways to become the best lawn and landscape company for any outdoor services needed, whether residential or commercial.  With the support of his family and community he will continue to grow a wonderful community business, that we all can be proud of.

Check out our website for more information, or follow us on facebook, and twitter! Thank you for your support, we appreciate it!

Andy and Courtney Bailey
Greener Solutions Lawn And Landscape
517-945-1204
www.greenersolutionslawn.com