Maintaining your lawnmower is a key part of your early summer lawn care to-do list.
After Memorial Day weekend, many people’s minds turn to summer. For many homeowners, this means that their lawn requires more regular attention. If you plan your lawn care tasks effectively, you can save future costs, grow a beautiful landscape, and have some extra time for fun summer activities. There is plenty of landscape maintenance required during summer, and following this early summer to-do list can help you get your lawn care started on the right foot.
Tune Up Your Lawnmower
If your lawnmower isn’t running correctly, your summer lawn care can be extremely challenging. You can tune up your lawnmower at home by changing the oil, changing the spark plug, and changing or cleaning the air filter. Additionally, you can ensure that your lawnmower is working at its best by sharpening the blade as needed. Remember to always remove the spark plug wire when removing and re-installing the mower blade.
Control Moles and Voles
If moles and voles are disturbing your landscape, now is the time to address the problem. The first step is positively identifying moles and voles on your lawn. Moles make bi-level tunnels in your yard and consume earthworms, grubs, insects, and other animals along with an occasional bulb or root. They are on a constant quest for food, which can quickly lead to a ruined lawn.
Voles are vegetarians that feed on grasses, leaves, stems, bark, bulbs, roots, tubers, and more. They consume an amount equal to their body weight each day and, like moles, dig underground burrows in your yard. If you spot either moles or voles while caring for your summer lawn, contact Scientific Plant Service immediately. Removing these pests from your landscape is much easier and less expensive than repairing the damage they can cause.
Practice Irrigation
Another primary component of summer lawn care is avoiding lawn drought. Depending on how you program your irrigation system, you can set up an efficient and cost-effective system that helps you avoid a brown lawn. Watering deeply and infrequently is far better than watering shallowly and frequently. Irrigation systems also help those who might otherwise forget to water their grasses and plants manually.
Control Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are not just annoying; they can spread diseases and create painful and irritating bites throughout the summer. To help guard your summer lawn against excessive mosquitoes, try to eliminate breeding habitats for mosquitoes. This includes keeping your property clean and eliminating areas where water would puddle. Mosquitoes can breed in as little as a bottle cap filled with water.
Control Ticks
You should also look out for ticks in your yard this summer. One method for controlling ticks is to use a spray that kills ticks. But, because Lyme disease is spread by deer ticks, which are spread by deer and mice, you should also work to make your landscape unattractive to deer and mice. You can do this by planting deer-resistant plants, following Scientific Plant Service’s deer repellent program, and placing “tick tubes” which control deer ticks carried on mice. This can prevent the arrival of deer ticks and prevent deer from eating your plants!
By being mindful of these summer lawn care tasks, you can help assure your lawn will be green and healthy through the next few months.
Scientific Plant Service Is Your Go-To Source In Landscape Healthcare
Scientific Plant Service, located in Baltimore, is a privately owned corporation, chartered in Maryland in 1957 by Frank J. Burke. We started as a full-service Arborists specializing in the care of shade trees and ornamental shrubs, but today we are a Lawn Care company that is a huge part of the community. From aquatic environments and snow management to deer and mole control, SPS has services tailored specifically for your lawn and landscape.
We offer services in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia, including: Harford, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Anne Arundel, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Calvert counties in MD, as well as Loudoun County, Fairfax County, Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church in VA. For more information, contact us online, or call us at 410-321-0970. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest!