What makes a successful lawn?  There are a lot of key elements in building and maintaining a successful lawn in the St. Louis, Missouri area.  It starts with knowledge.  Lawns are not natural spaces; they are sort of a man made item, and a lot goes into keeping lawns green, and growing year after year.  Taking care of a successful lawn is a lot more than just cutting the grass when it gets to high.

My name is Tim Jenkerson and I am the owner and operator of St. Louis Lawn Care (www.STLlawncare.com).  Together with customers we are making successful, great looking lawns all over the St. Louis area.  I have the knowledge and experience to make your yard the best looking lawn in the neighborhood.

A great looking yard has to start somewhere.  A bare dirt surface can either be laid with sod, or seeded.  Sod is a more expensive start, but it has instant results.  On the other hand, seed is a cheaper way to start a lawn, but it may take a while for the seed to grow into grass.  For a great looking St. Louis lawn, I recommend a tall fescue grass.  It is green, durable and fills in with great results.  It usually takes two to four weeks for the seed to grow into grass.  Both methods must be properly watered for optimum growth.

Maintenance is the next step once the grass starts growing.  This involves cutting the grass and watering.  St. Louis Lawn Care is a great lawn mowing service in the St. Louis area.  The height of mowing usually depends on the type of grass that is on your yard and the weather conditions at the time.  For example, the weather in St. Louis can get up to over 100 degrees in the summer months and under zero degrees in the winter months.  Lawns need to be cut higher in the hot summer months, to protect from drying out, and lawns need to be cut down to a lower height in the winter, so that the much needed winter sunlight is not blocked by the over grown leaves of grass.  Watering is another crucial maintenance activity that must be performed to obtain a successful lawn.  Watering is a delicate balancing act.  Too little water will result in poor lawn growth and the lawn will burn in the hot St. Louis summer months.  Too much water will prevent good root growth and grass will tear up easily.  Watering your lawn too much will make the lawn soft and mushy, and the lawn will be almost un-usable for any activity.

Fertilizer is another key item that keeps you grass looking green and full all year round.  It is best to fertilize multiple times during the year.   Fertilizer has three main elements Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potash.  These are the three numbers on the face of the fertilizer bag.  The amount of each element should differ, depending on what the weather is like at the time, or in what season the fertilizer is spread.  When it comes to fertilizer, a professional lawn care business is really helpful.  The local kid at your Home Depot store doesn’t care about your lawn, nor does he know anything about fertilizer.  He is just regurgitating what the store manager tells him.  A good fertilization program has many benefits.  Good fertilizers prevent weeds, and inspire healthy root and top growth. At St. Louis Lawn Care we know about how lawns react to fertilizer in the ever changing St. Louis weather.  We will apply the correct amount of the best fertilizer for your lawn.

Aeration is maybe one of the most under utilized things that will help a lawn.  People probably don’t use it because, unlike fertilizer, aeration does not give instant results.  The best time to aerate is in the fall, but it can be done in the spring, as well.  Aeration breaks up the compacted soil and thatch that has been accumulating all summer long.  Aeration is the process of pulling small plugs from the ground, allowing air, water, and nutrients to penetrate the ground surface and go directly to the roots of the grass.  Aeration should be done at least once a year.  Aerating a lawn is one of the best things that can be done for a yard.  After aeration give the lawn a good overseeding and fertilization to help produce that coveted, thick, lush lawn.  At St. Louis Lawn Care we know how important aeration is, so that is why we offer it as one of our services.

The final step in creating and maintaining a successful lawn is overseeding.  Overseeding is the process of laying down grass seed over the existing lawn to help maintain and thicken the grass.  This will fill in any bare spots, and spots with thin grass.  The best time for overseeding is in the fall, about a month or two before the ground freezes.  This will allow for proper germination of the grass seed.  Overseeding with the right kind of grass seed will fill in lawns that have been punished by the summer weather, and the overseeding process will help choke out weeds.  But, if a cheap grass seed is used, this may cause more weeds, because some of the cheaper grass seeds contain high amounts of weeds.  Overseeding is another part of the lawn maintenance program that should be left to the hands of a knowledgeable professional.  The kid at the local Home Depot doesn’t know the difference between the many different kinds of grass seeds and how they will affect your lawn.  At St. Louis Lawn Care we use only the best, high quality seed, and we buy it in bulk so it is very affordable to the customer.  St. Louis Lawn Care can spread our high quality seed for about the same as the cost as lesser quality bag of seed that is found at the local Home Depot.

Follow the steps above and a successful lawn is a season or two away.  Watering, mowing, fertilization, aeration, and overseeding are all things that will make and maintain a great lawn year after year.  If you need a professional lawn care company and lawn maintenance service to help with any, or all of the above services St. Louis Lawn Care can handle any of the services above.