2024 Lawn Care Service List

The Complete Lawn Care Service List

What lawn care services are there to choose from?

When it comes to lawn care, many may think of only cutting the grass. Others may also include fertilizing the lawn along with mowing. But there are many more lawn care tasks to consider.

Keeping in mind that the list we are about to provide will not include things like sod installations, and shrub trimming as we consider that landscaping. Yes, there is a difference between lawn care and landscaping.

Also, keep in mind that currently, Kevin J Services does not offer every lawn care service available, but ensuring you know all the options will help you decide whether to do some tasks yourself, hire a service that specializes in something specific, or hire an all-in-one service provider. 

Here are all the lawn care services you will need to maximize the health of your Northeast Ohio lawn:

• Spring Cleanup
• Fertilization and Weed Control
• Lawn Mowing
• Irrigation
• Dethatching
• Aeration
• Overseeding
• Fall Leaf Cleanup

Most of these services you would need every year. Others like aeration, dethatching, and overseeding may not be needed but every 3 years. Leaf cleanups will all depend on your property or your neighbors' property's tendency to dump a lot of leaves onto the turf. If the leaves are light, mulching them into the soil with the mower could be easier than a full-scale cleanup.

Spring Cleanups

Spring cleanups usually begin mid-May and may vary in what a company may choose to offer. Spring cleanups would normally include:

• Removing any winter debris from the turf including leaves, twigs, and branches
• Establishing an edge to the property in preparation for the upcoming mowing season
• Double-cutting the grass. Once to get the turf to 3.5 inches. The second cut is to bag the turf.

Some companies may offer to aerate and detach their lawn in the spring, but these services are better performed in the fall as you will get better results. Recall, Kevin J Services follows the best practices regarding lawn care, so unless the lawn needs a total rehab, we do not offer aeration, detaching, or overseeding until the fall.

Fertilization and Weed Control

Although we currently do not offer fertilization and weed control (yet), this is fairly important to have for the overall health of your lawn. It's also worth mentioning that the timing of the chemical applications is important. Get the scheduled timing wrong and money can be wasted as results will be disappointing leading to burnt grass, dead grass, or no results at all!

We will not bash other companies but beware... the 'money chasers' do not care to follow a proper schedule. Look for a genuine company to provide this service.

Most companies will break their fertilization and weed control program to a minimum of 4 visits. A program may include:

• Pre-Emergent
• Weed and Feed
• Summer All Purpose Greener or Grub Preventor
• Winterizer

Professional grade Pre-Emergent is a slow-release fertilizer and herbicide for the prevention of crabgrass. This is applied between March 15th and May 1st.

Weed and Feed is considered post-emergent and this fertilizer has herbicides that kill a vast majority of weeds after they appear in the lawn. This is applied between May 1st and July 1st.

Summer All Purpose Greener is a summer slow-release fertilizer that promotes even greening and no burning of the lawn. This is applied between July 1st and September 1st.  However, as an alternative Grub Preventor which is also a slow-release fertilizer can be applied in the late spring and early summer if the lawn has been known to have grub issues in the past.

Winterizer is the last of the fertilizer applications of the season. It is perfect for applying in the late summer and fall between September 1st and November 15th.

It is always best to have the soil tested so adjustments can be made to how much needs to be applied to your turf during a feeding session.

Lawn Mowing

Perhaps the most popular service one can think of when it comes to lawn care is lawn mowing. When you think about it, it is only one of a few landscaping or lawn care services that could get you a fine, which happens if you allow the grass to become overgrown. Lawn mowing is essential from April to October. And mowing the lawn can start as early as mid-May and continue into December some years. So as long as soil temperatures are above 50 degrees constantly, the grass will grow.

Cutting the grass should be done weekly in Northeast Ohio, particularly where we are located in Euclid, Ohio.  And we are talking about all season long with maybe only a skip or 2 in the summer if that. If your grass does not grow to warrant a weekly mowing, then your grass is either:

• being cut too low, 
• having too much of the blade taken off per mowing,
• suffering from a disease,
• has an unhealthy thatch buildup,
• is grossly weed-infested,
• suffering from high soil compaction
• full of bare spots

Either way, this means your lawn is not healthy. Here at Kevin J Services, we only offer weekly mowing, as we know cutting bi-weekly will lead to the problems listed above. That would not be following the best practices if we did, so we don't... and we won't become a company that is lumped in with the "money chasers" by offering anything other than weekly mowing service.

Our mowing service includes:

• mowing the grass on a weekly schedule at the proper mowing heights for the cool season grass type found in our area
• trimming areas where the mower can not reach to ensure an even finish
• edging the turf where the lawn meets the pavement to give it that sharp manicured look that is beautiful from the curb and to those who pass by
• blowing the mulched grass clipping that fell onto the paved areas back into the lawn for the turfs added nutrients and to prevent grass growth in between pavement cracks

Irrigation

When June hits the temperatures often rise to the point where the lawn will need assistance quenching its thirst. in August you can be sure you would need irrigation.  This is where watering the grass or irrigation comes in.

Generally, when the temperatures regularly exceed 80 degrees you will most likely need to run the irrigation system you have on a regular schedule. And that schedule should be once a week, not every day or every other day as some may do. Overwatering is a common mistake. Your lawn only needs about 1.5 inches of water per week.

To achieve this it is best to water deep, than often. To help know if your grass needs watering or when it's been watered enough, use a rain gauge. 

Now when we refer to irrigation, we also mean watering the lawn in any way. This would include:

• using a garden hose
• installing an in-ground sprinkler system
• installing an above-ground sprinkler system

Whichever method you choose to have, watering the grass is an important but overlooked aspect of lawn care by many sad to say. It's understandable to worry about water bill increases, but any time, money, and effort you put into other areas of lawn care will not be as successful if you fail to implement the proper watering system for your lawn every year.

Dethatching

Over time dead grass and other organic matter that fail to decompose build up between the top of the soil and below the soil. This layer is called thatch and when it becomes 1.5 inches thick, it's time to take action.

Dethatching is a service that can be done yearly, but in reality, can be done every 2-3 years if you aerate in between or combine aeration with your dethatching service.

Dethatching removes this layer of dead matter and improves water and sun-to-soil contact. There are ways to test to see if dethatching your lawn is needed but a tell-tell sign to go ahead and test the soil is when the grass seems to fail to green up like it should, or if it fails to grow like it should despite regular mulching the grass when mowing or other lawn care related tasks. 

Dethatching can be done with a:

• power rake made for dethatching
• electric dethatcher
• tow-behind dethatcher which attaches to a riding lawn mower.

Some companies offer dethatching as a stand-alone service and also offer this service in the spring. But for the cool season grass we have in Ohio, dethatching is best done in the late summer and early fall, usually in September. Overseeding is always recommended to accompany this service and aeration will add to its effectiveness.

Aeration

If you have seen lawns will little rolled plugs laying through someone's lawn, then they have had their grass aerated. Aeration is a process where holes are made in the turf soil to help with compaction and allow water from rain or irrigation to better penetrate the soil.

Like with dethatching, signs you need to aerate include grass that struggles to grow despite other lawn care efforts, grass that does not appear a vibrant green, standing puddles of water, and a sponge-like feeling when walking on the grass. 

Aeration can be done with a:

• core aeration machine
• spiked aeration shoes
• plug aerator

Aeration can be done yearly, although if your lawn is healthy and you mow the lawn weekly, fertilize, and irrigate each year, aeration may only be needed every other year. Always overseed after aeration or weed seeds will fill those holes that were plugged into the lawn.

In addition, because of the weed seeds' chance of finding these holes and germinating, aeration is best performed in the fall in September for lawns here in Northeast Ohio. Combine this service with dethatching if your lawn needs a lot of help, or rotate between these two services every other year to maintain an already healthy lawn.

Overseeding

Whenever you have dethatching or aeration done to your lawn, overseeding should follow. Overseeding is when you place grass seed on top of an already established lawn. Both dethatching and aerating the grass opens up the turf for better seed-to-soil contact so the results are many of these seeds germinating, creating a thicker, denser lawn.

Overseeding your turf will result in you having to water the seeds frequently, about 3 times a day for at least 15 minutes per zone each watering, for a few weeks. Avoid drowning the seeds in water, however, or your overseeding project will be a waste of money. So watch the weather for rain and plan the watering around that.

Overseeding, like aeration and dethatching, is best done in the fall, however, a quick spread of seeds in the spring, after you have dethatched or aerated the previous fall may be an option. If you go this route, be sure to plan around any weed lawn treatments or your seeds won't germinate.

Some popular grass seeds include:

• Shade Mix
• All Purpose Mix
• Sunny Mix
• Kentucky Bluegrass Seed

Fall Leaf Cleanup

Perhaps the 2nd most common lawn care service customers opt for will be the fall leaf cleanup. This is because some homes get a lot of fallen leaves, and combined with the dropping temperatures in November, it is a task many rather not do themselves. Leaving a thick layer of leaves will smother the lawn, so it is not wise to let them sit, get wet, and in return, kill the grass underneath.

When it comes to leaf cleanups many cities like Euclid, Oh will provide a curbside city pickup every few weeks during the fall season. I appreciate this service although it could result in a huge pile of wet leaves sitting on your curb, damaging that front lawn area, as it may take 3 weeks or even over a month sometimes for them to make the rounds.

Still, all you have to do is get the leaves to the curb, and to get this accomplished most companies will use:

• backpack blowers
• tarps
• rakes or
• mowers with baggers

Other options include bagging the leaves in brown paper bags or having the leaves hauled away. It's worth noting that bagging the leaves may not be allowed during the city-pickup of leaves window.

To achieve the results of the healthy, green, dense, weed-free lawn you are desiring, you should consider adding as many of the services mentioned above. For some residents, services like leaf cleanups won't be necessary, but generally, every other service should be on the table, most annually, and others like dethatching and aerating every other year.

So, what will these  lawn care services cost?

Lawn Care Service Cost

How much do most lawn care companies charge?

When it comes to the cost of lawn care there is no one-size-fits-all all price chart between different companies.  One lawn care company may specialize in one specific service or even offer a few different services while other companies may only do full service. Some companies may have years of experience and thus can use better equipment and products allowing them to charge a premium while on the flip side, a solo operator may only be doing this for beer money and charges the bare minimum because he offers less in value and results. 

Kevin J Services is not a large company, but we follow the best practices for lawn care to give our customers the best results, better value, and competitive pricing across all our services. Because of these factors, for most of the lawns we service, prices can range from $130 a month -$199 per month or $900-$1500 per year. We currently only offer our services to properties up to a certain square footage, so we imagine larger properties we don't serve will even pay more for lawn care from other companies than our pricing range currently has.

When it comes to lawn care services we offer, or plan to offer, here is a guide we commonly end up quoting:

• Lawn Mowing Maintenance: $130- $199 per month
• Leaf Cleanup Maintenance: $260- $399 per fall season
• Aeration and Overseeding: $260-$399
• Detaching - $130-$199
• Lawn Fertilization and Weed Control: $339-$449 per year

Kevin J Services main service offering is weekly lawn mowing maintenance, and other services are only available if you are a mowing customer.