Local lawn care company Emerald Lawns was founded because its owners believed that each lawn should receive personalized treatment, and that people should be prioritized over profit.
Sixteen years of beautifying lawns later, its team is the most knowledgeable about Central Texas lawn issues and works to educate its customers alongside doing their job.
Aaron Carter, Vice President of Customer Experience at Emerald Lawns, has five simple ways that homeowners can promote healthier and greener growth on their lawn this spring.
1. Cut your turf low
The first mow of the year is the most important—it gets rid of all of last year’s dead ends and damage. Set the mower a notch or two lower than normal height and bag the clippings.
“The grass can focus on new growth rather than pushing off old growth, so the result is an earlier, greener lawn for you,” Carter said.
2. Get rid of weeds
Emerald Lawns technicians know that the root of the problem lies in the timing. They apply pre-emergent to “prune” weed roots prior to gemination thereby reducing spring and summer weed growth in your lawn. Pre-emergent only targets weeds for the coming season. If you currently have weeds, their technicians will spot-treat them.
3. Bring the pH down in the soil
In Central Texas, there are six different dirt mixtures. All of them have the same problem: high pH levels due to limestone. Emerald Lawns technicians work to lower the pH level with top dressing, a mixture spread over a lawn that amends the soil and lets existing grass grow through it. Carter said this is the most popular time of year to start the top-dressing process in a yard.
“Really what compost does for a top-dressing process is put back into the soil what nature slowly robs over the years,” Carter said. “We use a mix of cotton burr, pine shavings, pine saw dust and rice hulls. The cotton burr and rice hulls provide nitrogen and organic matter while the pine works to lower the pH.”
4. Water the lawn the right way
First, get the irrigation system checked. Ground shifts during the winter can alter the heads impacting coverage or leave them not functioning correctly. This simple step will ensure they are working properly in the springtime.
Next, check to see if the sprinklers are distributing the right amount of water to each section of the yard—depending on elevation, some sections may get more run-off water than others. New homeowners with brand-new grass should inspect the sprinkler system put into place by the construction company, as it most likely needs to be fine-tuned to fit a lawn’s exact needs.
5. Increase root density with liquid aeration
There is a better way to aerate your lawn. New, innovative liquid aeration opens thousands of pours, reaching deeply into the soil to create pathways for air, water, and nutrients to follow — thus helping your turf's roots system grow broader and deeper to repel weeds.
Compared to older methods, such as Core Aeration, this process removes the likelihood of sprinkler system damage while ensuring exponentially greater coverage.
Learn more about Emerald Lawns’ aeration program here.
Emerald Lawns currently serves the Austin, San Antonio and Waco areas, but its staff is passionate about sharing their skills so that homeowners all over Texas can benefit from their expertise. To learn more about how to take care of your lawn, visit https://emeraldlawns.com/.
The above story was produced by Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of their "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team. Our integrity promise to our readers is to clearly identify all CI Storytelling posts so they are separate from the content decided upon, researched and written by our journalism department.
