Grass cutting:
Mowing your grass is one of the most important things done in maintaining the health of your lawn and the overall appearance of your home. Good and consistent lawn mowing is essential if you want a high quality lawn, and will ensure that your lawn has fewer weeds, better tolerance to dry weather and generally better quality than lawns than those that are not regularly maintained.
We offer:
(a) A weekly grass cutting service from May through
September, followed by bi-weekly service until
mid-November,
(b) A bi-weekly grass cutting service from May till
mid-November, subject to seasonal weather conditions.
Our grass cutting service provides mulching in accordance
with the 1/3 rule of mowing lawns. In general, we cut your
lawn from a height of approximately 41/2 inches long, and
cut it back to approximately 3 inches long. The growth of your grass is determined by many factors such as the temperature, humidity, hours of sunshine, the type of grass, health of the grass, soil consistency, nutrient level (fertilizer), and amount of water the grass is able to absorb. In general, lawns are likely to need cutting about every 7 days, but area weather conditions and customer sprinkler system settings can make that 7 day period be shortened to 3 days or extended to 14 days (for some customers, even 21 days). If the grass is longer than 5 inches, we cannot cut it back to 3 inches with one cutting. The amount of grass clippings created will be more than we can effectively spread over your lawn. Your lawn will require 2 cuttings, 2 or 3 days apart, to get it back to 3 inches.
A healthy lawn, with appropriate fertilizer and water, will grow from a cut length of 3 inches to a length of 4½ - 5 inches in 5 days.
It is our goal to provide the level of service required to ensure that our customers have attractive (curb appeal) and healthy lawns. This goal is totally unachievable if the grass is allowed to grow too long, or if it is cut too short. With consideration given to customer’s budget, along with our workload and schedule, hopefully we can meet your expectations.
It is important to ensure that your lawn is maintained by regular
grass cutting. If your grass has grown to a point where a regular
(weekly or bi-weekly) grass cut would leave excessive grass
clippings on your lawn, an additional charge for collection,
bagging and disposal, will be applied. Piles of un-collected grass
clippings left on your lawn can damage, even kill, the grass
below it (photo at right).
For customers with pets, please make all efforts to collect
waste from your lawn area. We will not be able to cut the
grass in lawn areas where pet waste has not been picked up. Your grass cutting charge will be adjusted appropriately. Please co-operate.
All full grass cuts include trimming around the house, fence, flower beds, trees, etc. as required, and front driveway/walkway blow-off. Grass cutting with collection of the grass clippings is also available upon request at an additional charge.
HOWEVER, we recognize that this is YOUR lawn, and we will modify our standard procedures to provide the service you want. If additional effort (or less effort) is required to provide the “cut” you want, the price per cut will be adjusted appropriately.
Details of this service:
Weekly Service: Our lawn cutting crew will come to your home to cut the grass once per week. Your home will be scheduled for the same day each week, as indicated on your account statements, subject to weather conditions, weather forecasts, and availability of staff and equipment. They will inspect your property and determine if a full cut is required (in accordance with the 1/3 rule of mowing lawns) or if only specific areas (i.e. front, back, sides, or trim only) need cutting. The required work will be done, and your home will be left looking tidy and well kept. In the circumstance where absolutely no work is required on your property to keep it looking tidy, there will be a minimal inspection charge. Customers can avoid this minimum charge by advising us not to come by phone call, text message or e-mail the day prior to the usual assigned cutting day.
Bi-weekly Service: Same as our weekly service, but we will come to your home once every 2 weeks. Please note, however, that there is a greater likelihood that the weather or other conditions may have caused your grass to grow to a point where it is long (more than 6”) and thick (as discussed above), and therefore a greater chance that additional charges may be incurred for collection and disposal.
Special notes on billing:
(a) For customers who order scaring or de-thatching in spring, these services require us to collect and bag the dead grass roots and clippings. This means that your lawn will effectively get a grass cut as part of the collection process. Although it is not a “full” grass cut (i.e. maybe no trimming is done), it is adequate to delay the next grass cut till its scheduled day. There is no charge for this grass cut done as part of the scaring or de-thatching service.
(b) Starting mid to late September, the leaves on some trees will change colour and fall. For homes where the leaves fall on areas of the lawn that would normally be cut, these leaves and the grass below them will be mulched as would be done with a regular grass cut. However, if there are too many leaves to mulch and leave on the lawn along with the grass clippings, then we will collect and bag the leaves and grass. This will involve extra effort and actual leaf bags. While we are open to leaving some mulched leaves and grass clippings on your lawn, we cannot in good faith leave an excessive amount as it will have a negative impact on your lawn. Grass clippings and mulched leaves left on your lawn after mid-September will not have the weather or time to decompose before winter, so should be collected and removed from the lawn. For these grass cuts where clippings are collected, there will be an additional charge per leaf bag collected. These leaf bags will be left at your curb for city pickup. If this lawn service (probably about the last of the year) includes or blowing of raking leaves or pine needles, then the service is billed as a fall cleanup and not just a grass cut.
(c) At any time in the year, weather conditions and watering system settings, along with fertilizers and other lawn treatments, may cause your grass to grow excessively long and thick between scheduled grass cuts. It is a good idea to recognize these conditions on your lawn and consider adjusting the frequency and/or duration of your sprinkler system. We can try cutting the grass on a slightly higher setting, and leaving it a bit longer than usual. The problem with this is that your lawn may not look cut, and it will likely be a similar situation at the next schedule cut. Before long, it will likely be necessary to cut, collect and bag the grass clippings. This will involve extra effort and leaf bags, and there will therefore be an additional charge.
References:
We encourage customers to watch the YOUTUBE video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXbKiI7Rry0
and to read the BASIC RULES OF MOWING at
http://gardening.yardener.com/Basic-Rules-Of-Mowing
Please note that our mowing practices use 2 ½ to 3 inches as the minimum (summer) to adjust for our very sandy soil.
‘Special’ Grass cuts:
‘Special’ grass cuts provide grass cutting for circumstances not covered by our ‘regular’ grass cutting service.
There are many situations where this can happen. Some examples of this are:
A newly sodded lawn.
A recently top-dressed lawn or over-seeding, (full lawn or specific areas).
A customer whose grass is long, either in early spring or simply due to neglect.
A customer whose grass cut has been delayed for whatever reason (example spraying for weeds, a new roof, building a deck, driveway being re-finished).
A customer who wants the grass clippings collected.
With our grass cutting service, the grass is mulched (not collected) so as to return grass seeds and nutrients to the lawn. Mulching works best for your lawn, as long as it is cut regularly, and no more than 1/3 of the grass length is removed in a single cut.
If a delay in cutting our customer’s lawn happens due to weather conditions, or the cutting schedule controlled by Marlwood Grass, any additional effort due to longer grass will be borne at the expense of Marlwood Grass. If, however, the delay is due to customer request or customer initiated conditions, the excessive grass clippings will be left on the lawn and will not be collected or dispersed. Over time, these grass clippings will decompose or be blown away, but if the lawn was very long, or the grass was very thick, the excessive clippings can harm the grass under them.
Our quoted prices are based on cutting (mulching) the grass when it is approximately 4 ½” long, and cutting it back to between 2 ½” and 3”, depending on weather conditions. This is in accordance with the 1/3 rule for mowing lawns which is in the best interest of your lawn. 'Special' grass cuts are offered for circumstances where the regular grass cut is not in the best interest of your lawn, or specifically at the customer's request. Any additional effort required due to customer initiated delays or requests will be at the customer’s expense.
For customers who have their homes for sale, please consider that the appearance of the front lawn creates the first impression to a potential buyer. Saving on lawn maintenance is probably not a wise choice.
For customers who may consider delaying a grass cut for budgetary purposes, please contact us
to discuss alternatives. Your co-operation is greatly appreciated.
All grass cuts include full trimming (as required) and walkway blow-off unless requested otherwise.
Mowing new lawns:
New lawns need time for their roots to become established before they can be mowed for the first time. For seeded lawns, it may take up to 2 months before they are ready to be mowed. Wait for all of the seeds to germinate before mowing. Sod may be ready to be mowed within 2 to 3 weeks of being laid.
HOW WE WILL MOW YOUR NEW LAWN
It is important to be sure that the lawn is fairly dry before mowing so that we do not pull out any of your new lawn. If you walk through the lawn and your shoes get wet, delay the cut till latter in the day. Also, we must wait for new sod to attach itself to the ground below. The center will usually attach first, while the edges will take longer to attach to the ground below.
As a general rule, we will let your lawn grow to about twice the recommended height before cutting the first time, perhaps up to 5 or 6 inches. We will probably use trimmers to “knock down” any tall grass, before using a mower with sharp blades (set at its highest) to cut the lawn in areas where it is safe to do so.
The second lawn mowing, probably 3 or 4 days after the first mowing, will be to cut the lawn to reduce the length of the grass closer to the “regular” length of approximately 2 ½ to 3 inches. The third mowing, another 3 to 4 days after the second, will cut your lawn to its “regular” length.
If you've seeded some bare spots or a whole lawn, we will hold off on mowing the area until the new grass is between 4 and 4 ½ inches long. This may take up to 2 months. The first cut will likely be with a push mower, not a riding mower, and will usually cut the new grass to its “regular” length of about 3 inches.
If you've seeded over your existing lawn, you can mow as needed. Your lawn should be mowed regularly in accordance with the 1/3 cutting rule at all times to keep the lawn healthy.
The first 3 cuts for new sod will require additional time and effort over a “regular” grass cut, and as such will be billed as a “special grass cut”.
Marlwood Grass and Snow
Call David at 705-305-4000
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