Mowing and maintenance

How we work

Do you bill per cut or per month?

Per visit, by default. You pay for the cuts you get. If you would rather pay one flat price and stop thinking about it, a subscription is available, but it is the option, not the default, and we do not push it.

Do you lock me into a contract?

No. There is no term to commit to and no cancellation notice period. Tell us to stop and we stop, that week.

How do I cancel?

Call or email and say so. There is nothing to give notice on and nothing further to pay beyond visits already made.

Will anything renew automatically without me noticing?

No. Because maintenance is billed per visit rather than on a term, there is no renewal date for anything to roll over on.

Will you quote me without seeing the property?

For straightforward maintenance, often yes, tell us the address and what you want done. For construction, drainage or anything where what is under the ground matters, we would rather look first than give you a number we might have to change.

Why do you need my address and phone number just for a quote?

The address because the price genuinely depends on the property, and because we need to know you are inside the fifteen miles we work. The phone number because a quote usually takes one short conversation to get right. We do not use either for anything else.

About the work itself

These are true whoever does the job. We have answered them properly because knowing the trade is the argument.

How often should a lawn be mowed?

The useful rule is not a calendar interval, it is the one-third rule: never remove more than a third of the blade height in a single cut. Through the flush of spring growth that usually means weekly. In the heat of mid-summer, when growth slows, it can stretch. A lawn cut on a rigid fortnightly schedule through May is being scalped whether or not it looks like it.

What height should grass be cut at?

Higher than most people cut it. For the cool-season grasses common in this part of Pennsylvania and Maryland, roughly three to four inches is the range that works. Taller grass shades its own roots, holds moisture, and crowds out weeds without any chemical doing it. Cutting short does not buy you an extra week, it buys you a stressed lawn that needs more water.

When should mowing start in spring?

When the grass starts growing, which is a soil temperature question rather than a date. Around here that is usually somewhere in the back half of March into April, but a warm February can bring it forward. The first cut should take the top off rather than take it down.

When should mowing stop for the winter?

When growth stops, not when the calendar says so, usually after a run of nights consistently near freezing. Going into winter slightly shorter than summer height helps, because long grass mats under snow and invites disease. It is a last cut lower, not a scalping.

Is my lawn dead or just dormant?

Dormant grass is uniformly straw-coloured across the whole area and the crowns at the base are still firm. Dead patches are irregular, and the grass pulls out of the ground with almost no resistance. Tug a handful: if it holds, it is sleeping.

Why is my grass turning yellow?

Most often nitrogen shortage, drought stress, or a fungal disease, and they look different. Nitrogen shortage yellows the oldest blades first and is fairly even. Drought stress shows up on the high ground and the south-facing edges before anywhere else. Disease usually arrives in patches with a defined edge. Dull mower blades cause a fourth version: a greyish-yellow cast across the tips where the grass was torn rather than cut.