Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I received a phone call last night from Weed Man, the now-former provider of our "lawn care". The only reason I ever got mixed up with them in the first place was to take care of a bindweed problem in our back yard two summers ago. "Sure, we can take care of that", they said, when I explicitly asked whether they could care of our bindweed problem. I understand from my reading that the conventional treatment for broadleaf weeds doesn't really affect bindweed. As we now have more, not less, bindweed in our backyard than we did two summers ago, I'm not clear they knew what the hell they were talking about.
Earlier this year, they called to set up an overseeding, whereby they apply a thin layer of topsoil and grass seed, to help thicken up the lawn. This was their suggestion as a cheaper alternative to laying down some sod. Now that I think about it, a newly sodded lawn probably doesn't need much treatment for weeds. Anyways, I agreed to it, and they came and overseeded my lawn. Someone then showed up about a week later to apply the spring weed treatment. To be clear: weed killer will prevent newly planted grass seed from germinating. Fortunately, I had not left for school the day they showed up to kill the seed I had just payed to have spread on my lawn.
Last evening's phone call was in regards to an overdue charge on my account. I had received a phone call about 2 months ago about aerating my lawn. Their fantastic weed prevention program had not stopped crabgrass from overrunning my front lawn, so there are currently dense patches of dead (or dormant?) crabgrass all over the place. Ignoring my better judgment, I agreed to have my lawn aerated. I mean, I most certainly do have a thatch problem. I kept waiting all September and October for the day that I would come home and see soil plugs all over my lawn. That day never came. Accordingly, I didn't get an invoice for the service either. And yet, when I called this evening to find out what this overdue payment was for, it was, as I suspected, for having my lawn aerated.
I think I may take my lawn care into my own hands in the spring. It couldn't possibly be any more amateurish than this operation.
1 comments:
back in byron we had a southern perennial grass (a kind of fescue) that the original owner had seeded. it was gorgeous stuff but every winter it died back and turned yellow, came back every may, incredibly lush and like a shag carpet. never had a grub problem because it looked "dead" when the critters were laying down eggs on the green lawns! and every spring the lawn guys were at the door, "we can fix your problem!" so right away i had them because they didn't know what kind of grass it was and they thought it was a "problem". it was fun to test them, tease them, then tell them to bugger off, come back in august when everyone else's lawn was brown from heat and mine was still lush and green.
the couple who bought the place, the guy's dad was a professional landscaper. knew what the grass was and what it needed just as soon as he saw it (when i was selling it, just as winter was thawing, i was worried that i'd have to make a sign explaining the brown lawn to keep potential buyers from turning around and driving away when they pulled up to the house).
so you gotta do it yourself or hire a real professional....
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