Hello Glen Allen Grounds Client!

Happy September!  We hope you are as excited about this month as we are!  As it always does, the Summer has given fescue in our region a run for its money, and fast approaching is the perfect time of year to renovate the lawn for the upcoming year.  Many of you have given us the go ahead to take some preparatory steps to prepare your lawn for aeration and seeding, including but not limited to killing of Bermuda grass and problematic weeds, dethatching, and installing compost on areas of the lawn as needed.  We have begun working on those tasks and will aim to have them all completed in the next two weeks, at which point, we will begin aerating and seeding! 

News from our Grounds Maintenance Division-

Fall is the perfect time to aerate and seed a fescue lawn.  Fescue is a cool season grass that requires 6 months of root maturity to withstand the heat of Summer in our climate.  Seeding in the Spring does very little for the lawn as most of the new seedlings will germinate and look beautiful until June, at which point they will be wiped out by the heat.  Therefore, it is so important to aerate and seed in the Fall!  As always, you can expect email communication from us in the coming weeks providing notification of when we will be coming to provide these services as well as any preparatory steps you need to take in advance of our visit.

Fall is also an excellent time to install new plantings, replace dying plantings, and transplant any plantings that you would like moved, so long as they are not too mature to do so.  Our enhancement crews schedules are filling up very quickly, so if you have any of these projects in mind, please reach out to us sooner than later so we can make sure to reserve some space on the schedule for you! As the days begin to cool down, it is important to consider that the lawn does not need as much water as you have been providing it over the last few months.  If your irrigation is currently set to run 4 days per week, now would be a good time to reduce it to 3 days per week, and possibly lower the zone times dependent on what you have them set on.  Post aeration, we will ask you to switch to a daily watering schedule, twice per day, for about two weeks.  There will be more instruction that comes out in an email the day after we complete aeration/seeding at your property, but the end goal is to keep the seed moist so that it germinates and takes root with ease.  During that time, it is important to limit the amount of foot, animal, or any other traffic on the lawn to prevent damaging seedlings before they are mature enough to withstand traffic.  We will skip mowing the lawn for two weeks minimum after completing aeration/seeding and will resume on the third week if the new seedlings have reached 3-4” tall.  If they have not reached 3-4”, we may skip it one more week to ensure the seedlings are hardy enough to withstand our equipment.

News from our Construction Division-

 Even with our tough supply chain issues, our construction division is still busy creating the perfect outdoor living spaces. Now more than ever, different areas of the home are receiving more frequent visits for a ‘change of scenery’, and that includes the outside. With cooler temperatures approaching, adding an outdoor fireplace or fire pit allows you to continue using that outdoor space as a different office. Gas or wood burning, a fire features creates a warm environment and hang out spot for just yourself, or multiple people. We’ve seen many different ways people have used a fire pit or fire place, from the obvious s’mores to using as a full on grill! Adding electrical for TV’s and soundbars has also been a popular item clients are selecting. This, combined with a blanket, has really transformed how people use their outside even in the Fall and Winter. Check out some features we have built in the past, and visit our website for more inspiration!

Glen Allen Grounds will be closed on Monday, 9/7, in observance of the Labor Day holiday.  Any clients who are normally serviced on Monday will be taken care of on Tuesday, 9/8.  We also ask clients who are normally serviced on Tuesday and Wednesday to understand we will be playing catch up from having missed Monday.  If our crew does not show up at our normally scheduled time or day of the week, please know that we are working diligently and will get to your property as soon as we are able.  We appreciate your patience with us on this matter! 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your service, please contact our office and we will be more than happy to assist!  We hope you have a great month and appreciate your continued patronage!

 -The Glen Allen Grounds Team