It’s entirely understandable to confuse maintenance and care. After all, the terms themselves are often used interchangeably. However, when it comes to keeping your lawn healthy, lush, and attractive, it’s important to understand that there are massive differences between regular lawn maintenance like mowing and ongoing lawn care like fertilization and weed control.
If you’re wondering why your mowing crew can’t simply fertilize your lawn during visits, you need to understand that these two tasks require vastly different skillsets, not to mention legally mandated licenses in some cases. Here’s what homeowners need to know about the differences between lawn maintenance and lawn care.
What is Lawn Maintenance?
Lawn maintenance involves frequent tasks required to maintain your lawn, namely mowing. When you have a lawn that is already established, mature, and healthy, your main concern is keeping it manicured, and this requires weekly or biweekly mowing services, depending on the season.
Maintaining other areas of your landscaping could include trimming trees, bushes, and other plants to remove dead foliage and promote new growth. It could mean adding mulch to prevent soil erosion and minimize evaporation. As for your lawn, maintenance pertains to activities like mowing and possibly adding sod. Lawn maintenance crews have the training and experience required to maintain your lawn through frequent visits.
What is Lawn Care?
Lawn care is very different from maintenance in that is pertains more to the overall health of your outdoor ecosystem, with aesthetics as a secondary concern. Lawn care involves the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Service providers are required to be licensed in the application of these chemicals in order to guarantee safe and effective use when necessary.
Lawn care professionals are not necessarily trained to clip grass and keep your lawn green. They’re trained to eliminate the weeds and pests that can affect the health of your lawn, as well as manage moisture and aeration. Lawn maintenance specialists, on the other hand, are adept at keeping your lawn neat and manicured, which is why these two services go hand-in-hand.
The Marriage of Lawn Maintenance and Care
If you want a beautiful and healthy lawn, you’re going to need both maintenance and care, and sometimes one more than the other. With a schedule of ongoing service for both, you have the best chance to ward off costly hazards like weeds and pests, ensure your grass gets the nutrients needed to thrive and keep your lawn looking manicured and attractive for your enjoyment.
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