Cost: $185

#1 Initial on-site visit includes

A measurement of your lawn area so you know how much product to use.
A Soil test to help us choose exactly what your lawn needs. (Test results available within 1 week of testing)
A Step by step schedule to outline when to apply your plant food and how many bags of which product to plan for.

#2 One follow up visit and 12 months of e-mail support.

You get one follow up visit to help you calibrate your spreader for your products or for general coaching and check up on your lawn. You also get 12 months of free e-mail support directly with Paul to answer your lawn care questions.

#3 $45.00 to spend

on products at the WiseGrass Barn or future WiseGrass services.

Call Paul Stoltzfus directly at 717-629-7214 to get started! or e-mail paul@wisegrass.com

Download the .pdf of this offer to share with your friends!

Lawns are living organisms - a whole village of organisms. We are asking them to be perfectly green year around after being cut down every time they get a little too high. They really want to wave around at two or three FEET tall!
So… Let’s wash some myths out of our gutters and understand realistically what to expect from a premium lawn service program.

This is a modified response

I offered to a prospective guest who commented, “I want to make sure we don’t have unrealistic expectations.” I wish everyone would ask this.

Good morning,

Stick with me. This could get long winded.

Your yard most likely needs a whole year to turn it around. A lot of progress will be made initially, and then it will level out over the summer months. In a few months most of the weeds will be knocked down, and decent grass will have started. However, the lion’s share of recovery will happen from September to November. The lawn strengthens from there.

To sustain a “crazy green” lawn long term, we need to constantly nurture it at a high level. Golf courses are monitored and maintained daily. With the Unlimited Service Plan we visit your lawn 6-8 times per year (more if needed) and do one to three applications per visit, depending on the need. When we quit feeding and maintaining at a high level the lawn begins to decline within months to a year afterward. Lawn care is a commitment not a quarterly campaign.

The challenges in your yard: The ph is low, and there is lots of shade in the front yard, and the traffic from kids playing is a minimal issue. Knocking out the Bermuda grass is a longer battle.

If you go with the Unlimited Service Plan this is what I predict:

(Don’t get lost in the details)

March/April: Crabgrass control and fertilizer (and spot treating broadleaf weeds) will knock down a big portion of existing weeds and keep new crabgrass from germinating.
May: Overseed the worst thin and bare spots, spot treat broadleaf again, fertilize again, and apply lime according to the soil test recommendation. It is difficult to predict how much of the spring overseeding actually takes root. Fall is the best time to overseed, but I overseed in the spring as well when a lawn is in rough shape like yours. Sometimes we get lucky and the effort pays off.
June/July: Grub/insect control with fertilizer prevents grubs and insects from destroying the work we have done in the spring.
June - August: Spot treat Bermuda grass every three to six weeks depending on the weather pattern and how much it grows. Bermuda grass is very hard to control in one year, we push it out with sustained pressure with a pesticide and aggressive seeding and fertility of the good grass.

End of August/Early September: Early fall fertilizer provides 16+ weeks of slow release nutrition.
*** This is when your lawn MIGHT look good, but if we have a Summer like 2010, we will have lost some ground.
September/October Aeration/Overseeding and Lime will replace all injured plants and rejuvenate the whole yard. This is the most intense project of the year.

---- By Halloween your lawn will be rock’n a brand new look, every lawn responds differently. ---

November: Winter fertilizer gives your lawn the “early greenup” and keeps it a step ahead the following year.

Still with me

The disruption to using your lawn is minimal. When we use liquid weed control, we ask you to keep kids and pets off the lawn while the product dries. After overseeding, it is helpful to not ride bikes and tear up the yard with a game of touch (or tackle) football! Light traffic from kids is totally OK!

The Unlimited Service Plan is the best deal to get your “crazy green” grass. We make our profit by keeping you happy year after year, the first year doesn’t profit us much at all. Seriously. We just feel good about bringing your lawn back from the ashes.
Your Unlimited Service Plan monthly price is calculated by taking the average labor and materials used in a lawn your size annually, and divide by 12. This program gives us the liberty to do the applications WHEN NEEDED and spreads out your cost evenly throughout the calendar year. We never ask for more money to do an extra application. If it needs it, we do it.

Good day,
Paul

PS. This is a fictitious e-mail response and any similarities to your lawn is strictly coincidental. No home owners where harmed (long term) in revealing the truth of the nature of lawn care service. You can trust us with your lawn in Lancaster County.

October 15’th is the end of the prime. From there it tails down to about mid November. In the middle time the seed might germinate and then crap out over the winter. After Thanksgiving it might be better to do a dormant seeding. The seed will sit there all winter and settle nicely into the soil with the freezing and thawing.

You can still do Winter fertilizer. 28-0-11 works great. Also, if your soil test calls for potassium go ahead spread 5lbs per 1,000 square feet.

It is Probably Too Late to Overseed this Fall (1:22)

Good night!

Overseeding Quick Facts
• Overseed in the fall by October 15th, ideally.
• Aerate and spread lime when you overseed.
• Spread starter fertilizer.
• Cover seed with Penn Mulch or straw if the area is totally bare.

Stuff to get
• WiseGrass Premium Turf Mix seed.  You can pick this up at our shop by appointment, Marlena 717-629-7215
• Fertilizer, Lime, & Penn Mulch. P.L. Rohrer’s (Roher Seeds online)
• Rent an aerator and overseeder from Eagle Rental in Stevens or Bomberger’s in Lititz, PA

Aeration and Overseeding is the final operation to take back your lawn after you have prepped the battlefield.

“As great as last year was for grass-growing, this year has been horrendous.” - Nancy Bosold, Penn State extension office Berk’s county. She wrote an excellent article addressing this summer’s issues.

I have my 3-punch KO theory on what really happened to lawns. The best time to overseed your lawn in PA is just before the fall rains begin to fall in mid September and into mid October. The success of the seeding depends on moisture and warmth so every year is different. I have successfully overseeded as late as my birthday on November 16th, but don’t count on that late! Overseeding in November may work since some seeds over winter and germinate next spring.
Rule of thumb: Cast your seeds by election day!

Aeration helps the overseeding process so it makes sense to do it at the same time. Some of the seeds will fall into the aerated holes and the plugs will help digest the thatch.

Aerate And Overseed (5:15)

Renovation List:

• WiseGrass Premium Turf Mix seed.  You can pick this up at our shop by apointment. Call Marlena’s cell 717-629-7216 to schedule a time.
  10lb bag $25
  50lb bag $100
  
• Fertilizer, Lime, & Penn Mulch. P.L. Rohrer’s (Roher Seeds online) is the best place for these items.
• Rent an aerator and overseeder from Eagle Rental in Stevens or Bomberger’s in Lititz, PA.

Buy a Grass Stitcher instead of renting an overseeder!

I have no idea how good this thing is so I bought one.
UPS delivered my Grass Stitcher last week from Amazon. I will review the fancy spancy rig and give my expert thoughts on it then.

Stay tuned.

The Lads kept interrupting me during this shoot. I tried six times to get through the dialog and each time they pulled some stunt that compelled yet an other take. Finally I gave up and joined ‘em.
The next morning worked much more smoothly to shoot Prepping the Battlefield as the sun was rising in the East.

The WiseGrass Kids (:46)