Summer is a hard month for Texas yards. Typically, high heat and water shortages stress lawns, gardens, and landscape plants. This makes it challenging to keep the plants healthy and maintain curb appeal.
Texas summers are also hard on lawn care workers. High temperatures make working outside more challenging, and it can even be dangerous if you’re not being careful. Plus, the heat can also take a toll on lawn equipment, making it more likely to overheat if you’re working with it for hours at a time.
You can’t change the temperature outside, but you can take steps to help mitigate the effects of heat on customers’ yards and your lawn care company. As you’re working on customers’ lawns this summer, keep these 10 tips in mind to help the yard, equipment, and workers survive the Texas heat.
1) Start Marketing Early
Before summer hits, start talking with your customers about summer lawn care. If you have a mailing list and/or share blog posts on your website, now is a good time to share tips for keeping the lawn healthy during the summer.
If you offer irrigation services, let customers know that you can install water-efficient irrigation systems or update existing systems to make sure they’re not wasting water. And if you offer any other summer-specific services—like aerating in the late spring or early summer, or mosquito prevention—make sure you market those.
2) Be Mindful of Water Conservation
Speaking of watering, summer lawncare in Texas often involves finding ways to keep the lawn healthy during water restrictions. Talk with your customers about ways to increase the lawn’s resistance to drought, including mowing higher, leaving mulched grass clippings on the lawn, and backing off on fertilizer. You can also advise customers to water deeply and infrequently if there is water available for the lawns.
3) Change How You Mow
As you’re marketing summer lawn care and communicating with customers, remember to talk to them about changes to lawn care routines that can help the grass survive summer. For example, you might advise them that cutting grass an inch or so higher than normal will help lawns survive drought and ask if they’re okay with you raising the cutting height.
4) Beat the Bugs
Mosquitoes are one of the worst parts of summer. You can offer your customers safe, effective mosquito protection with Mosquito Steve products. The products use a blend of essential oils to drive away mosquitos and they’ve passed rigorous real-world tests.
A variety of solutions let you offer to treat yards and commercial properties. You’ll be able to offer your customers regular treatment options by spraying the lawn and treating mosquito hot spots with granules. You can also offer the option to install backyard misting systems that customers can turn on before they head out to spend time in the yard.
5) Mulch Landscape Beds
If you offer landscaping services as well as lawn care, be sure you advertise mulching services before summer hits. Mulching helps cool plants’ root systems and holds moisture in the soil. It makes landscape beds look better and helps plants survive hot summers. And don’t forget to mulch trees as well!
6) Offer Xeriscaping
If you’re a landscape company, make sure you’re letting customers know about xeriscaping options. These low-water, low-maintenance landscapes are a hot trend right now for environmentally conscious clients. Xeriscapes still require some maintenance and many include small lawns, so you’ll still be able to offer ongoing services to clients who opt for xeriscaping.
7) Sharpen Mower Blades
Maintaining sharp mower blades helps to keep the grass healthy. Clean cuts on the grass blades make it easier for grass to stay healthy, making it more resistant to pests, disease, and drought. Plus, keeping up with this maintenance task helps your customers’ lawns look nicer.
8) Check Air Filters
Good airflow is important for making sure lawn equipment doesn’t overheat in the summer. Make sure you check air filters and air intakes regularly, and clean or replace the filters as needed. This simple maintenance task can go a long way toward extending the life of lawn equipment that you’re using during the summer.
9) Plan for Heat Exposure
OSHA lists grounds maintenance and landscaping services as two of the six industries most affected by heat-related illness. When the heat index is high, workers should drink water at least every 15 minutes and take frequent breaks in shady or air-conditioned areas. These breaks will also give the lawn equipment a chance to cool down, which will help prevent overheating. It’s also a good idea to do some safety training, including making sure employees can recognize the signs of heat stroke.
10) Dress for Safety
When the weather is hot, it’s often tempting to leave off safety gear and wear less clothing. But for safety, people working outside should still wear long sleeves and pants, close-toed shoes, and gloves. You can help prevent overheating by opting for breathable fabric and vented gloves. Also, workers should wear wide-brimmed hats to protect them from the sun.
Visit Richardson Saw for your Summer Yardwork Needs
For more than 50 years, Richardson Saw & Lawnmower has been serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We’re one of the largest multi-line dealers in the area, supplying the highest quality power equipment available and providing the best customer service possible.
Whether you’re looking to expand your equipment fleet or replace older equipment, you’re sure to find what you need for summer yard work here. We carry quality commercial equipment from trusted brands including STIHL, Scag, Echo, and many more. We also service everything we sell.
