Kingsbury Lawn Care - Lawn Treatment Experts Winter Update!
Even though our winter lawn treatment service can be hampered by frozen conditions through the winter months, it gives us the opportunity to prepare for the year ahead. There is always an upside! This article shares what we get up to during the winter months, along with what we have been working on in preparation for this year...
What does a lawn treatment service do during the winter months?
Our first priority is serving our customers!
Across November and into December we were applying our autumn treatments as part of our lawn care service made up of liquid feeds, moss controls and soil improver applications. From December into February we return to our lawns for our main moss control application of the winter period. These applications are vital for a healthy lawn come the spring months.
We don't schedule mechanical work during this time as we can't be sure if we're going to gain firm enough soil conditions to do so. In our experience on clay based lawns, machines that we use to carry out lawn aeration can become unsuitable as early as mid-November until early March in a worst case scenario due to how soft lawns can be.
What about frost?
Walking on, or applying products to frozen lawns can cause more harm than good. Foot traffic causes damage the grass cells and can cause yellowing for weeks or even months following.
We keep our customers updated on frosty mornings in the hope that sometimes we can start treatments later that day. Reluctantly, sometimes we have to reschedule the whole day with us undertaking other tasks instead. These include:
- Servicing of machinery, spreaders and sprayers
- Assembly and testing of new equipment
- Checks and maintenance for our vans
- Recalibration of sprayers
- Refresher training
- Team meetings + general plotting for the year ahead!
A lawn not suitable for it's winter lawn care treatment in Nuneaton. A common sight this winter with low temperatures rather than snowfall or windy conditions
Investment in our team
I'm a huge believer of investing into our team. We have been UK Lawn Care Association members since 2015 with KLC team members attending conferences and one-day events in both summer and winter ever since. Winter delays make for the ideal time of year to prepare for our best year yet.
On the 30th and 31st January, myself, Kelly and Stan travelled to Tewksbury for the UK Lawn Care Association Annual Conference 2023 to network and learn with fellow independent lawn care businesses who value self-development and continuous improvement into their service.
The UKLCA now has 100 members, and along with sitting on it's committee since 2019, we are just one of seven companies who have attended every annual conference since the UKLC 'Network' became a not-for-profit Association in 2016.
Not only does it allow us to improve, but also to take stock on how we have progressed and help new starters in the industry in the position that we were only a few years ago.
It was a fantastic two days for Stan and Kelly as first time-attendees. We've taken a lot from it that can go into our service this year and into the future.
Investment in our lawn care service
Our lawn treatment service
Before Christmas we shared with our customers how we had been working on upgrading our products and treatments for the coming year. This was on the grounds of improving product quality, the value that we deliver for our lawns, and with a greater focus on on environmental impact, with us responsible for the treatment of over 20 hectares of lawn area on a regular basis at the time of writing.
I put together a dedicated post on our 2023 products which you can view by clicking the link below. Our lawn maintenance programs have never been more balanced in terms of nutrient inputs, and this beneficial for soil health with now with the use of three semi-organic treatments.
Recently we undertook some soil analysis of a number of our lawns to given our programme scientific backing and enabling us to assess future tweaks to maximise the value of every single treatment that we apply. The results we've gained on what should be and just as importantly what shouldn't be applied to the lawns across our coverage area are very interesting!
Lawn renovators - our mechanical services
You may know by now that we are proud lawn renovators. We take great pride in delivering a leading lawn renovation service and we do this through great people and industry leading machinery.
With the recent frozen weather, we have been able to service all of our machinery for the coming year, along with assessment new lawn aerators ready for work this coming spring. This top-spec, narrow access machines go hand in hand with recently purchased scarifiers, for lawn renovations. We currently have a new long-wheel-base van being sigh-written ready to transport these new machines to a lawn near you!
With the damage that the drought caused last year, we needed to add to our fleet in order to be able to meet the anticipated demand for lawn repairs. Spring is much shorter season for repairs than many think, so early booking will still be essential.
Serving our customers
From the office we have already generated many quotations for much needed recovery work this spring. It's important that we do this, rightly giving our current customers opportunity to book this work before anticipated new enquiries in the spring.
Web Development...
We have a brand new 'New Customer Portal' completed which is just for new enquiries to give the best possible welcome to our service. We're really proud of it.
Another project which has spanned the winter months has been Instant Estimate technology for our website. It's just a few days away from being fully operational!
Can we help?
You can see that we have all sorts going on throughout the winter, and that's only with me discussing the operational side of the business! If I haven't emphasised enough already, early booking in the spring is vital to get the lawn you desire for summer. Don't let the first quarter of the year pass by before contacting a lawn care service. We can be making a difference now with spring fertiliser applications and moss control treatments being applied as of this week!
If we can help with your lawn this year, then please feel free to get in touch via the contact form below, or you can call us on 01827 826123.