Houston Lawn Services

Exterior Worlds calls itself a landscape service company. What services do you offer for lawns?
Your landscape design program, including the lawn, begins with the design process followed by installation. Then comes the weekly care of and tending to that landscape, making sure everything conforms to the overall design intent—with plenty of room to make changes along the way.

Because of our climate, Houston lawn service is a year-round issue and one that has special needs because of our particular climate. Houston lawns require mowing and trimming weekly from March through October. From November through February, you can get by with every other week, unless you have other considerations, such as trees that shed their leaves. Exterior Worlds can customize a residential landscape maintenance contract to suit your needs.

Over-seeding your yard with winter grass is one way to keep your lawn beautiful during our cold months. It is best done in early to late October. The big disadvantage of this practice is that the winter grass competes with the St. Augustine grass for space and nutrition and that may have a negative impact on the St. Augustine in the spring.

A regular fertilization program is a wise idea. Fertilizers we have used include organic, semi-organic, fast release, slow release, winterizer and low salt. Two other important treatments in Houston lawn service care are insecticides and fungicides, which control disease and insect infestations.

Should we invest in an irrigation system? If so, what are the best practices?
Our clients have found that an irrigation system is really worth the money—it provides good value for the financial outlay. But if you spend the money, you also need to schedule quarterly inspections of the system since, being mechanical, it will break down occasionally. Attention to this detail is extremely important on large properties. Undetected leaks can be very costly—on your monthly budget and on the environment.

As for good watering techniques, we suggest that you water in longer spans of time, but for less time. This combination promotes deeper water penetration, which gives your plant material stronger root systems and healthier plants. Plus, because you water less, you save money. Another advantage is that it helps create a more drought-resistant lawn. In other words, your Houston lawn service program requires proper water management.

As part of a Houston lawn service program, how does Exterior Worlds promote the long-term health of the grass in my landscape?
One recommended lawn care practice for compacted and heavily-used turf is lawn aeration. Lawn aeration involves removing small soil plugs or cores out of the lawn by a tool called a core aerator. You may have heard of another type of aeration called spiking. With it, solid spikes or tines are driven into the soil without removing a plug. It is not as effective as core aeration because, with Houston’s thick, gumbo-like soil, spiking can actually contribute to compaction.

We also suggest regular dethatching, which is the process of removing thatch or excessively thick grass with machine or by hand, because it promotes healthy lawns. Lawn aeration also helps control thatch build-up, which is another reason to do it.