What is a Fall Cleanup & Why Does my Lawn Need it?

Fall cleanups are the ultimate way to have your lawn ready to kick off as early as possible in the spring, while reducing the amount of spring cleaning that is needed. But, one of its greatest benefits often is an oversight. During a fall cleanup we blow all the the leaves and debris to be cleaned onto the lawn and bagged. We do that by mowing low, the reason that a lawn is mowed low for the fall season is that it most of the tips of the grass will die off anyways by the spring time, and the grass will start fresh so by mowing low the grass has less recovery to make up for in the spring. But, more importantly it reduces the insulation created by the snow making sure no pest, or rodents like moles, voles, or mice making it their winter home. This can save you money from having them not only tear up your lawn, but even invading your hot tubs, or homes for warmth. Because of this Fall Cleanups serve two purposes. 

What Fall Cleanup Services do you offer?

As with all out services, you can pick and choose to your liking. But, we do have a few standard premade packages that suits most home owners:

1. In our most Basic Fall Cleanup we offer a low cut mow & trim, blowing and cleaning of leaves and debris from your lawns surface and rock beds
2. With our Ultra Fall Cleanup we offer a low cut mow & trim, power edging, a winter fertilizer, & deep core aeration
3. In our Ultimate Fall Cleanup you recieve all the services in our previous packages including the power edging, winter fertilizer, deep core aeration but with the addition of a premium over-seeding

What benefits does adding a winter fertilizer, deep core aeration, power edging, and Overseeding make?

Great question! A winter fertilizer is specially blended to keep your grass healthy for the colder months, while also having the nutrients to kickstart your lawn in the spring time. 

Aeration in the fall is one of the best things you can do. This reason is, by aerating your lawn it is able to absorb all the winter snow so much better as it begins to melt in the spring. The quicker it is able to do this the better as your lawn can begin thickening and growing before weeds have a chance to begin growing. The less space your grass leaves in exposed soil, the less chance weeds have of growing, making fall cleanups a great way to help prevent their growth.

Adding over-seeding to the mix just completes the best 1-2 punch. Aeration leaves wholes and exposing soil to the grass seed helping them grow. While the snow melting in the spring essentially waters the grass seed at literally the perfect time and temperature for the Overseeding to have its full affect.

The optional addition of power edging just helps keep everything clean and tidy all season long really giving your lawn that finished professional look that distinguishes itself from every other home.

If your not sure what your lawn needs, this is not a problem. Check out:

1. Custom tailored fertilizer plan
2. Get a prescription for your lawn

Benefits of Deep Core Aeration

Simply put, it’s pulling nickle sized diameter, 2-3 inch plugs out of the turf. These plugs will contain turf, thatch, and soil. Although, it may look funny for a bit, these plugs will biologically decompose back into the ground to provide more nutrients to make your lawn thick and lush! But that’s not the only benefit! Aeration should be done twice a year (spring and fall) and is a fantastic way of getting nutrients to the lawn faster. Click “Deep Core Aeration” above for more information.

• Better gas exchange between soil and atmosphere
• healthier and more effective hydration
• Greater access to the air, nutrients and water improves the overall health of the lawn! keeping you and your lawn happy!
• improved resistance to diseases and pests due to a healthier root system
• Relieves soil compaction. Essentially, by removing the cores, it makes more room, in turn decreasing the soil density making it easier for roots to grow, water to be absorbed and organics to be decomposed and absorbed.
• Benefits Over-Seeding applications. It is beneficial to aerate before over-seeding. Pulling plugs, allows the seed-to-soil contact to be greater, in turn increasing germination rates, and creating a moist, protected environment for the optimal growth and development of seedlings.

Benefits of Power Raking

Power raking is a lot like it sounds. Most people believe raking to be important for just getting leaves off the grass. But, the part that is commonly missed is that raking is important to get out all the dead (detached) grass & thatch in order to make room for new grass growth. The reason this is included in spring cleanups is because thatch build up is a common problem for us since we live in a winter wonderland for half the year. Learn more by clicking “Power Raking” above.

The Benefits of a Power Vacuum

1. It cleans up debris from the lawn area including leaves, dead compacted grass (thatch), acorns, pine and all sorts of unwanted material.

2. Allergies: Thatch has a tendency to hold on to tons of allergens like dust, organic matter, and mold. By power raking we are able to pull out these debris. Here at Unicutters we also include a power vacuum which further cleans all the dead matter, and debris helping alleviate allergy sufferers while also really kickstarting your lawn for the season. 

3.  Soil Exposure: By using a high powered vacuum we are able to suction so much more debris then with the mower alone allowing for more soil exposure. We then pair this with a mow to giving stunning results. This allows for new grass to grow by itself, and increase grass seed germination when over-seeding increasing the rate germination and success.

The Benefits of Power Edging

Power edging is another service that is sometimes not included in spring cleanup packages which is a shame. More often then not,  it does not take much time to complete therefore the costs are marginal just like power vaccing in comparison to the results. Power edging is the process of cutting off overgrown turf that has begun growing overtop of sidewalks & driveways. The end result leaves a beautiful clean polished finish to your lawn that really separates yours, from other homes.

The Unicutters Difference

We strive to offer an unparalleled service. We benefit our customers by reducing costs through efficiency because at the end of the day, time is money. Because of this we stay fiercely competitive with our prices, while offering premium services that are designed to give you the results that you expect. We aim to save you money in the long run, by doing the job right, every time. Which is why we stand by:

“A job done right, even when no one is looking”

All while supporting students with flexible work hours!