Part time partners need not apply.

 Last week I pulled up to a longtime customer's property to do her first weed control of the season. The lawn looked terrible. It was covered in weeds, top-dressed and seeded, and was cut to 1 inch in height.

The customer was not happy and came out to tell me so.

"Look at all the weeds," she said.

"The lawn is cut too low," I told her. "And we have had this conversation before, 'when you cut that low, you will have more issues with weeds and insects'. You need to raise the mower."

"I didn't cut it, my neighbour did," she informed me.

"You are paying for a service. You need to tell your neighbour not to cut your grass or you will continue to have the same results, and there is nothing we can do."

"What about the weeds today?" she asked.

"I'll do my best," I said. "But I can only spot spray ones that are not surrounded by seed, otherwise the grass won't germinate." 

We sent her, as we did everyone of our customers, a spring newsletter in April advising 'waiting to the fall for seeding because spring seeding interferes with proper weed control,' but I guess she didn't read it. 

I can understand her disappointment. I would be angry if my lawn looked like hers. I would also follow the advice of the company I paid to do my lawn. I would water it deeply once a week at least. I would raise my mower to the highest setting. I would do my seeding in the fall as recommended, and if it still looked bad, I would question why I had a lawn service in the first place.

BTW. The picture above is not of the customer's lawn in question. But it is on the same route, and like many others, was done on the same day, with the same products.

Look, I don't want to put our sign on a lawn that looks awful. It doesn't do my company any favours.  So, we do our best to make sure the lawn responds to our treatment, like the one pictured above. It's just that, some people are better partners in their lawn care than others unfortunately.