Common questions about lawn care

Four jobs happen on every scheduled visit. The lawn is mowed, the edges are cut in along the driveway, the sidewalk, the curb and the bed lines, the string trimmer goes around fences, posts, mailboxes, tree rings and A/C units, and the hard surfaces are blown clean before we leave.

Those four go together and none of them is dropped to save time. Hedge and bush trimming, tree trimming, mulch and pine bark installation and property cleanups are separate jobs, booked when the yard needs them.

Grass here does not grow at one speed all year. From April to October the heat and the afternoon storms push hard growth and most lawns are cut weekly. From November to March growth slows right down and every other week usually holds the lawn.

We set the frequency to what the lawn is actually doing and change it when that changes, so nobody stays on a weekly schedule through January because they started in July.

Higher than most people expect. St. Augustine, which is what most lawns in North Pinellas are, is cut at 3.5 to 4 inches. Bahia runs 3 to 4 inches, Zoysia 2 to 2.5 inches and Bermuda 1.5 to 2 inches.

The second half of the rule is that no more than a third of the blade height comes off in one cut. Grass feeds itself through its leaf, so taking too much at once makes the plant rebuild the leaf instead of putting roots down. A shallow rooted lawn is the one that browns off first in May and lets weeds in through the gaps.

They stay on the lawn. Clippings are mostly water, they break down within a few days and they return nitrogen to the soil, so leaving them there feeds the grass. They are not what builds thatch.

What does not happen is clippings going into the street. Hard surfaces are blown back toward the lawn at the end of the visit. That is part of Landscape Best Management Practices rather than a matter of tidiness: a storm drain in Pinellas County runs to the bay without being treated on the way, and yard debris in the water feeds algae.

Between June and September it rains most afternoons here, so rain is planned around rather than treated as a surprise. A wet day moves a visit, it does not cancel it.

There are two reasons for that. Cutting saturated ground tears the turf and leaves ruts across the lawn, and wet grass clumps behind the deck and drops in mats that smother the grass underneath. If a yard is standing in water we come back rather than force it.

Yes. Growth slows a great deal from November to March and a lot of lawns move to every other week, but a Florida lawn does not stop, and it still needs edging, trimming and blowing off to look right.

Winter is also the easiest part of the year to get the bigger jobs done. Hedges, trees and beds are not growing back the week after they are cut, so the work holds its shape for much longer.

Seven days a week, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The phone is the quickest way to get an answer, and you can also email cjackc.inc@gmail.com.

Since 1990. It is family owned and operated and it has worked in North Pinellas County that whole time.

The about page has more on what family owned means for the person on the phone, and on what has and has not changed about the work since then.

The company is trained and certified in Landscape Best Management Practices. That is the Florida standard for doing landscape work without damaging water quality, and it covers cutting heights, what happens to clippings and yard debris, and keeping both of them out of the storm drains.

It is also an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau, and customers rate it 4.7 out of 5 across 33 Google reviews. Both of those profiles are public and you are welcome to read them.

Please ask when you call. Most of the work is done outside and does not need anyone in the house, but access to a back yard or a locked gate can change that, so it is worth settling for your property when the schedule is set. This answer is to be confirmed before this page goes live.

The two that come up most often are a side gate that has to be unlocked and a dog that needs to be brought in. Sprinkler heads, low irrigation lines and anything else hidden in long grass are worth pointing out as well, and they go on the notes for the property. What the company needs from you before a visit, and what happens if a gate is locked when we arrive, is to be confirmed before this page goes live.

Call us and tell us. Moving between weekly and every other week as growth speeds up and slows down is a normal thing to do and it is not a problem. How much notice the company needs to skip a visit, and who to tell, is to be confirmed before this page goes live.

This page does not answer that yet. It is the question a homeowner asks about anyone who brings machinery onto their property, so it is worth a straight answer rather than a vague one. Whether the company carries general liability insurance and workers compensation, and what happens if something on a property is damaged, is to be confirmed before this page goes live.