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Spring Lawn Seeding

Are you considering seeding your lawn this spring? Spring seeding can be a tricky proposition. The one guarantee with spring seeding is that most of your newly planted grass won’t make it through the summer. There are a few reasons why you may want to consider doing things a bit differently.

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TLDR: Don’t seed in the spring. Maximize what you have, re-purpose hard-to-grow-grass areas into shade gardens or other landscaped areas and install sod when bare areas are too big to stomach waiting until fall to seed.

Why Seed in the Spring?

Bare areas: If you are dealing with large patches of bare lawn, you may be tempted to seed in the spring. Getting full coverage of your bare spots with spring seeded grass can be a fleeting victory. You may plant the seed at the first sign of warm weather, working for hours to get the proper seed to soil contact, covering the seed with a great mulch product (never straw!), only to have your beautiful new grass die soon after the first 80 degree day in April or May.

The reason this happens is that while the leaf of your grass plant looks beautiful, the roots are still under-developed. The roots are simply not capable of feeding the beautiful leaf of your grass plant. We hate to see when people work so hard on their lawn in the spring, have a massive failure in their lawn, leaving them frustrated from the futility of it all.

Shade Garden With Hostas

Shade: If you have shady areas in the lawn where growing grass is a challenge, you might feel like considering spring seeding. These areas struggle to get enough sun-light when the trees are leafed out. Grass plants love sun, and need a lot of it to thrive. The grass under trees are like the little baby brother, they get hand-me-downs and left-overs when it comes to sun, nutrients and even water. Seeding in the spring, before the trees leaf out may result in a beautiful flush of growth. The grass is getting sun, water and nutrients before big-brother-tree has woken up for the spring. Again, this is a short-lived victory. As soon as the trees leaf out, the tree will begin taking the much needed water, nutrients and most importantly, the sunlight and the grass will begin to struggle once again.

High traffic: If you have dogs or kids at home, you know what I’m talking about. When you turn dogs and kids loose on grass that isn’t growing, you get mud. There are only a couple of solutions to mud in a lawn and covering it with seed makes you feel like you have accomplished something. The problem with that is if you select the wrong grass type, the grass will not be any better at sustaining the traffic and you will end up back in the same boat you were in to begin with. We recommend avoiding applying seed to high traffic areas in the lawn at any time unless it’s done with a plan to divert the traffic at least temporarily to allow the baby grass to develop.

So What Should I do?

The pro’s all know that early fall (as early as Mid-August) is prime time for seeding your Kansas City area lawn. That’s fine if you were reading this in July, but it’s spring now and you want to do SOMETHING about the bare areas in your lawn. There are solutions!

Wait: The most simple solution is to wait. It’s not gratifying at all, but trust me, it’s better than working for hours and spending hundreds of dollars on seed and fertilizer to get results that don’t last. We can often improve bare areas by adding fertilizer and preventing weeds. It’s amazing what a little nutrition and added care can do to an otherwise healthy lawn with a few bare spots.

Sod: Bare areas that are too large to get covered up by merely maximizing the health of your existing lawn should be sodded in the spring. If most of your lawn is in great shape, just treat it the best you can and sod those areas where you are having problems. In the Kansas City area, we recommend using Turf Type Tall Fescue sod on home lawns with very few exceptions. Sod can be a bit more expensive than seeding, but it is instant and the grass plants have healthy mature roots that, with proper watering and fertilization, will remain vibrant through the worst summers. Remember to water any sod that you put down, at any time of year, at least daily, more when it’s hot.

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Aerate: If your lawn is a victim of high traffic and compaction, aeration can help! Aeration is often accompanied by seeding, but it can be done as a stand-alone cultural practice. In the spring, aerating opens up those high traffic areas so air and water can be incorporated into the soil at the correct ratio. There are many times we have seen a lawn aerated in the spring, without seeding, and the lawn is recovered and looking great in just a few short weeks. One thing to be careful of when aerating is that when we open up the soil in the spring, weeds can find a great place to throw down roots. Be careful to apply any pre-emergent herbicide after you aerate and be ready to treat for broad-leaf weeds according to your local laws and any product labeling. Aerating can be labor-intensive, so give us a call to check our prices before you tackle that one on your own!

Trim Trees: We are still in a good window for trimming trees through March. If you don’t address the overgrowth of trees that are causing the shade, it will be next to impossible to get grass to develop in your overly-shady areas. Now is the time to do some major selective limb removal to ensure your trees are healthy and to help make sure your grass has enough sunlight to thrive. Use the energy you want to spend on planting grass seed on trimming up your trees in your lawn.

Landscape Enhancements: Do you have areas that you want to be grass that shouldn’t be grass? Examples might include very high traffic areas, very shady areas, or areas of your lawn that simply don’t get enough sunlight because there’s a house in the way! Solutions like adding shade gardens, mulch beds, dry river-bed type landscaping or adding patio area are great. There are many species of plants (Hosta, Impatiens) that love the shade and look great. Consider re-purposing those areas that have always been a struggle to get a great lawn going, to be more sustainable and maintainable.

Shade Garden In Beautiful Lawn

Bare areas in a lawn are tough to look at. Seeding them seems like a pro-active solution. Spring seeding can be a disaster. In most circumstances, we won’t recommend spring seeding because it feels dishonest to us here at Custom Lawn. The vast majority of spring seeding we do has to be re-seeded in the fall, and we inform our customers so. We have alternative solutions.

We would love to help you figure out how to best landscape your home in the most sustainable, maintainable way possible. If we can help with any of your early spring projects, or even if you’d like a professional eye to give an honest opinion, give us a call at 913-782-8315 or visit www.customlawn.com and fill out a contact us form.

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  • Your Personal Technician has a college degree, is experienced, and is your trusted advisor.
  • Environmentally Responsible Approach - Our top concerns are you and your family’s safety & the long term health of our beautiful planet.
  • Always available with a friendly voice.
  • Our goal is to always provide honest advice & real solutions to our customers.
  • We provide full service-residential & commercial lawn care, mowing, & irrigation services. We also maintain your trees, shrubs and landscape.
  • Locally owned by the same family since 1981.

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    We LOVE our guy Cole!
    Thank you for always greeting our crazy dogs and helping me pick their toys up at the last minute (I’m sorry 😬)! We appreciate you moving with us and the great service!
    Jason does great work, awesome as always! We like that he shows us what he did, explains it and answers questions. Very professional
    We are absolutely thrilled with the results of Cole Jensen's work from Custom Lawn! Throughout the year, Cole has diligently applied fertilizer to our lawn. Our lawn is lush, green, and immaculate, standing out beautifully compared to our neighbors' yards, which are plagued with weeds and dandelions. Cole's expertise and dedication have truly made a difference, and we couldn't be happier with the service provided. Thank you, Cole, for giving us a lawn we can be proud of!
    Always can count on Custom Lawn to meet and exceed my expectations of a great lawn. Always on time, great products that do the job, expert lawn specialist to give me needed information on keeping my lawn looking great. Always on time with applications. Thank you, Sean.
    We have used Custom Lawn for all of our lawn care needs for several years. We have found them to be reliable and responsive to our concerns when we call. Shawn has really been helpful and diligent. I would recommend them if you are looking for a professional lawn care service.
    Rodrigo came out to winterize my sprinkler system. What an amazing ambassador for your company and very knowledgeable and efficient w the Rachio system! Custom Lawn is fortunate to have such a quality team member and technician! Thank you Radrigo and Cuatom Lawn!
    CWO.
    Just like to say Seth our lawn technician does a great job! Our lawn looks great. Thanks Seth
    Wonderful service all year. Always on time, my yard had never looked better.
    Thanks for the extra care you have shown me. Thanks, Pam Thomas
    Our technician, Sean O’Dwyer, has done a great job on our lawn! I appreciate the advance notice that our yard will be serviced and he takes great care that our dogs don’t escape!
    Seth does a great job, always professional
    I AM SO HAPPY WITH CUSTOM LAWN AND LANDSCAPE! MY GRASS WAS 2 FT TALL. NOW MY YARD IS SO BEAUTIFUL. THANKS TO TROY AND SAM. THANKS TO FRANCISCO AND JOSE P. YOU ALL ARE WONDERFUL FOLKS. YOU GUYS ARE 10 STARS IN MY BOOK. THANKS AGAIN!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
    We have been very happy with Custom Lawn and Shawn has been very responsive! Our lawn has never looked better!!
    I wanted to thank Chad for all of his work turning on and replacing heads in our sprinkler system. He has excellent attention to details and is very friendly.
    Our experience with Customer Landscape has from the beginning been amazing. Everyone has been easy to work with.

    Sean O’Dwyer lets us know when he will be at our home. He is very detailed with what treatment he will doing and the condition of our lawn and what we need to do.

    This is our second season with Custom Lawn and Landscape and we have never been disappointed with the service and communication we have received from Sean and the rest of the staff.
    Cole is always awesome and quick with recommendations. Our lawn has never looked better. Customer lawn has given us the perfect lawn!
    Aric Peters
    We LOVE our guy Cole!
    Thank you for always greeting our crazy dogs and helping me pick their toys up at the last minute (I’m sorry 😬)! We appreciate you moving with us and the great service!
    Rene provided us with great service and helped especially with our box demonstrating how it worked and some of the quirks with our system.
    Cole does a nice job, communicates well and my lawn looks great.
    Custom Lawn & Landscape does a fantastic job of taking care of our yard and their communication and information are top notch!
    Cole is not only kind , professional but exceptional in his work ethic. I appreciate all he does for my lawn care. Thank you Cole🌻
    Cole is on top of his game and friendly!
    Just like to say Seth our lawn technician does a great job! Our lawn looks great. Thanks Seth
    Sean never misses a spot. He genuinely cares about my lawn and customers. Great communication as well. Thanks
    Sean O’ Dwyer has been taking care of our yard for the past several seasons and it is always immaculate because of the work he does. I never have to worry about weeds, sparse grass or anything. He is always detailed about what he does! Thank you Sean
    Our technician, Sean O’Dwyer, has done a great job on our lawn! I appreciate the advance notice that our yard will be serviced and he takes great care that our dogs don’t escape!
    Cole does a good job keeping me up to date on his servicing of the lawn. Have been pleased with Custom Lawn for a long time.
    We love custom lawn and landscape. They have great technicians but our favorite is Cole Jensen. He proactively communicates with us what day he will be coming. He always gives us great feedback on the condition of our lawn and information about each application he applies. He is kind and easy to work with!
    Michele Schwab
    Thank you to Troy Wingert and his team for customizing a program for my lawn. Great customer experience and look forward to working with Troy and crew moving forward!!!
    Talk to Troy today and he was extremely accommodating and eilling to customize services for our needs! I left today feeling like my patronage mattered!
    When Custom Lawn took over my lawn maintenance, I had a weak lawn with bare spots and weeds. Now I have the best lawn on the block, thick beautiful grass and no weeds. Cole is always willing to go the extra mile to take care of us.
    During the rainy season you may call it Chaos! I call it good lawn service from Custom Lawn. I have never had a tire Spin in my yard because of mowing wet grass! Luis and Elmer mow, trim, blow off my driveway and patio. They are very courteous, respectful and when they leave my home it is always "a good job well done." Thank you Luis and Elmer. I highly recommend Custom Lawn Service to do your Landscaping and mowing.
    Jason is very professional, polite and takes great care of us year after year!
    Sean O'Dwyer is THE BEST Lawn Specialist....he helps make our yard look amazing!!
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    Cole has been great informing us & doing a great job for our lawn!
    Cole at Custom Lawn does a great job of keeping us advised on the needs of our lawn. He responds to our requests quickly. Cole lets us know when treatment is scheduled and never treats our lawn unless we have given the ok. We appreciate Cole’s high level of communication. We have used Custom Lawn for 2 years and notice and HUGE difference in our lawn. It is beautiful!!!!
    Always can count on Custom Lawn to meet and exceed my expectations of a great lawn. Always on time, great products that do the job, expert lawn specialist to give me needed information on keeping my lawn looking great. Always on time with applications. Thank you, Sean.
    I recommend Custom Lawn and Landscape for your lawn needs. Troy has been great to work with!
    We are very pleased with the service we recieved from Custom Lawn. Jason was very helpful, professional and efficient. He arrived on time, explained the services he was to perform and he was able to troubleshoot and rectify another problem we were having with our sprinkler system. Thank you for the great customer service.
    We have used Custom Lawn for all of our lawn care needs for several years. We have found them to be reliable and responsive to our concerns when we call. Shawn has really been helpful and diligent. I would recommend them if you are looking for a professional lawn care service.
    We are absolutely thrilled with the results of Cole Jensen's work from Custom Lawn! Throughout the year, Cole has diligently applied fertilizer to our lawn. Our lawn is lush, green, and immaculate, standing out beautifully compared to our neighbors' yards, which are plagued with weeds and dandelions. Cole's expertise and dedication have truly made a difference, and we couldn't be happier with the service provided. Thank you, Cole, for giving us a lawn we can be proud of!
    Sean O’D took over the lawn care for my yard last year. It was in poor to mediocre shape with wild violets and bare spots. But after a year under his care, this spring my lawn is like green carpet. Deep green color and thick without weeds, violets and bare spots. My neighbors have commented on how lush my lawn looks. I’m very pleased.
    Sean O'Dwyer has helped care for our yard through Custom Lawn and Landscape for a few years. Sean is polite, prompt and very professional. We highly recommend Sean and the team at Custom Lawn and Landscape. Good Work, guys!
    Jason does great work, awesome as always! We like that he shows us what he did, explains it and answers questions. Very professional
    Jason did a tremendous job repairing a break in the irrigation system and getting the sprinklers ready for the year. He was very knowledgeable, easy to work with, and communicative. I’ll be working with Custom on winterization of my sprinklers moving forward.
    Jason at Custom Lawn and Landscape was absolutely wonderful. We had an issue getting our sprinkler system to start up this season and he knew exactly how to fix it. Was very informative, answered all my questions and was very personable. Highly recommend Jason.
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    We had winterization done by technician Rene Flores and he was patient, respectful, and detailed-oriented. I was very happy about his great service and will sign up again next year!
    Rodrigo came out to winterize my sprinkler system. What an amazing ambassador for your company and very knowledgeable and efficient w the Rachio system! Custom Lawn is fortunate to have such a quality team member and technician! Thank you Radrigo and Cuatom Lawn!
    CWO.
    Wonderful service all year. Always on time, my yard had never looked better.
    Thanks for the extra care you have shown me. Thanks, Pam Thomas
    2024 Update:
    Yet again, Jason comes in clutch. This time I had an actual irrigation "emergency" and he immediately knew what to do when he saw it. He also spent the time to educate me on why the issue occurred and made suggestions for the future. I honestly don't know how this guy doesn't run his own operation by now. He's a gem.
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    2023 Update:
    I wrote my first review a year ago and I just wanted to come back online and give an update. I've continued using this company and wouldn't dream of going to anyone else. Jason, once again, was truly the best. He's beyond knowledgeable and wants what's best for each of his customers. I really appreciate the time he spends talking through everything before, during and after the service. 10/10 would recommend...still.
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    2022 REVIEW:
    I have been searching for a good company to become my go-to irrigation folks and I've 100% found it in Custom Lawn & Landscape. Setting up my appointment through Billy was super easy and he listened to my concerns about a previous experience with another company. He assured me that I would get the best by choosing CL&L.
    They gave me plenty of heads up for my appointment window and Jason G. (the Irrigation Dept. Manager) showed up right on time. He was super kind and very educational. I like to learn and he was all about explaining everything in detail. He found a couple things that were causing issues and after getting my approval, he quickly handled the repair right then and there. He also priced a new controller for me so I could go ahead and start saving up for it as mine is quite a dinosaur!
    I'll definitely continue to use this company for my irrigation needs! I highly recommend them. Bring on summer! Thanks again Jason!
    Excellent - Jason does great job. Best in the business.