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Check here for important information on lawn care and landscaping in Columbia, IL and the nearby areas!
Check here for important information on lawn care and landscaping in Columbia, IL and the nearby areas!
Aerating and overseeding are two of the most important things you can do for the health of your lawn, but if these processes are done improperly or at the wrong time of the year, you can end up harming your grass more than helping it. For example, it is much better to aerate and overseed a lawn in fall than in spring.
Learn why you should try to aerate and overseed in the fall instead of spring in Columbia, Millstadt, Waterloo, and the surrounding cities of Illinois.
In spring, your lawn is just beginning to emerge from its winter dormancy period. More than likely, snow sat on the grass for most of the season, which means it is a bit weak and the soil is not hard yet. If you try to perform core aeration on the lawn at this time, it could end up pulling up more of the grass than you intended to, creating larger holes and causing unwanted damage that you will have to fix.
Instead, aerate in the fall as that is when your lawn has had the entire growing season to establish itself and recover from the winter. The growing season, which covers spring and summer, is also when your lawn sees the most foot traffic and use. That means the soil will be more compacted at this time and will benefit from the aeration more than it would in the spring.
Typically, we try to always overseed lawns in mid-fall around September or October.
If you are experiencing issues with drainage on your residential or commercial property, you may be exploring your options for ways to solve those problems. As you well know, drainage problems can lead to other issues that can be quite expensive, such as lawn damage, landscape plant damage, and even potential damage to your home's foundation. There are several different types of drainage solutions such as downspouts, land grading, French drains, and dry creek beds. While dry creek beds and French drains may look somewhat similar on the surface, they operate on different systems and structures.
Learn more about dry creek beds and French drains so you can better determine which one may be best for resolving your drainage issues in Waterloo, Columbia, Millstadt, and the surrounding areas of Illinois.
Typically, dry creek beds will cost about $5-$7 per square foot to install, while French drains will cost around $20-$30 per square foot. Depending on your budget, dry creek beds may be a more feasible option for you. They use fewer components than a French drain, which means there is less labor involved in the installation process. A French drain is much more involved, whereas the process for dry creek bed installation involves these steps:
At Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping, our crews are passionate about installing quality planting beds that look beautiful and also complement our customer's homes.
Our landscape team just had the chance to redo some old landscape beds for a home in Waterloo, IL and create a cohesive look and feel that wrapped around the entire home. Check out some before and after photos of this lovely transformation!
Before we could begin installing the new landscape materials, we first had to remove the hedges and bushes at the front of the house and the grass around the back deck area. This gave us a clean slate to prepare and begin installing the new landscape plants.
While the hedges were in decent condition and had been trimmed to keep them shaped, the homeowners wanted a landscape that made the front of the house feel more open. The hedges were a little tall and encroaching on the porch and front walkway.
After everything was removed, we began putting in the new landscape beds. We used small shrubs to start, so that their size could be easily controlled as they begin to grow and leave the landscaping feeling open.
Around the deck, we created a whole new landscape bed to mirror the same style as the front of the house. For a permanent bed edge, we installed paver curbing. This way, they will not have to worry about re-edging their landscape beds each...
As the owner of Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping, I stay very busy running my business but during my downtime, I love to cook on my Big Green Egg! I have perfected this St. Louis style BBQ rib recipe over many years and the outcome is always outstanding. These ribs are perfectly tender, finger-lickin' good, and relatively easy to smoke!
We were recently contracted to install new retaining walls for a property in Columbia, IL. This property had previously gotten retaining walls but opted to use timber for the retaining wall material. We consulted with them on new retaining walls and constructed new ones for them using durable, strong stone materials that will last for a very long time.
Read to learn more about this retaining wall installation project and why stone is a superior choice for retaining wall materials.
Timber retaining walls will typically last about a decade if they are properly maintained. Without that maintenance, they may only last about three to five years. The existing wall at this property had begun to rot, meaning the soil behind it was at risk for eroding away. The homeowner wanted a new wall that was going to last longer and be more dependable.
Unlike timber, the stone will not break down. In fact, stone materials can last forever if they are properly maintained and cleaned. This makes stone a sound investment, even if it does have a higher upfront cost than timber. It also means you won't have to replace it every so often. We also added some columns to their new retaining wall, which meant our contractors needed to do some custom stonework for the columns.
One of our clients in the Belleville, IL area called us not too long ago. Their landscape bed had fallen into disrepair and they wanted a solution to obstacles in their yard that made it more difficult to mow the grass. We sat down with them, discussed what they wanted to see, and came up with a plan for their yard that will look lovely for years to come and will also be low-maintenance for them.
Learn more about our recent landscaping project here and the steps we took to successfully implement everything for this homeowner.
When we took a look at the existing landscape plants and shrubs, we quickly realized they had been neglected. Many of them had almost completely lost their leaves, which means they were dead or dying. To redo the area, we completely removed all of the plants, cleared away the old rock ground cover, and got rid of the stone edging that was there. We also took out an overgrown shrub that was by the home's garage door so we could replace that area as well.
When you mow a yard, it can be difficult to mow around obstacles in the lawn. At this particular property, they wanted to figure out a way to make it easier to mow around their electric box and their mailbox, so we evaluated those particular areas and determined a way to eliminate them as mowing obstacles.
Deciding to install a custom patio at your property in Columbia, Waterloo, Millstadt, and nearby cities in Illinois is an exciting step to take. Custom patios are beautiful and provide a great area for entertaining guests, friends, and family. Often, they serve as the foundation for your entire outdoor living space.
When custom patios are built, they need to be constructed with durable, quality materials that will last for a long time. At Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping, we often use concrete pavers and flagstone. Learn more about these materials and which one may be the best fit for your property.
Concrete pavers come in many different colors and patterns, allowing you to choose a completely customizable patio. The pavers come directly from a supplier, already pre-cut and ready to install, meaning they require less labor to install them.
Pavers are an economical choice of material as well since they are cheaper than flagstone. Throughout the patio's lifetime, pavers will need occasional maintenance to ensure the patio is protected. Concrete pavers can last anywhere from 50-100 years if they are properly maintained.
Pavers can also shift sometimes, but it's easy to remove them and level the underlying area again before re-installing them. If a paver cracks, it's also a quick fix to remove it and put in a new one.
In the area of Columbia, IL, we often see clients having issues with their drainage around their homes and foundations. The team at Linnemann Lawn Care & Landscaping can help fix these problems with a variety of drainage solutions.
One client reached out to us to ask for help with their property, as they were continuously experiencing problems with water seeping into their home. Learn more here about the measures we took to help adjust the drainage around their home, giving them peace of mind and helping them avoid further issues from water damage.
When we arrived at this Columbia property, we were immediately able to see that the client had issues with their downspouts, even attempting to use duct tape to help with the situation. They also had to continually run their sump pump in their basement during every storm. After we fully investigated, we found that their black corrugated downspout pipe was backing up, trapping water near the foundation of the home.
As the water stayed trapped, it was eroding away dirt at the side of the home and was soaking back into the ground beside the foundation.
If this homeowner hadn't contacted us and left this water damage to sit, it could have led to some very costly repairs, along with other problems. Water damage can affect a foundation and weaken it. It can also reach into the...
Once winter begins to recede and you see the overall condition of your lawn and landscaping, you may quickly realize you're in need of a spring cleanup. Spring cleanups are very beneficial for lawns in Columbia, Waterloo, Millstadt, and nearby areas of Illinois.
Learn four reasons why you should schedule a spring cleanup now for your yard.
During winter, winds and snow may bring down extra leaves and tree branches into your lawn. Leaving those to rest on your grass can end up causing dead patches in your lawn, as the underlying grass won't be open to absorb nutrients such as air, water, and light. While a spring cleanup is going on, that debris will be cleared from your lawn and hauled away.
Spring cleanups aren't just for your lawn. They also help prepare your landscape plants for the upcoming growing season. Shrubs and bushes are trimmed or pruned depending on their needs, and ornamental grasses are cut down to curb any overgrowth. Routine trimming and pruning help to shape your plants and keep them healthy by removing any dead or dying branches that could potentially weaken the plant, making it more susceptible to plant disease.
In spring,...
While it may be hard to think about it in the middle of wintry weather, your lawn care for 2020 is incredibly important. Neglecting even one step in a lawn care routine can spell disaster for that healthy grass you've worked hard to cultivate over the years. Throughout 2020, it's crucial to follow our seven-step program that was designed specifically for local lawns.
Learn why your lawn in Columbia, Millstadt, Waterloo, and nearby areas needs to adhere to a routine fertilization program in 2020—and how you can save money on our program by prepaying for the whole year.
As soon as that spring weather hits, our team comes to your residential or commercial property with a fertilizer treatment and preventative crabgrass control. The nutrients in this fertilizer treatment supply a strong foundation as the growing season begins. To control crabgrass in your yard, preventative treatment is needed to help ensure this pesky weed doesn't take over in later months of the year.
After the initial crabgrass control treatment, we apply another to keep crabgrass where it belongs: out of your yard. Along with this, we also put down broadleaf weed control to eliminate problem weeds like clover, dandelions, and more so that your...
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