When the hot July sun becomes unbearable, you can find relief in the form of indoor air or an outdoor pool.
If only your lawn had it so easy. It takes a beating all season long. So, what do you do if your turf has turned to toast, and your soil has become sand? “That depends on the relative condition of your lawn,” says Spencer White of Second Nature Lawn Care. “Most Middle Tennessee lawns are fescue, and if yours is struggling now, it’s probably because it’s needs are not being met. But it can be restored.”
Make no mistake; the window for converting an ugly, weedy “lawn” into one that’s in tip-top condition has closed for this season. But the window for having a lawn that will be the envy of the neighborhood later this fall or next spring is wide open. White says that getting a healthy lawn is a journey that begins with nutrient-rich soil.
“This is the time of year that you should be introducing live microbes into the soil that eat dead plant material and organic matter,” he says. “In turn, the microbes produce the nutrients that will revitalize your soil and feed your turf.” White also notes that this year’s cicada emergence will provide an additional organic boost. The best thing you can do for a fescue lawn in the summertime is prepare it for aeration/overseeding in the fall. Waiting until spring will not give new fescue enough time to establish a mature enough root system to withstand the summer heat.
White says that diligent homeowners can do the job themselves with products
purchased at any lawn and garden center. But he cautions, “There is a lot of nuance in lawn care treatments. It takes a lot of time, and the right products need to be applied at the correct time.
“The products you buy at the store will degrade over time, so a lot of people feel pressure to use them, even when it’s not necessary. If you apply too little you will waste money, and if you apply too much, or if your timing is off, you could do more harm than good.”
White says that Second Nature stands apart from most other lawn treatment
companies. “We use granular fertilizers while most others use liquids,” he says. “It’s easier and more efficient to use liquid products but the results are not the same.
Granular fertilizers feed the turf from the root up instead of from the blade down, which gives the plant access to the nutrients for a longer period.”
Second Nature is family-owned and has been treating lawns in Middle Tennessee since Spencer’s father, Steve White, founded the company in the early 1990s. Steve remains active with the business, but day-to-day operations are handled by Spencer, who serves as director of administrative services, alongside production manager Adam Harris and a
dedicated team of experts. “I’ve been with other companies, and I can tell you that our guys do it the right way,” says Harris. “It’s labor-intensive work and you can hire a service that’s less expensive, but our results speak for themselves.”
In fact, Second Nature guarantees that you will be happy with the way your lawn looks when you become a Second Nature program customer and purchase a fall lawn renovation.
In addition to lawn care, Second Nature provides irrigation repair/maintenance, aeration and overseeding, and tree and shrub care, and several pest control services. It’s a Christian-led company that actively participates in everything from local food drives with OneGenAway, to providing bibles to communities in Africa through African Leadership
and ministering to incarcerated individuals through Men of Valor. “We don’t preach, and we have great people working with us who are not Christians,” says White, “but we don’t hide our faith, either.”
SecondNature.net
“There is a lot of nuances in lawn care treatment. It takes a lot of time, and the right products need to be applied at the correct time."