Evidence of Lawn Abuse

Dear readers and loyal customers, it is a rare occasion when you stumble upon a single image that encompasses three or four posts at once. Earlier in the week, while looking down from a high rise residential building, I saw that very image and decided to jump on the opportunity to summarize what we have been discussing for the past few weeks about how it is YOU who is responsible for the health of your lawn in how you use it.

The image below is from a building where the ground floor tenants do not have an enclosed balcony but rather a walk-out type patio. I have numbered each of the individual properties and will discuss how each of the tenants use that property. (Please note: A couple of these tenants are in direct violation of the landlords rules, as their leased property boundary is at the end of the cement patio. The grassy area is common grounds for the building, and not for personal use).

Tenant #1:  This tenant has a medium sized dog and three cats. This tenants allows the dog and cats out onto the property outside his apartment to relieve themselves and roam around. This tenant drives his minivan up onto the grass in front of his apartment a couple times a week (rain or shine) to off load groceries, wash and vacuum the vehicle etc., also he has friends with motorcycles that park on the grassy area. (Do you see the thinned out and patchy grass? Can you see the path he has created with his vehicle that clearly leads right to his patio?)

Tenant #2: This tenant is actually rarely seen at home due to traveling for work. When this tenant IS home, he is normally indoors or just on the cement patio area. (The grass is virtually untouched, other than by the pets from Tenant#1 and Tenant#3).

Tenant #3: This tenant has a very large dog (an English Mastiff, I believe). This dog is often tied to the tree in front of his patio for much of the day. Being a very big dog, certainly you can image the quantities produced when he relieves himself. Also consider, that the dog is tethered to the tree and therefore has limited opportunity to select untouched area where to do his business. (So, do you see all the dead patches around the tree, generally most of the property outside this tenants patio? Both Tenant#1 and Tenant#3 have dogs, but because Tenant#3 ends up having such high concentrations of nitrogen as a result of owning a very large dog and confining him to a small area, the property shows significant damage).

To wrap it up we’ll say that you should always remember, grass is a plant. You wouldn’t trample through your rose bush daily and then be surprised when it dies. So take care of your lawn; be gentle with it, feed it, and love it.

Please remember, if you have any questions, or need help with your situation, we are always here to help. Please go to our “Contact Us” page and let us know what we can do for you. Also, you are welcome to include photos of the problem to help the diagnosis and discussion of how to resolve it.