Landscapers at a standstill while heavy rain continues to roll through the Valley
Mahoning Valley - April is known for its showers but the heavy rainfall across the Mahoning Valley is causing local landscapers to hold off on any work.
“We all want our yards looking great. We want the best looking yards on the block and the issue with that is everybody's underwater,” Matthew Roselle, the Owner of Lawn Recon LLC said.
If you were to mow saturated grass it could cause major damage to the yard and machinery.
“You go out there with one machine and you're just stuck,” Roselle said.
His machines weigh 1,500 pounds so they’re more at risk than your average lawn mower.
“You're coming in there and you're just going to track it all up you're getting mud everywhere you're slinging it all throughout your machine,” Roselle said.
Roselle said since the mild winter didn’t kill the grass it’s been growing at a faster rate this season. He’s been getting a lot of calls but said it's a waiting game with mother nature on when they will be able to get back out.
After heavy rain, Roselle said they’ll need a full 24 hours of clear skies and sunshine for a lawn to dry out to the point where they can mow.
While waiting for that to happen, he said to watch out for low lying areas in your yard.
“If that water is sitting there over and over and over and over and there's no way for it to get soaked up … it’s going to kill your grass,” Roselle said.
Along with grass cutting, full tree removals are also on hold since large equipment can’t get into yards. Roselle said they can still do a different kind of tree removal if the ground is wet.
“We can cut them down by sections, get them into lifts and it won't impact the ground whatsoever because you're not allowing (branches) to just slam on the ground and you can get them out of there right then and there,” he said.
Since March 1, more than 6 inches of rain has fallen in the Mahoning Valley. The area is expected to get another one to two inches of rain Thursday night through Saturday morning so you’ll have to wait until at least next week for yard work.
“People get a little impatient but at the same time when we come through and actually get it done when the yard's dry and ready to go they’re like ‘okay we appreciate you for doing that because now we see what you did.’” Roselle said.
Lawn Recon provides lawn care for Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and can be reached at (330) 509-3997 or Lawnrecon_roselle@yahoo.com.
