Northeast Ohio commercial facilities are busy places, especially during those summer months.
Shoppers are visiting outdoor retail centers, singing along at their favorite concerts in outdoor venues, taking their work breaks outside at patios instead of inside a stuffy lunch room, and enjoying some fresh air outside of industrial buildings and hospitals.
As such, the commercial property managers at these sites have a tough job of keeping their places looking good throughout the year, especially during the dog days of summer, when the extra traffic might make this job even tougher. You have high heat, occasional lack of rainfall and even drought, along with extra foot and vehicle traffic, and you can see that the hardiest of plants can begin to droop and give your facility a bad name. But you have to look good, so you must embrace this challenging job.
Let’s talk about commercial property maintenance in summer, so you can get a better understanding of how to stay ahead of dry spells and summer issues and keep your facility looking its best.
4 Key Summer Commercial Maintenance Tips
Commercial property maintenance is best done using a proactive approach for each season – particularly for summer. Summer brings a unique host of challenges for those managing commercial sites in Northeast Ohio.
You don’t want the heat and dryness to wilt your flowers, brown and spot your lawn, and make your landscape look rough and unkempt. You want color, great visual appeal, and professional aesthetics that help bring in customers, employees, tenants, shoppers, visitors, and guests.
Follow these important tips when keeping your commercial landscape looking tidy and healthy during the summer months.
1. Adjust Your Summer Mowing Schedule
By the time summer is in full swing, mowing may slow down on your commercial site. You may see that your commercial mowing crews are mowing every 5 days in spring, but by summer this ends up being almost every 10 days. This is completely normal.
What’s also crucial at this time of year is that mowing is done using proper technique. You want to ensure your commercial turf is mowed to a taller 3- to 4-inch height. This will help shade out weeds, encourage deeper growing lawn roots, and prevent your turf from burning due to the limited water and higher heat that are normal in summer.
Also, your commercial mowing crew should never remove more than one-third of the grass blade at any one time to maintain that 3- to 4-inch height, which is why mowing frequency decreases. Your turf just doesn’t grow as fast as it did in spring. Mowing in this way ensures your commercial lawn isn’t unnecessarily stressed and can survive this already stressful time of year.
Commercial property summer maintenance crews will also use highly professional equipment that is well-maintained and in top working condition with sharpened mower blades to avoid tearing the turf.
2. Assess and Revise Your Summer Irrigation Schedule
If you want your commercial facility to have expansive areas of lush, green turf, water – like mowing – is an important element.
An established, commercial lawn will need at least 1 to 1.5 inches of water each week.
Make sure your commercial property maintenance services provider adjusts your turf zones accordingly. Typically, as rainfall decreases in summer, your site needs more water to thrive.
3. Don’t Forget the Impact Seasonal Color Can Have On Your Commercial Property Summer Maintenance
Summer can bring a lot of gorgeous blooms to your commercial facility, so make sure seasonal color is part of your commercial property summer maintenance services. This is the best time to take advantage of tons of new color opportunities.
Vibrant and radiant annual plant displays can really make your property shine at this time of year when all the flowers are popping in the brightest and boldest shades.
To do this right, embrace a proactive planning approach so that your color is installed and refreshed to match the changing weather patterns that happen in summer. This means making sure you have seasonal color maintenance, as well as seasonal color installation to ensure those blooms can take the heat and get the water and care they need to continue looking their best throughout the season.
Typically, summer annuals are installed in May or June ideally and will need adequate and timely watering throughout the season.
Where should you add color in the summer? The best places on a commercial property are usually those that receive the most eyeballs and traffic. These spots include focal points like vehicular and pedestrian entry points, as well as outdoor recreation or seating areas, along frequented pathways, and near key signage.
4. By Summer’s End, Pruning is Important, Too
As summer winds down, you may want to consider tree and shrub pruning as part of your commercial property maintenance services.
During this process, your commercial landscape professional will cut away dead, weak, or broken branches from your trees and shrubs to maintain a clean, fresh look. Not only does this ensure your trees and shrubs remain tidy at this time of year, but it also prepares them to look even better come the following spring and summer.
You want your perennials to grow back stronger and look better every year, and proper pruning will certainly help them do that.
Turfscape Can Help You with Your Commercial Property Maintenance in Summer … and All Year Long
As a commercial manager for a property in Northeast Ohio, it’s not easy to keep up with your landscape during the busy spring and summer months. You want your site to look great and avoid any of that roughness that can result from spring’s intense growth and the harsh summer conditions that can result with heat and drought. We completely understand where you’re coming from.
Let Turfscape’s professionals help. We offer year-round commercial property maintenance services – including summer – and will help create a plan with you that fits your property's needs and your budget. We know the challenges that each season brings in Northeast, Ohio, and we can ensure your property doesn’t miss a beat through any of them. Our customized proposal will describe the services we recommend during summer months to keep your commercial property functional, safe, healthy, and professional-looking, as well as give you guidance throughout the other seasons to ensure you never feel left out in the cold during winter or dealing with a rough looking, spent landscape by fall. We’ve got your back so you and your property look good all year long.
Want to learn more about our commercial landscape company and our service offerings for your commercial facility? Get started today with a free quote. We’ll review your options together so you can make a great choice that works best for your facility and your budget.
