Late Summer Lawncare

TAKING THE “WORK” OUT OF YARD WORK: McIntire’s Lawncare

By Verity Miller // Photos courtesy of Patrick McIntire

It’s late August and summer’s end is here. The leaves are beginning to curl from heat’s desiccating effect. Two kids, dreading the start of school, delight in their front yard’s open air. Their dad peers out from inside the house and notes the tree shading them, considering how much mess the oak will soon create in fallen leaves. Fortunately for him, help is available.

Since 1999, when he started trimming grass for pay with a friend in high school, Patrick McIntire has been tackling the difficulty of changing seasons. After marrying, he and his wife decided to start a business with the clientele he had built up over the years. In March 2007, McIntire’s Lawncare LLC was born and has ever since been handling the lawn care needs of the people of Central Arkansas.

The Roland-based business, once just the couple, has since expanded to anywhere from four to eight employees year-round. With weather always changing, the business too is adapting to their clients’ needs.

“It’s still family-owned,” McIntire says with pride. “My wife, my brother and I manage the company.”

The team is equipped to help clients with most needs for landscaping, including bush hogging, hauling off debris, gutter cleaning, leaf raking, mulch laying, mowing, refreshing flower beds, annual and perennial planting and hedge edging.

“Maybe a customer has bought a new house and the yard needs to be totally renovated, or it may just be a simple, ‘I’m tired of mowing my own yard’,’’ says McIntire. “A lot of our business is just mowing, edging, trimming bushes and moving forward.”

“Moving forward” can look different for everyone. For DIYers, McIntire’s has drop-off availability for customers who prefer the work themselves but may lack time to collect supplies during the work week. McIntire’s can help dump mulch, haul bulk, and place it somewhere convenient – such as a driveway – for ease of access. But if picking up on the weekend is preferred, that’s an option, too.

“We’ll deliver all kinds of hardwood mulch or river rock,” McIntire sys, “as well as fall plantings and spring plantings, to keep the color.”

If you’re contemplating whether to add more color to areas in your yard, the answer is yes.

“Not everyone likes to look at solid green in the flower bed,” McIntire says with a laugh. “Pops of color liven up the day.”

As he and his team prepare for coming cooler weather months, McIntire focuses on his clients’ lawns, and making sure they are in their best form through winter. Many basics to lawn care include fertilizing and watering enough, but the age-old debate of how much grass to leave on the yard post-mow persists.

The advice from the professional? A healthy medium.

“I recommend not letting the clippings pile up too heavily,” McIntire says.

“Some clippings are good to get nutrients back into soil…but I recommend dethatching the yard, so we can get the granulated fertilizers and weed treatments down in the soil for a lusher lawn in the summer months.”

Once leaves from the trees have fallen, the team usually launches “full-blown leaf mode” in ridding yards of leaves, which for the fall season, is a major priority.

“There are mixed reviews on whether should keep the leaves out all winter,” McIntire explains, “but my personal opinion is that I’d like to keep them off.”

Having an attractive, clean yard can also be reflected in keeping mulched areas up-to-date. Not only does mulching ensure enriched, moist soil and control annoying weeds, it also freshens up your garden or flower beds and simply looks great. It turns out it isn’t mulch ado about nothing.

But when should one mulch seasonally?

“It’s probably 50-50, with half in the fall, and half in the spring,” McIntire says. “That way any bulbs planted are not at risk for freezing throughout the winter.”

Arkansans are lucky to live in what McIntire describes as a “great climate area” and can grow a variety of things in winter. Prepping for that period is usually why fall is so fun.

Celebrating autumn for McIntire’s Lawncare means dressing up flower beds with corn stalks, hay and pumpkins, planting mums, and decorating flower pots on clients’ porches, decks and patios.

If you’re not a fan of grass, you can still incorporate the colors and beauty of autumn on and around outdoor spaces. And if fall decor isn’t your jam, there is also an opportunity to plant colorful cold-loving flowers and greenery that also enjoy the winter, such as pansies. With their ability to withstand cold and provide color, pansies add person-

ality to your yard during the months of barren trees and bushes.

Perhaps all this talk about the outdoors has you considering your own yard, though you may be hesitant to start. Oftentimes the first step can be a little scary. If you’re looking for a stress-free approach to reach the goals you have for your yard, McIntire’s is a great place to start.

“We’ll come out and talk it over with you. It may be something that the client wants to try to do themselves and calls us in at the end to pull [the landscape] all together. But we will do as much or as little as [you] the client wants,” McIntire says.

As summer concludes, a good time nears to think ahead. Having the proper lawn treatments now can actually protect your pocketbook for the next year, and whatever goals you have for the summer, you should be considering now.

If you’re a bit of a procrastinator and need lawn care soon, keep in mind that McIntire’s asks for at least a month’s notice to prepare and complete a project. This ensures that they can obtain and prep the supplies desired for whatever vision you have in mind. Fall is rapidly approaching, and many people are beginning to spend more time on their porches and in their backyards. If not looking for a full renovation of your lawn, but you are planning an upcoming party, McIntire’s can also help decorate and clean up your yard, so it looks its best. If you’ve just remembered that dirt pile out back you were planning to clean up, but have got a barbecue scheduled before you can tackle it, the McIntire team aims to accommodate and be available for their clients. It is always worth a call.

“The customer is always number one,” McIntire says, “and that may mean working strange hours to pull it off, but we will most definitely pull it off.”

“The customer is always number one.”