Winter can do quite a number on your Greater Chicago commercial landscape.
Whether you manage an office park, multifamily housing complex, industrial facility, retail hub, hospital, warehouse, or HOA, your commercial landscape will likely experience some of Old Man Winter’s wrath … and the resulting leftovers come springtime.
For instance, cold winds can snap twigs off trees, scattering them about the property. Leftover fall leaves can linger in every nook and cranny and look sloppy. The constant snowfall pile-ups and melting ice give way to slush and mud, and the turf becomes matted from snow.
Once Mother Nature decides winter is officially done, what’s left can look like quite a big mess. When that snow and ice are gone, you might feel left with a disorganized hodgepodge of a commercial property that needs a little attention.
Enter spring cleanup. Before beginning commercial maintenance on your property, commercial spring cleanup services can do so much to make your landscape look nice during this awkward transition into the new season. And when you’re running a business or multifamily facility, you can’t afford to have your property fall into disrepair for any period of time.
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Does your commercial landscape maintenance contract include these essential spring cleanup services? If not, it needs them.
Having them for curb appeal is crucial, especially in a competitive Greater Chicago environment. Let’s discuss what these services include and why they are important for your commercial property.
Spring cleanup is defined as the general cleaning and polishing of areas of your Greater Chicago commercial property so it’s ready for spring and the first round of maintenance services.
While it sounds like a simple prep, it’s anything but simple. These commercial landscape cleanup services improve your landscape’s appearance, creating a positive first impression for customers, tenants, visitors, and guests. They also give your facility a professional image, showing your business’s commitment to professionalism and quality.
When it comes to mitigating issues, this kind of spring cleanup removes hiding plants where pests can linger, thus cleaning up the environment. It also eliminates potential hazards like debris, slippery surfaces and overgrown vegetation, ensuring a safer space for employees and others who visit your site.
Once you have a signed contract, spring cleanups in Greater Chicago can start as early as February or March, depending on the weather. Usually, these services start in early March and go through mid-April or until the first mowing of the year.
Here are five key commercial landscape cleanup tasks that can make that dreary winter landscape look like it’s had an instant makeover.
Sure, you cleaned up your leaves in the fall, but there are still some leaves that linger and get caught up in the winter mess or some trees that drop leaves late in the season. (For instance, pin oak trees hold most of their leaves through winter, and pear trees drop them later in the season.) Even if you cleared them off your property, they could blow into your site from nearby woods or properties.
After a long winter, leftover leaves create a messy, slippery landscape that not only looks unkempt and makes your property look neglected but also poses safety hazards for your visitors, employees, tenants, and guests.
Wet leaves on walkways and parking lots, especially, can increase slip-and-fall risks and lead to liability issues and potential lawsuits for property owners.
Leaves that aren’t cleaned up can also block sunlight from plants and turf and trap moisture, leading to dead patches and mold growth. For turf, this can result in bare spots and snow mold. On your landscape, this not only looks bad but can weaken your plants and make it harder for them to recover in spring. These damp leaves can also create environments for pests like rodents and insects to thrive.
Leaves can also clog storm drains and gutters, causing water to back up and pool around buildings, parking lots, and sidewalks. This can result in flooding and structural damage.
That’s why a key commercial spring cleanup task is cleaning up these fallen leaves either by raking and removing them or blowing them out of trapped areas and removing them.
In addition to leaves, you can’t expect with such a large commercial property to also not have other things blow around and stick in spots on your commercial property.
This debris — everything from sticks, pine needles, pine cones, trash, etc. — can leave its mark on your commercial landscape in Greater Chicago.
As part of your spring cleanup, debris removal or trash patrol means tidying up lawn areas, landscape beds, and hardscape surfaces, such as walkways, driveways, and patios.
What does this do for you? First, it creates a great initial impression on your employees, customers, visitors, and guests. It sets the stage for a welcoming and vibrant space as the warmer months near.
Next, it eliminates safety hazards like fallen branches or slippery debris, making parking lots and walkways clear and easy to maneuver. This also extends the life of your hardscapes by keeping them properly cleaned, improving their aesthetics and decreasing the risk of needing costly repairs.
Finally, debris removal as part of commercial spring cleanup protects your plants from limited sunlight, mold growth, and pest infestations.
After enduring Greater Chicago’s harsh winter, commercial properties often face turf damage from snow, ice, salt, and plows. Messy turf areas can make your whole commercial property look unsightly and neglected.
This is why a thorough turf inspection and repair process as part of landscape spring cleanups helps restore green spaces, ensuring a healthy, professional-looking landscape for people who regularly visit your site.
Spring turf maintenance matters because it restores winter-damaged grass. Snow mold, salt damage, and compacted turf can weaken it, leading to patchy, dead areas. Identifying these problems before they worsen is a key part of this task. Encouraging healthy growth improves your curb appeal, making your business look more attractive and inviting.
How does this spring cleanup service work? The process starts by removing plow stakes that are no longer necessary to mark your turf and landscape areas. Then, it continues by raking and/or blowing away old leaves and any sticks or debris on the turf left over from the fall.
This is also a good time to look for areas of the turf that might need a little extra tender loving care. For instance, if salt has damaged turf or if a snow plow grazed a section of your lawn, we can flag these areas for repair with pieces of replacement sod or even seeding.
Then, a commercial landscape professional will freshen the turf by raking it and clearing it to receive the air, sunlight, and nutrients it needs to grow. Sometimes, depending on the time of year, this is also a good time for the lawn’s first fertilizer application as part of spring cleanup services.
Once winter has passed in Greater Chicago, your commercial planting beds can accumulate debris and dead plant material. A thorough spring cleanup revitalizes these areas, creating vibrant growth and a professional, well-maintained look.
Your commercial landscape professional will clean up flower beds by clearing all this debris and then applying a bed preemergent herbicide to prevent weed germination of those early spring weeds. Then, your commercial services provider will cut back any perennials, such as ornamental grasses, that were left through the fall or winter months.
Top this off with bed edging, and your beds have a clean, fresh look to start the season.
One purpose of organic hardwood mulch is that it breaks down and helps nourish the soil, so an annual mulch refresh is necessary to restore the professional appearance of your Greater Chicago commercial property and continue providing the many benefits mulch offers.
What benefits, you ask? Mulch packs a powerful punch full of perks for your property. It keeps soil temperatures even, which is good for your plants’ roots. It suppresses nasty weeds, helping to maintain your tidy appearance. It allows the soil to retain moisture, reducing watering needs and costs. It helps prevent soil erosion so spring rains don’t erode exposed soil.
This commercial spring cleanup task involves adding a new layer of mulch, typically 2 to 3 inches thick in plant beds, avoiding contact with tree trunks and stems to prevent rot issues.
Spring is here! You might already be looking around your commercial property and seeing the debris and leftovers scattered about from winter. With everything on your property management plate, the last thing you want to add to your list is to go out there and start cleaning things up. We completely understand.
You don’t want to wait until the last minute. With commercial landscape cleanup services, KD Landscape can help you prepare for a successful spring and protect your landscape from Mother Nature’s winter wrath.
Want to learn more about our commercial spring cleanup services in Greater Chicago? Get started today with an onsite consultation. We’ll review your options together so you can feel confident and make a great choice.