How to Get Turf Like the Tigers this Spring

We know it’s cold at the moment here in Holland and West Michigan, so we have something to help get you through the rest of winter.

We’re really excited for the Detroit Tigers’ upcoming season and we thought that discussing spring and baseball would help you brave the elements this time of year.

Yes, we know it’s only March, but Opening Day isn’t that far away. April 4^th will be here before you know it.

To help you withstand what’s sure to be a traditional West Michigan “second winter” this month, we put together a few of our favorite Tigers moments.

There are plenty of great instants from Detroit history we could discuss, but here’s our short list.

• Showing the Yankees who’s boss in the 2000s. Eliminating one of the best franchises in history in ’06, ’11, and ’12 isn’t half-bad at all. Out of the three, the sweep of the Yankees in 2012 comes to mind as a particularly memorable moment. Granted, none of these seasons panned out for the Tigers, but it’s a great point of pride for the Motor City still. After all, the Yankees have the most World Series in MLB history and winning three playoff series in as many years against such a high-caliber opponent is no easy feat.
• Justin Verlander’s amazing performance in game 5 of the 2012 American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. 11 strike-outs on 122 pitches? We’ll take it! He’s had some amazing nights over the course of his career, but this was a vintage Verlander performance.
• Maglio Ordonez’s walk-off homerun to send the Tigers to the World Series in 2006. This 3 run shot closed the deal and sent the Tigers to the 2006 World Series! Once again, a Tiger outdid themselves against the As! (Sorry, Oakland.) We wish that we could add a Tigers victory over the Cardinals to this list, but unfortunately, it didn’t pan out. Still, the memory of watching Ordonez knock the stuffing out one in the bottom of the 9^th is still a moment that lives on in Tigers history.

We could go on and on about a number of other historic Tigers moments from the ages, but we’d be here all day.

Now, if you’re lawn enthusiasts like us, you’ve wondered how the Tigers get their grass as green and perfectly manicured as they do. (Okay, so most people probably don’t ever consider lawn care when watching the Tigers, but we’re not most people.)

Well, it’s pretty simple: they use professional services.

How to Get Grass Like the Tigers

Most of us are really interested in baseball, but you might be curious as to how lawn care ties into a professional sports team.

There’s an aesthetic component to lawn management for sports teams like the Tigers and businesses like the neighborhood golf course. Part of the fun of going to a Tigers game, after all, is standing in Comerica Park and looking out at the diamond. Well-kept stadiums look visually appealing to patrons and this keeps the fans coming back. This is also true for golfers; no one wants to play 9 on a poorly-maintained fairway.

But there’s also a safety component. The Tigers want to ensure that they are protecting the health and wellness of their players and a perfectly-leveled and well-kept field prevents unnecessary slips, falls, and sprains. This is good news for the club, the players, the fans, and the city, which is why the team spends so much on grounds.

This same logic holds true for golf courses, parks, and other courses.

Now, we bet that your lawn is nowhere near as extensive as Comerica Park. (Although having a concession stand in your backyard would be pretty great!)

However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t benefit from the right level of care. A well-maintained lawn offers a number of benefits. The list below is not an exhaustive one by any stretch of the means, but it’s a good place to start.

• Proper lawn care adds to your home’s resale value. Professional landscaping and maintenance, if done right, can add 7% to your home’s property value. Please note that this is on average; the right treatment could add even more to your property value. One survey actually concluded that 15% might be an attainable goal for certain properties
• Proper lawn care prevents erosion. The right landscaping and lawn maintenance will protect your topsoil from the elements and ensure that wind, rain, and temperature fluctuations aren’t taking your soil.
• Proper lawn care just looks better. That’s the long and the short of it. There’s just something to be said for looking out over a perfectly-manicured lawn.

Getting Your Lawn Ready for Opening Day

So what could we do to help keep your lawn looking as green and well-kept as possible?

Well, this will depend on your specific needs and wants and our recommendations off of this, but there are a few services we offer that tend to offer great value for our clients in the spring.

• Proper pruning of shrubs and trees opens the plants in question up to sunlight and helps them grow stronger.
• Lawn mowing. Mowing your lawn at the proper height and making sure the blades are sharp is essential! We may recommend herbicides and fertilizers to promote growth, depending on your unique lawn.
• Lawn aeration. The dead leaves and organic material that accumulates in your lawn between soil and blades of grass can act as a dam to nutrients, thus weakening the root system of your lawn. Our team will dethatch and rake away this debris to ensure that fertilizers, water, nutrients, and other beneficial substances can get to your root system. An added benefit of this is that proper lawn aeration is environmentally-friendly, as it prevents the runoff of herbicides and fertilizers into local watersheds! 

Granted, we’re not promising that your property will look like Comerica afterwards, but we think you’ll be very happy with what you see. Who knows? Maybe the kids will even want to play a few innings on your lawn this summer!

Next Steps

Don’t wait. Give us a call at (616) 399-6861 to learn more about our lawncare services. You can also reach us by filling out our online contact form. Then you can sit back and enjoy the things you actually like about spring.