Sterling was building houses long before most of eastern Loudoun had a stoplight. Sterling Park went in during the 1960s, Sugarland Run and Countryside came after it, and Cascades and Lowes Island filled the land along the Potomac through the 1990s. You can read that history in the lawns. The turf is older, the shade trees are bigger, and the clay underneath has been walked on, mowed over and built around for decades.
Pro-Mow has cared for Loudoun County lawns for over 35 years, and we are still the same family business Chris Gepford started in 1990. Our office on Azalea Lane in Dulles is a short drive from most Sterling streets, and our General Manager, Brian Gepford, grew up working in the business. When we look at a Sterling lawn, we are usually looking at one that was laid down around the time the house was built, and that changes what it needs.
This is the conversation we have most often on a Sterling estimate. The trees that were saplings when the neighborhood went in now shade turf that was planted for full sun. The grass under them thins out a little more every summer, and the usual reaction is to feed it harder. That rarely works, because the problem is light, not nutrition.
What does work is a short list of changes. We raise the cutting height in the shaded areas so each blade has more surface to collect light. We overseed those spots every fall with a shade tolerant mix instead of the seed that suits the sunny front strip. And where a spot gets less than about three hours of direct light a day, we will tell you honestly that a mulched bed will look better than another round of seed.
Loudoun clay packs down easily, and an older lawn has had a long time to get packed. Roots stay shallow, water runs off instead of soaking in, and fertilizer sits near the surface where the plant can only use part of it. On an established Sterling lawn this is the most common reason a yard looks tired even when everything else is being done right.
Core aeration is the fix. The machine pulls plugs of soil and thatch out of the ground and leaves them on top, where they break down into organic matter in about two weeks. The holes let air, water and nutrients reach the roots again. We overseed straight into those holes with certified seed chosen for Northern Virginia and for your yard, and put down a starter feed at the same time. On older Sterling lawns we recommend doing this every year in early fall.
Loudoun soil is naturally acidic. That matters because acidity locks up nutrients that are physically in the ground but chemically out of reach for the grass. It is a big part of why some lawns get fed on schedule and still look hungry by midsummer.
Our Basic Care Plus program adds a lime application between June and September to bring soil pH back into balance before fall overseeding. It also adds a grub preventative between April and early June. For an older lawn that has never had its pH corrected, the lime is often the change homeowners notice most.
We cut every turf area once a week on the same day, at a height suited to the cool season grasses that grow here. A steady weekly cut pushes grass to spread sideways, which thickens the lawn, fills thin spots and leaves less room for weeds. Every mowing visit includes:
If weather keeps us off your lawn, we come back the next business day, Saturday included. The week after a makeup visit goes back to your normal day as long as at least four days have passed. If you have irrigation, keep it off for twenty four hours before your mowing day. Cutting wet grass tears the blades and leaves wheel marks behind.
Every lawn fertilization program starts with five core applications spaced six to eight weeks apart, all using slow release product:
Basic Care is those five steps. Basic Care Plus is seven, with the lime and grub control described above. Premium Care is eight and includes core aeration and overseeding. Everything we apply is phosphorus free, which matters in a town that drains to the Potomac. After each treatment the technician leaves an information bulletin and a small yard sign, and if something comes up between visits we will come back out and look.
Mulch. Double shredded hardwood in black, brown or natural, installed at an even two and a half inches. We clear the beds of weeds and debris first, cut a clean edge against the lawn and put down a granular pre-emergent.
Hedge and bush trimming. Pruning to control size, shape new growth and encourage better flowering on shrubs, hedges, ornamental grasses and crape myrtles. On older Sterling lots, foundation plantings have often outgrown the windows they were meant to sit under, and regular trimming keeps them in proportion.
Leaf removal. Mature trees mean a lot of leaves. Mowing customers can add weekly leaf removal, where we bag the cut through the fall so leaves come off the lawn as they drop. There is also a one time complete cleanup that clears the lawn, beds, decks, patios, stairwells, fence lines and the area around your AC unit. Loudoun County does not run a leaf collection program, so we bag everything rather than leaving piles at the curb.
Raise the mowing height in those areas and overseed each fall with a shade tolerant seed mix. If the spot gets less than about three hours of direct sun a day, grass will keep struggling no matter how often it is seeded, and a mulched bed is usually the better long term answer.
Once a year, in early fall. Lawns that have been in place for decades on Loudoun clay are almost always compacted, and annual core aeration with overseeding is the most effective way to rebuild root depth and thickness.
Our sister company does. Superior Sprinkler Systems has designed, installed and serviced irrigation across Loudoun County since 1991, and it is run by the same family from the same Dulles address. If your lawn is fed and mowed properly and still browns out in August, watering is usually the missing piece.
We come the next business day, Saturday included. The following week goes back to your regular day as long as at least four days have passed since the makeup visit.
Loudoun County does not offer municipal leaf collection, so disposal goes through your trash hauler or HOA contract. That is why we bag leaves instead of piling them at the curb.
We also cover the streets around all of these, plus neighboring Ashburn and Herndon. If you do not see your neighborhood, give us a call.
Call 703-957-4880 for a free Sterling quote. Tell us roughly when your house was built and how much shade the lawn gets, and we will tell you what it most likely needs.
Reviewed by Brian Gepford, General Manager of Pro-Mow, Inc.
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