Rain is not the only thing missing this summer. The roar of the lawn mower has been silent and the smell of freshly cut grass is hard to come by. The drought is affecting those who make their living taking care of lawns.
Ben Boll of Omaha is putting up a good fight, but like many people in our area he's just about to give up on a lush green lawn this season.
“I've pretty much given up watering it. I think I'll put a little water on it today, see what happens, keep the dust down, stuff like that, but just waiting for the rain to come." Boll has been waiting for weeks for rain to come and he’s gone just as long without mowing his grass.
Over at Kozy Lawn Service, the only grass they've been mowing lately has been their own. The hot weather is killing lawns and this follows a winter where very little snow fell. It’s a bad time for people in the lawn care business.
“Oh horrible, no snow, we only had like five to six pushes,” said Kozy Lawn’s Justin Chambers. “If that wasn't much compared to a couple of years ago and then summer started off super early and now everything's dead because of no moisture."
Work crews that are normally out mowing yards are now in the shop. Customers are cutting back and workers who cut the yards have to find something else to do.
“We're out here servicing the mowers, blowing all the grass out of there, probably gonna wash them, maybe change the oil, hydraulic fluid and stuff,” said Kozy Lawn’s Jacob Garvis.
“Grass ain’t growing, people aren't watering, fertilizer accounts, everybody is cutting back, mowing has gone from once every week to once a month," said Chambers, hoping that people will soon spend money to power rake, aerate and over seed their lawns so they will be green next year.
