Mowing opportunities ‘drying up’ as the drought persists

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - With the Shenandoah Valley being in a drought warning, landscapers are looking elsewhere for work this mowing season.

Josh Sprouse is the owner of Sprouse Lawn Care. He said this summer has challenged his team, but they are experienced with switching job focuses with the weather. He said this summer was full of pivots and filling in gaps of work with jobs that aren’t landscaping focuses.

”It’s fairly easy enough for us to transition into other things,” Sprouse said. “There’s always other types of work besides landscaping that we also dabble in that keeps us buy during this time so our employees aren’t sent home early or things like that.”

Sprouse said one of the main jobs his team does is mulching. He said mulching would happen regardless of weather, they just pivot more towards mulching during dry periods of the year.

Sprouse said lawns get mowed about 32 times a year in this area, but people in the Valley would be lucky to have 26 this year because of the droughts. He said drought preparation comes before the summer, making sure he has contracts lined up no matter the weather the season brings.

“We take it into consideration a lot of times when you set up your contracts,” Sprouse said. :A lot of the times when you have to set up your contracts you set them up for a 12 month time frame. You have to ne ready and perform when the time is that you said you’d have to perform.”

He said his employees take more breaks, drink more water and stay safe during hot months. He also said him and his employees enjoy switching up the jobs once in a while.

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