BEATRICE, NEB. - After consecutive summers of abnormally dry conditions, southeast Nebraska has gotten quite a soaking this spring.

That brings a busy cycle to landscaping and lawn care companies.

“This year has been abnormal,” Seth Ray said. “We got about four to five inches it felt like in just a couple weeks, so grass has grown, and it stresses us out big time. It’s not just us though, it’s every business around here.”

Seth Ray is working through his first rainy season as Owner and Operator of Seth’s Lawn Solutions in Beatrice. As of May 29, the Gage County town has received just shy of six inches of precipitation… An inch above the yearly average for the month, causing rapid growth in lawn and plants.

Ray explains part of the reason for that this spring, isn’t just because of recent rains, but it’s also due to a dry winter.

“We had that big snow in January with about a foot, but after that not much,” Ray said. “Every time you get a half inch to an inch of rain, and it hasn’t experienced much moisture, it just grows tenfold… This is as thick as I’ve seen grass grow in some time.”

With different yards having different needs, Ray says he and his staff have to monitor growing and conditions to determine where to tend to first after heavy rains.

“For example, the area we’re in right now, most people have irrigation… They irrigate through the rain, so those yards are typically growing fast,” Ray said. “Non-irrigated, if it’s raining like it was early [in spring], you don’t have to necessarily be on them every week.”