Before reading this Blog Post (think of it as part II), go back and read this short post about the Trout Friendly Lawns (Part I).   Trout Friendly Lawn Care Matters

A perfect lawn doesn’t always mean more fertilizer.  Focusing on the building blocks of healthy soil, proper water management, a trained staff and high quality products are good for you, good for the fish and good for the community.  Our vision at VLS is to enhance natural resources through our maintenance practices, so we always start there.  Converting a portfolio of services to a more naturalized approach while remaining profitable and competitive takes creativity and guts.  This post is an update on the initiatives we’ve tackled the last few years.

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to planning out custom maintenance programs.  Microclimates exist in various parts of the valley, different design philosophies necessitate maintaining differently to achieve a desired look and budget constraints all require us to stay flexible with our offerings.  We’ve found we can apply the same principles to the choices we offer clients for enhancing their environmental footprint.

Mulching Mowers:

Two years ago we started a pilot program to convert our tried and true mowers with clipping collection systems to an advanced mulching system on new mowers.  The results were outstanding and allowed us to reduce the amount of clippings being hauled to the transfer station by over 70%!  Saving money on tires, fuel, payroll, and tip fees allowed us to keep price increases at bay.  Returning clippings to the soil microbiome enhances organic matter production to reduce fertilizer inputs.  The benefits stack up on both sides of the aisle.  I call it a hybrid system because we still have the collecting mowers to enable spring cleanups, leaf pickups and rainy day mowing to be executed efficiently.  As far a I know we are the first company in Jackson to have threaded the needle of environmental enhancement, value creation and service depth when it comes to our mowing service.

Organic vs. Synthetic Fertilizer:

For years there has been a limitations when it comes to fertilizer choice.  Modern synthetic fertilizers are very effective at slowly and safely feeding turfgrass, but bring unwanted impacts environmentally, polymers in the soil, production impacts and more.  Organic products being super expensive, low in Nitrogen and smelly! made them a difficult choice for professional landscapers to use on a large scale.  I’m proud to say we have found a solution.  After 3 years of extensive testing and observation we’ve now converted 75% of our fertilizer applications to a product that builds the soil instead of mining it, is manufactured using an organic carrier, utilizes modern technology to safely deliver Nitrogen to the roots and has a responsible footprint in production.  You can feel good about your beautiful lawn because we’ve already done the work to ensure it’s safe, effective and affordable.

Smart Weed Control

There is a growing movement of homeowners learning to accept the fact that some dandelions and other broadleaf weeds in their lawns are OK.  Clover and alflafa deliver Nitrogen naturally in the soil, dandelions offer early Spring food for honeybees before there are other flowers blooming and dandelions are edible presenting all sorts of health benefits.  We are on a mission to educate our clients that not every weed in your lawn should be nuked and the overall amount of pesticides being applied in the valley can be reduced.  That said, the overwhelming majority of homeowners still desire a pristine lawn and feel that if they are paying for lawn care service it should look perfect.  If you’re a client in the latter paradigm, its ok we’ve developed a safe solution for you too.

There are two typical practices for controlling nuisance broadleaf weeds in turfgrass lawns.

  1. Walk back and forth with a back pack sprayer and treat visible weeds
  2. Apply herbicide wall to wall as a broadcast treatment with a liquid fertilizer.

Method 1 is better for the environment and uses less herbicide, but is only marginally effective.  The quality of the treatment is only as good as the diligence of the applicator to systematically cover the whole yard, and the consistency of the amount of herbicide delivered is poor often overapplying unwittingly.  Method 2 is very effective, but also very expensive.  It wastes a lot of herbicide unnecessarily because if the yard is already mostly clean of weeds and you broadcast spray the whole thing you’ve applied way more herbicide than necessary.  Bad for your family, pets and the water resources.

VLS has developed a 3rd option!  Effective as option 2 but as safe as option 1.  While we are delivering a broadcast application of liquid fertilizer, we utilize an injection system to apply a precise and calibrated amount of herbicide only to where there are weeds present.  It is thorough, effective, affordable and reduces herbicide use by an estimated 90%!  Don’t be fooled by other company sales pitches and be sure to ask them how they are delivering herbicides to the weeds in your lawn.

Zero Emission equipment

For the last two seasons we’ve been testing battery powered equipment to replace small noisy two stroke engines.  Weed eaters, blowers, chainsaws and hedge trimmers etc.  Until now the technology wasn’t viable for commercial companies running 8-10 hours a day.  We have been developing mobile charging units for the crew pickups and we are now ready to roll out zero emission equipment for all our mowing crews.  The benefit will be less noise, less odor, and no emissions.

Water Conservation and Stewardship

Water is our most precious resource.  Living at the top of a watershed where our water is abundant makes it easy to forget that.  Valley Landscape is committed to reducing and conserving water through proactive management of irrigation clocks, remote sensors and app based programming.  We believe irrigation systems should only compliment what mother nature delivers and that some dry spots in a lawn during the hottest parts of the summer are not only ok but can be beneficial for growing resilient root systems.  We have a host of technology available to upgrade your irrigation system.  If your irrigation clock is more than 5 years old it should be upgraded.  If your lawn has wet spots in the shade and dry spots in the sun, we can fix it.  If you see irrigation zones running in the middle of a rain storm or for hours on end, please let us know so we can fix it.  In our modern world there’s no reason to let water go to waste through poorly managed irrigation.

Bottom Line.

If you desire to be a responsible home or business owner who puts the right foot forward toward stewardship of our natural resources AND you want to have a nice looking lawn and healthy trees, partner with us.  We care too, we’re paying attention, and we’ve thoughtfully crafted a program that can achieve both.