Spring is here, trees are blooming, the magnificent plums and magnolias flowering days are over, the crab-apple trees are not far behind but the cherries are just at their peak. We have been so fortunate to get the recent rainy days sprinkled with a few warm ones - the Spring gardens around the Bay Area have been particulary beautiful this year.

Now, it's time to make sure we have as equally-beautiful summer gardens. If your planting beds have not been mulched, now would be a good time. Spring fertilization of the entire garden should start within the next two weeks. Aeration of the lawns should begin soon as well.  Doing this will help alleviate compaction and will allow fertilizer and water to better reach the roots.

If you did not plant spring bulbs, crocus, daffodils, tulips and hyacinth I am afraid you're too late, but mark your calendar - there's always next year :)

Next week, we will go over spring insects that can be taken care of in a safe way but it needs to be done soon before the populations of insects gets too high in your garden.

Low voltage lighting has come a long way over the last few years.  The average home has some form of outdoor lighting.  Many people are installing solar lights and although they still have a way to go to really provide the "wow" factor in a garden it is great that they are avaiable.

Low voltage lighting was a less expensive alternative to the use 110 volt outdoor lighting systems.  Amazingling within a few years the low voltage fixtures were abe to light up the garden just as good if not better than 110v fixtures.

Now with the introduction of LED  light bulbs we are able to do so  much more than we were just a couple years ago.  We are able to change older systems with new fixtures without having to start over.

The greatest improvement with the LED systems is the cost reduction with the use of electricity.  IF someone has a halogen system and were to compare it with the exact number of fixtures with a LED system the cost reduction would be at least 33%.

We offer lighting demonstrations for your garden so clients can se how their gardens could look.   If a client has a system now and is not happy with it and it does not provide security or the "wow" factor in their gardens at night, we would be happy to show people how beautiful their properties can look at night.

Call and we we can help you enjoy your garden just at much at night as you do in the daytime.

I just went to a conference for contractors and one of the speakers was Mr. Rick Villucci, who is the senior investigator for the state of California.  He works on cracking down on illegal contractors throughout the state.

The title of his speech was, "who are we letting in our homes"?

I have included a few videos for people to see, but it was a little scary to see who is out their posing as legitimate contractors but are far from legitimate.  During the stings many of the people who were caught were "wanted" for other crimes.

Part of Mr. Villucci's speech was about the abuse of the elderly.  Taking advantage of our elderly while they are still living in their homes.  Some contractors even coerced elderly homeowners to give them money apart from the work they agreed to do.  Having a mother who still lives in her home and needs to have repairs done to her home form time to time this story really hit home.

If you have a chance, check out the videos and just be careful, Who you let in your home! VIEW VIDEOS

I have included an analyst sheet so people can review the actual cost comparison between real lawn and synthetic grass.  It seems like a 36 month time frame is needed to recoup one's investment.  I believe that it is even shorter.

In last week's blog, I stated the largest amount of water wasted is in the residential landscape. The average person and the majority of gardeners have little to no idea how much water to apply to their gardens.  It is obvious to all that the lawns are the highest consumer of water.  The landscape plants are minimal.  Some of our larger trees need deep watering (depending on the variety of tree, of course) but even in the middle of our hot summers the average planter does not need watering more than twice a week.  I cannot count how many times I have gone to a person's home and look at how they have the irrigation controller set-up.  They have their plants being watered every day or every other day for 15 minutes.  This is on established plants!  In our clay soils this is way too much water.  Please note: I am generalizing to a degree but for the average established garden this is too much water.

If synthetic grass is installed and proper water is applied to the landscape plantings one can only imagine how much water is being saved and in turn how much money can be saved.


Download PDF - Typical Payback Analysis Natural vs. Synthetic Turf