2000 Newsletter
| Lawn Service

Lawn Service

At Tompkins Corporation, we understand that the benefits of a healthy lawn are copious. Unfortunately though, many homeowners are not aware of the various lawn services their lawn requires in order to remain beneficially green and plush. For example, properly maintained lawns can help residents stay cool during the summer months. It is estimated that eight healthy front lawns have the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning, which is enough for 16 average homes. Additionally, a healthy lawn improves the environment as it produces enough oxygen for a family of four.
Services such as fertilization, weed control, aeration, grub treatments, overseeding and top dressing each play an intricate role in maintaining a healthy lawn. As a lawn care professional, we would like to educate our customers on why these various lawn services will benefit their lawn with this article. The following are some of the benefits of each professional service mentioned above.

Fertilization and Weed Control

In order to maintain growth, it is necessary for soils to contain various amounts of nutrients. Just as we may require vitamins to replace nutrients our body may be missing, lawns that are missing nutrients require fertilizers. Fertilizer assists in promoting a healthy lawn by relieving the stress of aging, neutralizing any damage done by lawn disease or pests, eliminating the competition for nutrients with weeds, and replacing nutrients lost by the removal of grass clippings.

Aeration

The benefits of aeration are two-fold. The process of removing small cores of soil and thatch from the lawn will open up air pockets, allowing fertilizers, water and other sources of plant nutrition to sneak down to the roots of turf plants. In addition, aeration can overcome a compacted soil and enhance the development of a deep root system, which, as a result, will reduce watering requirements.
The condition of the lawn will help you determine how often aeration should be done. The best time to do it though is in spring and fall when the soil is moist.

Grub treatments

Grubs are one of the most destructive pest problems during the summer, and can cause lawns to be vulnerable to additional damage from animals such as skunks and raccoons. Being proactive by implementing treatment during the late spring and early summer months will diminish the chance for damaged grass roots.

It is important that a grub problem is properly identified, as there is a common misconception among lawn owners that a grub problem is actually just dryness and that water will restore the lawn.  Once the problem is properly identified, understanding the source of the problem as well as the cycle is equally as important. 

Overseeding

Overseeding is one of the most important lawn care services as lawns begin to age and plants slow down their reproduction rate. Overseeding will help a lawn remain healthy by making sure that the grass is looking and feeling younger. It will provide a thick lawn that will assist in eliminating weeds and defending against various lawn diseases.

Overseeding lawns in the fall will reduce competition from summer grasses and will give the grass a leg up for the spring season as the roots will grow before the winter season.

Topdressing

Spreading topsoil across the turf will help upsurge the quality of the overall soil, allowing it to become more resistant to drought by retaining better moisture. Some of the additional benefits of topdressing include reduced soil compaction, diminished thatch, developed durability of turf rooting, flattened bumps from an uneven lawn.

Topdressing also combats weed infestation by producing new shoots for denser grass cover. The soil should be applied during the spring or fall (with spring being the most preferential time as it will expose the weed seeds to minimum growth).

Welcome to the second edition of the Tompkins Landscape and Irrigation Contractors' Newsletter. It seems many of you are interested in irrigation but are uncertain as of how we install the system and how this is going to effect your existing landscape. To hopefully shed some light on this situation we have produced our second newsletter and it is dedicated to the irrigation installation process. As a reminder, be sure to look on our site in the irrigation section because it too contains information on the irrigation installation process and product information that you may find very helpful. At Tompkins we follow a 10-step process for our installations:

Tompkins 10 Step Irrigation Process

  • Site is visited and a water pressure and gallons per minute reading is measured. This will determine how many irrigation heads may be put onto a zone of heads and how far apart these heads can be to ensure maximum and even water coverage.
  • The area is then marked off using small flags to simulate where each of the irrigation heads will be. This serves two purposes, one is to determine how many heads there will actually be and the second is to guide the pipe puller so he knows where the pipe needs to go. A proposal of work to be performed is submitted to customer at this time, and if the proposal is accepted and signed steps 3 -10 are completed. Dig Safe is also contacted to mark off all utility line.
  • Our licensed plumber will install a backflow preventor (this prevents your irrigation water from backing up and contaminating your drinking water) and any other necessary plumbing requirements that your local area may require.
  • Our irrigation staff begins the installation by putting 1-inch polyurethane pipe into the ground using a pipe puller machine known as a Ditch Witch. This pipe will allow the water to leave the house and make it to all of your sprinkler heads.
  • Once all of the pipe has been pulled the next step is to dig the holes at each of the flags to allow the sprinkler heads to be connected to the pipe. Additional holes may need to be dug to connect some of the pipe together.
  • When the holes have been completed the irrigation heads and pipe connection pieces are then tied into the polyurethane pipe.
  • The irrigation valves that allow each zone of heads to turn on are connected and then wired so they may be tied into the controller clock.
  • Once the valve wiring is completed the controller clock is then mounted, usually in the basement, and then wired to the valves. Our system is now completely connected, however, the job is not finished.
  • To ensure the quickest lawn recovery and quality clean up our crew backfills all of the holes that we have dug and returns the sod to its original areas. We also clean up the small lines that the pipe pulling machine makes when it puts the pipe into the ground.
  • In our final step we completely run your system from the controller clock to make sure all of the components of your system are functioning properly. We make any adjustments to the heads to make sure they water only the areas you want them to and to ensure they are spraying maximally and evenly. One of our employees will also give you instructions on how your controller clock and irrigation heads operates and how they may be adjusted.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the irrigation installation process. Usually this process is completed in one full day this may vary depending upon the size of the job. All information on the products we use and the benefits of having an irrigation system are located in the irrigation section of our site. Also feel free to browse our entire site for any information about the other services we provide. If you are interested in having some work performed on your home or business you may email us by using the contact us link on our site.

Category- Lawn Service

^ Back to Top

Better Business Bureau Acredited Business The Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce
Mass. H.I.C. #168557 | Mass. Hoisting Engineer #089774 | Mass. Pesticide #31925