Friday, September 30th, 2011
Much has changed over the last 31 years, and today we’re proud to announce our updated online presence!
Over the years, many of you have asked for tips to help you get the most from your outdoor living spaces. We listened …Continue Reading
Sunday, April 29th, 2012
Mother’s Day is around the corner and many of us are looking to beautify our landscapes in preparation. So what are your plans for Dallas landscaping over the next couple of months? If you are asking yourself what you should be doing to create and keep a beautiful landscape, here are some landscaping tips for Dallas and the surrounding areas.
Optimize Your Sprinkler System – You may or may not have already learned winters in Dallas are tough on sprinkler systems. So if you have not had an irrigation system evaluation, your landscaping projects are at risk. Make sure your have a Texas certified irrigator visit and review your sprinkler system. Making sure you are watering consistently is important for your landscaping plans. Get your irrigation systems properly scheduled so that you are not wasting water, yet your landscape looks immaculate.
Plant Perennial and Warm Season Vegetables – Even though you are now watering with a regular irrigation plan, you cannot count too heavily on your sprinkler system for Dallas landscaping beauty as water conservation limits the amount you can water your lawn. So choose your landscaping beauty carefully. If you would like to discuss ideas in this area, give CGreen Landscape Irrigation a call.
Prune Spring Shrubs – If you haven’t already, pruning is important for your Dallas landscaping plan, so make sure you are doing this now. Again, if you have questions in this area, give CGreen Landscape Irrigation a call.
We at CGreen Landscape Irrigation thank you for your continued support and visiting Dallas Landscaping Tips blog. We encourage you to visit the CGreen Landscape Irrigation Twitter feed, ‘Like’ the CGreen Landscape Irrigation Facebook fan page, and ‘subscribe’ to our CGreen Landscape Irrigation YouTube channel where we also share regularly and engage with our clients.
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Well, the last 10 days flew by with some crazy storm activity in the DFW area which led to many new landscaping projects and clients needing help. We were glad to be able to provide landscaping and lawn repair assistance to those of you who suffered. As these last few days made for a hectic times, we are thankful very few people were hurt and better appreciate the landscaping projects we get throughout the year under normal circumstances.
While dealing with these unexpected challenges, we began to think about what it is we do throughout the year in serving our clients with landscaping services throughout the DFW area and appreciate them even more. The fact is, most of us are usually at our desks by 6:30am in the morning, which allows us to talk to the landscape irrigation and landscaping maintenance crews and supervisors before they leave for their day. This gives us a bit of a head start on the day. By 9:30am, we are on the road visiting landscaping clients or meeting new potential clients until 6:30pm. Then the trek home begins and usually an evening of preparing landscaping proposals or returning calls and emails.
So why do we do this? Because it is what we do and who we are? Well I suppose it is really more than that, it is because we believe in what we do.
We, at CGreen Landscape Irrigation are determined to deliver quality landscaping services to our clients at a reasonable cost, with an added value. Wow… almost sounds like a mission statement! What does that mean in real life situations? Our landscaping company – CGreen Landscape Irrigation – named for the owner and founder Chuck Green (I know; now you think I am making this up, kind of a poetic license… No it is for real) has a dedication to quality, education, and delivery, set forth many years ago by…once again Chuck Green who still leads our landscaping business today.
Let’s talk about landscape irrigation education just for a moment. CGreen Landscape Irrigation has had over 125 hours of continuing education for our team in the past two years o irrigation n topics ranging from Irrigation and Drainage, to Fertilization, Weed Control, and Landscaping Principles. This helps our team deliver to our clients the most up to date information available to the landscape irrigation industry today. Many of our employees hold various landscaping, irrigation and drainage licenses and certifications which require continuing education credits over and above the in-house education.
Did you know that to become a licensed irrigator in the state of Texas, one must attend a state approved 40 hour class, sit for an 8 hour state board test and in the process shell out around $2,000 in fees. This doesn’t even include the 24 continuing education credits each renewal period and that license is necessary to design, sell, and consult with people about their irrigation and irrigation systems…WOW!
Landscaping Services with a Commitment to Quality
Over the years Chuck Green has worked with, mentored, and tutored individuals that were seeking landscaping and irrigation licenses and has paid for many to take the class and the necessary test. Why? So we could deliver quality landscaping services to our clients at a reasonable cost, with an added value. Our company through the sponsorship of Chuck Green has developed a policy of “Education that Pays” that gives monetary rewards to employees that have earned various “Green Industry” licenses and or certifications in landscaping. That is just one example of CGreen Landscape Irrigation’s commitment to quality and it shows…daily.
This week I was completing a post project walkthrough with a new irrigation client. After the walkthrough, I asked him why he chose us (another Chuck Green quality assurance technique). His answer was more crisp than you could imagine as he directly and succinctly stated in this order:
Did I do this because I am a type A personality? No…this is how I was trained, mentored, encouraged, and I am expected to take care our CGreen Landscape Irrigation clients in this manner. Once again, that focus on quality landscape irrigation services which is the reason we belong to local and regional professional organizations and why we volunteer to speak and work at local green industry educational events.
Many naysayers would say you just do that to charge more money on our landscaping service. We, with CGreen Landscape Irrigation know that we do these things because we care about our clients like they (you) are our family. To learn more about CGreen Landscape Irrigation and our commitment to our clients, connect with us through our social communities on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube.
Ralph Edge is a Texas Certified Master Nursery Professional (5330), Texas Certified Landscape Professional (577), Texas Licensed Irrigator (13733), Texas Licensed Backflow Assembly Tester (12012), Texas A&M and EPA Certified Irrigation Auditor and Texas Department of Agriculture Commercial Applicator. To learn more tips from one of the best landscape designers in Dallas, visit about.me/ralphedge or follow Ralph’s personal landscaping blog at ralphedge.blogspot.com.
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
Well the lakes are full and some lakes are even opening the gates to allow the current water supply to adjust to slightly below full. So hey, let’s end the water restrictions and start watering and fertilizing to get us back into the same mess we were in before.
Wow! I am sure I have already made some new friends. You know… even at the height of the drought I had neighbors that watered to the extent that water supply ran down the street and into the storm drain some 250 yards away – poor water use in general.
Water conservation is just that, conserving the resources we have while we have them. So we must be smart with our water supply and make sure our water use is in the appropriate areas at the appropriate times for the appropriate purposes. Like my dad used to say..”It is too late to shut the barn door after the cow has left the building!” The simple fact of the matter is, we have more people in the Dallas area now than we did 10 years ago and basically the same amount of water supply. The city’s infrastructure is straining to keep up and our water use is at record rates. Unfortunately, we see no reason to stop – except with water restrictions. So what can one person do to help with water conservation and how does it impact landscaping in Dallas?
Let’s take the simple solution of proper irrigation scheduling. Take the example of adding 1 inch of water per week at the height of summer, just one inch. If a normal irrigation spray head has a precipitation rate of 1.1 to 1.5 inches per hour, then through simple deduction, we know that spray head will need to run about 1 hour or 60 minutes to achieve 1 inch of water delivered to your lawn and seriously, that will be plenty.
So how do we accomplish that? With our heavy alkaline clay soils that spray head should not run more than 7 minutes at any one run time. Otherwise, the rest of the water supply will run down the street and into the storm sewer – not good water use. If your lawn has a dramatic slope, then the run time will be even less. Repeat the term “cycle and soak” over and over again, that will be your new mantra.
Cycle and soak is the art and discipline of irrigating just enough for the soil to absorb the water supply with minimal run-off. Consider the situation of the two day a week watering schedule Mondays and Fridays as an example - start times of 2am, 4am, 6am, and 8am each run being 7 minutes. So 4 run times of 7 minutes each, equals 28 minutes and times 2 for 2 days of watering….Wow! No run-off and your plants look better than they ever have…Why?
Well glad you asked…The time between the run times allowed the soil to absorb the water supply without unnecessary run-off and the plant actually received more water than a straight 40 minute runtime. Why is this? Once again, 7 minutes to the yard and then 33 minutes of water down the street – again, a poor water conservation plan.
Cycle and Soak allows the vast, I repeat the vast, majority of the water to go where it needs to go and that is to your turf and to your plants and not to the storm sewer. No matter how much you water the storm sewer or the side walk, they will never get bigger or greener – and I know this is not where you want your water supply going.
Water conservation is not simply doing without water, water conservation is the proper utilization of water that allows for the growth of your landscape and the reduction of the amount of water used….how can that be so simple?
To learn more about water conservation and how Ralph Edge and CGreen Landscape Irrigation can help keep your landscape the most beautiful in your neighborhood, ‘Like’ us on Facebook or connect with us via Google+, Twitter or YouTube.
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
Since we often get asked questions about drainage issues in the Dallas area, we decided to dedicate this blog to helping explain how drainage issues occur and how to deal with them. Upon reviewing this blog on drainage issues, we welcome your feedback through the Comments section below and always encourage you to share ideas of other topics to blog about each week. Let’s discuss drainage issues…
First, if there is water collecting or standing in an area for less than a day, it may not be drainage issues unless it is around your foundation. In this case, the water drainage could penetrate under the foundation and cause the soil to heave which has a negative effect on your foundation.
Water standing for more than a day is usually considered drainage issues. You do not want to attract mosquitoes and other undesirable pests, nor do you want the unsightly problems of the standing water from these drainage issues. There are two types of drainage issues and drainage solutions to them – surface or standing water and subsurface water.
Regarding subsurface drainage issues where the term french drain is often used, this is a drainage solution to stop the flow of water horizontally under the surface. When the property is sloped and there is water slowly seeping out and onto a sidewalk for example or on an area that is unsightly or not safe, that would be a good place for a subsurface drainage system as would a home with a crawl space under it. This subsurface drainage system is a great way to avoid drainage issues.
If the property has an irrigation system installed, or the rains have been substantial, then the first 8 – 15” of our soil is fairly compacted. When you have periods of dry spells the soil will shrink and that is when you see cracks. Imagine what the soil looks like below that first 8-15” of compacted soil. Some of the cracks in the ground could and do go several feet deep and reach horizontally for many yards. Therefore, if you have a pier and beam foundation where you have a crawl space under your home or structure, it is quite feasible to have water flowing into your crawl space from yards even hundreds of feet away. That is a situation where a subsurface drainage system would be utilized to help avoid drainage issues.
Picture a large sponge vertically in the ground outside of your foundation to collect and stop any subsurface water flowing where you do not want it. In this example, under your house. A trench is dug usually 2 – 4 feet away from the foundation and 8- 18” below the beam of the house to stop the water. We line the trench with a geotech cloth that allows the water to flow through it but does not allow the soil to flow or penetrate through it. A pipe is laid in the bottom with holes strategically placed to allow water to enter the pipe and still carry it away. We use SDR 35 PVC pipe – not that inexpensive flexible pipe that has holes all over it.
Then we will fill the trench with gravel to within 2” of the surface, fold the cloth over the gravel to create an envelope or sponge, then we put gravel on top of the drain. Now this is important! If the geotech cloth is not used, the soil will penetrate into the gravel and make the drain worthless thus allowing for drainage issues to occur.
Water runs downhill of course, so if the French drain or subsurface drainage system is too deep to run to a point of discharge by gravity, then a sump pump will be necessary. There are many different kinds and ways to install a sump pump and pit – that will be another article as this could this could turn the drainage issues blog into a book:)
The clay soils we have in the North East Texas region, when compacted, as areas that get a fair amount of foot traffic for example, it can take up to 6 hours for water to penetrate just one inch. Therefore, it is great to have clay soil around your foundation sloping away from the home which creates a positive situation avoiding drainage issues. It is not a good practice to have loose, sandy soil around the foundation – so be careful what you plant in your landscape – in order to plan for avoiding drainage issues.
Surface drainage and drains are fairly simple. There are two ways to solve these drainage issues. The best, if possible, is to grade the surface so the water will run off to the street or an area that allows it to keep going. Typically, you see in the newer areas of development, the areas between the homes are graded properly to the street or perhaps an alley, but before the home is built or turf is installed to stop any erosion, it will rain, wash the soil down and the nice grade is more like a bumpy road.
That is when we can decide to regrade the area to avoid drainage issues or we can install surface drainage. Picture the drain in your shower. Now picture that same concept but 10-12” or larger. We install a box in the low area and have a grate that allows water to penetrate into the box and into a solid pipe that flows out to a lower area – usually through the curb into the street. If it flows to a lower grassy area, we need to make sure there is some kind of rocks or concrete as to not allow weeds, grass to stop up the pipe and flow of water causing drainage issues.
One mistake we sometimes see when dealing with drainage issues is downspouts or surface catch basins installed on a french drain or pourous pipe. This is definitely not a good way of dealing with drainage issues. Two totally different applications and problems will be waiting for you if you do this.
We hope this blog on drainage issues was helpful. Thanks for visiting and keep smilin’ – Chuck Green.
Chuck Green is Founder and President of CGreen Landscape Irrigation in Dallas, Texas. Chuck is licensed in handling many areas of drainage issues, irrigation and landscaping in Texas and has led CGreen Landscape Irrigation since 1980. To connect with Chuck and learn more about how to deal with drainage issues, he can be found online at Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. To connect with CGreen Landscape Irrigation, CGreen can also be found on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
The fundamental element landscape designers consider with Xeriscaping and Xeriscape design is water conservation. Landscape designers constantly look for ways to reduce the amount of applied water and to maximize the use of natural precipitation.
To get started with your xeriscaping, with graph paper, draw an aerial view of your property. One best practice landscape designers have learned is to use “Google Earth” as it will measure and give you a view of your landscape design you have not seen before. Begin your landscape design plan with the following considerations.
Rain Garden
Another consideration landscape designers consider in studying the contours of the property. Does your landscape design have a low spot that always seems damp and boggy and fills with rain water? Turn it into a permeable rain garden with bog loving plant and make use of those areas that you would normally shy away from to let nature water them.
Bubble Diagram
Xeriscaping is all about water conservation and conserving the resources we have available which can be challenging without a landscape designers background. We do that by making good decisions about what, where, when, and how we plant and design our landscapes. Stay tuned for more landscape design tips in this blog series as we help with Dallas landscaping through the knowledge of our local landscapers.
CGreen Landscape Irrigation provides landscape design through professional landscape designers who are local landscapers serving Dallas landscaping needs for decades. To learn more about how CGreen Landscape Irrigation’s landscape designers can help you with your landscape design, connect with us via our social communities on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google+.
Ralph Edge is a Texas Certified Master Nursery Professional (5330), Texas Certified Landscape Professional (577), Texas Licensed Irrigator (13733), Texas Licensed Backflow Assembly Tester (12012), Texas A&M and EPA Certified Irrigation Auditor and Texas Department of Agriculture Commercial Applicator. To learn more tips from one of the best landscape designers in Dallas, visit about.me/ralphedge or follow Ralph’s personal blog at ralphedge.blogspot.com.
Monday, March 12th, 2012
Although we received much needed rain over the last few days, you should be thinking about and preparing for water conservation with your landscaping plans. Many cities and states are experiencing potable water shortages as we speak. Many think this is another tree hugger fantasy, or the Southwest version of Save the Whales.
Did you know that a little over a hundred years, ago paddle wheel steamers were traveling up and down the Rio Grande between Texas and Mexico? They were very similar to the ships that were navigating the Mississippi River; well today you can almost walk across the Rio Grande. You think water conservation is important now?
We have more people, more concrete, more residential turf areas than we have ever had before and whether we like it or not, water has become our most precious natural resource. So there are some very simple water conservation best practices we can follow in order to conserve this precious resource. Through this blog, we will deal with the basics of water usage in the landscape irrigation arena.
Watering in longer cycles or zone runs does not mean more water for your grass, in fact just the opposite. After 7 minutes of run time on most spray heads the water is running down the street and provides little in the way of benefit to your starving yard. So………….Cycle and Soak:
Try this Irrigation Scheduling method for watering your lawn
and landscape. For fixed and pop-up spray sprinklers,
Use the Cycle and Soak water 3 cycles a day, 4 to 6 minutes each cycle.
Schedule start times one hour apart. If you have rotating sprinklers, water 3 cycles a day, 10 to 12 Minutes each cycle.
You will notice this is more effective than the standard 15 minute runs we have all been used to. The infiltration rate of our North Texas clay soils are such that more water runs off and down the street than into the root zone. Try this idea to remind you of cycle and soak…think of a brand new sponge, just out of the wrapper, have you ever tried to clean your kitchen counter with a dry sponge? It just smears the mess around on the counter but get that sponge a little wet and it works much better. Think of your lawn as a dry sponge and you have a limited amount of water to use and you do not want any running down the street…Cycle and Soak…That is your new mantra.
Okay, got cycle and soak? Next, think of mulch for your flower and shrub beds. Mulch can reduce (by up to 65 %) the evaporation of moisture from that bed area. Who knew?
Seriously, you spend time and dollars watering make sure it stays where it is needed and where you intend it to be. Pine straw, cedar, hardwood, shredded pine, eucalyptus – the choices are endless – just use an organic product that can decompose and add organic matter back to the soil, the plants will love you, the earthworms will love you and you will be the hero of your block (well maybe).
CGreen Landscape Irrigation is Texas Certified Landscape Contractor, Texas Licensed Landscape Irrigator and Texas Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor. For more information about how CGreen Landscape Irrigation can help you with your landscaping and water conservation, visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.