Services
(541) 344-7610
Services That We Offer
Proper care is important to having a beautiful landscape. Better Lawns and Gardens provide the
services you need, in order to maintain a healthy, vigorous lawn and attractive environment for
your yard.
We specialize in customizing our services whether it is helping you develop a weekly or monthly schedule to keep your landscape looking its best or helping you develop one - time
projects like clean ups, pruning, lawn restoration, hauling, etc.
We can do what you want, when you want, and the way you want it.
Here is a list of services we offer for your landscape:
- Mowing
- Fertilizing
- Edging
- Core aeration
- De-thatching
- Lawn Renovation
- Liming/Lime
- Moss Control
- Over seeding
- Irrigation
- Soil Testing
- Insect Control (Lawn)
- Insect Control (Shrubs,Trees,ornamentals)
- Bark-O-Mulching
- Weed control
- Specialty services
Free estimates available, with a guaranteed turnaround time of 7-10 business days. Contracted services are done on a weekly, bi-weekly, or custom-tailored to your needs.
Mowing
Weekly mowing during most of the year at the proper cutting height results in a healthy turf with few maintenance problems. It is important to mow regularly to maintain quality turf.
Fertilizing
Fertilizing is an important tool to help maintain quality turf. We use a variety of fertilizers; organic or synthetic, fast-release or slow-release, for long-lasting results. A good fertilizing program throughout the year will yield a high quality turf.
Edging
"Power Edging" guaranties a good-looking lawn.
Core aeration
Core aeration benefits the lawn in many ways. It reduces soil compaction, penetrates heavy thatch, allows for more efficient watering and fertilizing, stimulates root growth by allowing more air movement, and decreases water run-off. This process is recommended once or twice a year, and is a service that we provide year-round (see: moss control) for other benefits of aerating.
De-Thatching
Thatch is a layer of accumulated undecomposed material in the root zone of grass. As this layer gets thicker, most of the roots are in this layer and not in the soil. When this happens, it is difficult to have a uniformly carpeted lawn and more irrigation is required. Mechanical de-thatching is the best method for thatch control. The best times of the year for dethatching are early spring and early fall. For more information, see lawn renovation and over-reseeding.
Lawn Renovation
Lawn renovation is done without removing the existing sod or roto-tilling the soil. In some cases it is done by killing the existing lawn and de-thatching heavily, or by simply dethatching the existing lawn and over seeding. The best times of the year for lawn renovation are spring and fall
Liming/Lime
Heavy rainfall or irrigation turns turf acidic. Water leaches valuable nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, from the soil. Applying lime to the soil increases the soil's pH which for cool season grasses should be between 6.0 and 6.5, for ideal conditions. Soil pH is a measure of its acidity or alkalinity. When below 7.0, the soil is acidic; when above that, it is alkaline. Optimum soil pH helps with the absorption of available nutrients. Lime also helps control moss on lawns (see moss control).
Moss Control
Lawn with low fertility, with heavy shade and wetness, and low pH (acidic soils), develops moss. You can control mosses by correcting the levels of these factors. Core aeration will improve the drainage of the lawn, and tree pruning (in some cases) can help by allowing more sunlight exposure to the lawn's surface. Controlling the soil's pH by applying lime raises the pH which counteracts the acidity in the soil. Better Lawns and Gardens uses a variety of products for controlling mosses. Combinations of fertilizers with iron or liquid and granular iron compounds provide added control to your lawns.
Over-seeding
Some grasses naturally become weak over time. Also, lack of water, heat stress, pet damage, insect damage, and low fertility, makes a lawn to be more prone to invasion from weeds and different grasses. Over-seeding is a good and affordable way to keep a lawn thick and full. Over-seeding is done by using a slicer-seeder machine which cuts a slit into the turf and drops the seed into the slit or by broadcasting seeds after core aeration has been performed. In other cases, a mixture of sand, peat moss, sawdust, and soil should be added into worn down areas to provide an additional healthy medium for seed germination.
Irrigation
Turf doesn't stop growing during winter months in the Pacific Northwest, but will slow down and go dormant or semi-dormant if not irrigated during the summer months. Proper irrigation is important to having a nice, healthy lawn. Watering early in the day can minimize fungal diseases in the lawn. An average of 1.5 inches of water per week is ideal during the summer (with the exception of very hot weather when increased amounts are necessary to accommodate the fluctuation of temperature. Living turf also goes dormant in the summer if not irrigated, and will recover in the fall when the rains return. However, there is a decline in the quality of the turf, and some over-seeding or weed control must be done to return it to its original state.
Soil Testing
We provide soil testing which will indicate the PH and nutrient level (the amount of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen) that exists in the soil. As a result of this testing, we can provide the right prescription to remedy and correct any problems in your turf by supplying the right amount of nutrients to maintain a vigorous and healthy lawn (see Lime).
Insect Control (lawn)
The biggest insect damage to lawns in the Willamette Valley is done by the European Crane Fly. Damage is done by the larvae (which is 1 inch long and wormlike). Larvae feed on roots, causing thinning of the turf and sometimes killing entire lawns. Chemical controls are available and best applied late fall and early spring.
Insect control (shrubs, trees, ornamentals)
One of the most common problem insects found in landscape plants in the Willamette Valley are Root Weevils. They lie dormant in the soil during the winter months and emerge when temperatures rise during the spring. Methods of controlling Root Weevils range from using beneficial nematodes to sticky traps to chemicals.
Bark-o-Mulching
A variety of mulch materials can be used around shrubs or trees to keep down weeds, maintain soil warmth during winter, and control water run-off and evaporation. There is a large selection of products we highly recommend to beautify your landscape. We provide expert consultation to ensure the best possible alternatives to meet your needs.
Weed Control
The best time of the year for broadleaf control is lawns is early fall and early spring. In some severe cases after weeds have died, over seeding may be necessary (see Over seeding and lawn renovation).
Specialty Services
Our services include "one time" touch -ups or projects such as planting perennial beds and borders, fall and spring bulbs, shrubs and small trees, starting vegetable gardens, removing sod and small scale landscaping. Clean-ups include weeding, pruning, mulching of landscape beds and leaf