By ddmg Landscape • News • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

7 Summer Landscaping Tips to End the Season Right

Olathe landscaping in the summertime is an interesting thing. Sometimes you have the greenest grass you’ve ever seen. Other times, you find your lawn looking lifeless, as brown grass barely grows. Temperatures, rainfall, and more contribute to the growth of your lawn or lack thereof in the summer.

No matter how your landscape looks as summer winds down, you’ll want to take care of a few things before fall. By finishing the summer strong with regards to landscaping, you’ll ensure a healthier lawn as the winter weather rolls in.

Here are seven summer landscaping tips to end the season right:

Monitor Moisture

Even if your lawn and landscaping start to look brown and lifeless during the end of summer, you must continue to monitor moisture levels. Your plants need around one inch of water every week in the heart of summer. Make sure your plants get this from rainfall and watering.

Change the Way You Water

Sprinklers work well, but there are better ways to water your plants and lawn in the heart of summer. When your grass starts to brown, there’s not much you can do. You need to prep the browning grass for the fall. This means using a drip irrigation system instead of a sprinkler. Drip systems allow your lawn to absorb water deeply and prep for fall – where the grass can become green again.

Mow Properly

Many homeowners like to mow their lawns quite short. This allows the owner more time between mowing. However, this practice is not necessarily healthy for your lawn. In the heat of summer, mowing your lawn too short will cause grass to dry and turn brown. Cutting the grass a little higher will allow for a healthier, fuller lawn.

Pay Attention to Pests

Summertime is high season for pests that like to eat away at your trees and shrubs. As plants become under stress due to a summer drought, insects begin to attack with more aggression. Pay close attention to your plants and trees during the summer to ensure no predators kill them off.

Dead Weight

During the end of summer, you’ll want to check your trees and shrubs for dead limbs. These limbs often break due to thunderstorms or lack of hydration.

Primp and Prune

Along the line of removing dead limbs, you’ll want to trim bushes and prune plants, especially ones that could interfere with walkways, A/C units, or are too close to the house.

Plan For Fall

As summer winds down, the best Olathe summer landscaping tip I have for you is to prepare for fall. Decide if you’ll make any big changes to your landscape in the future. Understand that the landscaping you do in the fall prepares your lawn for the beauty that can be found in the spring.

By ddmg Landscape • Management • News • Tips and Tricks • • 0 Comments

Don’t Drown Them! How to Water Your Plants

Ask any Olathe landscape architect and they’ll tell you – watering your plants properly may be the most important part of keeping them healthy. Surprisingly, it takes a little more than continually giving them water to ensure they stay healthy and happy.

Watering your plants is an art and science. Done properly – you’ll have lush, lovely plants that’ll leave all the neighbors green with envy. If you don’t water your plants properly, you’ll have flat, stubborn shrubbery that fails to live up to its lush potential. And for goodness sake – don’t drown them!

 If you’re ready to keep your plants healthy and happy, here are a few quick tips to ensure you garden stays lavish and well watered:

On a Need Be Basis

Don’t water your plants all the time! You only need to water when your plants need it. If it’s been raining a lot, then stop watering so much. This doesn’t have to be rocket science. Too much water will hurt your plants.

First Things First

You’ll want to always water your plants first thing in the morning. Don’t let your plants sit outside in the sun dehydrated. If you forget to water in the morning, your greens will often look lifeless in the evening.

Tools Matter

Gone are the days of just dumping or spraying water on your plants. If you really want them to grow, then a soaker hose or drip irrigation system will work wonders.

Root Zoning

Always put a lot of focus on the root zone. The leaves don’t need watering. The roots do! You’re wasting water if you wet anything besides the root zone. You can also spread disease by watering the leaves.

Get Deep

Make sure the water gets deep down to the plant’s roots. Certain plants like trees and shrubs can feature roots that are over a foot deep. So you’ll need a plan to ensure water reaches these roots in a timely manner.

Mulch on Mulch on Mulch

You should be mulching everything on your property – from trees to gardens and more. Mulch reduces surface runoff and can slow evaporation that stems from the soil. This means mulch will help plants get more water.

The Olathe Landscape Architects You Need

This article could be alternatively named, “A Beginner’s Guide to Watering Your Plants.” We didn’t go too deep with this piece. We didn’t reach all the way down into our Olathe landscape architects toolbar with this one. We just wanted you to correct a few small mistakes we see happening all too often.

If you’re truly committed to keeping your lawn lush and your garden growing all year long (yes, even in the winter), then get in touch. At Huston Contracting, we specialize in providing the Olathe landscape architect services your lawn needs to succeed.

By ddmg Landscape • Management • News • Tips and Tricks • • • 0 Comments

Using an Olathe Landscaping Company to Keep Your Lawn Lovely All-Year

Every lawn is different, but grass is grass. As an Olathe landscaping company, we know there are a number of factors that make a difference in how your grass looks. Does your lawn get enough sun? Is there some shade? How does water flow throughout your lard on a rainy day?

The questions could go on and on. The important thing to understand is that your lawn, every lawn, needs fed. If you don’t feed your lawn correctly, it will look horrific.

Diving Into Properly Feeding Your Lawn

Being an Olathe landscaping company has given us great insight into how to feed a lawn and what works best for each season. If you want to keep you lawn looking healthy, you’ll need to feed it well.

The first step in feeding your lawn properly is ensuring it has a better root system. Better roots help combat numerous variables your lawn faces, like:

  • Foot traffic
  • Mowing
  • Heat
  • Cold
  • Drought

…And much more!

Now before we dive in too deep, it’s important to note that how you feed your lawn will be determined by the season and weather. You can’t treat your lawn the same in the spring and winter – then expect your grass to stay lush and lovely.

If you follow the ideas and scheduling below, you’ll be able to feed your lawn just like your favorite Olathe landscaping company would. If you’re ready to keep your neighbors green with envy and your lawn green as ever, follow our tips below:

Start of Spring

In Late February through April, you’ll want to start feeding your lawn regularly. This will help to strengthen the roots after a long winter. If you had crabgrass the prior year, look into a lawn food that has crabgrass control. You should start laying down lawn food around the time it needs its first mowing.

 Late Spring to Early Summer

Your lawn needs a lot of food until late June, early July. So make sure you stick to a regular lawn feeding schedule during these months. If you fed your lawn properly at the start of spring, you should start seeing some green – a lot of green! Just remember to keep feeding and not admire your newly lush lawn too much.

Summer

Late June, July, and August are too hot! Every Olathe landscaping company will tell you to keep your grass hydrated during these months. Keep feeding your lawn during this time, as well. Summer is hard on your lawn, and you need to keep up the care to ensure strong roots and stunning color. Make sure to feed your lawn one last time right before fall rolls around.

Fall and Winter

Your grass is basically hibernating once the first frost hits. Your work is done in the spring and summer when lawn care is considered.

The Best Olathe Landscaping Company

If you’re looking to keep your lawn as lush as possible all year, then Huston Contracting is your one-stop-shop to a guaranteed great lawn. Get in touch today to learn more about our offerings and how we can help you.

 

By ddmg Landscape • Outdoor Kitchen • Renovation • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

How to Select Olathe Outdoor Kitchens Cabinets

Olathe outdoor kitchens are a bit different than the kitchens we find inside our homes. See, your indoor kitchen offers numerous options and materials for homeowners to choose from. When you go outdoors, you have a lot fewer options due to one primary factor – Mother Nature.

While grilling outside is amazing, the only way your Olathe outdoor kitchens become your grill’s best friend is through proper material selection. Selecting wrong materials for your cabinets, countertops and more will lead to an outdoor kitchen disaster. 

How to Select Olathe Outdoor Kitchens Cabinets

  • Placement Preferences

No matter the material you select – less sunlight will always equal extra longevity. Make sure to design your outdoor kitchen with cabinets that receive as little sun as possible. Use angles and the direction of the sun to ensure your cabinets last just as long as your grill will. 

  • Materials Matter

The higher quality the material, the longer your cabinets will last. At Huston Contracting, we recommend stainless steel or marine-grade polymer when installing Olathe outdoor kitchen cabinets. Installing teak cabinets is also an option, but these types of cabinets will often need refinishing if exposed to a lot of sun.

  • Built Into the Frame

One popular outdoor kitchen design is building the cabinets into the frame or skeleton of the kitchen. This saves space and reduces the amount of work during the installation. As well, many homeowners shield cabinets from too much direct sunlight by using this type of design.

  • Unique Designs Welcome

One of the best parts about creating your custom Olathe outdoor kitchen is the ability to create a unique design. Many individuals add a refrigerator to the skeleton of their outdoor kitchen. Don’t be afraid to get creative when designing your space.

Olathe Outdoor Kitchen Cabinets & Designs

Your outdoor kitchen is your oasis. Get creative and design your space exactly how you want it. Just remember some basics of outdoor kitchen cabinets. High quality materials properly placed will save you money and energy in the long run.

At Huston Contracting, we strive to be the premier Olathe landscapers. If you have any outdoor kitchen design or development needs, we’d love to help you out. Get in touch today and let’s work on creating your ideal outdoor cooking mecca!

By ddmg Landscape • News • Outdoor Kitchen • Renovation • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

Olathe Outdoor Kitchen Ideas Sure to Spruce Up Your Space

Nothing marks the summer like a good ole’ fashioned backyard BBQ, unless you’re the cook without an Olathe outdoor kitchen.

Instead of having fun, you’re stuck inside cooking and running food out to the guests. You don’t get to join in on the laughs or make memories. You just slave over the food inside while others enjoy outside.

It Doesn’t Have to Be

Cooks can enjoy backyard BBQs again by updating or adding an Olathe outdoor kitchen without it being too difficult. Here are a few great ideas to spruce up or create the ideal outdoor cooking place.

  • Cover the Basics

As landscapers, we’ve seen it all. One of the things we find funny is homeowners who install a lavish, yet incomplete outdoor kitchen. Focus on the basics of Olathe outdoor kitchen design before getting to lavish.

A basic outdoor kitchen will have a grill, stove or both. Then you’ll want to add in a food preparation area (countertop or all-weather table), a shelter for the cook(s), lighting to ensure you can cook and converse after nightfall, and if you’re feeling ambitious – appliances and a sink.

  • Blend It In

It’s always surprising to find an outdoor kitchen that doesn’t blend in with the home and the surrounding outdoors spaces. All too often we see an outdoor kitchen that looks like an extension of the house, but it doesn’t integrate the “outdoor” aspect of the space whatsoever.

While you want the outdoor kitchen to fit with your home, you always want to incorporate the outdoors into the space. Adding some plants to your outdoor kitchen may be the easiest way to do just that. With the variety of plants and flowers available, there’s always many options to find the perfect vibe of your kitchen.

  • Fine Flooring

Creating an alluring outdoor space has one unique advantage over updating indoors. Other than the ability to enjoy the great outdoors, you don’t have to worry much about walls, doors, windows, ceilings and more when focusing on an Olathe outdoor kitchen.

All you have to worry about is flooring. Don’t be afraid to invest in patio material for your outdoor kitchen. Your flooring choice will ultimately go a long way in determining the style and cost of your new kitchen outside.

Outdoor Kitchen Ideas On the Mind

If you’re looking to update your Olathe outdoor kitchen and need a helping hand, we’d love to work with you. At Huston Contracting, we take pride in designing the ideal outdoor spaces for your every need. Get in touch today!

By ddmg Construction • Design • General Information • Landscape • News 0 Comments

What Does an Olathe Landscape Architect Actually Do?

landscape_design_02An Olathe landscape architect sounds like a fancy term for someone who cuts lawns with lines in it. However, landscape architecture is a profession that varies vastly and encompasses much more than mowing lawns. To clear the air, we wanted to break down what it means to be a landscape architect and what they do.

What an Olathe Landscape Architect Does

More than mowing lawns, landscape architecture is the profession associated with the design and planning of the land. Olathe landscape architecture is all around us. From the retaining wall in your backyard to the design of the playground down the street to the highways you drive on to work – an architect has designed every aspect of our urban land.

Here are a few things Olathe landscape architects work on:

Site Planning

Every home, office building, shopping center, or community requires site planning to ensure the spaces are created for human use. This aspect of the job includes technical aspects like utility layouts, circulation patterns, and more. Often, site design includes minimizing environmental impacts and costs.

Landscape Design

The core concept of becoming an Olathe landscape architect stems from landscape design. Site analysis, sharing of spaces, design concepts, a balance of indoor and outdoor spaces, selecting construction materials and much more go into this part of the job.

Park Planning

Designing parks in urban areas are big business. So are the redesign and cultivation of recreation spaces. Parks, golf courses, basketball courts, waterfront developments, and national parks all benefit from this part of landscape architecture.

Urban Design

Designing a full city or town is not an easy job. A lot of planning and strategy is involved. Plazas and streetscapes don’t just form themselves. Providing detailed plans and designs for implementation in cities is a huge aspect of the profession.

Land Development & Design

Undeveloped land often has city regulations and roadblocks to development, especially for commercial use. Olathe landscape architects connect policy with individual redesign projects to ensure economics, real estate, regulation and more come together to make a project reality.

Regional Landscape Planning

Regional landscape planning really took off once environmentalism became a hot button issue in the 1970’s. Before an urban development project can begin, surveys of natural resources, habitats and much more must be concluded. This is a major area of practice for many within the profession.

The Best Olathe Landscape Architects

At Huston Contracting, we have an experienced and professional landscape architect ready to turn your next project into a design masterpiece. Reach out today for a consultation. We can handle any project and look forward to making your landscaping dreams become a reality.

By ddmg General Information • Landscape • News • Renovation • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

5 Reasons a Professional Olathe Landscaper Will Up the Resale Value of Your Home

huston-home-for-saleIt’s nearly impossible to change the first opinion. When your home is on the market, this rings even truer. What a potential buyer sees as they pull up to your home will determine the resale value of your house more than anything else. Curb appeal is king when selling.

Olathe landscaping is an important factor in determining the value of a house. When a buyer instantly likes the look of your home, it has a chance to sell. If there’s no appeal from the outside looking in, you’ll struggle to get full value for any property.

At Huston Contracting, we understand humans buy off emotion. As such, here are five reasons a professional Olathe landscaper will up the resale value of your home:

1) Experience a Major Key

Being in business over 50 years, we have the experience you need. We know exactly how to add value to your home through small landscaping projects. We know the exact makeup of your lawn and how to properly fertilize it. We understand how to add dollars to the resale value of your home with as little work as possible.

2) The Right Tools For the Job

Not only do the landscaping professionals here at Huston Contracting have experience, but we also have the professional tools to get the job done right. Tree removal, retaining wall installation and more all usually require the right tools for the job.

3) Monthly Maintenance

Homes for sale require one thing – monthly maintenance with regards to landscaping. You need to keep your home as sharp as possible when trying to sell it. Research has shown homeowners who purchase monthly landscaping before and while their house sells, finds a buyer nearly 40% faster.

4) High Quality Work

Most of us hire an accountant to file our taxes. When a lot of money is involved, it makes sense to hire a professional. Olathe landscaping is no different. When your home is on the market (and before), you need the highest quality work possible. That’s where we come in.

5) Value of Your Time

Lastly, we understand you’ll be beyond busy when trying to sell your home. Your normal day-to-day life doesn’t change, but you have to worry about open houses, keeping things 100% clean all the time and so much more. Taking one thing off your plate can make life a lot easier and give you some time back. Landscaping is an easy one.

The Premier Olathe Landscapers

At Huston Contracting, we strive to be your one-stop-shop for all things landscaping in the Olathe area. If you’re about to put your home on the market in Olathe, get in touch today for a consultation. We look forward to helping you up the resale value of your property.

By ddmg Construction • Do It Yourself • General Information • Landscape • News • Renovation • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

Why Olathe Retaining Wall Installation Is So Important

Olathe retaining wall installation has garnered considerable importance over the years. Due to the uneven terrain in parts of our city, many yards have required a retaining wall for a variety of reasons.

Often, we install retaining walls in Olathe homes to solve a problem. A problematic slope needs conquering or aesthetics of a space need improved. The problem with these problem-solving solutions is mathematic. A structure designed to hold back tons upon tons of dirt offers no room for error.

What is a Retaining Wall?

Other than a bad idea for a DIY project, a retaining wall is essentially a structure built to hold dirt or land. Often, these structures remove precarious slopes from a yard, offer safety or improve the look of Olathe landscaping.

Normally, a retaining wall has six main components. Different materials may offer changes, but usually, these six aspects are present in every wall:

  • Drainage Stone
  • Filter Fabric
  • Batter
  • Weep Hole
  • Footing
  • Footing Drain

Retaining Wall Materials

There are many materials one can use during an Olathe retaining wall installation. Popular materials include:

  • Timbers
  • Stone
  • Brick
  • Concrete Blocks
  • Poured Concrete
  • Interlocking Concrete Blocks

While we don’t recommend DIY Olathe retaining wall installation projects due to the intricate nature of the math, you can attempt to do so. The best materials for DIY retaining wall include timbers and interlocking concrete blocks.

Poured concrete is not usually an option for a DIY, but the material is durable and offers great flexibility in design for many interested in Olathe retaining wall installation.

Traditional Olathe retaining walls often are made of masonry. Materials like stone, brick, and concrete blocks are all common place. However, your best bet is hiring a professional Olathe landscaper to create a wall with these materials. At Huston Contracting, we have a number of masonry styling to choose from when designing your wall.

Awesome Olathe Retaining Wall Projects

There are number of ways to add a wall to your landscaping. Some of our favorites include:

  • Stairs to sidewalk or another part of property
  • Creating a terrace in the backyard
  • Making a terrace
  • Creating a driveway

Upgrading Your Structure

It’s easy to take an old retaining wall from funky to fresh with a little professional help. Often, we upgrade old walls through a few different processes, including:

  • Smoothing Stucco
  • Staining
  • Adding Veneer

Captain Save-A-Wall

Not every retaining wall can be saved. Often, redoing the wall, not revamping it, is what needs to happen, but we certainly can try to save your wall. Occasionally, a wall suffering from the below can be brought back to life:

  • Cracking
  • Leaning
  • Bulging
  • Sagging

Olathe Retaining Wall Installation

If you’re looking for any Olathe retaining wall installation services or repairs, we hope you’ll get in touch. At Huston Contracting, we have perfected the art of the retaining wall. We look forward to helping you with any and every Olathe landscape project.

By ddmg Do It Yourself • Landscape • Tips and Tricks 0 Comments

9 Springtime Tips for Olathe Landscaping

Spring has sprung, the frost is gone, and you’re ready to whip your yard back into tiptop shape. It’s time to get out in the sun and get green.

With that in mind, here are 9 springtime tips for Olathe landscapers:

Do Some Research

Don’t just start pulling weeds and planting pretty things. You need to do a little research before you get out there. Plan out a strategy, set some goals for your desired look, ask for guidance from a nursery, or hire a professional Olathe landscaper.

Understand the Climate

The first part of any research should involve the weather. You can’t put too much time into your landscaping until the frost is completely gone. One frost could hinder all your landscaping efforts.

Look Into Pests

Understand that there are many a pest after your beautiful landscaping. You need to think of insects and animals, along with weather, water, and the sun. Many times proper natural planting can ward off these uninvited visitors.

Find Inspiration

Inspiration is what you need to make sure your landscaping is ideal. Take a look at neighboring yards. Think back to the stunning greenery you saw on your winter vacation to a warmer climate. Even watching a little HGTV can help you figure out exactly what you want.

Growth On Growth

Many beginning Olathe landscapers forget one important factor: plants GROW! You need to estimate how large a plant will be 5-8 months down the road, not in a few weeks. Read the height and growth requirements of any plant and make sure you allot proper space.

Right Timing

Another must when it comes to landscaping in Olathe is timing. You need to listen when a package says a plant should be planted at a certain time. This isn’t a rough idea. It’s what you must do if the plant will grow and bloom properly.

Decide Your Effort Levels

Plants are pretty. Some more than others. As well, some plants take more care and maintenance than others. Don’t select your Olathe landscaping solely on looks. You may end up with greenery that requires much more maintenance and care than you would ever want to handle.

Hire the Best Olathe Landscapers

Finally, if you’re fully committed to creating the best outdoors space possible – you may want to hire an Olathe landscaper. Now, we don’t mean to be too modest, but here at Huston Contracting, we do fancy ourselves, the best landscapers in Olathe.

If you have any questions about landscaping or are looking for Olathe landscaping services, we hope to be of service to you. Get in touch here. We look forward to discussing your Olathe landscape project.

By ddmg News 0 Comments

Celebrating 50 Years!

50th-anniversary-logoToday, April 5th is the official day of our company’s incorporation in 1966. On this day, we recognize 50 years of doing business in Olathe and Johnson County. We are extremely grateful for all God has allowed us to accomplish.

We would like to thank all of those who have been employed with us in past years as well as all of those who faithfully serve with us today. We are proud to have spent our entire 50 years in the community called Olathe. I would like to thank the Government Officials, along with the many Community Leaders who have endeavored to cultivate an environment in which we could grow and prosper. We would also like to thank the many friends we have developed over all of these years. Your common sense approach coupled with insight, intellect, and business acumen have contributed immeasurably. Thank you!

We have survived a multitude of economic conditions. They taught us fortitude, patience, and perseverance to sustain our business. It has been a blessing for us to give back to our community in many different ways. How easy we all forget the blessings from God. Reasoning in our own minds that we accomplished this by ourselves. May it never be!

God Bless,
Doug and Mary Huston