By Lisa Allen Tips and Tricks • • • • • • • • • 0 Comments

How to Prepare Your Olathe Lawn for Winter

Our cooler nights and earlier sunsets mean one thing: winter is getting closer to Olathe. Soon we’ll be bundling up in layers and switching from AC to heat. Before colder temperatures move in, there are specific things you can do to help prepare your Olathe lawn and your outdoor spaces and protect them from the elements.

Prepare Your Olathe Lawn for Winter Weather

When it comes to your lawn and landscape, it’s important to remember that winter weather preparation comes down to two categories: preparation and preservation.

To prepare your lawn for coming cold and freezing temperatures, you should consider doing these things:

  • Clean up: make sure your outdoor space is free of debris. Rake up any remaining fallen leaves, trim back dead foliage, and generally clean the space. This not only makes your space look nice. It also helps your lawn and landscape elements direct energy to appropriate growth. Fallen leaves might look innocent–and pretty–enough, but can actually smother your lawn if not removed. This doesn’t mean that they can’t serve other purposes, though. Fallen and collected leaves are a fantastic addition to a home compost pile. If you don’t compost, you might check to see if your community does. Some communities, like Olathe, have community gardens that accept compost material. Others have drop-off compost sites like this one. Be sure to check the specifics for each. For example, the community garden compost at the Sunset Administration Building in Olathe accepts some kitchen scraps while the drop-off yard compost site in Olathe accepts only lawn waste. 
  • Aerate: Core aeration is a way to prevent compacted soil, which can lead to an unhealthy and unsightly lawn. Our soil in Johnson County is particularly dense because of the amount of clay it holds. Aerating helps open up that soil so that the roots of grasses and other plants can grow appropriately.
  • Overseed the lawn: Fall is the ideal time to overseed your lawn, particularly with tall fescue and bluegrass. But it’s not as easy as just tossing handfuls of seeds onto your lawn and walking away. You should use proper verticutting and aeration techniques, fertilize properly, and plant the right ratio of seeds to soil. 

If this all sounds confusing, we can help you prepare your lawn and plant the grasses you want. Just give us a call!


How to Preserve Your Lawn Over the Winter

  • Leave your grass shorter for the winter. Think of it as a nice haircut before hibernation sets in. Cutting it shorter than you would in warmer months help keep it pest-free (mice and other pests look for anything that will offer warmth as the temps drop) and keep it as healthy as possible. 
  • You can also fertilize your lawn in the Fall. If you’ve not yet tested your soil to see which fertilizer is best for your lawn, you can do that as well. Getting the right mix of fertilizer elements is key to properly nourishing the soil and the grass seed you will plant.

    One final tip: when it does get icy, try to not walk on your lawn if at all possible. Scott’s says that even the strongest lawns can become weak if walked on too much. 

We’re ready to help you transition from summer to winter! Keep track of what we’re up to on Facebook or send us a note to get started. 

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

5 BIG Olathe Landscaping Mistakes to Avoid This Summer

Olathe landscaping isn’t rocket science. If you can avoid a few big mistakes, your lawn will look greener than it ever has before.

Take a few precautions, and you’ll be well on your way to having the nicest lawn on the block. Now, before we dive into the details. You need to remember one thing. You must have a plan.

Olathe Landscaping Mistakes to Avoid This Summer

Your landscape is your home’s first impression. Without a solid plan, your home will look sloppy and unprofessional. Before you go planning out a design without the help of a professional Olathe landscape artist, let’s look at a few things you don’t want to do:

  • Tall Trees. Tight Squeeze.

While planting new trees throughout your landscape can add a lot of value to your home, you need to careful. You don’t want to plant the wrong type of tree in the wrong area.

Don’t plant trees too close to your home. Make sure to continually prune the branches. Focus on planting hardwood trees instead of fast-growing trees. These trees will grow and raise the value of your home.

  • Wrong Soil Type

Many rookie landscapers make the mistake of planting a non-native plant or three in the wrong type of soil on their property. This ensures the plants don’t grow properly and often lends a hand to a sluggish looking landscape.

If you’re flexible, always choose native plants for your yard. Olathe landscaping can be simplified with this one step. Native plants will coexist with nature and grow quicker in the native soil. They’ll also require less maintenance.

  • Keep Things Low Key

When selecting maintenance materials for your landscaping efforts, the first thing you should consider is maintenance. While the look is important, you don’t want to be dealing with these items all the time.

Try to use things like gravel, stone, composite blocks, and other durable materials instead of woods.

  • Don’t Overdo It

One thing I see Olathe landscapers doing all the time is cluttering things up. You want to avoid clutter. Be selective. Don’t go overboard. Less is often more. A good Olathe landscape designer can often assist in these manners.

Seasons Matter

You never want to plant things at the wrong time of the year. Certain plants need tons of sun. Others need a lot of rain. Some need both.

The Olathe Landscape Designers You Need

If you’re in Olathe and looking for some assistance on a landscaping project, get in touch. Here at Huston Contracting, we strive to provide residents of this great city the best construction, landscaping, and design services.

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

5 Quick New Year Tips From an Olathe Landscaper

As the New Year rolls in, we all make resolutions and focus on improving certain areas of our life. Some of us focus on fitness. Others make our family, friends, and relationships a priority in the coming year. Many focus on finances, too.  Whatever you choose to focus on in the coming year, we want to wish you the best of luck in achieving your resolution.

The Olathe Landscaper in us hopes you make your lawn, landscaping, and garden a priority in the coming year.

If you’re planning to improve your landscaping and lawn in 2017, here are five quick tips from an Olathe Landscaper:

  • Find Inspiration

Motivation is always necessary. No matter what you’re doing, you need to have the motivation to get it done. Landscaping is no different. You don’t need to drive around for hours on end admiring the neighbors’ lawns from the car. Just open a browser and start looking through landscaping ideas from around the world on the web.

  • The Perfect Plan

Once you have a few fun ideas and some inspiration, it’s time to plan your landscaping ideas out. Make a strategy and stick to it. How many days do you need to complete a landscaping project? Do you need to hire a professional Olathe landscaper?

To ensure your plan will work to perfection; you’ll want to map everything out precisely. Make sure everyone will have space to walk around your landscape. You’ll also need to plan for growth because your plants will grow during the year.

  • Stick to the Script

The best way to avoid a landscaping disaster is to stay on schedule and stick to the script. This means you need to plant your garden at the suggest time of the year. Listen to the horticulturalists. You can’t plant a perennial in the dog days of summer and expect great things.

  • Create the Contrast

Some of the best landscapes I’ve ever seen offer a stark contrast to the exterior of the home. For example, if you have a modern designed exterior, then a Zen-like garden could provide a tranquil, yet stunning contrast to your home.

  • Understanding Maintenance

Before you go head over heels on a challenging landscaping project, make sure to pay attention to maintenance. Be honest about the amount of effort you’re willing to spend on maintenance and only plant things that fit within your lifestyle.

Luckily, there are plants for every effort-level. You can find high and low maintenance plants. Just ask your Olathe landscaper to give you some helpful hints when picking plants in the New Year. 

Another interesting aspect of maintenance is pest planning. You’ll want to understand the pest found in your area and take them into account from a maintenance aspect. You may need to add fencing or wire mesh during certain times of the year to ensure your efforts don’t get destroyed.

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

Where to Find the Best Olathe Landscapers

It’s a homeowner’s job to keep the home up-to-date, alluring, and bursting with curb appeal. Even if you’re not planning on selling your home soon, it’s important to feel a bit of pride swell up in your chest as you roll home from a long days work. That feeling of pride often comes with a price.

Stunning curb appeal takes time and effort to cultivate. Your landscaping isn’t going to take care of itself. Many individuals and families find themselves drenched in sweat with dirty hands and knees come Saturday afternoon. A day out in the sun, as you work on your landscaping, is hard work.

While landscaping can be tough work, there is some good news. You don’t have to handle your landscaping by yourself. Instead of spending all your free time working, you could just hire an Olathe landscaper to take care of enhancing your home appeal.

What Do You Want?

Before you hire an Olathe landscaper, you’ll want to do a little bit of research. You need to know what you want. You need to have an idea of how you’d like your landscaping to turn out. Do some research online and get a sense of the look or beautification project you’re interested in. Walk around the neighborhood and search for ideas.

Once you’ve got some ideas in mind, it’s time to find your landscaper. Here’s how to find the best Olathe landscapers:

Word of Mouth: If you hear any friends or family talking about a landscaping project or curbside addition – ask them about it. Find out if they like how the project turned out. See if they’d recommend the landscaper they used or if they were not that pleased with the work.

Take a Name: Olathe landscapers often leave little signs in yards after a project is complete. If you see a project you like completed and a sign in front – jot down the name of the company or take a photo with your phone. Then look the company up online when you get home.

Ask Around: If you see some amazing landscaping on a home, then don’t be afraid to ask the owners who did their project. If you’d like to emulate some design elements from a landscaping project you saw, but don’t know who completed it – just knock on the front door and ask nicely.

Google It: Lastly, you should Google “Olathe landscapers” if you’re in the market. Read reviews of different companies and look at portfolios. Get an idea about the landscaping companies in the area. And always remember – the best landscaper may not be found on the first page of Google. Do some digging and make an informed choice.

Once You Found an Olathe Landscaper

If you found an Olathe landscaper you like (or a few), then you’ll want to get in contact with the company. Ask some questions. See if your project will require a consultation or if you can get a bid over the phone, and always feel free to give Huston Contracting Inc. a call with all your landscaping questions!