Please read my February 15, 2015 article in the Total Landscape Care magazine, titled “How sustainability helps your business thrive.”

Please read my August 2011 article in the Turf Magazine, titled “Niche Market Success.”

Please read my April 2011 article in the Organic Land Care magazine, titled “Spotlight on People – Richard Bajana”

Please read one of my customers’ letter praising our work.

This fall is time to renovate your lawn and the best practice to help the seeds find the best soil to germinate is aerate-over seed-add compost and right watering!

Temperatures are cooler and weeds are getting dormant-perfect time to introduce the right seed to your property. Following soil test results, you probably will need to add a fertilizer and amendment to keep your soil in the right pH and keep nutrients in the right balance. This will allow the grass to find the right conditions next year to growth ticker and take over weeds a little more; weeds are more adapted for harder pHs and difficult physical conditions.

Composting is very important and is the key to improve water management and activate micro and macro-organisms that help the roots develop a healthier and stronger root system. Compost made out of vegetables have enzymes and other biological compounds that help brake the clay or aggregate sandy soils improving water management and making your lawn stronger for the summer.

Remember the idea of Organic Land Care is to grow lawn and plants in a sustainable way and working in a richer soil is the foundation to achieve that.

Please read my August 2010 article in the Landscape Contractors Magazine, titled “Organic Landscape Practices.”

Please read my July 15, 2010 article in the Gazzete, titled “Organic goes beyond the vegetable patch.”

Please read my July 7, 2010 article in the Gazzete, titled “Landscaper takes organic beyond the vegetable patch.”

This summer we have experienced one of the most unusual weather patterns we have had in many years. Heavy rains, very hot and dry days — all that takes its toll on our gardens, and we need to be prepared.
Here, then, are a couple tips that you may find useful:

• Water new plants more often on hot days early in the morning and sometimes late in the afternoon
• Keep your eyes open, for new pests (lots of scale, grasshoppers, weeds, and fungus) are thriving and are more aggressive than ever!
• Make sure your property handles the water properly, or you might find your basement flooded! It is important to protect the area where the water moves out of your property with gravel or other ground cover that doesn’t get washed away; sometimes you may need to regrade or install drainage ditches to achieve this. In any case, it is important to deal with it properly (and artistically), and be sure the path of your water is clear from debris!

Have a great day.

The organic land care program we at Richard Landscaping use is very simple, and is based on my own insights as a horticulturist, and my experience utilizing different landscape techniques. We believe this is a proven approach that you should demand of your landscaper.

We always prepare a custom program, based on an initial site inspection. We note key plants and weeds that can give us some idea of the pH, compaction, drainage, shade, and even fertilization we’ll need to deal with as we prepare our program. After the work is done, we evaluate the property in anticipation of a transition to organic gardening.

An important part of maintaining a garden organically is to promote sustainability — using tested and proven approaches that require less energy and water consumption, fewer products or applications, and usually a transitional program prior to organic land care, to allow the microorganism and plants to integrate and establish better interactions. Lawn and planting beds respond better to compost applications than any other amendment — it improves the physical and chemical properties while enhancing the soil biology, without introducing foreign populations that will require special conditions to get established (like compost tea).

The goal of organic land care is to build up a good sustainable soil to provide plants with what they need to grow, and reduce human intervention after establishment. The concept also involves rocks, creeks, rustic stone work, water features, and a diverse selection of plants that will attract and maintain beneficial and desirable insect and bird populations.

All these tools — along with proper mowing height, correct watering of lawns and plants, clippings management, the use of horticultural oil, constant IPM and organic weed prevention — will help contribute toward a beautiful garden with truly organic land-care service.