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New
Customer Process
When Holmes Landscape Company begins work on a new
customer's neighborhood, certain audits, tests, and
corrective actions are performed. This summarizes our
"new customer" process which is above and
beyond the weekly landscape maintenance
work we begin immediately.
- Site analysis. Completing a neighborhood
walk-through and doing a comprehensive site analysis are things we
actually do prior to preparing to bid on a new
job. The site analysis gives us the information
we need to accurately define the type and amount
of work a neighborhood will require to bring it
up to Holmes Landscape Company's high standard.
- Complete irrigation system audit. When we
start or take over a job, the first thing we do
is a complete irrigation audit because we believe
it is essential that we insure the landscape is
being properly watered. Both over watering and
under watering is harmful to the landscape, so we
check every station on every controller,
measuring its individual flow rate, and we check
the area that each valve waters. All repairs and
corrections are made immediately, and all systems
are checked for correct nozzles, head placement,
water pressure, and over spray. Once all the
field work has been completed, the information
gathered is entered into our computerized irrigation management and
monitoring system (designed by Larry Holmes).
This system helps us control the amount of water
applied based on the existing weather.
- Major cleaning of the neighborhood. The
next step is to spruce up the neighborhood. We
normally clean around the residences first, then
any common areas, and finally any slope areas.
This process can sometimes take a fair amount of
time to accomplish depending on how neglected the
landscape is and how large the neighborhood.
- Soil testing . With the general cleanup
work in progress, we usually take more soil
samples and do soil tests throughout the
neighborhood to establish the quality and type of
existing soils.
- Fertilization program. Based on the
nutrient deficiencies identified in our site
analysis and soil testing, we establish and
implement our fertilization program for the
planters, lawns and slope areas.
- Weed and pest control programs. Based on
problems identified in our site analysis, we
establish and implement our weed and pest control
program for the problem areas.
- Lawn care program. Based on all the
information gathered, we establish and implement
our lawn care program for the neighborhood.
Depending on the time of year, that may call for
us to initiate a semi-annual aeration and a
deeper watering schedule to encourage root growth
and deeper penetration (spring and early summer),
or it may call for us to initiate a reduced
watering schedule (late fall and winter).
- Pruning and shaping. One of the last
things we do for a new customer is corrective
pruning and shaping of the landscape plants and
trees. The goal here is to accent the individual
plant or tree's form, or to restore its form to
what it should be.
- Goal setting. Finally, we schedule nursery
trips with the customer's landscape committee and
board members to educate them on the plant
material that is best suited for their
neighborhood, and to put the final touches on a
site-specific plant list. With that list and with
information obtained through our site analysis,
we meet with these customer representatives to
establish short and long term
goals for the neighborhood - goals that will
determine when and where landscape improvements
will be made.
When this process is followed, the neighborhood is
well on its way to becoming a Holmes Landscape Company
neighborhood. And, when this process is completed, the
neighborhood is in a condition that allows the upgrades
and renovation work defined by the goals to begin.
[Other Techniques]
Site
Analysis and Soil Testing
To do our job properly, it is essential that we have a
very clear understanding of the customer's site. Although
there are many similarities between Southern California
landscapes, there are also many differences within
individual sites. These differences present the greatest
challenges for us, and they dictate what needs to be done
to properly chose, irrigate, and fertilize the plant
material on a given site.
Visual Analysis
As we do our walk-throughs of the site we observe and
note what makes the site unique, and we try to answer the
following questions:
- What is the overall condition of the landscape?
- Are there trees that are not doing well?
- Are there areas of lawn that are not doing well?
- Are there areas of ground cover that are not
doing well?
- Are there signs of disease?
- After irrigation, is water running off the
landscape?
- After irrigation, do soil probes indicate the
soil is still dry?
- What is the direction of the prevailing winds?
- What is the sun's path during the summer and
winter?
- Are there high traffic areas creating compacted
soils?
- Is there evidence of worms in the soil?
Soil Testing
During our initial walk-throughs, and on an annual or
more frequent basis thereafter, we collect soil samples
from different areas of a customer's site. The soil, like
plants and trees, is very much are alive. Much as
different types of trees have different growth habits and
different types of plants have different sunlight
requirements, different types of soils have different
needs and maintenance requirements. After the soil
samples are tested and we have the test results, there
are several things we are interested in learning and
things that we look for, including:
- How consistent is the soil throughout the
neighborhood? If the area is relatively
consistent then we can treat the whole area
similarly. If, however, the soil pH ranges from 5
in areas to 9 in other areas, or the soil salt
content ranges from acceptable in areas to toxic
in other areas, then we are required to create a
soil chemistry map and treat each area
differently according to its needs.
- What soil nutrients are available, excessive, or
lacking? This information helps to determine our
fertilization program for the landscape's plant
material.
- What is the salt content of the soil? If the soil
is high in salts then we are restricted to the
type of plant material that will be successful
there. Salt content also has a bearing on our
irrigatation plans since less frequent, longer
interval irrigation will be required to eliminate
surface salt buildup.
- What is the relationship between nutrients and
soil elements? Various soil elements, if
concentrations are excessive and under certain pH
conditions, will tie up and hold other elements
so that they are unavailable for plants to
absorb. As an example, if plants in a certain
area need iron, but the soil structure will not
allow the iron to release, applying an iron
fertilizer will do the plants no good and will
only increase costs.
- What is the soil type - clay, clay loam, or sandy
loam? All three soil types require different
irrigation practices. Sandy loam soil will
percolate much faster than other soil types and
needs to be replenished more frequently than clay
or clay loam soils that hold the water in the
root zone longer.
Leaf Analysis
Another routine walk-through procedure is leaf
collection. Leaf analysis shows us exactly what nutrients
and elements a plant has been able to absorb from the
surrounding soil recently. We use this a lot when we are
doing soil conditioning and adjusting to find out what
the result of our experimenting has been.
Water Analysis
Finally, we collect water samples to answer these
questions:
- What is the pH reading of the irrigation water we
are applying?
- What is it's salt content, and could it be
contributing to landscape problems we've
observed?
To fully understand a landscape's needs, and to be
able to make the best decisions about a landscape's
maintenance, we need to collect as much information as
possible about a customer's site. Comprehensive site
analysis and soil testing are key tools that make Holmes
Landscape Company successful in providing its customers
with the highest quality landscape maintenance program
possible.
[Other Techniques]
Goal
Setting
Setting goals is the surest way to achieving something
worthwhile, at least that's been our experience.
Immediately after taking over responsibility for a new
neighborhood, one of the first things we help the Board
of Directors and Landscape Committee do is develop 3, 6,
and 12 month, or "short term" goals. With that
done, we go on to help them develop 3, 5, and 10 year, or
"long term" goals. We find that most people can
and will do short term goal setting, but have a much more
difficult time with setting long term goals.
Examples of short term goals include:
- Personal and Property Safety Goals:
- Replacing sprinkler heads on risers
located where people might trip over
them.
- Recruiting and training homeowners living
near irrigation controls so they know how
to turn off the backflows in emergency
situations (stuck valves, broken
mainlines, etc.).
- Replacing plants, trees, and ground
covers that present a hazard for
homeowners or property.
- Irrigation System Goals:
- Upgrading to irrigation controllers with
the necessary features to allow for
managing irrigation on a percentage
basis, to create additional watering
zones for different types of landscape,
to include a rain shut off switch, and/or
to keep more correct time?
- Upgrading valves to properly match valves
to controllers and valves to the plant
material and exposure within their
watering zone.
- Upgrading sprinkler heads to conform to
their watering zone, to conform to the
contour of the landscape, to properly
service their area.
- Upgrading irrigation system wiring to
work more efficiently and extend its
useful life.
- Establishing irrigation and water usage
profiles to thoroughly understand how
much water we should be using.
- Landscape Goals:
- Replacing plants, trees, and ground
covers that are inappropriate for the
area they are in.
- Correcting landscape areas that have
become over grown.
- Pruning trees that have become too tall
for their surroundings or have been
allowed to grow "out of
control."
- Replacing sections of landscape with
excessively high water requirements with
landscapes that are water-economical or
drought resistant without sacrificing
visual attractiveness.
- Improving over grown, bare, and neglected
landscape areas.
Examples of long term goals include:
- Replacing existing irrigation systems with new,
water conservative systems that will pay for
themselves within the goal-setting timeframe of
2, 3 or 5 years. This might include replacing
obsolete controllers with modern Et driven
controllers, and re-zoning or reinstalling entire
portions of the existing irrigation system.
- Replacing certain types of trees throughout the
neighborhood with types of trees more suited to
the landscape.
- Upgrading or adding "hardscape"
features to enhance the neighborhood by enhancing
its "curb appeal" and overall
attractiveness.
[Other Techniques]
Weekly
Landscape Maintenance
Site Review
Our landscape maintenance crews follow a schedule set up
on a four week rotation to insure that all aspects of the
job are worked on every month. On Monday, or the first
visit of the week, the site foreman or leadman walks the
total job to develop his punch list of items that need
immediate attention, items that need to be done this
visit, and items that need to be done at other times
during the week.
Water Management Tasks
On Monday, or the first visit of the week, all irrigation
controllers have their percentages or runtimes changed to
the current weekly Eto number (see Irrigation
Auditing and Management). On Friday or the last
visit of the week, all the water meters are read and the
numbers written down for the water usage report.
Slope Maintenance Tasks
The plants and small trees on the slopes are kept hand
pruned, not sheared. Basins are maintained around all the
plants to hold in rain and irrigation water. Weeds are
pulled and removed, and any litter picked up. Ground
covers are pruned to keep them out of the shrubs and
trees and off the drain swells and fence lines. The
sprinkler system is checked and any necessary repairs or
adjustments made.
Garden and Planter Maintenance Tasks
Hedges are kept hedged and individual plants and small
trees are hand pruned. All weeds and litter is removed
and the bed raked out. Ground covers are pruned to keep
growth away from the buildings, plants, sidewalks, and
streets. The sprinkler system is checked and any
necessary repairs or adjustments made.
Lawn Maintenance Tasks
Lawns are mowed weekly during the growing season, and
crossed mowed every four to six weeks. After mowing, the
lawns are edged and monuments, fence lines, and other
obstacles are weedwhipped. The whole area is then
vacuumed and cleaned up. Sprinkler heads are cleaned
around, checked, and any necessary repairs or adjustments
made.
Miscellaneous Maintenance Tasks
- Spraying: Spraying with herbicides and pesticides
is done as required to control and/or eradicate
specific pests.
- Repairs: All parts used in the repairs are
reported on the daily time sheet along with the
specific location they were used.
- Tree staking and guying: As required.
- Spot aeration and/or fertilization, lawn seeding
or sodding, and planting: As required.
- Baiting: Snail, gopher and squirrel baits are
applied throughout the year.
Seasonal Maintenance Tasks
- Aeration: All of our lawns are aerated a minimum
of twice a year, once in the spring and once in
the fall.
- Fertilization: Lawns are fertilized seven to
eight times a year, planters three to five times
a year, and slopes two to four times a year.
- Corrective Pruning: All trees under fifteen feet
are thinned and opened up in November and
December before the winter winds and rains.
- Weed Control: Chemicals are applied in the spring
to control crabgrass and other lawn and garden
weeds.
Rigorous attention to detail and an experienced crew
are essential elements that make Holmes Landscape Company
successful in providing its customers with the highest
quality landscape maintenance program possible.
[Other Techniques]
Irrigation
Auditing and Management
The greatest change in the landscape industry in the last
five years has been in the area of water management.
Several variables come into play when discussing water
use, and planning for future water costs and water
budgeting. Of course, last year's water use is not
necessarily reflective of what this year's water use will
be since our weather is never exactly the same year to
year.
Two factors that greatly influence water irrigation
requirements are:
- Water evaporation, or the amount of water
that has been lost to the atmosphere due to the
current weather, wind, heat, amount of sunlight,
etc.
- Water transpiration, or the amount of
water the landscape vegetation has used up in its
growing process.
The amount of daily water loss as a result of water
evaporation and transpiration is referred to as
evapotranspiration, or ETo. ETo is measured in
fractions of inches per day (e.g., an ETo of 0.25
represents a one quarter inch loss of water on a specific
day). ETo loss is approximately 1.2 to 1.35 inches per
week during the summer, 0.25 to 1.2 inches per week
during the spring and fall, and 0.25 to 0.5 inches per
week during the winter.
As your landscape contractor, our goal each week is to
manage your irrigation cycles to replace the water used
last week, based upon last week's ETo and certain other
factors:
- Precipitation Rate, or the amount of water
a specific valve applies through the sprinkler
heads.
- Distribution Uniformity, or a measure of
how efficiently water gets applied via the
sprinkler heads.
- Climatic Conditions, or the degree of
exposure to sun, wind, salt air, etc. a
particular landscape is subjected to.
- Site Conditions, or the amount of
pavement, buildings, etc., bordering the
landscape.
- Crop Coefficient, or the specific water
use requirements of the plants making up the
landscape.
Holmes Landscape Company collects this detailed
information for each landscape we manage, right down to
the actual precipitation rates for every rotor and impact
system valve under our control. Our computerized water
management program accepts last week's ETo and recommends
this week's irrigation runtimes based on each valve's
profile. There is absolutely no better way for us to
irrigate!
Irrigation monitoring is but another tool that makes
Holmes Landscape Company successful in providing its
customers with the highest quality landscape maintenance
program possible.
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Holmes Landscape Company
4616 North Avenue, Oceanside, CA 92056
760.732.3379 760.598.3500 Fax
larry@holmeslandscape.com
"Always looking to improve ourselves, our workers, and the quality of our work."
©1996-2010 Holmes Landscape Company. All Rghts Reserved.
Web site by JE Web Design.
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