New Landscapes

Curb in New Landscaping

Curbing is easier to install before the lawn is installed. The curbing is designed to lay on the same surface as the lawn is planted. The thickness of the curb is set up for laying sod next to it. When the area is to be seeded, we recommend that about 1/2″ of soil be raked up “feathered” in to the front edge of the curb. That way as the thatch matures, it will thicken and bring the turf level up next to the curb. Its is important to understand that grass actually grows mostly on TOP of the soil, not “into” the soil.

New Houses:  

The typical residential lot goes through two inspections in many municipalities: 1- Rough grade- being the clay base. It needs to be sloped correctly for rainwater runoff. Then the topsoil is installed and usually needs another inspection called “final grade”. So we frequently refer to jobs in new landscapes as curb on “final grade”.  WE will often plan the job before the inspection takes place, possibly even while till in the rough grade stage. Then once the final grade approval has been given, we can install the curb.  There are a couple of considerations for curbing:

1.  Don’t rush if you don’t need to!  A rainfall or two is good for the soil to settle in a bit. Also it is very important to let any quack grass in the soil to sprout. Then you can kill it with Roundup. This is important, because it is IMPOSSIBLE to eliminate quack grass from a new lawn if you do not eliminate it before the sod is installed! 
2. Houses close together will likely not sustain grass growth between them. Many people start out optimistically laying sod between houses, but experience shows that the grass will die off slowly in most of those areas. 
3.  Jobs on final grade get priority service from us. We usually install within a week of approval of your final grade if you are ready.
4.  Here is the ideal system for do-it yourself landscape installation: ( of course we can work with whatever stage you need. Just your topsoil must be in ! )
   1. first, final grade, 
   2. hard landscape features such as sidewalks, deck, walls, fence
   3. shrubs and trees,
   4. sprinklers if required,
   5.  landscape fabric in beds
   6. Landscape rock, mulch in beds, kept back 18: and piled up in beds
   7. curb installation ( next day pull rock/ mulch against back of curb)
   8. Sod installation
   9. FINISHED!

Renovated Landscapes or make-overs

The process for yard renovations is about the same as new house landscape installation, but it depends on the extent to which you are removing the old lawn. Generally, you should get as much landscaping done as possible before ordering the curb. Basically, the curb goes in just before you fix up the lawn. Of course there are exceptions, call of you need advice.