Look out the window. What do you see? White, gray and brown. That about sums it up.

Now, start thinking pink, yellow and blue. There’s no better way to escape winter than to start planning your summer landscape project.

Get Inspired on the Great Goats Website

You can browse the Great Goats Landscaping portfolio for photos to jump start ideas for a backyard escape or beautiful, new curb appeal for the front of your home.

Before you know it, you’ll get excited searching for ideas. And instead of the drab winter, you’ll be looking at photos of trees, shrubs and flowers…lawns, patios and gardens.

Expert Advice from a Design Pro

Planning a landscape project can be a simple process with our help. You contact us, and we’ll set up a meeting with Great Goats Landscaping owner/designer, Mike Olson (that’s me).

Meeting 1: I come to your home and we discuss your vision and goals. Or perhaps you have a problem to solve: poor drainage, car headlights glaring in your window, or old, outdated, dying trees and shrubs.

Next, I take your vision and merge it with my own vision and come up with an exciting, new design for your landscape. There’s no charge for the consultation, and design fees vary. We can completely transform and update the look of your home and the way your experience it with a landscape project.

Meeting 2: We’ll look at your new design and compare it to photos in the Great Goats Landscaping portfolio. Then, with your feedback, we can discuss costs of the project and any revisions that could be made to the design.

Meeting 3: Typically, either before or after our third meeting, we agree to work together and you secure a place on our calendar with a monetary deposit on your project.

Kick Back and Enjoy Your New Landscape!

And before you know it, you’ll be enjoying your new landscape…you’re relaxing, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it’s 80 degrees.

White, gray and brown? Or pink, yellow and blue? Contact us today…and let’s start planning now.

Hire Great Goats for Lawn Composting

If you want a beautiful, sustainable, healthy lawn, try spreading compost on your lawn. When you think of beautifully manicured lawns and landscapes, you may think of golf courses. Well, one of the same, basic practices that help golf courses maintain lush, green fairways and greens is Top Dressing. Specifically, top dressing the lawn with compost.

What is top dressing?

It’s the direct application of about ¼ inch layer of compost or compost blend to the surface of your lawn. For residential lawns, a blend of 75% compost and 25% topsoil is great. The compost should be screened, with a fine texture, allowing it to fall between the blades of grass.

Why is top dressing with compost so effective?

Compost significantly increases soil’s ability to retain water. Compost also improves the overall soil structure, stimulates microbial activity, breaks down thatch and neutralizes the soil’s ph. Simply stated, compost is the best, natural, slow releasing soil amendment containing everything turf needs to thrive. An added benefit of top dressing with compost is fewer weeds. As your grass grows thicker, fewer weeds can get started in your lawn. So you’ll spend less time and money getting rid of weeds.

We recommend three steps to achieve your best lawn ever!

• Step one: We’ll aerate your lawn which has multiple benefits of its own (see previous blog on spring services).
• Step two: We’ll over seed your lawn with quality grass seed.
• Step three: We spread the proper layer of compost on your lawn, using a walk behind spread specifically designed to top dress your lawn with compost.

How often should you top dress your lawn with compost?

Once per year is great. You can compost the lawn at any time during the growing season, although it’s not recommended during extreme hot spells. Give it a try. You deserve a lush, green, golf course-like lawn. We can help you get it.

Spring…probably the most awaited, celebrated season in Minnesota. Here’s what you want to focus on in your lawn and landscape this spring:

Spring Clean Up

Spring cleaning, it’s not just for your closets. We perform a thorough cleaning of your lawn and landscape, using rakes, clippers, blowers and mowers. We remove winter’s left-overs… leaves, sticks and debris. Then we haul it away, leaving you with a clean, beautiful property.

Dethatching

Dethatching your lawn is like brushing and flossing your teeth. We get rid of the compacted gunk that’s in your lawn. Metal tines loosen and thatch. Then we rake or vacuum the debris and haul it way. Your lawn can breathe again and it’s ready to get growing.

Core Aeration

Probably the best thing you can do for your lawn is aerate. Once per year is good. Aeration is simply creating thousands of 2” deep holes throughout your lawn.  Aeration reduces soil compaction, helps break down thatch, and helps water and nutrients to flow to the grass roots. (“The Grass Roots” remember that 60’s band?). In time, aeration loosens the topsoil of your lawn, enabling the roots to grow deeper and spread further.

Fertilization & Weed Control

A key element to a thick, healthy lawn is controlling weeds. Applying a pre-emergent herbicide prevents weeds from growing from seed. Other treatments kill established weeds.  But the best defense against weeds is a good offense: Let us fertilize your lawn, aerate it, over seed it, and top dress it with compost. The thicker, the lusher, and the more beautiful your lawn, the less opportunity there will be for weeds to grow. Good grass chokes out bad weeds.

Spring Gutter Cleaning

If you didn’t have your gutters cleaned last fall, let us do it this spring. A clogged gutter sends rain water spilling over the gutter, on to your home’s fascia, siding and ground. This causes messy splashing and worse, can cause stained and rotting wood. We can also repair bowed or loose gutters.