Soil Test

Soil Test
Always start with a Soil Test. You need to know what you are working with. Most large landscape/lawncare companies this includes companies like Trugreen/Chemlawn (I will call them the Big Green) will tell you that this step is not needed. They will use excuses like “we treat a lot of the landscapes in this area and we know what we are doing” or “we did a soil test on this street a couple of years ago”. Without a soil test you do not know what your soil really needs, or more importantly does NOT need.
What your soil does NOT need, interesting concept. The Big Green maximizes their profit by treating every landscape the same. The Chicken Soup approach! A tank mixture of 1000 gallons rolls down the road and treats a slew of lawns, not necessarily based on what they need, but based on where they are located. Route Density!
What happens to the stuff your landscape does not need. It makes it way down the storm drain, it can bind with the soil, or could change up the pH. All three of these things are bad, bad for your landscape and bad for the ecosystem that we all live in.
A soil test will let you know what your landscape needs and what it does not need.

Why Sustainable Landscapes?

Here is a list of inputs that have led me to start this blog;
• Sustainable Sites Initiative http://www.sustainablesites.org/
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring
• Working as an engineer LEEDhttp://www.usgbc.org/, sustainability, economics
• Decades of experience in the ‘Green’ Industry
o Trugreen/Chemlawn http://local.trugreen.com/
o Academia http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/undergraduate.html
o Landscape Maintenance http://www.visionlandscapesinc.com/