Frequently ASked Questions

Yes, the winter is a great time for you to have sod installed as long as the ground is not completely saturated or frozen. As we like to say, “If they can cut it, we can install it.” During the winter months, the sod will stay mostly dormant, with slow root growth occurring on warmer days. Because it is mostly dormant, it requires little to no watering. 

When installed, Shelton Landscape & Maintenance will water the sod in, then the sod should only need to be watered if we were to go into a winter drought. Due to the slow growth, it will take a while to root in, so keeping traffic light is the best option. However, come Spring, when you are ready to use your yard on those warm, sunny days, you will have a brand-new lawn. To keep your sod looking beautiful, reach out to us for lawn care services, too.

It will take sod approximately two weeks to root in during the growing season. During those two weeks, water should be applied at least once per day. You want the sod to be wet, not just moist. According to HomeAdvisor, the average U.S. lawn is around 10,871 square feet, so this may take a significant amount of water. However, the results are absolutely worth it. To check that you are watering correctly, pull up a corner of the sod, and check both the soil below and the soil attached to the sod. Both soils should be nice and wet. 

After two weeks, or when the sod is rooted in (you're unable to pull up the corners), you can cut back watering to approximately every other day. After about four to five weeks, cut back to watering as you normally water your lawn, ensuring your turf is receiving a minimum of one inch of water per week. 

We recommend watering two times per week in June, three times per week in July-August, two times per week in September, and one time per week in October. This is a rule of thumb and should be adjusted as necessary depending on weather conditions. Reach out to our lawn care services team for support with maintaining your new lawn.

Precast concrete pavers carry multiple advantages over a poured-in-place concrete patio.

Firstly, precast concrete pavers must have at least a PSI of 8,000, with many reaching strengths much greater, according to the University of Houston. Poured-in-place concrete only has an industry standard of 3,000-4,000 PSI, according to STRUCTURE, which means it is weaker and will not last as long as pavers. 

Secondly, precast concrete pavers come in an assortment of colors, shapes, and finishes, all manufactured and tested in offsite facilities with strict quality control. This means that you will not only have many options to get the exact look you are wanting but that the pavers you choose will also last for many years to come. Our landscaping contractors can help you choose the ideal pavers for your property.

Lastly, because precast concrete pavers are installed as a flexible pavement system, they will breathe with the climate. If, for some reason, the base underneath expands or contracts causing separation in your paver surface, you will not lose the investment of the pavers themselves but will just have to have the base adjusted and reinstalled. This can save you thousands of dollars when compared to concrete. If a concrete surface moves, it cracks, and your only option is to tear it out and replace it if you want it fixed.

The timeline for trimming flowering shrubs is mainly based on bloom time. Your best bet is to trim them right after the bloom cycle, or once the blooms have faded. If you have to wait to trim, give the shrub at least a season to set new buds. For example, if the plant blooms in early spring, do not trim it after late summer. 

That being said, there are also many flowering shrubs that can be trimmed at any time, and they will still bloom. Professional landscaping companies like ours can give your specific guidance based on your exact flowering shrubs.

If it is a flowering tree, you would follow the same rule of thumb as a flowering shrub and trim it right after the blooms have faded. An evergreen tree can be trimmed at basically anytime. With deciduous trees, it's best to not trim them during mid to late Spring, when they are in the process of breaking dormancy. Fruit trees follow their own rules, and the trimming timeline should be researched. Reach out to our landscaping contractors to learn more. 

Many perennials benefit from deadheading, where the spent flowers are removed to promote new/more blooms. For example, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, salvia, catmint, and other plants benefit from deadheading. 

That being said, you don't have to deadhead. It will not negatively affect the plant. Once the growing season is over, and before the new growth emerges, landscaping companies recommend that the spent foliage and blooms be cut off and disposed of. 

Ornamental grasses can be cut down to approximately 6 inches tall after the leaves have turned brown and before the new growth emerges in the Spring. If you have any concerns about maintaining your ornamental grasses, reach out to our landscaping contractors.

Installing pre-emergent herbicides in your mulch and gravel landscape beds is the best way to control weed growth. Other tips for keeping weeds out of your planter beds would be to keep a consistent two to four inches of mulch in your mulch planter beds.

Be sure you are having your landscape beds cleared of grass clippings or seasonal landscape debris, and try to keep a consistent and cleared edge around all sides of your beds to prevent grasses or vegetation from creeping in. All suggestions combined will help greatly reduce the weed growth in your landscape planter beds. But whatever you do, the worst is to do nothing and let them get out of control. Landscaping companies like ours can help you maintain beautiful weed-free planter beds.

Landscape fabric can help reduce the initial weed growth upon first installation. However, over time, weed seeds will begin to collect on top of the fabric, causing weeds to grow. While fabric can be an immediate solution to stopping weeds from growing, it will only last about a season. Most landscaping companies will tell you that the main reason to install landscape fabric under any ground cover (non-vegetative) is to ensure that the decorative ground cover does not erode into the soil below. 

We only suggest installing landscape fabric under ground cover materials that are not meant to decompose, such as decorative gravel. Installing under mulch, which decomposes, will cause additional issues such as erosion. Not allowing the mulch to decompose into the soil means that you will have to remove it every couple of years before you can install new ground cover materials. If you do not remove excess mulch, and keep adding on, year after year, the mulch will build up, resulting in more issues. 

Give us a call. We will assign you one of our landscape designers, who will meet at your home to talk over the project. They will look at the site’s existing components, access, overall layout, and any existing problems. Your designer will walk through the space with you, talking about your needs, wants, and wishes, to develop a scope for the project. 

After your consultation, your landscape designer will put together a proposal and plan, if necessary, to match your project's scope. Once complete, you will be presented with your design package, with your designer and our landscaping contractors available to answer and review any questions or concerns you may have.