Gudgy Lawn & Grounds · (919) 555-0142 · www.gudgy.com · Apex, NC
Written as the problems people text us about.
Nobody wakes up wanting "landscape enhancement services." They want the side yard to stop squishing. Here is what we fix, what it includes, and where it is priced.
"It just needs to be cut, well, every week."
Same crew, same day. Mow at three and a half inches for fescue (bermuda lower, and we will tell you which you have). String-trim the fence lines and mailbox, edge the walk and drive with a blade edger, not a weed eater turned sideways, blow the hard surfaces clean. Clippings mulched unless the grass got away from you, then bagged.
Weekly from mid-March to Thanksgiving, roughly 34 visits. Every-other-week is available and costs a little more per visit because it takes longer. December to February we come monthly for leaves and a tidy.
- Leaf cleanups, November and December, hauled away
- Shrub and hedge trimming on a schedule, not when they look bad
- Crepe myrtles pruned lightly in February. We do not top them.
- Irrigation start-up and winterization
- Pre-emergent in February and March, spring and fall feeding
"The beds look tired and the mulch is grey."
A refresh is: cut a clean spade edge, pull and treat the weeds, feed the shrubs, then lay three inches of double-shredded hardwood mulch or long-needle pine straw tucked and rolled at the edge so it stays put. Kept two inches off the siding and away from the trunks. No volcanoes.
Pine straw is the Triangle default for a reason: cheap, looks right under pines and azaleas, and it does not float off in a thunderstorm the way bark nuggets do. Hardwood mulch is better in beds you plant every year. We will say which suits the bed.
- New shrubs and perennials that handle clay, shade and August
- Bed extensions where grass will never grow under a maple
- Steel or stone edging on request
- Small tree and shrub removals, roots and all
"It was fine in May. Now it is dirt with a few tufts."
That is a normal fescue year on clay. Tall fescue is a cool-season grass living in a warm-season place, so it thins every summer and has to be rebuilt every fall. Between mid-September and the end of October we core aerate to open the clay, overseed with a turf-type tall fescue blend at the right rate, put down starter fertilizer, and give you a two-week watering schedule that fits in a text.
If more than half the yard is gone, sod is faster and we will say so. If the yard is in full sun and you are tired of the cycle, bermuda might be the honest answer, and we will say that too.
- Book by early September. The window fills.
- Skip the pre-emergent that fall, or the seed will not come up either.
- Shade under big oaks: fine fescue blend or give up the grass and mulch it.
- Brown patch in July is a fungus, not a watering problem. Water less, in the morning.
"Every time it rains, the side yard is a pond for two days."
Piedmont clay drains at a crawl, builders scrape the topsoil off and grade toward the property line, and then it rains 45 inches a year. So water sits. Fixes, in order of cost: extend and bury the downspouts so roof water leaves the foundation; regrade the low spot with a swale that carries water to the street or a natural low point; run a French drain, gravel and perforated pipe wrapped in fabric, where a swale will not work; a dry creek bed where the water has to cross the yard and you would rather it look like it was on purpose.
We start with a free look after a rain. Bring your phone video of the puddle if it is dry the day we come.
- Sod or seed over the finished work
- Catch basins at downspouts and low corners
- Gravel pads for trash cans and AC units that sink
- Erosion on slopes: jute netting, groundcover, terracing on the small stuff
Pools, patios, retaining walls over two feet, tree climbing.
We know good people for each and will give you their number. Keeping the list short is how the crew that mows your yard is the same crew that mulched it.
Text us a photo of your yard.
You will have a price by the end of the day, in writing. No sales visit unless you want one.
Text (919) 555-0142