Early Autumn Lawn Care

Fall is officially here! While the temperatures haven’t dropped below freezing just yet, your lawn may be looking not-so-green. Early autumn can bring dry conditions as well as high or fluctuating temperatures that can result in a crisp, dry lawn. The experts here at Advanced Irrigation are here to help get the most out of your lawn and keep it looking lush and well maintained for as long as possible. We can install and maintain a water sprinkler system for your Maple Gove home to ensure your lawn is getting what it needs. We’ve put together some additional information on important early autumn lawn care:

 Is your lawn getting the correct amount of mowing? This is usually a very simple chore, but it is incredibly important to help maintain your lawn’s health when it’s hot outside. And don’t over mow your lawn. The grass blades are what turn sunlight into food. Lots of food encourages the growth of a vigorous root system and healthy roots produce more grass blades and you get a thicker, lusher lawn. If you cut too often and too short, your grass won’t be able to retain the water and food it needs to grow.

Have you scheduled your fall blowout yet? Now is the time to call Advanced Irrigation to schedule a fall blow out for your water sprinkler system. This is basically a way to make sure your irrigation system and its components don’t freeze and break when the outdoor temperatures start to plummet. We will come to your home and do tasks like draining the water out of your system and draining the pipes, among other things.

Has your lawn been getting enough water throughout the growing season? Your lawn should receive about 1/3 an inch of water every two days in order to maintain deeper roots, thus helping protect against drought. A water sprinkler system can be programmed to water the lawn and ensure your yard is getting all the water it needs to grow. Plus, these systems come with a rain sensor, so it will automatically turn off or adjust the amount of water according to how much rain has fallen. A water sprinkler system is also a great way to help conserve water, and it also helps make sure every part of your yard and landscaping is getting an even amount of water through the rest of the growing season. 

Ready to learn more about how a water sprinkler system can help your late summer landscaping? We can install and maintain a water sprinkler system at your Maple Grove property! Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or Request a Free Estimate!

Plan Ahead for Spring While Also Making Your Landscaping Shine Today

Just because the ground is cold and trees and plants are sleeping, there are actually many things you can do to enhance your property’s landscaping and help prepare it for spring. And, as experts in landscape design for Elk River and the surrounding areas, we at Advanced Irrigation would like to offer up some tips to get you started. There are even some things you can do to help your landscaping today! So, when you are ready design and install a beautiful new landscape at your unique property, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We can get started right away planning and creating the right 

landscape for you.

When the plants go through their dormant stages in winter, it is a great idea to have a landscape design that has implemented some hardscaping. Eyes will be drawn less to the dormant trees and shrubbery and more to the beautiful hardscaping design on your property. There are so many things that you can do to enjoy your lawn and garden, even while they are covered by snow and ice.

The key to landscape design in winter is how well it was installed. A winter surviving landscape design will need a good solid base and options for drainage. Snow and ice accumulate, mass, ultimately melting. The melt should not pool or sit on the surface of your hardscaping only to refreeze. A landscape design installed via hardscaping professionals should be set up adequately to allow for this.

Do you currently not have the hardscaping or landscape design you desire to enhance your property during the winter months? Hardscaping is a great place to start. The professionals in landscape design here at Advanced Irrigation can install hardscaping items like retaining walls, outdoor fire pits, pergolas, lighting and more. But the key to their aesthetic appeal in wintertime is maintenance. It is important to keep them clear of snow and ice so that they can be a focal point throughout the non growing season.

It is never to early to start planning and enhancing your landscaping! Start gathering inspiration and ideas for what you’d like your landscape design to incorporate and contact the professionals at Advanced Irrigation right away! We would love to talk about what you’re looking for in your landscape, how we can help you maintain your current one this winter (including snow and ice removal) and make a plan of action for spring.

Are you interested in getting some more information on landscape design for your Elk River home or business? Call Advanced Irrigation today at (612) 599-8675 for a free estimate.

Essential Lawn Care Tasks to Take Care of Before Winter

As you can tell by the chill in the air here in Minnesota, winter will soon be here. Have you taken care of all of the lawn care tasks necessary to prepare your lawn for the cold months ahead? Not sure where to start? That’s where we come in! As expert providers of lawn care services for Maple Grove and the surrounding areas, Advanced Irrigation can help you take all the right steps toward maintaining a beautiful lawn.

The best way to ensure a thick, green, and healthy lawn in the spring is to give it some TLC right now. Here is a list of essential lawn care services your lawn needs this autumn. And, if you need assistance with or don’t have time for any of these tasks, don’t hesitate to give us a call!

Your fall lawn care services checklist:

• Rake. Leaves may look pretty but they're no good for grass; blocking the light and trapping moisture, becoming potentially fatal for the grass beneath. So when the leaves are falling, it is important you or your professional lawn care service blows or rakes them away as often as possible. 
• Water then winterize. If your lawn isn't getting at least an inch of water a week (a rain gauge is a useful way to keep track) then keep the irrigation system running until the end of October. Then, schedule your fall blowout for your irrigation system right away. This is one of the many lawn care services we provide at Advanced Irrigation. 
• Give it a final cut. Grass continues to grown until the first hard frost and so regular cuts are still necessary to keep it at an ideal height. If it gets too long it will mat and become vulnerable to fungi like snow mold. Cutting grass too short, however, is just as bad because it curtails the root system and impedes the lawn's ability to withstand winter cold. 
• Seed. Fall is the best time to seed because the ground is still warm, moisture is more plentiful and the sun is not as hot during the day. 

Ready to put the final touches on your fall lawn care? These are just some of the essential lawn care services that should be performed before the hard frost. Give us a call today to learn more about our services and why we are considered one of the most trusted names in lawn care services in the Maple Grove area. Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or you can request a Free Estimate.

Choosing the Best Landscape Design for Your Unique Property

Considering a new landscaper design for your home or business? It is important to work with your landscapers to choose one that is right for your unique property’s needs. And, there are many considerations to take into account, including:

• Do you need a space to entertain guests? 
• Are you in need of an area for a garden? 
• Interested in hardscaping? 
• Looking to build a communal space for employees? 
• Do you need an irrigation system? 
• Have you considered the amount of shade you would like for your landscape design? 

 And these are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself when considering a new landscape design. As professionals in landscape design for Minnetonka and the surrounding areas, we can help you answer these questions and more. Then, we will work with you to design a landscape for your unique wants and needs.

But first, we have a few suggestions to help you get started: 

Will you want to incorporate hardscaping into your landscape design? Retaining walls are some of the most functional types of hardscapes. They either separate garden rooms or areas, or they hold soil up across varying elevations of your home’s landscape. Patios are also great forms of hardscaping. They offer an open area for holding furniture and for relaxation. Patios are lovely hardscapes that can give you even more room to entertain guests or hold outdoor meetings. How about walkways? Our landscape design experts can help you choose where to place those as well.

When it comes to color, composition and design; start thinking of your landscape in terms of plants and flowers that will complement each other but don’t match exactly. Plan to have them planted in groups and not rows. Groups of flowers are easier to maintain, plus they are more interesting to look at rather than rigid straight rows. Also consider plants and flowers that are different heights. Plan to plant them together as well, and it will also make your garden and landscaping more interesting to look at.

Have you considered shade trees? Many lawns and landscapes are fully exposed to constant sun. If you wish to be part of and directly enjoy your property, perhaps in a hammock, sometime you just want to lay in the shade. Why not implement some shade trees into your landscape design? Advanced Irrigation can help you with all of your shade tree needs.

Are you ready to get some more information about landscape design for your Minnetonka home or business? Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us for a Free Estimate.

Begin Your Spring Cleaning Out In the Yard

When you start your spring cleaning, why not start outside and work your way in? With the weather getting nicer, venture outside and give your landscaping a little sprucing up. But rest assured, you won’t have to tackle the weeds alone! spring will soon be on its way. At Advanced Irrigation, we offer a variety of lawn care services for Lakeville and the surrounding areas and would like to offer a few tips to help get your spring lawn care kicked off right.

Don’t forget to water the lawn! Usually the morning is the best time of day. If you water during the afternoon, too much of the water might evaporate. If you water overnight, it could lead to mold growth and other problems like that. If you don’t want to worry about it, a sprinkler system could be the answer! And, it just so happens lawn irrigation is one of the many lawn care services we provide. In terms of lawn care services, aeration is another important task because it leads to healthier and stronger grass.

Also, make sure debris gets cleaned off of your grass. If stuff like buckets, toys and leaves are left on your lawn, it could cause dead spots or interfere with the effectiveness of your lawn irrigation system or other lawn care services you’ve employed.

Promote a lush lawn. Don’t forget to apply grass seed and mulch. Look for areas of your yard where the grass looks like it is dead. Apply grass seed to those spots. Then take the time to mulch the bases of any trees, shrubs or flower beds. Mulch will help them to retain water and will help keep them warm when the nights turn chilly. Contrary to popular belief, mowing your grass shorter and more frequently does not always mean that your grass will not grow back as quickly. Mow your grass when it needs it and try to keep the grass blades at about 3 to 3 1/2 inches.

About once a week, go outside and inspect your lawn irrigation system. Look for any potential problems and give us a call if you spot any. Of course, Advanced Irrigation can also come out to inspect and repair your system whenever you want. While a lawn irrigation system will help water your lawn and keep your grass looking great, there are several other lawn care services that will make sure your lawn stays looking great all year long. And, these are just some important tasks to consider.

Ready to learn more about lawn care services in Lakeville? Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us and get a Free Estimate.

Prepare Your Lawn for the Months Ahead

As you know, winter comes quickly and can really linger, leaving lasting effects on your lawn and landscape. But, there are a few simple lawn care tips and tricks that can ensure your trees and grass come back and flourish in the spring. Before the snowflakes begin to fall, prepare your lawn and landscaping from the elements with a few simple tips. As an expert landscaping company in Buffalo, we have a few suggestions on how to help your trees survive the harsh Minnesota winters.

First, before you do anything else, you should give us a call at Advanced Irrigation and we will prepare your entire irrigation system for the winter. This is a very important element in proper cold weather lawn care! We drain the remaining water from the sprinkler system, ensuring all water if removed from your pipes. We use an air compressor to “blow out” the overall network, making sure there is no water left in there that could potentially freeze and damage the system.

Next, don’t forget to consider snow removal. Ice is a common problem and many people will automatically reach for salt to melt the ice. But when you use salt to melt the ice on your sidewalk and driveway, it can damage or even kill your plants and grass. When we come to your commercial building to remove snow and ice, we use deicer that is safe for your plants and grass.

Have you ever seen your tree begin to bloom and then a frost destroys all those little buds? Wrapping your trees can help with that! Sometimes, when the sun hits the bark, this can cue the tree to emerge from dormancy. And later in the day, when the sun goes down, parts of the tree can be hurt when the temperatures drop. Wrapping your trees can help protect them and help them regulate their temperature. Wrapping your trees can also protect them from animals and the like.

After any snow fall, you should go out to your yard and gently shake the snow off of your tree branches if the snow that fell is dry and fluffy. You can use a broom for this task, but be gentle. Keep an eye out for snow that is building up on the branches and, if it is safe, run outside during the snow storm to shake the branches if necessary.

So, are you ready to learn more about hiring our Buffalo landscaping company for all of your landscaping needs this winter? Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or you can contact us to get a Free Estimate on our services.

Summer Services: Commercial Landscaping Tips

As a property and business owner, you understand the importance of quality landscaping and lawn care in order to attract customers, clients, renters and new employees. After all, a good first impression on those that visit your commercial building can only happen once. And, the summer is the time of year that landscaping and lawns are expected to look lush and well-kept.

You can always call on Advanced Irrigation for help with commercial lawn care in Minnetonka and the surrounding areas. We offer an entire spectrum of commercial lawn care services and can come out on a scheduled or as-needed basis and can always fully customize our commercial lawn care services to meet your company’s needs. But, until then, here are a few of our favorite commercial lawn care services and tips:

Pruning

Corrective pruning is one of the best ways to ensure beautiful flower beds. Our commercial lawn care company will go through your flower beds and prune the flowers that need it. We can do the same for any trees and shrubs on your property as well.

Watering

Deep watering is best for your grass as well as other plants. An irrigation system and specialized commercial lawn care can take care of this task for you. And, a sprinkler system can automatically water based on the type of plant, where it is located in relation to the sun and shade and how much rain has fallen as of late. Irrigation systems help maintain steady, efficient watering unmatched by hand watering. This is one of the many commercial lawn care services we specialize in, so give us a call for more information and to have one installed.

Mowing

Cut the grass to the correct length; not too long and not too short. If you mow the grass too short, this can cause the grass to turn brown or it can damage or destroy the root system. The mowing length mostly depends on the type of grass, but the general rule of thumb is to only cut about 1/3 of the blade. Longer grass blades encourage the root system to grow even deeper into the soil, which promotes healthy and green growth. The experts at Advanced Irrigation are well-versed in all commercial lawn care best practices including mowing and can keep your grass at the length ideal for great looks and optimal growth.

After you are done mowing, leave the grass clippings on the ground. They can help with happier and healthier grass.

If you would like more information on our commercial lawn care services in Minnetonka, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675, or you can contact us and get a Free Estimate.

Landscape Design Care Tips for the Winter

With winter all but here, you have worthwhile things to do that can enhance the winterscape outside your windows, while you sit by the hearth. As a means of landscape design for your Bloomington or nearby home, we will be focusing on your hardscaping--the pavement, the back patio, the harder surfaces that you have had installed around your home. Our technicians in landscape design also install other sorts of hardscaping items like retaining walls, outdoor fire pits, pergolas and lighting. The key to maintaining their aesthetic appeal in wintertime is upkeep. Make sure that they are free of snow and ice so that they can be a focal point throughout the dead months. 

As your plants go through their dormant stages this winter, enjoy a landscape design with a little hardscaping. Your eyes will be drawn less to the trees and shrubbery that you possess and more to the pop that a master in landscape design has added to your property. With so many options as far as what you can do to enjoy your lawn and garden, why not set yourself up to enjoy it all while they sleep or are covered by snow and ice.

You will want to actively take care of your hardscaping during the winter months. If you are not vigilant you can run into a repair project or two after the thaw that could easily have been prevented. Stay on top of your salt usage. If you apply it but let it sit without removing it or the slush generated, it will eat away at or even stain any concrete, paver or stone that has been incorporated into your landscape design. Stay on top of it! In the grand scheme it does not take more than accumulated minutes for de-icer to do its work. Be there to get rid of it when needed. 

If you have had a nice and fancy patio installed, chances are that you have some metal containing furniture placed upon it. Do not leave these items outside to face winter. Take them inside, use them again as you knew them in the spring. A side effect of leaving these metallic items outside is that if they are under snow or ice the rust that emerges will also stain the hardscaping below it.

Installation is what matters most regarding your hardscaping and how it deals with winter. A winter surviving landscape design of this sort will need a good solid base and options for drainage. Snow and ice accumulate, mass, ultimately melting. The melt should not pool or sit on the surface of your hardscaping only to refreeze. A landscape design installed via hardscaping professionals should be set up adequately to allow this to occur. 

If you would like more information on our landscape design skills in Bloomington, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675, or you can contact us and get a Free Estimate.

Keep Your Landscape Looking and Feeling Cool With Shady Trees

When planting a shade tree, many do not put enough thought into just where and how a shade tree should be added. There are two major things to consider. The first is that you will want to consider planting it somewhere “inland”—streets representing water—and not on the very edge of your property. If you plant shade trees near a street or at a point where municipalities will likely one day implement imminent domain and put a highway through your property, you run the risk of your tree being violated by power lines and the like. Right of way of overhead wires wreaks havoc on a tree, often to the point of eliminating its shading value. Our landscape design team is fully aware of this issue and would seek a location within your property where risk  is minimal.

A second problem involves just how your plant your shade trees. It is often thought to be elegant and regal to implement something of a platform or raised bed—surround by brick or stone—for a noble shade tree.

Problems can quickly arise. This raised bed, especially if it is built high enough to cover any of the trunk, will make life difficult for your shade tree. Soils will remain moist and not drain or feed the as it otherwise would in a standard planting situation. The soil will not aerate properly because it is compacted to that which encases it as well as the weight and understructure of the tree. Bugs and rodents will also find the area more appealing than they otherwise would, which tends towards damaged bark. These factors combine to rob your shade tree of nutrients, drying out and eventually killing your shade tree. It will be a slow death for your beloved tree. Trees grow slow and die slow. The process will start below the soil, near the trunk, working its way through the interior of the tree outward.  

Many lawns and landscapes are fully exposed to constant sun. If you wish to be part of and directly enjoy your property, perhaps in a hammock, sometime you just want to lay in the shade. Why not implement some shade trees into your landscape design? Advanced Irrigation can help you with your shade tree needs with some landscape design for your Minneapolis home. At Advanced Irrigation, our landscape designers are fully aware of just how and where to implement proper yard shading through shade trees. Season veterans all, our designers can assemble a perfect landscape design to please any and all.

If you would like more information on our landscape design skills in Minneapolis, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675, or you can contact us and get a Free Estimate.

Smart Irrigation Systems Save Water

No one wants an ugly, dry, brown yard. If you run a business, that large expanse cannot be all dried out and lifeless either. Lush green is definitely the preference. If you are wondering about irrigation systems in the Bloomington area, consider Advanced Irrigation. We are a company that believes firmly in the conservation of water and safe environmental practices in general. Our irrigation systems are water efficient by design.

Through the calculation and practice of evapotranspiration (ET), 20-50 percent savings of water (over a standard irrigation system set-up) can be achieved while keeping your lawn as healthy and alive as it has ever has been. The way evapotranspiration works is by taking the sum of evaporation from the soil and plant transpiration (process whereby grass and plants absorb water through the roots, giving off water vapor through pores).

The evapotranspirator (the grass) is monitored by a smart controller that is digitally in touch with a weather station (24/7) measuring current and pending conditions to calculate local evapotranspiration factors. The smart controller then operates based on those conditions rather than on a schedule. For example, there is no need to water the lawn if it is going to rain in three hours.

These irrigation systems will water your lawn or business property only to replenish the moisture that is needed based on those calculated plant and soil conditions. The smart controller is programmed with the precipitation rate, plant type, soil type, slope and sun/shade exposure and combines with the weather station data of temperature, humidity, wind and solar radiation. The factors then blend to create the irrigation system unleashing its water on your property. Live local data is combined with landscape information to calculate the ET. Your lawn or property ends up with healthier roots and a longer lifespan.  

The savings of water (and as a bonus, money) hover anywhere in the 20-50 percent range based on what would be used in a normal “scheduled” irrigation set-up. One study estimated 66 percent savings in water use.

If you would like more information on our irrigation systems in Bloomington and the surrounding areas, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675, or you can contact us to get a Free Estimate.

Developing the Perfect Landscape Design

With winter just around the corner, considering landscaping for your yard is probably the furthest thing from your mind. However, fall and winter can be great times to plan what you’d like done in your yard. Some things can be done now, while others will need to wait till spring. Still, if you have a plan already worked out, you can get right to it as soon as the weather warms up again.

There are many things to consider when designing the perfect landscape. You can have something more formal looking or you may choose something with a more casual look that is easier to maintain. We specialize in landscape design in Edina and the surrounding areas, so we want to offer a few suggestions on what to consider when working on your plans.

While you may feel a formal English garden would be great for your home, you might want to reconsider. Formal English gardens require nearly around-the-clock care and maintenance. So, unless you can devote nearly all of your free time to caring for your garden or can afford to hire someone for full-time maintenance, you may want to go a less formal route.

For a more casual look, start thinking of your landscape design in terms of plants and flowers that complement each other but don’t match exactly. Find plants that have similar leaf shape or flowers that have complementary colors. Plan to have them planted in groups and not rows. Groups of flowers are easier to maintain, plus they make the landscape more interesting rather than having everything planted in straight rows.

You should also consider flowers and plants of different heights. In your plan, you can plant them together and it will again give your landscape a more interesting look.

Although Minnesota winters are not known for being mild and sunny, you can still find plants that will bloom even when it’s cold. Consider adding some of these to your landscape design to have a focal point for your garden for every season of the year. You may not make it outside as much during the winter months, but it’s still nice to have something to look at from inside your home when the weather is frightful!

If you need help with your landscape design, you can contact us. We can help you develop a plan that will look great and provide year-round enjoyment. We can even come to your home to set up the landscaping for you by adding plants, flowers and even hardscaping.

Would you like to learn more about landscape design in Edina? Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or you can contact us to get a free estimate.

Winterizing Sprinkler Systems

In the fall when it’s starting to turn chilly, one of our most popular services are fall blow outs. Also known as “winterizing,” this is an important task that should be done to sprinkler systems in Lakeville (and anywhere else where temperatures regularly dip below freezing during the winter) on an annual basis. 

Water that is left in your lawn sprinkler system can freeze when the temperatures get below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. When water freezes into ice, it expands and could cause the pipes, fittings, valves and other parts to crack or burst. Sprinkler systems with these types of damages can be expensive to fix. Winterizing sprinkler systems eliminates this problem because we will first drain the water out of your sprinkler system using the manual or automatic drain valves. After that, we used compressed air to blow the remaining water out of the system, which ensures there is none left in there that could potentially freeze and cause problems.

We will then make sure that main drain valve is fully closed, and that will keep the water from flowing back into the system. From there, we look at the timer and/or controller and turn that off as well. That keeps the lawn sprinkler system from running during the winter months, but it does not get rid of any of the programming.

Sprinkler systems usually come with rain and freeze sensors. These devices will detect if there has been a large amount of rain and will automatically readjust the sprinkler system’s programming to compensate for that. It will also detect if temperatures are below freezing and will keep the system from turning on. This is great for added peace of mind if you don’t have your lawn sprinkler system winterized before the winter or if temperatures plummet unexpectedly.

All of these steps ensure sprinkler systems will work as they should when the weather gets warm again and when you want to start watering your yard and landscaping again. A little bit of preventive maintenance this winter can go a long way and can help prevent expensive repairs and replacements for your sprinkler system.

These are just a few reasons you should look into having your sprinkler system winterized.

Would you like more details on sprinkler systems in Lakeville, or do you want to schedule your fall blow out? Call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675, or you can contact us to set up your Free Estimate.

How to Properly Mow Your Business’ Lawn

The outside of your business is the first thing potential customers and employees see. So you want to be sure that you are always putting your best foot forward to give everyone a good first impression. While a commercial irrigation system for your Minneapolis can definitely help with this, another way to make sure your grass and landscaping look good is by mowing it properly. Here are a few tips.

You should be sure that your lawn mower’s blade are adjusted to the correct height. The general rule of thumb is two to three inches, but sometimes the height will depend on the type of grass you are mowing. You want to be sure the grass is short enough to look nice and well-kept, but you don’t want it so short that you damage the root system.

When you mow your grass, avoid mowing in the same pattern every time. Mowing in different patterns encourages your grass to grow more upright, plus it will help prevent ruts from developing in the soil.

Make sure that, when you mow the grass, that it is totally dry and not wet from a recent rain storm. Wet grass blades can clog your mower and break it or cause it to overheat. You should also be sure to regularly sharpen your mower’s blades. Dull blades will not make a clean cut and could cause your grass to not grow properly. It could also lead to disease or allow pests and insects to invade your grass.

Finally, when you are mowing, make sure you overlap each pass by at least a few inches. This is a great way to ensure you do not accidentally miss any part of your business’ lawn, and it will help ensure you do not end up mowing unevenly.

For more information on a commercial irrigation system in Minneapolis, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or you can contact us to get a Free Estimate.