Throughout this week we will be trimming shrubs, starting on the West side of the property. As with the grass, the recent large rainfalls have caused a growth spurt.
Category: Landscaping
We will be mowing the West side tomorrow, Tuesday, April 10th.
The East side will be mowed on Wednesday, April 11th.
TruGreen will be out today applying a “weed and feed” to the 22 acre property, which helps the grass grow and stops some of the weeds. We do this 2 times per year, Spring and Fall.
We have TruGreen on site today doing a pre-emergent weed killer/fertilizer spray. They are treating the entire property.
We will be mowing on the West side tomorrow and the East side on Friday.
We are trimming overgrown shrubs, bushes and trees in the common areas today.
We will be mowing the property next week.
On Monday, we will mow behind the Office and around West Mountain Lane. On Tuesday, we will mow the remainder of the West side. Then on Wednesday, the East side.
We have been using Metroscape Landscaping for the past 2 years at a cost of about $76,000 per year, which included mowing, edging, flower bed turning and shrub trimming. It also has 2 “weed and feed” applications scheduled for Spring and Fall. This annual contract was up for renewal at the beginning of June 2016. We looked into other landscaping contractors to do the job but did not like the prices we were given, between $92,000 and almost $100,000 per year.
After doing some digging and looking for possible alternatives, we arrived at a solution. The Board voted at the April 2016 meeting to do the landscaping ourselves and approved the purchase of the required equipment. We now have 2 mowers, a 60″ and a 48″ which were delivered today.
Both are the Toro 5000 Series commercial grade -Zero-turn mower. Here is a picture of the mower type we bought:
There are a few more items we need to get to have the proper equipment to do the entire subdivision. We have hired someone to mow and he has many years experience on the grounds here because he used to work for one of our previous lawn contractors. When necessary, our maintenance guys will assist as needed when schedules permit. We should have much better control on things using our own people to do the landscaping.
The HOA will begin doing landscaping on July 1st.
We will have a liquid fertilizer (pre/post emergent) application on Thursday, October 22nd. This was scheduled to coincide with the forecasted rain.
We ask our residents to please water the recently planted trees and the grass in the common area in the front and rear of your property. No rain is forecast for many weeks and we need to protect the money we have invested in trees and the 500-600 pounds of grass seed we have sown around the subdivision. The water used to keep the trees and plants alive is part of your HOA dues, you will pay nothing extra.
As a reminder, here is the watering schedule from Grand Prairie: (the first three restrictions apply to sprinklers)
Current Water Restrictions
The following restrictions are in effect in the city of Grand Prairie:
- No watering on Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday.
- Even Numbered addresses may water on Mondays and Thursdays.
- Odd numbered addresses may water on Tuesday and Fridays.
- Handheld and soaker hoses are allowed to be used any time.
*The following restrictions also apply at all times:
- Residents and business are prohibited from watering their lawns anytime between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- When watering, a constant stream of water should not be allowed to flow into the street drainage.
- Watering during precipitation is prohibited. Rain sensors are required on newer watering systems.
- Landscaping – Due to the torrential rains of late and more on the way, we will not be mowing until the ground dries up sufficiently to not cause damage; as it is now, water is standing all over and it makes little sense to mow mud. The landscaping crew was out today trimming shrubs.
- Turtles – As odd as it sounds, we have seen a few turtles lately. Earlier today, there was a decently sized Snapping Turtle found near Warrior and the cemetery; this afternoon, there was a Box Turtle in front of the Office. We relocated both to the creel in the West woods.
- Littering – We still have a big problem with people throwing trash in the parking lots, as they drive through the property, and also as kids walk home they drop trash. I can see a better use for our time and personnel than to pick up after others. Please dispose of trash properly.
- Unleashed Dogs – We still have a number of residents who allow their dogs off-leash. This is a violation of our rules and City Ordinances. We also have too many dogs getting out of their yards and wandering around. Some of these dogs are large and powerful and could easily injury a child or older resident. We will be getting Animal Control involved since the owners of these dogs just don’t seem to understand why this is important.