The mowing crew is now off of the regular weekly mowing schedule and are slowing down to do leaf clean up before they mow. This slows the crew crew done to a 2 week schedule and soon it will be down to a every 3 week schedule as the leaf drop will intensify the amount of work to be done. It's that time of the year when the lawns also start to slow down in their growth due to the cooler temps.

I had to take these 2 pictures at this property in Wellesley. The pic on the right is of the "Cinnamon Mums" that we planted in the wooden planters on the back patio. The one on the left is of the same Mum, it just has the Japanese Red Maple behind it. I envy the homeowner as she gets to look out onto this, from the picture window in her kitchen. The mums are a a hardy flower and can handle the much cooler nights. All of the annuals will freeze in these temps so they will be removed as we go to each property from now on. the perennials will be cut back almost to the ground, as their energy has gone back into the root ( bulbs) for the winter.

Bluestone Stepping Stone Path

Today, I went with Guillerme, to a property in Wellesley to do a quick trim job. The owner did not want us spending a lot of time there, so along with Rob, we did what we could do in 2 hours.

Next Guilleme and I went over to a property in Wellesley and removed a dogwood tree, that was planted in the spring but had the leaves on the bottom half of the tree wilt and turn brown. This was due to a lack of water, as we dug out the tree roots, the loam was like talcum powder, very, very dry. When the upper part of the tree was cut, we could see that the branches still had life in them. After removing the tree we planted the new dogwood in the same location.

Next we had to go to the side of the house and install (20) 18 inch by 24 inch Blue Stone paver's to create a pathway from the front yard to the back. When we had finished I went and dumped all of the trimmings from the first job and the old dogwood at the re-cycling facility in Framingham and returned with 2 yards of loam to fill in the low spots around the Blue Stone. I had to then go back to the shop and get 1 1/2 yards of matching pine bark mulch to finish up the job. You can see the birthday boy, Guillerme washing down the stones, in the picture above.

Solo - Odds and Ends Work

It is the beginning of the month so it is time for me to do some "odds and ends" solo work. These are all relatively small projects that customers call and request help with. The first job I did, was to go over to a property in Framingham and re-trim the bushes because the customer wanted more of his bushes trimmed away that had been done earlier.

Next, I went to a property in Holliston to weed the beds, weed whack the front walk and back patio. I then had to spray "round up" on the patio and walkway to hopefully take care of the weeds for this year. the customer is also hoping that it is the last time we have to come over and weed his beds. We are getting close to the end of the season, in fact it looks like we are going to have an early fall. The leaves on the trees are already turning yellowish and appear to be life less.

Next, I went to a property in Sherborn to finish trimming one bush along the side of the house. We had encountered a very large hornets nest and Guillerme got stung, when we were there working on the property earlier in the season. Even after we had sprayed the nest and physically removed it, the very unhappy returning bees were not happy to find there home gone.

I ended up both Tuesday and Wednesday at a property in Wellesley, to finish up what had been requested by the owner earlier in the season. He also requested that I come over after 10 AM so as not to disturb the guys playing tennis on the courts in the back yard. The 2 pictures above, are of the gardens at the back of the house and around the indoor pool. the courts are behind the gardens.

I had to "tip back" the white pines that grow in a row, along the tennis court fence, on one side, and then remove the top spire that had some evidence of the "Pine borer" in it. I then
"up-limbed" the trees that are growing along the fence, in back of the courts. The tree branches are growing over the courts and needed to be cut back.

As I was working the owner came home and added some more work to my project list so I will not finish today and will have to return next week. More weed whacking, hand weeding and spraying Round up in those areas. Oh well back next week with some of the guys for some help.

Large Trin job in Wellesley

Today I was with Guillerme and Fabio, at a large property in Wellesley to trim up the bushes, weed every where and a few odd projects here and there. We are under pressure though to be finished up by the end of the day tomorrow. The owner is expecting some VIP's as he says, his children and grandchildren are coming for a visit. This is the same property that had the mother turkey in the springtime that I wrote a post about.

Monday we will have the front yard finished, even though this is one of the few days we are having this summer that is in the 90's and very, very humid. After we went around and weeded all of the beds both Guillerme and Fabio got the power shears and sheared up all of the bushes. This is one of the few properties around that still has a lot of yews to trim. Newer landscapes have moved away from that style of bush. We went till 5 pm and then it was time to go back to the shop, it was a hot day for the guys.

Tuesday was another hot and humid day. We were off to the back yard and the owner pointed out a mother robin that had made a nest in a bush, and told us to skip it for now. Later in the day I was trimming a tall weeping cherry and kept seeing a cardinal flying by and then I began to hear the cardinal chirping and I looked up and saw the nest. Another tree that will not be completed until after the babies have left the nest. We still have about 3/4 of a day's work to do here but it will have to be after the VIPs leave.

Rain again.....

Today the forecast is for rain, so I am going solo, to finish up the route and just put down fertilizer and not spray anything due to the weather. Guillerme is going off with the other guys to help get a lawn sodded before the rain arrives. I only had 3 houses to finish and the one I went to in Holliston, had these very interesting wild flowers, so I stopped to take a picture of the field, in front of the property, I was working on and a close up of these beautiful, wild flowers. Don't know what they are, but they caught my attention.

When I was done, it was raining so I went to Wellesley to look for Rob. When I found him he wanted me to go back to the shop and get the lareger trailor, and go to Framingham and pick up one of the mowers that was "supposed" to be repaired and bring it to another repair guy to get it worked on. Well this turned into a long afternoon. The first mechanic for some reason waas very reluctant to let me have it ( it took me over 1 1/2 hours to get out of there). I did not mention it was going to another repair place. It was then another 45 minutes to get to hte new place and another hour to get bcak to the shop. What an afternoon of driving around in the rain.

Dumping the PERMAGREEN spreader......ouch

Today, Guillerme and I continued on with the fertilization route, which is taking a long time to complete due to bad weather and also because Rob, keeps giving us side projects to work on.

I had to call Rob, who was working with another crew in Wellesley to ask about this one property he had left off of the fertilizing list. When I got ahold of him he told me that he was at a house, where the lady who owned the property came out and told him her daughter had the Swine Flu and was being quarintined in the house. Rob, laughed because the lady was trying to be nice and brought out some drinks for the guys, but they would not go near them. hopefully no one contacted anything form that job.

We were going along smoothly when we came to the property picture here and as you can see on the left side there is a steep hill. Before Guillerme, started I walked him over to the hill and explained how to use the machine on it. But as we all know, young guys just don't listen. So, as I was watching him, with the spreader, all of a sudden he flipped it over and over, spilling all of the fertilizer onto the lawn. I walked over to check on Guillerme, a bit shaken to say the least, and to get the machine up righted. I then had him clean up all of the fertilizer and use a back pack blower to blow off the area before it killed the lawn. I started up the machine and smoke just billowed out of it, for about 10 minutes but everything else seemed to be working, so I completed the job.

We went to the next property a condo complex in Millis and when I went to use the machine it was hard to start and the engine would conk out after a few minutes. So I had to call the guy who does the maintenance on it and he walked me through how to repair it. That save Rob, quite a bit of money. What a day......

Bushes and Annuals in Wellesley

We went to Wellesley today, to work on an yearly job of planting many flats, of annual flowers and this year a new weeping red Japanese maple, as can be seen in the upper left picture. This property owner is very particular about the arrangement of the flowers, their color and variety. She goes to the nursery and pics them out and has them delivered. When we arrived I did not notice them, so I went and knocked on the door to see what was going on. The owner came out and said that all of the flowers were in the garage because of the frost warning the night before.

Wow, when she opened the garage door the entire floor area of one parking space was completely loaded with an assortment of very, very healthy flowers. Red, white and pink geraniums, white, purple and 2 shades of pink Impatient's and many, many others.

I had 3 workers with me today, because of the amount of work that had to be done, in one day. First, they weeded out the beds, then they planted the Japanese Weeper, as Rob and I went around placing the flowers, in the exact locations, the property owner wanted them. We did not finish planting the flowers until around 1:30PM. Then it was time for the guys, to mulch the entire property. I had to make a trip back to our shop in Holliston, to get another load of mulch, we ended up finishing up around 6PM, but we got it done. The owner called Rob, to thank him for the great deal of work we did and how wonderful her property looked. And that's what it is all about, making the customer happy. I will post another picture once the flowers have grown a bit more and are happy in their new home.

Loam and seeding

Rich and I are at a condo complex in Medfield, Massachusetts today. We have to repair a damaged lawn area in front of 2 of the units because they are selling the condo's and want to have the front look better.

Rich had to make 2 trips over to Lovell's nursery in Medfield for the loam. We used 3 yards and our truck will only hold 2 at a time.

After we finished, we were off to Wellesley to Babson College, to put down some loam in areas that had been washed away by rain. These were in areas where there were going to be a lot of traffic later in the week at the graduation ceremonies.

Large Mulching Job

Ceillo, Fabio, Rich and I went to a property located in Wellesley Hills, to mulch today. We are using a dark brown, pine mulch.

While, the guys started the mulching, I had a few things to work on before they mulched certain beds.

First, I had to trim back some roses, in the rose garden out back. It was not done, during the spring cleanup, as Rob, wanted to talk to the nursery, where he purchased them, to make sure we trimmed them correctly.

Next, I had to go to the perennial rock garden and do some weeding before I sprayed "Round up" to kill off the small emerging weeds. This area was problematic last year and we wanted to get a good start this year at controlling them. It is to the left, of the beautiful weeping cherry, that you see in the picture on the left.

Clean up of the, Babson College, Presidents Residence

Today I went with 3 other guys to do a spring cleanup at the home of the President of Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. This is a very nice, older property, with a great landscape.

This is a large property with a lot of mulched beds that have to be raked out, the flowers cut back, and the beds edged, before we can mulch. We have to also make sure that we use backpacks and clean off the lawn area. We have to do an excellent job here, as Babson has many catered events at this home. So we always have to do our best work here.

This will take all four of us, working until 5:30 pm today to clean it up, and there will be another crew, spending another day, just mulching the property. Good thing I have my daily, afternoon CRAVE energy drink for this one.