A great article from our friends at NALP, National Association of Landscape Professionals. Love your landscape! Want to protect your family from ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, and more? Contact us today to protect your property! We have a range of sprays including organic options to protect you and your family. Our newest team member, Chris Tanner, is an expert on caring for your plants. He will make sure everything is pruned properly and at the appropriate time. Concerned about oak wilt? Speak to our arborists about your trees.

Records indicate that this summer and, in fact, this year is looking to be the hottest on record.  This extreme heat coupled with very little rainfall has placed our trees, shrubs and lawns, under considerable stress. Irrigation systems, which we tend to over rely on, are not designed to replace Mother Nature, but to supplement her.  Have you ever noticed how much greener and lusher the garden appears after a rainfall?A lush expanse of lawn thrives after recent renovations and some TLC.

To help counter this stressful condition and give our lawn and gardens a helping hand, Goldberg and Rodler has several ala carte services to offer you. These methods have been proven to be very effective in improving the health and beauty of your landscape. The cooler temperature of fall and our special services are a perfect combination.

Right now your lawn will benefit from core aeration and over-seeding. Core aeration is the systematic removal of small plugs of lawn, including thatch and some soil, which are tossed out of the ground by a machine called a core aerator. The small plugs sit on the top of the lawn, distributing the soil and other elements to help promote the growth of the new seedlings which are then over seeded onto the lawn. The cores also bring valuable air circulation to the lawn’s root system.Core aeration follows behind fertilization to reinvigorate existing lawn

You have now relieved the soil of harmful compaction and made an excellent medium for your new grass seeds. The grass seed will be evenly spread over the entire lawn area to make an even, new addition of young, healthy grass.  You have now helped the lawn become healthy, more resistant to drought and also better protected from insects, pests and diseases.

Another option to strengthen your living landscape investment and irreplaceable specimen shade trees are precise soil injections of the proper nutrients delivered by deep root injection and soil drenching.

Providing the proper nutrients into soil is our specialty. We do this when the weather is cooling down in the fall. These treatments will also provide the proper nutrients where they are needed most at the root system and reduce the stress that this past summer has caused.

G&R certified professionals spray anti-desiccant to protect Hollies, Rhododendron and LaurelsLast of all, adding winter protection with an application of Vapor Guard, an anti-dessicant,  on your broadleaf evergreens will help protect your rhododendron, azalea, hollies and laurels by coating the leaves with a beneficial clear wax like substance. This slows down transpiration and therefore helps the plant retain moisture through the drying winds of the winter months.

After a hot, dry season like this one, now is the time to protect, preserve and invest in the future health of your landscape. Call today to arrange a complimentary consultation and reserve a spot for these services in our upcoming calendar.

Written by Gary S. Carbocci

Here on Long Island, our precious coastline is a big part of our pride and recreation, weather it’s the scenic beauty of the North Shore bluffs or the pristine sand coast of the South Shore beaches and bays. We’ve got it all. However, our shores are constantly under attack with Nor’easters, hurricanes, tidal surges or even bad wind storms. During these storms, immense power rips away at the bluffs, sand dunes and beaches, compromising our land and homes.

Beach restoration has been a hot topic for many of our communities close to the water. I will address two properties, one on the North Fork and one on a South Shore Bay. Both had been battered with hurricane Sandy, with pre and post Nor’easters.

NORTH SHORE BLUFF:

This property sits high on a bluff which has previously suffered from numerous storms and erosion. Past attempts were made to stabilize the bluff without success. For this property the DEC approved a boulder embankment to stabilize the bottom of the bluff but the slope was still eroding from the top down. We were brought in to stabilize the slope with a network of jute netting and native vegetation, consisting of American Beach Grass, Rugosa Rose, Beach Plum and Bayberry to reflect the existing plants on the adjoining embankment. Within one year the roots took hold, the natural indigenous habitat was restored and the slope is on its way to a full recovery. This has held up well in the past two Nor’easters with no erosion or slippage of the slope.

SOUTH SHORE BAY:

On this property we have a different scenario with the lower elevation and less slope to the shoreline. This south shore property was hit hard with tidal surges from past storms. A previous homeowner had cleared and planted a lawn along the shoreline which did not hold up well in the aftermath of these storms. To restore this eroded area we added a sand and soil mix with jute matting and some boulders to strengthen the area. The DEC does not permit a retaining wall of any sort so we had to slope the area gently and re vegetate. We added American Beach Grass, Bayberry and White Potentilla which fare well with this deer inundated area. The existing vegetation on either side of the eroded area was kept in a natural vegetated state with native grasses and shrubs which absorbed the tidal surges from Hurricane Sandy. Very little erosion was present in the adjacent area that was left natural while the cleared area with lawn was carved away by the storms. This made for a good case study on the effects of removing native vegetation and over development of a shoreline. Two years later the shoreline is stable and the plantings have spread their root system throughout the sandy mix to strengthen the shoreline and blend seamlessly with the adjoining natural habitat.

South Bay Beach before and after restoration.

With a professional plan to restore Mother Nature we can revive and care for our waterfronts so we can retain the soil, sand, and vegetation. This protects our parks, beaches, property values and the overall beauty of this magnificent island we call home.

If you want advice or guidance on restoring your waterfront property please contact Goldberg and Rodler and we will connect you with one of our designers to schedule a consultation.

Written by Rick Schneider