Our Services

Dirt and Stone Landscaping is dedicated to providing high-quality services that meet your lawn and landscaping needs. With our team of experienced professionals, we pride ourselves on providing custom designs and sustainable solutions to ensure your satisfaction with every project.

Lawn Aeration

We typically use core (plug) style of aerators. Lawn Aeration improves the health of the turf by allowing air, water, and nutrients to get below the ground surface and get into the root zone. Reduces soil compaction if you have hard soil types or after having heavy equipment going over your lawn and the loosened soil absorbs more water and reduces irrigation usage. Can be done in the spring or fall, single pass or multiple passes going in different directions depending what is requested or needed.

Lawn De-Thatching

We offer light dethatching and heavy dethatching.

Light Dethatching- we use a tine rake to perform this service for maintaining a health layer of thatch in the lawn, this is included in most of our spring/fall cleanups. Or when the lawn has a weak root system either being a new lawn that hasn’t been planted more than two years or a lawn being treated for disease and/or fungus and removing thatch for fertilizer or spray can be applied to correct the problem without removing the majority of the turf.

Heavy Dethatching- we use a power rake with flail blades and is aggressive for dense thick turf that has a good root system that can’t be easily pulled out by the machine. Or when most of the lawn is covered with weeds, the power rake can remove not just the foliage of the weed but dig into the top layer of soil removing the roots of the weeds leaving, while leaving rooted turf patches behind. This style of Lawn Dethatching also helps smooth out any lumps or bumps in your yard as well, reseeding is needed after.

Lawn Topdressing

Similar to farmers spreading manure on their field for nutrient, we spread screened leaf compost over your lawn, to add nutrients to your soil organically and perfect to cover grass seed with for great seed to soil contact. Topdressing is spreading a layer of compost over the lawn, which slowly works into the soil, which adds organic nutrients to improve soil health in turn helps grow a better lawn. Typically lawn aeration and lawn dethatching should be done before topdressing so the compost can fill the aeration holes and not cover thatch and other debris. Can also spread grass seed before topdressing to have good soil to seed contact. Topdressing with sand is another option to help slow draining hard clay soils and help level a bumpy lawn.

Lawn Seeding / Overseeding

Whether it’s helping to thicken a thin lawn or fill in bare patches. Or helping to keep a good lawn stay thick, health and green we offer different steps to overseeding. Thin lawns- with bare spots are thatched then followed by an aerator making multiple passes, creating numerous core holes and softening the turf area allowing more places for grass seed to fall into for better seed to soil contact. Bare patches have seed spread then raked into the soil then more seed is spread over the area and covered with straw. Good lawns- receive thatching and multiple passes with an aerator, then we spread grass seed and then go over the lawn with a drag attachment to help the grass seed drop through the blades of grass and down into the soil for seed to soil contact. We also do slice or slit seeding where the seeds are spread with a machine that creates grooves in the soil and drop the seed into the top layer of soil for good seed to soil contact. Grass seed is determined by soil type and the amount of sunlight the yard gets during the day for best results, or customer preference.

Spring / Fall Cleanups

During a spring/fall cleanup any sticks that fell down during the winter. Blowing out garden beds of leaves to be picked up with a vacuum. We primarily use a lawnmower with a vacuum debris system to pickup leaves any other debris on top of the lawn. A tine dethatching rake is then dragged over the lawn pulling up any grass that is still laying down freeing any debris covering the lawn, remove any thatch, and scratching the soil surface to prepare for water and nutrient. All debris is picked up and either piled on the property, piled on the curb for town pickup or dispose of at a yard waste disposal facility. Any of the other services we provide can be added to a cleanup i.e. (shrub trimming, bed maintenance, mulching, bed edging, aeration, thatching).

Lawn Mowing

We offer weekly and bi-weekly lawn mowing, during the season some lawns require weekly mowing in the spring and fall, then during the summer switch to a bi-weekly schedule and this can be requested. During each mowing visit the lawn is mowed, the lawn edges trimmed and driveways, walkways, and patios get debris blown off at the end of the visit. During most of the season we mulch the grass clippings, in the fall will bag the clippings and leaves, but you can request to have the clippings bagged at each visit.

Hedge/Shrub Trimming

When we trim hedges and shrubs we trim to have thick dense foliage by trimming back to new growth to last years growth just before bare stems. This makes the plant sprout new stems close to the old stems creating the thick dense foliage for a health looking plant, keeps it from growing too big too fast and the branch structure can grow stronger. Which prevents broken branches that create the holes in the foliage shape, that occur from high winds, snow and ice.

Smaller hedges and shrubs are trimmed lightly to maintain a manicured look while they grow to the desired size. Trimming into shapes for style and /or function is an option as well, if needed for vehicle or walking clearance without sacrificing the plants health or place in the landscape.

**Hedges and shrubs over ten (10) feet tall can be trimmed but require more time and equipment to handle the size.**

Stump Grinding

Grinding stumps from trees or shrubs down below ground, for easier digging to put in new plants or grow grass. We can grind any surface roots from the stumps upon request. We normally grind to three (3) inches below ground, but you can request to have the stumps ground deeper. We can haul away the grindings or leave them to fill in the hole where the stump use to be. Grinding of stumps makes for clean curb appeal but also isn’t a tripping hazard, or an object to go around or hit while lawn mowing, but also keeps from attracting pests that like decaying wood.

Brush Mowing

Mowing tall grassy meadows, cutting down wildflower meadows at the end of the season, small saplings and vines once a year or as needed. Using machines that reduce the vegetation to small chips and clippings to be either left to bio-degrade as mulch or removed to bare soil for planting. Mowing areas once a year like meadows and wildflower areas. Thinning wooded undergrowth for a cleaner wooded area for better mature tree growth without bushes and vines invading the tree roots and growing into the trees and promoting young new tree growth among mature trees. Clearing land or building lots of overgrowth to maintain property lines or open for building after the area is cleared.

Pruning

Pruning and Crown Reduction can be done to most shrubs and ornamental trees to promote plant health, branch structure, and size. As the shrubs and ornamental trees grow they can have branches that have weak connections to the larger branches and trunks that as they grow are more prone to breaking make the plant's structure weak, branches that grow the wrong way and rub other branches making a wound for pests, disease, and rot to effect the plants health, Managing the size of the shrub or ornamental tree keeps your landscape looking balanced and manicured and not having to remove the overgrown plant, this also allows the trunk and branch structure to be stronger and avoid breakage of branches. We have trimmed trees to create a covered walkway through gardens. Pruned large shrubs to create a shady spot to have a bench to rest on during a hot summer day. Pruned a weeping cherry tree that reached over walkways and installed landscaping lighting illuminating the walkways underneath, looking like a large lamp from a distance.

Mulching

Bark mulch helps prevent weeds growing in the garden beds. Adds nutrients to the soil as it biodegrades. Holds moisture from rain and irrigation to be absorbed into the soil and the roots or plants. Helps regulate soil temperatures from getting hot in the summer and warmer in the spring and fall. On top of these benefits the different colors and textures can complete your garden and enhance the look of your landscape. Typical mulch layer thickness is two (2) inches, You can request to have a thinner layer, if your just freshening up the mulch you already have, or a thicker layer in a situation where its a new garden bed and want to create a good starting mulch layer, or planting late in the fall and want to be sure the new plants have protection from frost.

Garden Design / Renovation

Small changes or additions to your current landscape design, completely redoing your front yard, backyard or whole yard. We can create a design that fits your vision, yard space and home architecture and provide you with space to rest and unwind from the day. Using Sustainable native plants and shrubs with different foliage, textures and colors giving year around seasonal beauty that require minimal maintenance but maximum enjoyment.

We can move and split plants you currently have to different parts of your yard for a fresh look. Create seating areas to make an outdoor room. Water features that create sound for added tranquility. Landscaping lighting to highlight focal points with different colors and angles, plus adding safety when walking at night. Fire pits for the cooler evenings in the early spring or fall.

Paver Resetting

Resetting Paver walkways or patios that settled, heaved or shifted. Leaving areas that pool after its rains, trip hazards, and now look ugly with wide joint gaps with lose pavers. We can relevel the pavers that have settled an heaved, after checking the base material to ensure the issue doesn't happen again, compact the base and reset the pavers to match the height of surrounding pavers. Pavers that have shifted creating wide joints, are set after checking the edge restraints for the cause of shifting. In most cases the old edge restraint is removed along with base material, lay down fabric, bring in new base material to build up the or widened the edge area then compact base material, reset pavers then install new edging restraints. Small walls may be needed if the edge of a walkway or patio ends next to a steep pitch. Pavers that have broken, the surface has spald or discolored can be replaced. Paver joints filled with weeds, can have the sand removed and refill the joints with a poly sand. If your looking to just freshen up a walkway or patio, we can wash the pavers to remove dirt and revive the original colors of the pavers with paver manufacturer approved cleaners and sealers. Add a border to the edge or inlay new pavers in a pattern to accent a seating area or enhance a walkway by inlaying a stepping stone pattern for a fresh look. Solar powered pavers that light up at night.

Land Grading / Leveling

Have a yard with lumps, humps and bumps when your walking through or when mowing you trip, stumble, roll an ankle or your mower shakes you around like your riding a bull? Maybe during snow melting or heavy rains water pools or flows where you don’t want it to and have soft muddy spots that you have to avoid or walk around. Or you want to backfill after a recent building project. We can level or grade the ground for a smooth surface and surface drainage. Using soil on your property, removing from high areas to fill in low areas if available, or bring in soil as needed. For leveling lawns and smaller projects a compost/sand mix is used for its good drainage capabilities, nutrients, and ability to easily spread into low spots blending in smoothly with the surrounding soil and grade. Larger projects involve removing topsoil down to the subsoil from the area that needs to be filled in and using clean fill soil added on top of the subsoil and then spreading the topsoil back over the area. This prevents having a layer of topsoil that can hold water underground and cause drainage issues later on.

Gravel driveway or parking area need to be smoothed, crowned or potholes filled in? We can help.