In Loveland, Ohio, a homeowner had just moved to the area and built a new home on a 4-acre property where there was once a dilapidated house. Thanks to Oasis Turf & Tree’s strong presence in the area, she contacted the Loveland, Ohio-based business with the goal of creating a lawn and landscape that would rival high-end suburban neighborhoods.
“As soon as she built the house, she contacted us before there was really even a lawn established,” says Adam Zellner, vice president of sales for Oasis Turf & Tree. “So, we’ve been working with her for almost eight years now.”
The company’s lawn care work earned them a Gold Award in the 2021 Awards of Excellence.
“It’s incredible,” Zellner says. “We were fortunate enough that the awards were held in Louisville, so we actually packed the gigantic cardboard award into the car. We have it here in the office. It was neat that we got to share that with everybody. When we’re bringing in new team members for the season, for them to see something like that and just see that we had that big of an impact on a customer and we were recognized for it, it just makes everybody feel like they’re a part of something bigger.”
Zellner says they also ordered a plaque of the award and presented it to the client.
“It’s a partnership between us and the customer because we are there only every five to seven weeks,” Zellner says. “A lot went into it from her part as far as proper mowing and following recommendations for water and taking the recommendations of aerating and overseeding every season.”
Oasis Turf & Tree started the project in 2012 and Zellner says it took the better part of three years to get the property to where it had quality turf. Since then, he says the upkeep has been pretty easy.
Starting out, there was an abundance of different types of turf and weeds on the property. Soil quality was also poor on the site.
“There was grass in the yard, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a lawn,” Zellner says. “Down around the pond area, there were cattails it was just a very overgrown and unkempt property.”
The client wanted to create a showcase yard so Oasis Turf & Tree opted for natural cultural practices like aeration, overseeding and amending the soil with bio-nutrition to promote a healthier soil since the best way to a weed-free lawn is a thick, healthy turf.
Zellner says they had to set proper expectations since it was a process to get the lawn to where it needed to be. In the beginning, they would schedule service calls proactively and visit every three weeks after an application to touch any spots with troublesome weeds like wild violets or ground ivy. He says they typically visited every five to seven weeks through the growing season.
The property has a cascading hill and a pond in the center of the front yard. This was an additional challenge to keep the pond safe while reconditioning the property. To prevent overspray that would cause algae blooms in the pond these areas were hand treated.
“We keep a distance of three to five feet depending on the angle when we make the perimeter pass,” Zellner says. “When it comes to weeds and things like that in those areas, we’ll spot treat and just make sure we’re doing the best job we can as far as weeds go.”
Now, even in the peak of summer, the lawn thrives and Oasis Turf & Tree handles everything from the lawn fertilization, aeration, overseeding, and treatment of the trees and shrubs on the property.
Interested in participating in the Awards of Excellence? Be sure to enter your projects by July 11, 2022.
