Techniques

Peterson Landscape Services can spruce up your home and gardens by renovating existing structures , installing irrigation systems, building retaining walls to show off those special plantings and incorporate drainage devices to relieve pressure on structures like retaining walls.
Lighting can enhance and extend the number of hours you can enjoy your outdoor living area and improving your soil , lawns and shaping your outdoor area with gentle grading are all techniques Peterson Landscape Services provide.

Renovations

You'll be surprised how some pruning, reorganizing, and simple additions will improve your home atmosphere or business identity. Peterson Landscape Services will take advantage of the features you have in place already, adding our special touch that transforms your grounds into a clean, well-defined set of gardens, lawns, and traffic areas.

And if you want, we can transform it into a work of art--facilitating your dream come true!

Major and minor renovation services include

• Designing
• Pruning
• Lawn improvement
• Patios, decks, and walkway
• New planting
• Whatever your heart desires

Let Peterson Landscape Services help you update your yard.
Call us today at 753-0724 to schedule an appointment.

Irrigation Systems

Peterson Landscape installs top quality irrigation systems for new and existing landscapes. When used properly an irrigation system will save money on your water bill over other sprinkling methods.

Peterson Landscape has selected a series of materials built for ease of use and long life. We feel these are the best materials available at reasonable prices. Here is a list of the typical components of our select systems:

The part you never see...

A typical irrigation system connection to a house water service including: winter shut-off valve, double-check valve, electric valves to direct water to sprinkler heads, filter and pressure regulator for drip irrigation. Plastic vaults cover all valves before soil cover/backfill.

• Master control valve (for winter shut down).
• Manual drain for valves, automatic drains in sprinklers lines.
• Wilkens Doublecheck valve (prevents the mixing of drinking water and irrigation water; placed in locking plastic valve box in the ground).
• Rainbird electric valves (placed in locking plastic valve box in the ground).
• Rainbird Series 1800 Pop-up Sprinklers (for 15' radius and under)
• Hunter PGM or PGP Pop-up Sprinklers (radius greater than 15')
• All sprinklers are mounted on flexible risers to protect them from damage.
• Rainbird ESP Program Controller. This controller has the best features for ease of use. The Hunter ICC controller is a great alternative for larger, more complex landscapes. Usually this device is installed in the garage, and plugged into an outlet. Outdoor installations are also available.
• Mini-click rain sensor for automatic rain weather shut-off.
• Permit, testing, and inspection.

These systems incorporate adjustable sprinklers and water saving rain sensors that allow proper watering and minimize waste.

Retaining Walls

R etaining walls help tame sloping landscapes, making them useful and accessible. And properly designed and built, retaining walls can be an attractive addition to your landscape.

A variety of materials are available for landscaping

• Concrete block
• Treated lumber
• Stone
• Other new materials

At Peterson Landscape Services we build a lot of concrete block walls. The blocks come in many colors, shapes and sizes, and conform to a large variety of applications. Whatever your need, we can find an appropriate solution.

Drainage

I n the Willamette Valley, proper drainage is critical. Drainage systems promote healthy soil and relieve pressure on structures like retaining walls.

Drainage system planning should be considered when making home, office, and landscape improvements. Peterson Landscape is adept at incorporating drainage devices that work while being hidden from sight.

Lighting

An often overlooked benefit of landscape improvements is lighting. Peterson Landscape understands proper lighting can bring your landscape to life during the night, extending the number of hours you can enjoy the outdoors. And, by lighting up your favorite features or patio, you can leave your curtains open and enjoy your garden during the long winter evenings.

Safety is another primary concern when adding night time lighting. In addition to lighting walkways and stairs, well-lit homes are less attractive to unwelcome visitors.

Soil Improvement and Grading

G ood soil helps insure healthy, thriving plants. No other improvement to your landscape is more crucial to its success. If you want to reduce yard maintenance (and most people tell us that they do) good soil is the key. Plants thrive in good soil, helping to out-compete weeds--and good soil even makes weeds easier to pull out.

The majority of soils in our area have high clay content. Some plants tolerate this condition, but most prefer a lighter soil with pore spaces created by the addition of compost or other soil amendment. For these clay soils we typically rototill a few inches of amendments into the soil before grading. Lawns and other shallow rooted plants benefit from this practice.

Rhododendrons, azaleas and other plants require additional soil improvement. Planting beds which are built up into mounds with as much as 12 inches of rich, fast draining soil will help them last longer and sustain through hard winters. And, the mounded beds can become a design element in the landscape.

Grading is the shaping of soil

Surface drainage, a critical feature of any successful landscape, is created through proper grading. Also, the three dimensional design of the ground can be a useful design tool, particularly when working with sloping landscapes.

Lawn installation is largely a matter of soil preparation.

"If you have a dollar for gardening, spend 90 cents on soil, and 10 cents on seeds". This saying is very true for lawns. Peterson Landscape can prepare your soil to accept the type of lawns that grow well in the Northwest.

Once the soil is in shape, we recommend hydro-seeding as a planting method. Hydro-seed is a mixture of seed, fertilizer, fiber (mulch), a sticking agent, blue-green dye, and water, which is sprayed onto prepared soil. It has the advantages of being economical and very successful.

By contrast, sod installations (rolling out turf like a carpet), which are sometimes appropriate for small lawns, cost about four times more than hydro-seeding.

Call Peterson Landscape Services at 753-0724 for answers to questions regarding your plants and lawn.