Advanced Irrigation Blog Posts

Back to School Already?!

Can you believe that summer is nearly over and school starts up again in less than two weeks? Soon enough, the warm summer air will make way for cooler fall temperatures. The leaves will start to fall and everyone will be thinking about Halloween, bonfires and hot apple cider. Now is a great time to start thinking about irrigation systems in Eden Prairie and what you will have to do to winterize your system and your yard.

Fall Blow Outs

Now is a great time to call Advanced Irrigation to schedule fall blow outs for irrigation systems. This is basically a way to make sure your irrigation system and its components don’t freeze and break when the outdoor temperatures start to plummet. We will come to your home and do tasks like draining the water out of your system and draining the pipes, among other things.

Tidy Up

It’s also a good idea to take a few hours to tidy up your yard. Remove any debris that has gathered in your yard or flower beds. Fluff your mulch with a rake so water can penetrate the soil easier. You could also start to plant your fall flowers within the next few weeks. Mums, pansies and asters are all excellent choices for the upcoming cooler weather. Or if you’re more into vegetables, fall veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and cabbage are all great choices and can make for some tasty treats after you’ve harvested them.

Repair Any Damage

The hot summer months can be brutal on your yard. Take the time to repair any damage from the sun’s heat and reseed your yard. Also, take it easy with pruning any bushes or trees. The whole point of pruning is to promote new growth, and you don’t want to do that when the air temperatures are beginning to drop. While there are some exceptions to this rule, in general it’s good to give those pruning shears some time off.

For more information on irrigation systems in Eden Prairie, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us for a Free Estimate.

How to Hire a Lawn Care Professional

The warm months are one of the most popular times of year for people to hire lawn care professionals. But when you are looking for lawn care for your Minnetonka home, you might not be sure where to start. Here are a few suggestions on where to begin and what to look for.

Be Clear about What You Want

When you’re in the process of looking at lawn care professionals, it’s a good idea to know what you want. For example, do you want someone to come out and maintain your sprinkler system once a month? Or do you want service more frequently than that? Do you need someone to come out regularly to pull weeds? Once you have a clearer idea of what you want in mind, it’ll be easier to find the best lawn care professional for your needs.

Get an Estimate

The next thing to do is start calling lawn care companies and meeting with them. They should come to your home, look at your lawn and landscaping and then give you a written estimate based on what they see. Get as many estimates as you can so you can compare prices and services.

Understand Their Services and Pricing

After you get the written estimates, make sure you fully understand what lawn care services they are offering and what you get for the price you pay. You also want to make sure you know what guarantees you get with their services. You should also see what kind of services they offer during the colder months. You might get a better price if you sign up for a year-long contract, plus the professionals can make sure your yard and landscaping are properly maintained even during the winter months.

For more information on lawn care in Minnetonka, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us for a Free Estimate.

Summer Lawn Care Tips

It’s the hottest time of the year, and if it’s too dry or too wet outside, your lawn and landscaping can suffer. We can install an irrigation system for your Minnetonka yard to help keep your grass and other plants thriving, even in the warm weather. But in the meantime, here are a few tips to keep your grass looking great!

Make sure your yard is getting enough water. Having an irrigation system installed is a great way to ensure your yard is getting all the water it needs to grow. Plus, these systems come with a rain sensor, so it will automatically turn off or adjust the amount of water according to how much rain has fallen. An irrigation system is also a great way to help conserve water, and it also helps make sure every part of your yard and landscaping is getting an even amount of water.

Mowing is key as well. This is usually a very simple chore, but it is incredibly important to help maintain your lawn’s health when it’s hot outside. The height of your grass depends on the type you have growing. Grasses like Bermuda Grass should be cut at 1 ½ to 2 inches. Grasses like St. Augustine Grass should be cut higher – at about 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches. Also, mowing when the grass needs it, instead of adhering to a strict mowing schedule, is your best bet to help maintain the health of your grass.

Weeding is a necessary evil. No one likes to spend hours outside in the sun pulling weeds, but this is essential to maintaining the health of your yard and landscaping. Simply taking an hour or two of your time every week can help keep your yard looking great.

For more information on having an irrigation system installed in your Minnetonka yard, call Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us for a Free Estimate.

Common Errors of Lawn Sprinkler Systems

Lawn sprinkler systems can be pretty confusing. They are usually made up of several different components, and all of these pieces have to work in harmony in order for the system to be the most effective and efficient. We are a Minneapolis lawn sprinkler systems company, and we are well-versed in irrigation systems and more. Here are a few common errors people make when they have lawn sprinkler systems that weren’t set up by professionals like us.

First of all, your shrubs and any planter beds you have should be watered and irrigated separately from the grassy areas of your lawn. This is because shrubs and planter beds will generally have larger and more spread out root systems than your grass. So you want to be sure that your shrubs, plants and grass are all being watered equally. Putting them on separate systems will ensure all parts of your landscaping are getting plenty of water.

You should also be sure that your lawn sprinkler systems are using the proper spray nozzle patterns for the area of your yard you are watering. When you hire professionals like us, we will know exactly what kind of spray nozzles to use for your yard. Plus, we will be sure to set the pattern properly to ensure adequate watering for your yard.

Lawn sprinkler systems should also be equipped with a rain shut-off valve. This is an inexpensive device that will keep lawn sprinkler systems from turning on when it’s raining or storming out. You can save anywhere from 3 to 15 percent on your annual lawn sprinkler system operating cost. (And in some parts of the country, these devices have to be installed on any new lawn sprinkler systems by law. Otherwise, you could face a pretty big monetary penalty!)

For more information on Minneapolis lawn sprinkler systems, called Advanced Irrigation at 612-599-8675 or contact us for a Free Estimate.

Special Announcement! Advanced Irrigation has a New Website!

In case you haven’t noticed already, Advanced Irrigation has a new website! We are pleased with our new and more user-friendly website, and we hope you find the site to be even better and more informative than our old one.

Our new website offers more information on all of our services: service and installation of irrigation systems, hardscape and softscape landscaping and residential and commercial lawn fertilizing. We feel our new website better represents our business and what we are capable of doing when it comes to our lawn care services.

The new website also has better pictures of our work that, again, show off what we can do and how we can help our residential and commercial customers. The site is also better organized, so it is easier to find the information you are looking for with fewer mouse clicks and effort on your part! But don’t worry – you can still get a free estimate and it is still as easy as ever to find our contact information.

We still have our testimonials up, and we now have a link on the website where you can leave us feedback on your experience with our company. A small but fun detail is Albertville’s current weather forecast, which you can find on the upper right-hand side of the new website.

We designed this site with you in mind! The functionality is more user-friendly. We hope you find all the information you’re looking for and more. Let us know what you think by leaving us a Facebook comment or Tweeting us on Twitter.

And when you need landscaping, irrigation systems, lawn care or fertilizer in Albertville or the surrounding areas, give us here at Advanced Irrigation a call at 612-599-8675 or Contact Us.