Dear Valued Client:

Hopeful all of you had a great Thanksgiving weekend. As most of you have been aware of the last few days now, we are expecting a winter snow storm for this evening Nov 25^thgoing into tomorrow morning Nov 26^thwith accumulations of over 2” of snow expected. We are notifying you of this because your contract for our snow removal services start on Dec 1, 2018. We are prepared and ready to plow all of our properties. If you would like this service completed there would be an additional charge on top of the monthly billing. This would be charged on a time and material basis per your contract prices. If you do not want to be serviced please let us know asap so that we can plan our routes. We appreciate your understanding with this early season snow storm. Any questions please feel free to contact us.

Thank You

Nogas Landscaping

Dave Noga 708.417.3082
Mike Barry 708.417.1393

Dear Valued Client,

Ol’ Man Winter will soon be at our door, although we could use a break.  This has been the most challenging year of landscape maintenance we have seen in our 26 years in business.  With the record amount of rainfall we experienced in early and late summer, we felt like we were on a loop, never able to get ahead.  But there was light at the end of the tunnel, and finally this late summer we were able to get caught up with all of our services.  We would like to thank all of our customers for your patience with us and your understanding of the challenging conditions we faced.  Our men have been out on the properties trying to complete fall clean-ups, but as of today,  most of the leaves are still on the trees.  Again, please bear with us.  We will continue to perform fall clean-up services as weather permits.  Let’s hope for dry conditions and a mild start to fall. We have been hard at work with our final application of fertilizer for the fall season and hope to have that completed by Nov 15^th.   Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the care of your landscape, please do not hesitate to call.  Know that we are busy preparing our snow equipment for the upcoming winter season, and will begin staking properties in November in order to provide for a smooth transition to the snow season.

Sincerely,

NOGAS LANDSCAPING

Dave Noga

Mike Barry

Hello

We have noticed many of our properties are still continuing to water after the major rain falls we have had over the past week. Please note this is not helping the turf but rather hurting it. Here are some good guidelines to help with a healthy lawn and also to save some money by not over watering.

Proper watering is knowing how to use your sprinkler system efficiently. When used properly, your sprinkler system will save you money while keeping your lawn beautiful and healthy. Most lawn sprinkler systems are not that complicated and should be fairly easy to figure out. From there, it is important that your system is equipped with rain sensors to turn the system off in the event of a rainstorm during scheduled watering. Knowing how to pause your system from its normal routine is important when rain is imminent and after periods of rain when the soil has enough moisture. Fine tuning the system and knowing how it operates will benefit the lawn and save money.

How Much Water Is Enough?
The rule of thumb for watering turf has generally been one inch of water per week. This number more or less refers to the standard Kentucky bluegrass lawn which is the quintessential lawn of the American suburb. Unfortunately, that grass type and its water requirements are not suitable, desirable, or even legal in many parts of the country. One inch of water per week is a decent average for the spring and fall months, but it’s the hot, dry months of summer when one inch of rain per week is only achievable with supplemental watering either with an automatic sprinkler system or a hose/sprinkler set-up.
Lawns consisting of modern varieties of fescues, ryegrasses, and even Kentucky bluegrass are able to withstand somewhat lesser amounts of water, especially when managed with drought in mind. Improvements are continuously being made to grass cultivars, including drought tolerance and insect/disease resistance. A well-managed lawn, even a notoriously thirsty lawn of Kentucky bluegrass, made up of newer varieties of turf will survive on much less than one inch of water per week, making it possible to grow a lawn in areas with water restrictions or drought conditions.

How Much Water Is Too Much?
An over-watered lawn is likely to be plagued by a host of negative results with the outcome being an unhealthy lawn susceptible to weeds, diseases, and insect damage. An over-watered lawn is often a gateway to a loop of turf problems and expensive chemical treatments that will not go away unless the underlying issue (over-watering) is dealt with.
A healthy lawn should be a little on the thirsty side, always sending roots deeper into the soil. The deeper the root system, the healthier and more resilient the turf. This is why an ideal watering is deep and infrequent (mimicking natural rainfall) rather than shallow and often. An overwatered lawn will likely have a shallow root system since there is no need for the roots to travel for water – it is always there, close to the surface. A shallow root system is more susceptible to insect damage and even heat stress since there is less water holding capacity within the root system.

An automatic sprinkler system would best be used sparingly by a homeowner, only to supplement rainfall during the hot months of summer. It should not be operated before anticipated rainstorms, during rainstorms, or after rainstorms. This is a waste of water (money), time, and will contribute to an unhealthy lawn. Sprinklers operate most efficiently when used at night. The ideal time to water is in the pre-dawn hours when there is less wind, it’s cooler, the water has a chance to penetrate to the root zone, and the moisture doesn’t sit on the plant for too long and create disease conditions.

What About Not Watering Enough?
Anyone who does not apply supplemental water to their lawns knows that a hot, dry summer can turn a lawn brown over time. Grass that is stressed from lack of water will go dormant, not die. When cooler temperatures and more frequent rains return, a well-managed lawn will make a complete recovery.

If you should have any questions please feel free to call or email us.
Thank You

Dave Noga
Mike Barry
Nogas Landscaping

February 28, 2018
Dear Valued Client,
Despite the heavy snow fall last week, this week it seems as though spring will soon be upon us. We look forward to yet another year of servicing your property and just wanted to give you a little information about where we’re at and where we’re headed in terms of services. As the snow continues to melt, we will take every opportunity to move forward with our spring services as weather permits. As a valued Nogas Landscape customer, this jumpstart on spring services during the mild conditions ensures your property is maintained to our high standards of excellence. We pride ourselves on not being “just a seasonal business”, and we strive to make your property look excellent throughout the year.
Keep in mind that spring is a great time to improve upon and renew your existing landscape and turf. Upkeep such as re-mulching landscape beds is just one way to enhance your property. We recommend re-mulching at least every two years. This encourages plant growth and also prevents several weeds from forming in beds without groundcover. We have also included information on winter injury which can be found on our website as well. Please take a minute to review these helpful materials so that you can be better informed regarding your property. As with every spring, comes the opportunity for your spring walk through. A walk through will not only allow us to assess the property so that we may best care for it, but it will give you, the client, an opportunity to discuss any new ideas for landscaping design or concerns regarding landscape maintenance. Customers can schedule their walk through by contacting Dave or Mike directly, or through the office at 815-462-4475.
Again, we look forward to another successful year of servicing your property with the highest quality of service and care.
Sincerely,
NOGAS LANDSCAPING
Dave Noga Mike Barry

RE: Viburnum leaf beetle
We at Nogas Landscaping wanted to make our properties aware of a potentially damaging pest that has been reported across the Chicago region with some regularity since 2015. The Viburnum leaf beetle feeds as both larvae and adults and can do extensive damage. Left unchecked, it can lead to death of the shrub.
We have noticed some damage to properties and will continue to monitor the situation throughout the summer. Some things that residents can keep an eye out for are larvae which appear pale green to pale yellow with black dots along the sides and dashes down the back. These are present from early to mid- June. Adults will generally be present from early July until frost. Most species in all susceptibility groups exhibit more feeding damage when grown in the shade. Both larvae and adults can feed and heavy feeding over 2-3 years can lead to shrub death.
Again, we will continue monitoring the properties and notify you of any changes. We ask that you notify us if you notice anything so that we may address it as soon as possible.
Nogas Landscaping
Dave Noga Mike Barry