Oldsmar sits at the top of Old Tampa Bay, in the northeast corner of Pinellas County, so this is a bay side city rather than a Gulf side one. The streets run from the original town grid through to newer subdivisions, and a good deal of the ground here sits low and close to the water.
Most properties are on a regular maintenance schedule, and the mowing, edging, trimming and blowing off all happen on the same visit. The rest of the list is booked when the yard needs it, and it can be added to a scheduled visit while the crew is already at the property.
Cut at a height that suits the grass and the season, so the lawn holds its color and shades out weeds.
DetailsA clean vertical cut along driveways, sidewalks, curbs and bed lines on every visit.
DetailsString trimming around fences, posts, mailboxes, A/C units and everything a mower deck cannot reach.
DetailsDriveway, walkways, entry and lanai blown clean at the end of the visit, with the clippings kept out of the street.
DetailsThree things about this corner of the county show up in the yards, and the first of them is the one that occasionally moves a visit by a day.
Oldsmar sits at the head of Old Tampa Bay, next to the bayous and creeks that drain into it, and much of the ground is only just above the water. Sandy soil takes rain quickly, but where the water table is near the surface there is nowhere for it to go, so a yard can stay soft for days after a storm. The wet season here runs June to September.
On soft ground the mower wheels sink and rut, and the deck tears St. Augustine out at the runner instead of cutting the blade. The ruts and the torn patches then sit there for the rest of the season. If a property is under water on its day, we would rather come back than do that to the lawn, so a visit sometimes moves.
The older part of the city is laid out on a grid of small lots with plantings that have been there a long time and tight access down the side of the house. The newer subdivisions have wider open lawns and irrigation. The same visit does not suit both, and the hand work is where the difference shows.
Through the wet season we watch the ground as much as the schedule. When a lawn is standing wet we move the visit rather than cut it, and we will tell you when that happens. If your yard holds water in one particular spot every year, point it out to us and we will keep the machine off that spot and finish it by hand.
The rest of it is ordinary good practice that matters more on wet ground: we cut at the top of the height range for the grass, keep the blades sharp so the leaf is cut rather than torn, and change the direction of the passes so wheel tracks do not set into one line.
Clippings go back onto the lawn or come away with us. They do not get left in the street or blown toward a storm drain, because on these streets the storm drains run to the bay. That is part of what Landscape Best Management Practices covers, and we are trained in it.
We cover the 34677 ZIP code, which is the whole city: the original town grid, the subdivisions that were added around it, and the residential streets that back onto the commercial and industrial district.
Oldsmar is the northeast corner of our service area, so the routes here run together with East Lake, Safety Harbor and Palm Harbor. If your street falls on one of those routes we can usually hold a tighter schedule, which is worth asking about on the call.
Call us with the address and we will come out, walk the lot and put a plan together for the yard. There is no obligation once you have it.
Seven days a week, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Email cjackc.inc@gmail.com.