Landscaping Update–Issued 8/30/16

I wanted to provide you with a quick landscaping update from Alliance Landscaping….

– core aeration and over-seeding of the bad-blend of grass areas which we previously announced, will start tomorrow (Wednesday),

– general pruning of shrubs throughout the community will start tomorrow as well.

– the tall fescue grass atop of the berm along the top edge of Black Forest will be mowed down.

Landscaping Schedule – Balance of August–issued 8/12/16

Please be advised of the following landscaping schedule items from Alliance Landscaping:

– This week will be the LAST week of limited / non-mowing. They have let things grown a little bit longer to allow the herbicides to work better when they are applied next week.

– On Monday August 15th, a full round of fertilizer w/ broad leaf weed control will be applied. Also weed spraying of the mulch and stone beds will occur. Hand-pulling of established weeds will occur over the following two weeks once the weed killer has gotten to the roots.

A special herbicide will be applied to the weak and discolored areas throughout the site to retard future growth of the problematic blend of grass that we have been seeing in some areas.

– On Wednesday the 17th. a full mow will occur, and the weak and discolored areas will be cut shorter than the rest of the site to help allow the herbicides to do their work on the lower base and roots of the problematic grass blend and to prepare the area for over-seeding.

– The week of Aug. 29th. Alliance will be aerating the established turf, and aerating/over-seeding the weak lawn areas with the improved blend of grass seed.

Landscaping Notes–issued 7/6/16

1 – PENNICHUCK WATERING RESTRICTIONS – By now, everyone should have received a notice from Pennichuck stating that we are now on an Odd/Even day watering schedule, based on your particular house #. As we’ve received several homeowner inquiries, the board wanted to let everyone know that it is a homeowner’s responsibility to make the necessary timer adjustments to their irrigation system. However, if necessary, you may contact Alliance Landscaping directly to hire them to changes for you.

2 – LAWN – SPOT CUTTING AND HIGH CUTTING – Due to the drought and to protect the underlying root system as much as possible, Alliance will only be SPOT-cutting the lawn this week. Target lawn height will will be about 4 1/2 inches, and only where they deem necessary. If you see some lawns being mowed and others being skipped, that is why.

3 – IRRIGATION SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS – On Thursday & Friday this week, Alliance will be doing a mid-season coverage check of the sprinkler heads. The Association is providing this service, which is a basic coverage check to identify non-functional or misdirected heads. During the visit, Alliance will check the operation and make minor adjustments to the current setup. They won’t have time to do major adjustments to the current setup as the work is budgeted to take less than 15 minutes per house. Major repairs or adjustments will still be the responsibility of the homeowner. Should any needed repairs or major adjustments be deemed necessary, Alliance will notify the homeowner directly and inquire about scheduling the work.

4 – ODD COLORED HYDROSEED – SOLUTION – As you know, several of the areas that were hydroseeded last fall have come up with a rather odd and unintended blend of rye grasses, which have a very light green or even yellowish straw color compared to the brighter green in the intended blue-grass blend. Alliance has had the distributor of the seed mix out to look at the situation, and the distributor has offered to cover the cost of reseeding those areas. Note that this does not include the hydro-seed ‘V’ shaped areas done this spring which naturally have a slightly lighter shade of green than the sod, but will blend in color over time.

The reseeding will take place in the fall, following a core aeration of the soil. Due to the drought conditions, it is not recommended to seed these areas during the mid summer. In the meantime, Alliance has also done a supplemental fertilizer with a higher iron content that has helped perk up the color a bit (at least prior to the watering restrictions). We’ll advise everyone in the fall when the reseeding of these areas is to occur.

Irrigation Instructions–issued 6/21/16

Alliance Landscaping is advising that homeowners turn up their irrigation system watering duration by either going to the Seasonal Adjustment setting and changing that to either 125% or 150%, or by manually adding time to your runtime.

Should you need help with this, let me know and I’ll put you on a list for Alliance to go out and help you make the change. It doesn’t look like the heat and drought is going to end any time soon.

A couple of QUICK notes from new management company–issued 6/3/16

1 MANAGEMENT TRANSITION – As previously announced, Harvard Management has come on board to assist the Board of Directors with non-warranty maintenance and financial management, effective June 1. We’re off to a fast start with a lot of behind the scenes work already completed to setup Hickory Woods in our finance systems and have been touring the community with the developer and the board to become acquainted with the community maintenance processes. The development company will continue to be your contact for warranty issues.

2 – WEED KILL APPLICATION SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, JUNE 6. Please be advised that Alliance Landscaping will be applying week kill solution in the mulch beds and stone beds that are not heavily planted with flowers. Rain day will be Tuesday.

Alliance performs this service monthly from June through September.

Doug Kilgore, Property Manager | Broker

Re sprinkler systems–issued 4/27/16
Alliance is currently in the process of turning on the sprinkler systems for the upcoming spring/summer months. During this process, they have reported that some of our residents have shut off their sprinkler valves in their basements. Please note that we have spent $500/per home to add the auto shutoffs. Going forward, as the fall/winter months approach us, please do not shut off the sprinkler valves in your basements, as this defeats the purpose of the auto shutoffs.

Thanks for your cooperation.
John Kalantzakos