GET READY FOR SUMMER BY SCHEDULING A FREE CONSULTATION WITH ONE OF OUR OUTDOOR LIVING SPECIALISTS.
Author: Justin Capehart
We Are Hiring
We are looking for an experienced landscape and hardscape foreman.
Competitive pay starting at $23 hr.
Position is full time with benefits
Valid drives license is required.
Only qualified applicants will be considered.
Contact us at 317-439-5202
APPLY ON FACEBOOK
COVID-19 Announcement
We want you to know that, during these uncertain times, we will continue to greet you…outside and with a smile!
Capehart Landscape and Design is committed to the highest standards of CDC safety, and our designers and installers abide by all the rules of social distancing. No one will come into your home, and all communication will be done via email, phone, or text.
We want to lighten your spirits by making your outdoor space the amazing oasis you have envisioned. As a family-owned company we also understand quality, value, and safety. Call or email for a free consultation.
Don’t worry, we’ve got your back…yard. (Front and side yards too!)
Capehart Wins “Best in Show” Award
Indianapolis, IN, January 28, 2020 – We are pleased to announce that we won the “Best in Show” award at the Indianapolis Home Show! Thank you to everyone who came out and participated in this event. We’re looking forward to blowing you away again at next year’s show!
Indianapolis, IN, January 17, 2020 – Capehart Landscape & Design is proud to announce that it has earned the home service industry’s coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award (SSA). This award honors service professionals who have maintained exceptional service ratings and reviews on Angie’s List in 2019.
“Service pros that receive our Angie’s List Super Service Award represent the best in our network, who are consistently making great customer service their mission,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “These pros have provided exceptional service to our members and absolutely deserve recognition for the exemplary customer service they exhibited in the past year.”
Angie’s List Super Service Award 2019 winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include maintaining an “A” rating in overall grade, recent grade and review period grade. The SSA winners must be in good standing with Angie’s List and undergo additional screening.
Capehart Landscape & Design has been listed on Angie’s List since 2o08. This is the 11th year Capehart Landscape & Design has received this honor.
Service company ratings are updated continually on Angie’s List as new, verified consumer reviews are submitted. Companies are graded on an A through F scale in multiple fields ranging from price to professionalism to punctuality.
For over two decades Angie’s List has been a trusted name for connecting consumers to top-rated service professionals. Angie’s List provides unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.
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Capehart Landscape and Design will turn your outdoor living dream into a reality. Hands-on through every step. From the first meeting we want to know your vision, understand your lifestyle and make getting there a great experience.
Contact:
Capehart Landscape & Deisgn
5613 E. 81st Street
Indianapolis, IN 46250
T: 317-439-0778
E: info@capehartlandscapeanddesign.com
Spring Landscaping Checklist
March has arrived, and that means spring is right around the corner. With winter leaving us ever so slowly, there might be some things you want to plan for around the house. Or, more specifically, around the outside of the house.
But where to get started? Here are some handy tips to add to you Spring Landscaping checklist:
Tool and Supply Inventory
- Before you even think about heading to the garden, first it’s time to do an inventory of your shed. Make sure all your tools are clean, sharpened, and ready to go. Don’t forget to oil those hinges—you’ll be happy you took so much care up front once you start digging and planting!
- When the weather is still too cool and temperamental to spend much time outside, it’s the perfect opportunity to gather together and replenish any fertilizer, soil amendments, plant supports, tomato cages, etc. Who wants to waste all that time in the shed once the warm weather hits?
Bed Clean-up
- Remove old plant matter and sticks from your flower beds. But wait! Cutting down dead plant stems too early will disturb some of the beneficial insects who are still hibernating in your plants. Preferably, daytime temperatures should be consistently above 50℉ before you decide to trim.
- Prune back some of those overgrown bushes and branches. But be careful of cocoons and chrysalises that could be hanging underneath new leaves!
- Once everything is cleaned up and tidy, it’s time to start tilling and add fresh soil or mulch to your flower bed or garden. Your local garden shop should be able to give you some tips on the right soil for the climate and the types of plants you want to grow.
Early Planting
- Many plants don’t need to wait until the warmer weather sets in. Get them growing early indoors—by the time the temperature has warmed enough outside to plant them in the ground, they’ll have a nice head start! And hardier plants such as potatoes, onions, and lettuces can usually be planted outside as early as late winter.
Mulching
- Hold off on mulching until the soil starts to dry out a little. Mulching too early can disturb plant life that is just starting to emerge. But don’t wait too long, or the weeds will overtake your carefully cultivated garden!
- The type of mulch you use is just as important as when you use it. Different mulches contain different nutrients and materials that can help or hurt your fledgling plants. We use hardwood colored enhanced mulch with iron oxide. It is pet and child friendly and good for plants and soil!
Your garden spring cleaning should be a carefully executed process. If you take your time and do it right, you will soon see all of your hard work pay off in spades! And if you need help, give us a call—we are always happy to use our expertise to craft the perfect garden or landscaping for your home.
Indianapolis, IN, January 17, 2019 – Capehart Landscape & Design is proud to announce that it has earned the home service industry’s coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award (SSA). This award honors service professionals who have maintained exceptional service ratings and reviews on Angie’s List in 2018.
“Service pros that receive our Angie’s List Super Service Award represent the best in our network, who are consistently making great customer service their mission,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “These pros have provided exceptional service to our members and absolutely deserve recognition for the exemplary customer service they exhibited in the past year.”
Angie’s List Super Service Award 2018 winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include maintaining an “A” rating in overall grade, recent grade and review period grade. The SSA winners must be in good standing with Angie’s List and undergo additional screening.
Capehart Landscape & Design has been listed on Angie’s List since 2o08. This is the 11th year Capehart Landscape & Design has received this honor.
Service company ratings are updated continually on Angie’s List as new, verified consumer reviews are submitted. Companies are graded on an A through F scale in multiple fields ranging from price to professionalism to punctuality.
For over two decades Angie’s List has been a trusted name for connecting consumers to top-rated service professionals. Angie’s List provides unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.
###
Capehart Landscape and Design will turn your outdoor living dream into a reality. Hands-on through every step. From the first meeting we want to know your vision, understand your lifestyle and make getting there a great experience.
Contact:
Capehart Landscape & Deisgn
5613 E. 81st Street
Indianapolis, IN 46250
T: 317-439-0778
E: info@capehartlandscapeanddesign.com
Fall Landscaping Checklist
The To-Do list for home ownership never really ends. Here’s a checklist of what you can be doing on those surprisingly warm fall days we get here in Indiana to ensure your beautiful surroundings hibernate nicely over the long winter.
Tucking in the Beds
- Remove old plant matter from your flower beds. If you have a compost pile (read last month’s article for great composting tips), you can throw all that dead vegetation right on in with your banana peels and coffee grounds.
- Empty flower pots and rinse them out with a mild bleach solution, then allow them to dry thoroughly. The leftover soil from the pots can be deposited on your garden or flower beds for a nice additive.
- Clean spent plants from your vegetable garden and apply a nice top mulch of leaves to help protect the topsoil.
- Give the bushes and shrubbery one last trim.
- Plant fall bulbs to ensure a nice burst of color in March and April.
Making the Grass Greener
- Mow one last time. Save the raking—if you have leaves on the lawn you can do a second victory lap with the mower and allow those bits and pieces to enrich your lawn over the winter months.
- Consider applying a winterizing fertilizer on your lawn or undertaking some core aerating.
- Take your lawn mower in for an end-of-season tune up, so it will be ready to go when the grass starts springing up again.
All The Nearly Forgotten Extras
- Drain your hoses and sprinklers, and store them neatly for the winter.
- Cover your lawn furniture, or place them in a protected storage area.
- Take the opportunity to hang holiday lights before the snow flies.
- Wipe down your gardening tools, and toss those soil-encrusted gloves in the washer.
- Clean and cover your grill (unless you think you’ll be out there with filets in January).
- Fire up the snowblower, and make sure your shovels and de-icing salts are handy.
- Put away all those pink flamingos, garden gnomes, and birdbaths. We know you’ll miss them…we’ll miss them, too.
Ahhh. Now that you’ve finished the list, get ready to settle into a nice comfy chair with a hot beverage, and start to dream about warmer weather. Don’t forget to reserve a couple of those outdoor living fantasies for some sultry lighting or a bubbling water feature by Capehart!
Turning Leaves Into Garden Gold
Rake and bag. Rake and bag. Rake and bag. The leaves are beginning to fall, and with it comes a whole new yard work routine of tidying things up for winter. It’s always sad, sometimes downright depressing, to say goodbye to the blooms of the growing season here in Indiana. But if you make a working plan for at least some of those pesky leaves and trimmings, you can usher in spring with some garden gold in the form of compost. It’s a great way to build a little mental sunshine all winter long!
Why Does Decaying Matter Matter?
Composting is a process that layers carbon rich materials (called Browns) and nitrogen rich materials (called Greens) and, along with moisture (via rain, snow, or plain old garden hose), allows those materials to decompose and morph into a nutrient rich humus that will work magic for your lawn, garden and flower beds. In addition to enriching the soil, it cuts down on the need for commercial chemical fertilizers and reduces methane emissions from landfills. Consider your carbon footprint minimized.
The Plain and Not So Plain Basics
You don’t need to get fancy, but you certainly can! There are many options on the market for composting bins, ranging from simple wire enclosures to sophisticated rotating barrels and everything in between. If you want to give composting a try before making the investment into an official infrastructure, you can by just clearing down to dirt a 3ftx3ft space in a shady area of the yard and starting your layering there.
A Sure Recipe for Success
Who remembers the Dump Cake of the 80’s? Fruit cocktail hit its 15 minutes of fame, and nobody has opened a can since. Anyway, dump cake was all about the layering, and the same theory goes for composting. Let’s talk about layers, because you need just three main ingredients for a great composting combo:
Browns
- Wood chips
- Wood ash
- Dead Leaves
- Straw
- Hay
- Shrub prunings
- Pine Needles
Greens
- Tea leaves (bags and all)
- Fruit and Veggie scraps
- Lawn trimmings (but not if you are using pesticides on your lawn)
- Coffee Grounds (filters, too)
- Prunings from live bushes, trees, etc
Water
- Often this will be supplied with rain or snow
The ratio for Brown to Green should be 2:1 for best composting. It is always best to bury the greens in several inches of Brown matter and to start your compost pile with several inches of Brown matter as well. The easy rule: When in doubt, add Brown. How wet do you want the pile to be? It’s good to be able to pick up a handful and squeeze out a few drops of water. A disposable glove is nice for this step. Truly.
Just Say NO!
Composting can be a little addictive. It may be the first time in your life that you’ve felt a compulsion to hoard onion peels and make another pot of coffee just for the grounds. (Though, who needs an excuse for another cuppa?) No matter how tempting though, refrain from adding animal products to the mix. This is not a scrape the plate into your new, cute For The Compost Pile collector (adorable little counter sized containers for your Greens are available) proposition. Animal products make things just gross, and this includes animal waste! So none of last week’s General Tso Chicken take-out that you forgot in the fridge, and definitely no doggie, kitty, hamster droppings. Ever. Ewww. Go peel a carrot or something.
Shake, Rattle and Shovel
Every week or so you should take a few minutes to disturb and turn your compost pile a bit. You can do this with a flat shovel or pitchfork—it doesn’t have to be complicated, just shift and turn the brown and green matter, add in new materials if you have them, tuck them in with a layer of brown, and call it done. If tromping out to the backyard in the middle of winter with a shovel isn’t your thing, consider investing in one of the handsome composting systems set up as a rotating barrel, and park it conveniently near the house. No matter how you do it, the tossing about introduces air to the mix and allows the decomposition to really begin cooking. It also will keep any build up of gases (read: smelliness) from accumulating and prevent attracting any unwanted critters.
When is Compost Done
There is a lot of science to this, and it involves composting thermometers and more. But, unless you’re going for a PHD in making Garden Gold, you can just relax and make a few visual assessments of your compost. Finished compost should be full of rich, dark, crumbly goodness. It should not resemble any of what originally went into the mix. You don’t want a tea bag tag popping out, for example. If you want to do an easy test just to make sure, put a bit in a pot and sprinkle on grass seeds. They should sprout up happily in just a few days.
Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
It should take between 2-3 months to turn a good mix of materials into compost. The timing of it all depends on many factors including the air temperature, the humidity, the number of times you made it out back to turn it and what went into the whole mix to begin with. But, if you start now, you’re sure to have a nice stash ready for all your spring planting. This will make everything bloom a little bigger and brighter, and you’ll be very pleased that you took on the project. Now that you have a higher purpose, get back out there and rake!
We are excited to be a part of the Suburban Indy Home & Outdoor Living coming up on September 20-23, 2018 at the Grand Park Event Center in Westfield!
Put on your walking shoes and get ready to wander the aisles of the more than 200 vendors in a relaxing and inviting atmosphere. You find everything (and everyone) you need to cross off your to-do list and add to your wish list. With a planned theme every day and a matching signature cocktails it is the ideal destination for your weekend enjoyment.
If you’d like to do some date night dreaming, try out Westfield’s great selection of independent restaurants Friday night and head on over, the show is open till 9. If a Sunday Fun Day is more your style bring the kids to beautiful Grand Park and enjoy the show as well as special kids activities like face painting, magicians and meet a greets with superheros and princesses.
Be sure to stop by our booth #313 and check out our latest creations in outdoor kitchens and fabulous solutions for outdoor privacy. Fall is a wonderful time to embrace planning for the perfect outdoor living space or landscaping updates and will give you some mental sunshine during the long Indiana winter!
For more information about the show and ticket purchase: https://suburbanindyshows.com/fall/features/#Exhibitors