A landscape that looks better than it ever could on its own.
Here's the plan for the ash trees at the pool, the new lawn behind it, and the orchard out front.
We don't just fix what's struggling. We build soil that makes everything on this property outperform what it could on its own.
Protecting the Ash Trees Through Construction
The mature ash trees lining the pool are carrying a lot right now, and it shows.
Between the excavation for the pool and the plumbing trenches running near their root zones, these trees have lost soil they were relying on and gotten far less water than usual, in the middle of one of the hottest stretches of the year. Add to that what we found at the base of each trunk: they're already sitting deeper than they should be.
Over the years, the driveway to the north has slowly shifted and shed soil downhill, quietly burying the trunks. What looks like normal grade right now is actually several inches of soil that was never supposed to be there, sitting on top of the root flare.
The Root Flare, and Why It Matters
The root flare is where a tree's trunk widens and transitions into its main roots. It's supposed to be visible, right at the soil surface. When soil builds up over it, the trunk tissue underneath stays damp and starved of oxygen, leading to bark decay, girdling roots, and a slow decline that's easy to miss until the tree is already struggling, which is part of what's happening here.
A properly exposed root flare: visible above grade, with an open ring around the trunk instead of buried soil.
The Planter Plan
Since the grade around the pool is coming up and burying the trees further isn't an option, planters around each trunk with the surrounding soil built up against them is the right call. Inside each planter, we're recommending a full 4 foot radius around every trunk stay open, graded down to the true root flare rather than the current, artificially high grade.
That means the soil sitting against each trunk needs to come back down to where the flare actually is. That's excavation and grading work for your pool and landscape contractor to carry out. We're glad to walk the site with them, point out where the flare should land on each tree, and sign off on the final depth before backfill goes in around the planters.
We're happy to answer any questions you have along the way, and we'll coordinate directly with Paul throughout the process to make sure everything lines up on our end.
In the Meantime: Deep Watering
These trees are heat stressed right now, and the fastest thing you can do to help them is water deeply. Over the next few weeks, give each tree a slow, deep soak that reaches two feet down at the drip line, not a quick surface watering. A soaker hose left in place for an evening does far more good than a fast blast from a hose.
Once the Pits Are Filled: Soil Rejuvenation
As soon as the plumbing pits around the pool are filled back in, we'll come give every ash tree our One-Time Soil Rejuvenation treatment, a full reset built to bring life back into soil that construction has disturbed. It's the same program we use anywhere soil has gone compacted, depleted, or biologically flat, applied here to get these trees out of decline and back into recovery.
Soil Rejuvenation Program
A complete soil reset for every ash tree along the pool, timed for right after your plumbing pits are filled back in.
- Compost: rebuilds organic matter and structure so soil holds water and nutrients again.
- Worm castings: reintroduces the biology construction disturbed, right back into the root zone.
- Soil minerals + liquid feeding: rebalances the soil and activates it so nutrients already there become available.
- Watered in on-site: everything goes to work immediately instead of sitting on the surface.
Priced by square footage across the treated area, not per tree. Scheduled right behind your backfill, not before, so the biology isn't disturbed again.
Worth Considering: The Trees on the North Side
We can run this same Soil Rejuvenation treatment on the trees along the north side of the property too, we'd just wait until that pit is filled back in the same way. Let us know if you'd like to add those trees to the plan, and we can get you on our schedule for September.
Behind the Pool: St. Augustine, Not Bermuda
You've tried Bermuda here before and it hasn't taken. That's not a fluke, it's the wrong grass for this spot.
Bermuda needs full, direct sun to perform. The area behind the pool doesn't get that, and with the regrading and new topsoil going in, this is the right moment to switch to a grass built for the light you actually have. St. Augustine handles shade dramatically better than Bermuda while still giving you a thick, deep green lawn.
What You Should Know Going In
- It has to go in as sod, not seed. St. Augustine doesn't produce a commercially viable seed the way Bermuda or fescue do. It spreads by above ground runners, so the only way to establish it is sod, plugs, or sprigs. For a lawn this size, full sod gets you a finished, walkable lawn in one visit instead of waiting on plugs to spread.
- Don't overseed it in winter. Bermuda lawns get overseeded with ryegrass every fall for winter color, but that's not a good idea with St. Augustine. Its root system is shallower and more prone to fungal issues. Overseeding shades it out and holds moisture against the crown right when it can least afford the stress. It goes a bit lighter green through a mild Zone 9B winter, and that's normal.
- Timing matters more than people think. St. Augustine roots in fastest with warm soil and long days, roughly April through August here. Laid too late, it doesn't get time to root down before going semi-dormant, and you end up with weak, patchy sod come spring. Given where we are in the season, we'd want to move quickly or plan to lay it fresh next spring.
Installation and First Few Weeks
- The new topsoil layer is a great start. It needs to be graded smooth and lightly compacted before sod goes down, no soft spots or air gaps underneath.
- Sod gets laid tight, seams butted directly against each other, staggered like brickwork, never overlapped or gapped. Gaps are where weeds move in first.
- After laying, it gets rolled for firm root contact and watered immediately and heavily to settle in.
- For the first 10 to 14 days, the top inch of soil stays consistently moist, usually light watering once or twice a day. As roots take hold, watering shifts to fewer, deeper sessions that train roots to grow down.
- Hold off on mowing until it's rooted in, check with a gentle tug test. Mow taller than Bermuda, 3.5 to 4 inches, St. Augustine shades out weeds better left a bit longer.
- No fertilizer for the first few weeks while roots establish. Once rooted and mowed a couple times, it's ready for a regular feeding program.
Cultivar
Recommended
Palmetto St. Augustine
The most shade tolerant St. Augustine cultivar available, with a finer blade and better cold tolerance for our winters. The right match for filtered light rather than full sun.
Ground Cover That Feeds the Trees Instead of Competing With Them
Two acres of bare dirt under mature olive and citrus is soil sitting idle when it could be doing real work.
Grass was the first thing that comes to mind for green ground cover, but under a canopy this dense, it simply won't grow well enough to be worth it. What this orchard floor needs is a ground cover built for shade, one that actually thrives here and gives something back to the trees above it.
Our Recommendation: Dutch White Clover
Clover is a low, spreading legume that tolerates shade far better than any turfgrass and forms a dense, living mat across bare soil. It also partners with rhizobia bacteria living in nodules on its roots, and those bacteria pull nitrogen straight out of the air and convert it into a form plants can use. As the clover grows, dies back, and regrows, that nitrogen releases into the soil, right where your olive and citrus roots can pick it up.
It's a living, self-renewing source of nitrogen growing directly under the canopy, on top of keeping the soil covered, cooler, and biologically active.
Primary Recommendation
Dutch White Clover
Fast to establish, tolerant of foot traffic and mowing if you want a tidier look, and reliably shade tolerant across variable canopy density.
A Second Option: Wedelia
If you want a bit more color mixed in, or want to cover ground even faster in the shadiest pockets, Wedelia is worth considering alongside the clover. It won't fix nitrogen the way clover does, but it makes up for it in coverage and toughness.
Second Option
Wedelia
A fast, low, trailing ground cover with small yellow flowers, evergreen here and genuinely thrives in dense shade. Spreads quickly to fill in gaps and holds up well once established, a strong companion to the clover rather than a replacement for it.
Monthly Fertilizing Service
Everything else in this plan, the ash tree recovery, the new lawn, the orchard ground cover, only keeps improving if the soil underneath it does. This is how we make sure it does, every month.
Monthly Applications
We apply our liquid biological blend across the entire property every month, with compost added three times a year. Ash trees, lawn, and orchard all get fed on the same schedule, no zone left behind.
A Video After Every Visit
After each service, you get a short video walking through what was done and how things are looking. No wondering what happened while you were away, you see it.
Garden Nerd Club Included
Once you're a fertilizing client, you're in the Garden Nerd Club, direct access to ask Michael anything about your landscaping and get answers from him personally inside the club. Included free, a $37 a month value.
What This Means for Your Property
- Ash trees: the Soil Rejuvenation treatment gets them started, monthly feeding carries the recovery through the rest of the year and into next summer.
- St. Augustine: once it's rooted in, ongoing soil feeding builds the deep, resilient root system that keeps a lawn looking good through Phoenix heat instead of just surviving it.
- Orchard: the clover is doing real nitrogen fixing work, and biologically active soil underneath it is what lets your olive and citrus trees actually use that nitrogen instead of losing it.
Monthly Fertilizing, Full Landscape
Covers the ash trees, the new lawn once established, and the two acre orchard, your entire landscape on one program.
A quarterly option is also available if you'd rather run it on that cadence. If you'd only like to focus on certain plants or areas rather than the whole property, let us know and we'll put together a quote for just that.
Let's Get the Trees Taken Care of First
We can get the deep watering started this week and be ready to spray the moment your pits are backfilled. Text us and we'll get everything scheduled.
Text The Garden Nerd