The tide has turned

As we rapidly approach the wintertime, we have been busy working on several fronts.  The leaf season is winding down, but the nature of our trees means that this process lingers on more than most.  The poplars fall first, then the maples, ashes, with the oaks last.  Any some, like the willow oaks never seem to finish.  Piles like those seen below are the norm for us here.

In addition we have been busy sodding areas that needed attention, like drive ons and off and some bunker surrounds.   Many wonder why we wait until now to do the work.  Normally this time of year the leaves and care of the day to day turf slows down enough for us to complete these type of projects.

Without a large turf nursery, we need to maximize the costs of trucking so we wait for weather and time to prepare several areas.  Sometimes cold freezing conditions at the turf farms prohibits timely  trucking as well as a backlog of other customers orders.  We must schedule deliveries well in advance then adjust for weather.  When it comes to fairways, only a few farms deal with bent grass turf and even those only grow small plots.  Thus they can easily be out of stock or not cutting due to tender conditions.  We do not like to have large areas open without sod on site to replace, so we wait for conditions that allow for rapid replacement.