Virginia Contractor Finds Joy in Lush Lawns

Mark Parker falls into the ranks of those who enjoy going to work every day.

“I love my work,” Parker said, as he climbed back into his truck after spreading fertilizer on an area lawn. “I like seeing the results after a customer has given us a season to treat their lawn.”

Parker is manager of EnviroTurf, the lawn-care division of Arcadian Property Management in Winchester, Va. EnviroTurf’s lawn care services include soil analysis, insect control, lawn renovation, lime application, weed control, over-seeding and aeration.

The company also offers a five-step fertilizing program. The program begins in late winter with spreading a granular fertilizer that’s mixed with a weed herbicide to kill weeds before they germinate. The second application takes place in early spring and involves spreading a liquid mixture of fertilizer and a herbicide to kill weeds that have germinated, such as dandelions. In early summer, the company spreads a low-nitrogen fertilizer, followed two months later by a repeat of step two, as well as aeration and seeding. The fifth application is high nitrogen fertilizer, which is applied in late fall and promotes early green-up in the spring.

The cost of the five-step program varies according to the size of a yard.

Before yard treatments extend beyond the five-step program, EnviroTurf does a soil sample to determine if a customer’s soil needs any amendments, such as lime or sulfur.

“We don’t do anything beyond the five-step program without knowing the soil’s structure,” Parker said, “because if the wrong treatment is added it can do more harm than good.”

Parker said the company stresses customer service and takes as much time as necessary to discuss lawn-care recommendations or problems. “We treat every lawn on an individual basis,” Parker said. “And we like to meet with customers and show them what we find and what we recommend.”

Parker, 29, has been with Arcadian Property Management for four years.
“I first worked with the landscaping crews, but lawn care has always been a hobby of mine,” said Parker, who has held his present position since 2000.

To enhance his career, Parker continually attends conferences and seminars on lawn care.

He also has taken horticulture classes at Lord Fairfax Community College near Middletown and studied for six months at a turf school in Phoenix, Ariz.

“While I was in school in Phoenix, I worked at a high-end golf course in Scottsdale, Ariz.,” Parker said. “I worked under the golf course superintendent and took care of the fertilizing. I learned that if you can grow grass in Arizona, you can pretty much grow it anywhere.”

Source: The Winchester Star