Pro Care

Winter 2017/2018 was in like a lamb, out like a lion.  Fortunately spring appears to be here (fingers crossed!).  With warmer weather, why not update your landscape?  Pro Care can help with smaller projects around a few thousand dollars to large ones that are well over 6-figures.  Residential, commercial, retail, or anything in between.

You have many options in landscaping.  What does Pro Care offer that others don’t?

Expertise – Pro Care has been around since 1987 but many of our team members have also been in the industry for decades!  Their expertise is hard to match.  While we’ve seen just about everything in that time, we’re always learning & staying current on the newest trends, materials, & plants.

Fit – we want to make sure we’re the right fit for you.  Rather take every job that comes to us, we chat with our potential clients to truly learn & understand their needs, expectations, & budget.  And while we’re often a great fit for most people, we’re happy to refer you to another company if you require a service we don’t offer.

Communication – if you select Pro Care for a landscape project, your point-of-contact will be a well-trained, articulate professional who is there to serve you.  He’ll do everything in his power to meet the objectives outlined in the quote, stay on schedule, and on budget.  And if something unexpected comes up or you decide to make a minor adjustment to the plan, he’ll work closely with you to make sure it’s done well & at minimal cost.

Ready to talk landscaping?  Please Pro Care at (208) 288-5589, email customerservice@procareidaho.com, or fill out the form at the bottom of this page.  It will be our pleasure to work with you!

While we love what we do, after eight months of mowing grass, pruning trees, fixing sprinklers, & pulling weeds, our team is ready for a change of pace.  That’s why we’re so excited for the first weekday after Halloween, which for us is the start of holiday light season.

Pro Care started hanging lights in the late 1980s, an idea Rodger Erstad had to give his employees a few more weeks of work.  Since then, Pro Care has installed some of the grandest light displays in the Treasure Valley.  Using commercial-grade lights sourced from a trusted supplier, we deliver, hang, service, remove, & store Christmas lights for both commercial & residential clients.  If you don’t particularly enjoy climbing up & down a ladder, balancing on a slick roof, troubleshooting lighting issues, or working in frigid weather, consider Pro Care your best option.  Estimates are free!  Give us a call at (208) 288-5589 or request a quote from our website.

Boise is already a beautiful city but when October comes around, its beauty can’t be explained in words.  These pictures taken by our own Bonnie Longie give you a glimpse, but we recommend you spend an autumn day in Boise & enjoy it for yourself!

Cabbage, kale, & pansies.  In a trendy vegan restaurant, you might find these ingredients in a salad.  In an even more trendy landscape company like Pro Care, you’ll find them in our flower beds sprinkled with a healthy dose of chrysanthemums for color.  Just because the weather is cooling off, it doesn’t mean you have to have drab flower beds in the fall.  Here are some ideas for your flower beds & planters this fall!

Some people don’t know what “aerating a lawn” means but those who do swear by it.  An aerator is a machine that pulls plugs from the lawn to open thousands of little chambers within the soil.  The machine deposits the plugs on the top of the grass, which to the untrained eye might look like a thousand poodles descended on the lawn for potty time.  Fortunately the plugs breakdown over the course of just a couple of weeks. The benefits of aerating are many:

• Lower water consumption – the new pockets allow water to more easily infiltrate the soil, reducing pooling & runoff.
• Root development – roots need both oxygen & space in which to grow.  Healthy roots make your lawn more resistant to heat stress, drought, insects, diseases, & weeds.
• More efficient use of fertilizer – fertilizer prills land closer to the roots for better absorption.
• Less compaction – Boise, Nampa, Meridian, & virtually all Treasure Valley soil is high in clay.  Clay soil particles are very small & bind together, leaving little room for air, water, & root.  An aerator quickly & effectively helps reduce compaction.
• Thatch reduction – thatch is the spongy layer of plant tissue just above the soil & below the grass blades.  Less than 1″ of thatch is fine but more than that can bind up nutrients & breed diseases.  Aerating helps break through the thatch layer & reduces it over time.

We like to aerate in the early spring & again in the fall.  You can also apply seed to a thinning lawn or fertilize just after aerating.

“What about sprinklers?  Won’t aerating damage them?”  If your sprinkler pipes are buried more than 4″ deep (& they should be), they will be safe from the aerator’s tines.  For sprinkler heads, most are visible when walking by them but for added safety, you can flag the sprinkler heads before aerating.

If you haven’t guessed by now, Pro Care’s experts are BIG FANS of aerating.  Call us today (208) 288-5589 or email customerservice@procareidaho.com to schedule an appointment.

Why do we blow out sprinkler systems before winter?  Because the expansion of freezing water can burst pipes, damage valves, & destroy expensive backflow devices.  The result:  hundreds or thousands of dollars in repairs, not to mention the potential for flooding next spring when the sprinkler system is activated.  Although Pro Care’s sprinkler services are exclusive for our commercial clients, we’re happy to share our processes so homeowners can winterize their sprinkler systems the same way we would.

1. Turn off water at the source.  If you’re using city water, this will be a one of two valves about 3′-4′ underground near your backflow device (the other valve is the drain, which should already be closed).  If you’re water comes from a homeowner association’s pump station, you’ll likely have just one valve connecting to it.  Turn it off.
2. Attach hose from air compressor.
3. Open one sprinkler valve at a time while running your compressor.  This can be done at your sprinkler controller or manually in the green valve boxes in your yard.  Water will spray from nozzles, followed by mist.  If you have rotor heads, close the valve before the mist runs out to prevent the gears from overheating or becoming damaged.
4. Make note of any breaks, leaks, or malfunctioning heads.  These will need to be repaired before activation next spring.
5. When all zones are winterized, turn off the compressor & disconnect the hose.  If using city water, open the drain valve next to the main (make sure you don’t accidentally open the main valve or you may have to redo the steps above).  Also, open the test-cocks on the backflow device to 45 degree angles.  This will allow what little water remains to easily drain out.
6. Turn off the sprinkler controller.

You’re set!  Now enjoy your favorite beverage knowing that your sprinkler system is put to bed for the year.   Here are a few more tips:

• If you plan to rent an air compressor, reserve one early as they’ll be in high demand in the fall.
• Winterize your system before Halloween.  You never know what November will bring.  The polar vortex that enveloped the Treasure Valley for a week in mid-November 2015 caused a lot of damage to sprinkler systems that hadn’t yet been blown out.
• If you decide to hire one of the many unmarked trucks towing an air compressor through your neighborhood, do so with caution.  Some of these are not professional companies & may not answer your calls or emails if they make a mistake that causes damage to your system.  This is particularly true if the issue doesn’t manifest itself until the following April when you activate the sprinklers.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at customerservice@procareidaho.com.