When people admire some one’s yard, they tend to notice the beautiful flowers, lush green lawns, beautiful patios and so on. , While the garden may be absolutely stunning, the true quality of what you see in the garden is unseen in most landscaping and often underground.
Take for example paver patio installation. Without proper excavation, fabric cloth, gravel and compaction the paver patio will tend to slip and sag in places over time. True quality landscaping would install the patio as per specifications. Most of paver installation is in the base. If the base can stand the test of time, the patio most likely would also. The same is true in composite and wood decks, concrete installations and retaining walls. Without the proper, level and strong foundations installed, a quality project can’t be constructed.

Another example of unseen quality landscape work, is landscape drainage. Without quality landscape drainage, foundations can crumple, plants die and erosion is quite possible. Drainage ensures part of the quality of a well constructed landscaping project and yet, it is unseen.
Soil preparation is paramount to quality landscaping. Why do so many folks who buy a spec home soon replace their lawns? Mostly, it is because of the poor or even no soil preparation that happened before the lawn installation. Don’t get me wrong, landscapers would love to get more money to properly install spec homes, but builders hold them to the wall on prices. They are typically the last man in and budgeted money to construct the house, has been used. Builders on the most part don’t want to spend the necessary money on quality landscaping. You get what you pay for.

One more fairly big ticket quality landscape item that is mostly unseen, is irrigation. The vast amount of irrigation is viewed through the valve boxes, the tops of the sprinkler heads and the irrigation controller. A quality landscaping would have head to head coverage, independent zones for lawns, sunny areas, shady areas,etc. We like to use Rainbird products. We believe their quality is exceptional and user friendly. You really don’t see vast majority of the irrigation system, but it is all part of the beauty you see in a quality landscaping.
What we admire from the outside as quality or beauty, really has every thing to do with the unseen foundation.
We have been serving the Vancouver WA and Portland OR areas with quality landscape services for over twenty years.

It is now officially summer. It has been a terrible spring in the Northwest. Cold temperatures. Wet, rainy nasty weather from April through May. As Portland Or and Vancouver WA folks know, we can’t totally count on beautiful weather until July 5th. I don’t care if its climate change, global warming or even global cooling, July 5th the Pacific Northwest has great weather.

It is not to late to be thinking of enjoying your back yard landscaping. Maybe a covered pergola, or a outdoor kitchen gets you excited. It may just be a larger patio is in order. Maybe a new sod lawn is all it takes for you to enjoy your backyard landscaping. It’s as simple as clicking on woodyscustomlandscaping.com to check out all of our landscaping services we offer in the Vancouver and Portland area. It’s “Summer Time And The Living Is Easy” with Woody’s Custom Landscaping, Inc.

Serving the Vancouver WA and Portland OR area for over twenty years with award winning landscaping services.

Fire Pits seem to be all the rage this year at woodyscustomlandscaping.com this year. Some are traditional wood burning, but many are either natural gas or propane. Men tend to like, the more flame the better, while the women like the heat given from them. Please check out our many landscaping services we offer and our reviews.
There are many types of fire pits. Many are round and quite a few are either square or rectangle shaped. They can be built of manufactured concrete blocks, CU block wall with cultured stone face and flagstone faced retaining walls. Lately we been topping off the fire pits with colored glass in the natural gas and propane burning types. It is a pretty nice look, especially when the flames are going.
Below are some of the types of fire pits we have installed with a brief description on each.

The fire pit below was installed in Portland Oregon and runs on natural gas. Note the winged seating walls on either side. It is made from manufactured concrete blocks.

The next fire pit is wood burning and has a inside diameter of 6′ for the large wood burning party nights. It is made of CMU block and faced with cobble cultured stone. The paver patio is Old dominion. Battle Ground Washington

The next fire pit is a flagstone faced square pit powered by propane. The flagstone patio is made with Iron Mountain flagstone.  Battle Ground Washington

The next fire pit is natural gas powered and has some column rock seating. Vancouver Washington

This fire pit is a kit and is natural gas powered. Vancouver Washington

The next fire pit is natural wood burning and helps keep the party going late at night. Amboy Washington

This next fire pit is wood burning, but is brick faced. The paver patio is mixed holland and the retaining wall is natural rock faced. Vancouver Washington

Woody’s Custom Landscaping has been heating up the landscape industry in the Portland OR and Vancouver WA area for over twenty years.

At woodyscustomlandscaping.com we are proud of our landscaping services we offer. Please feel free to check out our reviews.
While this job is very large, I felt it can help with ideas for landscaping of all shapes and sizes. Not all jobs are of this scale, but the ideas and quality of work highlights our professionalism.
The first photo is of the front yard with a serpentine cultured stone faced retaining wall and lots of sod lawn we installed.

The second photo shows what a huge pond in your back yard can look like.

The third photo show the front entry with a flagstone walk and patio and another pond for koi.

The fourth photo highlights a small water fall area off the big water feature.

This next photo is the side yard with a large expanse of sod lawn, vegetable garden and a interlocking concrete paver pathway that connect you to the back yard.

The following photo is a close up of the vegetable garden. Most of the garden is with raised planter beds.

The next shot is before construction construction of the large pond.

Now you can see after construction and the finished product.

We got on the roof for the next photo. It gives a impression of the size of the pond and the large paver patio.

The next photograph is a shot taken through the Miscanthus in to the large waterfall which has 33,000 gallons per hour pouring over the waterfall.

Serving the Portland OR and Vancouver WA area with over twenty years of award winning service.

Over the years woodyscustomlandscaping.com has installed many landscaping projects. Most include some sort of hardscaing. Our landscaping services are known though out the region and we seek the satisfaction of our clients.
The photo shows an outdoor room for entertaining that we installed in Amboy Washington with interlocking concrete pavers and a combination retaining wall and seat wall. Amboy Washington

The photo below shows a finished product after some serious mess from other remodelers. Vancouver Washington

The next photo allows you to see the value of adding colors and textures in your landscape. (It doesn’t alway have to be plants.)

The next photo should get you wondering, what’s around the bend of the paver pathway. Vancouver Washington

This shows an example of a large paver patio incorporated into the landscape. Portland Oregon

The next shot shows a close up of a waterfall that we installed. Yacolt Washington

I love whimsical, and this turtle in the paver pathway is great. Battle Ground Washington

How about a secret garden where you can go to find solitude. Vancouver Washington

This next photo is on of my favorite ponds we have installed.

The last photograph is a meditation pond. Camas Washington

Check out our services and reviews. We have served the Vancouver WA and Portland OR area with professionalism for over twenty years.

Our Nifty New Back Yard
Our home has been transformed from a mere house into a comfortable residence. Woody’s bid was fair, accurate and value-laden. His crew members are great people who know their stuff backward and forward. (Hardest working people I’ve been around in a long time.) Nonetheless, Woody himself often stopped in to inspect progress and deal with adjustments, both large and small. Happy to say the only “surprise” we got was that the finished yard looked much better than we dreamed it would. If anything on earth can dissuade the compulsive do-it-yourself-er, it is the realization that you have no idea how many unthought of issues must be addressed with even a relatively small project like ours. Save yourself the hassle and embarrassment of ignorance and error. Let Woody do it for you!
May 24, 2011 by Steve & Nancy Dail in Vancouver, WA
Below is the video of the hardscape and landscape work we installed. It includes a lot of hardscape including a paver patio and paver path and some general landscaping.

Woodys Custom Landscaping 5 Ugly Duckling to Swan
Within minutes of Woody looking at our disgusting backyard, he had an amazing design plan. He created a “wow” backyard for us that is now the favorite room of our home (once the rain stops). Woody and his crew completed the job within our budget, under the time commitment and with results that had us amazed with a few days of starting to being overwhelmed by the end. It is more than we could have hoped for. Woody and his crew are friendly, professional and felt like friends by the time they finished.
March 31, 2011 by Linda Heisler in Portland, OR
Below is the video of the landscaping project we finished in Portland Oregon it includes hardscaping with pavers, a fire pit and general landscaping.

Woodys Custom Landscaping 5 Better than we imagined!
When we drew up our idea of a perfect front landscape, we thought we had the perfect vision. Woody helped us improve on that vision and make it come to life! The crew was outstanding and took great pride in their work! The results are better than we ever imagined. Thanks Woody and crew!
March 23, 2011 by Kris and Charlene in Vancouver, WA
Below is the finished product of the work performed at Kris and Charlene’s home in Vancouver WA. I shows what a front yard can look like with flagstone patio, and a flagstone faced seat wall.

woodyscustomlandscaping.com excells on landscaping services and love sharing current reviews of our hardscape and landscape skills.

Let’s face it. Most of us don’t have enough room on our back decks to feed the dog, let alone cook. Why builders don’t at least supply usable hard surface space in your back yard, I will never figure out. It is the first thing I usually get asked to fix when giving landscape estimates. How can a 10by10 concrete patio supply the needs of a husband, wife and just one child? It can’t and doesn’t.
For a family of three that likes to BBQ and eat out in the summer time, 250 square feet is a pretty good space. This is roughly a 16by16 area, the size of a medium living room. Now we can BBQ, and eat outside without falling over the edge. The more people and entertaining that goes on, the larger the patio must be.

At woodyscustomlandscaping.com we have found that interlocking concrete paver patios work well for peoples budgets and look great, as well as stand up to wear. They don’t crack like concrete can and does. Our paver division amounts to about 50% of all our volume of work per year. This is not because of anything else, other than pavers are, medium priced, functional, fantastic looking and wear well.
Let our ICPI certified team of professionals install your new patio. You will be glad you did.
We have been keeping the Vancouver WA and Portland Or areas paved with our certified landscaping services for over twenty years.
Get going on enjoying your summer with a new paver patio.

I’ve seen it all and heard most of it. The typical home’s back yard, includes a 10by10 concrete pad, which is barely big enough to BBQ on, let alone entertain. Doesn’t it make more sense to at least develop a 20by15 area. An area this big in pavers, flagstone or even concrete at least gives room to cook and have 6 people over with a good comfort level. So what does 300′ sq. of a paver patio cost typically? It ranges from about $3,600.00 to $4,200.00. Flagstone runs at least $6,000.00 on up depending if it is installed over gravel or mortared over a concrete sub slab.

The second important feature to a nicely landscaped and usable backyard would be nice turf areas. If your lawn is 10 years old and full of weeds and moss, please don’t try to renovate. You will just get frustrated as it will be a yearly project. Get the lawn stripped and soil prepped and install some new sod. A 1,000′ lawn including stripping, 7 yards of soil mix for soil preparation and installation of sod cost about $1,960.00.

It’s never to late or early to landscape, but waiting will just make you wait more in the summer months. The good landscapers are busy. www.woodyscustomlandscaping.com
Get that project going with a reliable landscape contractor before the rush. Make sure they are licensed, insured and bonded. It’s for your benefit.
Our landscape services are award winning and we have served the Vancouver WA and Portland OR area for over twenty years.
Call for your free landscape estimate.

The answer is yes. The rage here in Washington seems to be fescue sod. It takes more shade than perennial rye. Uses less water. Repairs itself by stolon growth. Uses less fertilizer than other types of sod. That is sustainability, since turf areas have been getting a bad rap. Turf requires mowing, watering and fertilization which, as the argument goes is not sustainable. This new sod product does just what it supposed to. Since fescue sod uses less water, fertilizer and it can take shade, you now have a product that is better equipped to be called sustainable.
As a little side note. Most of the against turf people, don’t verbalize that turf takes in a tremendous amount of of C02 and of course releases oxygen. Turf also help control erosion as well as traps a lot of particulate pollution.
Sounds like it’s time to rethink turf as the bad guy.
For your sod lawn estimates try us at 360-687-1882. We give fast but accurate estimates you can bank on.

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