151119 Native Area Maintenance Eblast

The Phase 2 area is nearly complete, and we are hoping to begin Phase 3 as early as next week, weather permitting.

The mowing and line trimming have been completed in the following neighborhoods:

1-3, 5-6, 8 - 12, 17 -21, 29, 35-37, and 40 – 60.

We are currently working through neighborhood 4, 7, and 13, neighborhoods 27, and 38 will follow shortly.

The remaining neighborhoods are in Phase 3, and we will begin them in a couple of weeks, starting with neighborhoods 24, 25, 26, and 33.

Here is the current map of our progress:

151112 Native Area Maintenance Eblast

For the most part the weather has been cooperative with the second maintenance round this year.

The mowing and line trimming have been completed in the following neighborhoods:

8 - 12, 17 -21, 29, 35-37, and 40 – 60.

We are currently working through neighborhoods 1 -7. Neighborhoods 13, 27, and 38 will follow shortly.

The remaining neighborhoods are in Phase 3, and we will begin them in a couple of weeks, starting with neighborhoods 24, 25, 26, and 33.

Here is the current map of our progress:

151104 Eblast More Rain on the Horizon

I hope that everyone is adjusting to the recent time change, and that your irrigation controller clock was set accordingly. It’ll probably be another week before my body clock is acclimated. We appear to have entered a wet cycle of weather, and I hope that all controllers are turned off at this point. The current temperatures, rainfall, and humidity preclude the need to run any irrigation systems. 

151104 Native Area Maintenance Eblast

Phase 1 maintenance has been completed, mowing and line trimming.

Phase 2 mowing is completed in neighborhoods 8, 11, 12, 16, 36, 37, and 60.

Phase 2 line trimming is completed in neighborhoods 8 and 11.

The mowing crew is currently working on inbound side of Del Webb between Williams Drive and Berry Creek. We hope to have this area completed before the rain gets here.

This is the current map:

151027 Eblast Fall Watering

After 6 inches of rain, and a cold front last weekend, we are finally experiencing some seasonally appropriate weather. It would not be unreasonable to consider turning the irrigation controllers off at this point; especially with more rain coming at us. As long as your sensors are working properly, the seasonal adjustment/water budget can be set to 50% with no adverse effects to the landscape. I have set the CA controllers to 50%, and they are turned off at this point. I will continue to monitor the weather forecasts. With current temperatures and humidities, a ½” of water per week is all that is necessary.

Another irrigation success story crossed my desk this morning. Rick Hutzler xeriscaped the back and two side yards of his house, and converted those 3 zones to drip system. The front yard was left as Bermuda, but he changed heads from spray to MP rotators, and eliminated redundant spray overs. His usage went from a collective zone usage of 89 gallons per minute to 30 gallons per minute. That’s a 67% decrease in irrigation usage. Congratulations Rick!!

151029 Native Area Maintenance EBlast

Undoubtedly the lack of rain this year has contributed to the pace we are keeping with respect to the second round of maintenance in the native areas. Phase I has been completely mowed, and mowing of Phase 2 will begin next week. The line trimming however, is moving a fair bit slower. We are making a huge push on the line trimming this Thursday in an effort to get caught up to the mow crew.

Neighborhoods 52-57 and 59 have been mowed and line trimmed.

Our plan is to have neighborhoods 41-44, 46-51, and 62 line trimmed this week.

Here is the current map of what is completed:

151015 Eblast

Round 2 of the Level 3 Maintenance commenced on Monday, October 5th. The property is divided into 3 sections, or phases, that are numbered in the order which we will proceed. This map shows the different sections as well as the path of the crew through completion.

We began in neighborhood 53, working our way down through the neighborhoods on the north and east side of Pedernales, in the following order: 54, 56, and 59. We will then cross Pedernales, and work the south and west side of the street accordingly: 58, 57, 55, 52, 51, and 50. Jumping back across Pedernales we will continue with 47, 62, and 46.

Neighborhoods 51-57 and 59 have been mowed. 53, 54, 56 and 59 have been mowed and line trimmed.

We’re moving at a “good clip” (Pun intended).  

150902 Native Area Maintenance

The first pass of the Native Area Mowing has been completed, and we are working on cleaning out the drainage ditches and their respective outfalls. We expect to begin round two of the maintenance in October.

150806 EB L3 Update

Phase 2 is now complete. We have started Phase 3 in Neighborhood 14, and have finished portions of Neighborhood 24 and 33. We will continue through the remaining neighborhoods tentatively as follows:

25, 26, 15, 34, 16, 22, 23, 28, 30, 31, and 32.

As a reminder, we are rotating where we start our maintenance program every year. Those neighborhoods that were at the end of the program this year will be at the beginning next year. This is better for the landscape, is fair to all the residents.

We hope to have all mowing completed by the end of August, almost 6 weeks ahead of when we finished last year. The second pass will most likely begin at the end of September, or early October.

The line trimming crew is no more than a week behind, and usually occurs on Fridays.

This map illustrates our progress so far:

150729 L3 Update

My apologies for the lack of an update last week. We had a substantial waterline break underneath Sun City Blvd that demanded my attention. We are currently in the vicinity of NH 5 and working the areas around the LHGC fairways for Holes 10, 11, 12, 13 and 18. From there we will move to neighborhoods 4, 7, 13, 27, and 38. I am hoping to have these remaining neighborhoods in Phase 2 mowed by August 7^th, at which point we will begin Phase 3 in neighborhood 33.

The line trimming crew has made great progress catching up with the mowers and are no more than a week behind.

This map illustrates our progress so far:

150716 L3 Update

The Phase 2 mowing has made it to Berry Creek. On the north side of the creek we will begin in NH2 and progress through to neighborhoods 3, 5, 6, 4, 7, 1, 13, 27, and 38.

The line trimming crew will complete Phase 1 today and begin working their way up Del Webb to Williams Drive.

This map illustrates our progress so far:

150708 L3 Update

The Phase 2 mowing is currently in Neighborhood 10 and are working their way along the inbound side of Del Webb toward Berry Creek, picking up neighborhoods 9 and 35. On the north side of the creek we will begin in NH2 and progress toward through neighborhoods 3, 5, 6, 4, 7, 1, 13, 27, and 38.

Due to the holiday, no major progress has been made on the line trimming front. The line trimming crew is nearly complete with Phase 1 and only have neighborhoods 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 21, 19, 29, 20, 18, and 17 to finish. We expect them to be through with Phase 1 and into Phase 2 by end of the day Friday July 10^th.

This map illustrates our progress so far:

150702 L3 Update

The Phase 2 mowing is currently in Neighborhood 12 and will finish 37 and 60 next. We will cross Del Webb, beginning at Neighborhood 10 and working their way back toward Berry Creek, picking up neighborhoods 9 and 35 along the way.

The line trimming crew is nearly complete with Phase 1 and only have neighborhoods 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 21, 19, 29, 20, 18, and 17 to finish. We expect them to be through with Phase 1 and into Phase 2 by end of the day Friday July 10^th.

This map illustrates our progress so far:

150626 L3 Update

Phase 1 mowing has been completed, and we will begin Phase 2 mowing in Neighborhood 11 on Monday, June 29^th. Phase 2 mowing will proceed as follows 11, 8, 36, 12, 37, and 60 to start with.

The Line Trimming Crew will continue to make progress in Phase 1, and should begin Phase 2 next Friday. As a reminder, we run our full complement of mowing equipment Monday through Thursday, and all of our line trimmers on Friday. The line trimmers can be up to 2 weeks behind.

150612 Eblast

The Native Area Maintenance began on Monday, June 1^st. We’ve divided the property into 3 sections, or phases, that are numbered in the order which we will proceed.

 

We have completed mowing in the following neighborhoods:

50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59

We will proceed to:

47, 62, 46, 44, 42, 43, 40, 41

We are far enough ahead with Mowing Team that we will be starting the Line Trimming Team on Friday June 12^th. They will follow the same path as the mowers, and we expect them to be close to caught up by the end of the day.

Mowing the native areas is done to reduce the risk of wild fire spreading into the neighborhoods. Because of our limited time to complete the native area mowing, we cannot always wait until all the wildflowers have stopped blooming. For this reason we rotate where we start our mowing each year to insure the best chances for wild flower proliferation throughout the campus.