Atlantic Lawn and Garden Menu

Food Forests and Permaculture in New England

10/05/2023 - Food Forest, Permaculture

Food Forests & Permaculture Gardens

What are they...

Food forests or Permaculture style gardens focus on usefulness and building sustainable connections. Plants are selected for food, medicine, supporting beneficial wildlife, shade, beauty and much more. These landscapes mimic natural environments making them less fussy, more productive, lower maintenance and more beautiful.

Russian Olive and Calendula

Benefits...

  • Edible plants to feed and heal your family
  • Attract beneficial insects, birds and other pollinators
  • Less water, pesticides and fertilizer needed
  • Adds beauty and provides relaxing spaces

Design...

Plants are arranged to support, shelter and physically help one another.
Soil is improved to conserve water and feed plants. Perennials are favored over annuals and gardens are kept in young productive state. Nitrogen fixing plants help lessen the need for fertilizer. Pesticides are minimized by attracting birds and beneficial insects. Connections between elements should save time, energy and promote symbiotic relationships. Maximize planting by using keyhole layouts. (see sketch below)

Keyhole Layout

Plants...

Permaculture Plants

Trees: Chestnut, Black Walnut, Apple, Pear, Peach, Mulberry, Pawpaw, Persimmon, Cherry, Plum, Fig, Russian Olive & Quince

Shrubs: Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, Elderberry, Honeyberry, Chokeberry, Hazelnut, Nanking Cherry, Beach Plum & Lingonberry

Bamboo: One of the most useful plants in the world. Needs to be contained with mowing or physical root barrier.

Vines: Grape, Hardy Kiwi, Hops, Chocolate Vine & Honeysuckle

Perennials, Herbs & Groundcover: Strawberry, Lovage, Asparagus, Ground Cherry, Rhubarb, Garlic, Horseradish, Rosemary, Mint, Thyme, Miners Lettuce & Clover

Call or email Atlantic today to start planning your Food Forest!


The Benefits of Fall Lawn Care

08/30/2019 - Aerate, Aerating, Dethatch, Dethatching, Fall Treatments, Fertilizer, Landscaping, Lawn Care, Maintenance, Natural, Natural Lawn Care, Organic, Overseed, Overseeding, Slice Seeding, Topdress, Topdressing, Winterizer

Aerating and Dethatching

Ahh, summer... a sweet few months dedicated to playing fetch with the dog after work, kids playing in the yard and weekend cookouts. During these months, New Englanders typically find themselves spending more time outside, enjoying their green spaces rather than staying indoors. As we begin to gear up for cold weather and the inevitable scent of pumpkin spice, it's important to remember to prep our lawns for next year's round of fun in the sun. Here's a list of services that may help to keep your lawn healthy:

Aerating

Aeration is the process of puncturing the ground and pulling up plugs of soil, creating space so grass roots can receive enough air, water and nutrients to grow deep and produce a full, healthy grass. Compacted areas in your lawn can be caused by lawn mowers, heavy equipment or high levels of foot traffic. It is best to aerate a lawn during the cooler months, after mowing and summer activities have stopped and is usually recommended to supplement an aeration with a fall fertilizer to create a healthier lawn and soil.

Dethatching

Thatch is the spongy layer of dead plant matter between the green grass and soil surface. It can be caused by over watering, over fertilizing or from grass clippings. When water and fertilizer have an environment to stay saturated within, it becomes an ideal place for fungi and other lawn diseases to exist and spread. Dethatching is done to comb out any dead organic matter, allowing the live grass to be reinvigorated and is typically paired with overseeding to fill in any thin spots in the lawn. This can be especially beneficial if grass clippings are not bagged on a regular basis throughout the summer season.

Overseeding and Topdressing

Overseeding is a quick and easy way to thicken your lawn. Spreading grass seed over existing lawn space can help fill in any gaps and provide a fuller, improved lawn color. Topdressing is done by adding a light layer of loam/compost (about 1/4" depth) to a lawn, then additional grass seed. If the lawn has any pits, dips or patchy areas then topdressing might be the solution for you. We typically recommend dethatching be done before topdressing to ensure any dead material has been removed.

Fall Fertilizer/Winterizer

Feeding your lawn before it goes dormant is a good way to help the grass recuperate from the hot, dry summer and helps promote spring 'greening'. Fall Winterizers are typically high in Potassium, which helps strengthen plants against the stress of the cold. We encourage using organic fertilizers, so the overall soil quality is improved.

Need Help?

It's never too late to start improving your lawn! Give us a call to schedule a free consultation and a free estimate!


An Inspiring Outdoor Transformation

03/01/2019 - Beavertail, Environmental, Hardscaping, Inspiring, Jamestown, Landscaping, Native Plants, New England, Outdoors, Perennials, Permeable Pavers, Pollinators, Rhode Island, Rhode Island Monthly, Sustainable, Wildflowers

We are pleased to announce that a recent project completed by Atlantic has been featured in February's issue of the Rhode Island Monthly Magazine!

Featured project

Imagine sitting on the deck of a modern, New England style house admiring the sweeping views of Mackerel Cove in Jamestown, RI while below you butterflies and honeybees flutter throughout fields of native plants and wildflowers.

Beginning in April 2017, Atlantic Lawn & Garden had the pleasure of pioneering the transformation of a piece of property on Beavertail Peninsula into an environmentally conscientious landscape.

Any traces of a grassy lawn have been removed. The driveway has since been altered with permeable pavers to control water runoff- Clover and Fescue grass seeds were planted within the stones to provide hardy, drought tolerant greenery and mitigate soil loss. In addition to the permeable driveway, a Rainwater Harvesting System was installed with underground tanks, as well as various precipitation gardens throughout the property to alleviate similar issues.

A large, raised vegetable garden bed was installed, as well as various native perennials to encourage the local plant species against invasives, such as Burning Bush and Japanese Rose. Among the perennials, several wildflower spaces were created from seed. Such spaces help in attracting and supporting pollinators such as honeybees and butterflies. The bountiful spread of flowers includes Firework Goldenrods, Lavender Hyssop, Wild Blue Indigo, Butterfly Milkweed, Red Bergamot among many others fill the landscape with summer scents and a sight to behold.


Permaculture Style Vegetable Garden

11/05/2017 - Food Forest, Grow Your Own Food, Organic Gardening, Permaculture, Vegetable Garden

This season we turned a quarter acre of unused lawn into a permaculture style garden. A layout was created using a key-hole design style. This key-hole style maximizes the planting area while providing easy access to vegetables and creating different rooms within the garden. The existing lawn was stripped and lots of compost was amended to the soil. The compost provides nutrients to the plants, helps hold moisture and creates a much stronger soil composition. Plants were planted over the course of a few weeks. Many of the vegetables were grown from seeds and started indoors. Fruit trees were added to create shelter for plants that like a little shade. Most of the plants we chose were perennial species, which minimizes the future spring planting work. Some of the perennial plants we included were Apple, Pear, Persimmon, Cherry, Fig, Plum, Blueberry, Raspberry, Grape, Rosemary, Horseradish, Strawberry, Hops, Thyme, Sage and more. We also planted plenty of common annual vegetables, including Tomato, Pepper, Sunflower, Onion, Beet, Carrot, Basil, Parsley and many others. Other plants were included to provide shelter, wind blocks, bird and beneficial insect attractants, and aesthetic value. A deer fence was installed using cedar posts we gathered from our job sites. The cedar was also used to create a grape arbor and the gates.

Charlie helps the Atlantic crew prep the soil.

The garden produced a lot of food within its first season. We are looking forward to much more as plants get more established. Next season we plan to add more of your common vegetables, especially Heirloom Tomatoes. We plan on incorporating bees and chickens in the upcoming years. Birds can be very beneficial to a garden in terms of insect control and fertilizer. We did not use any synthetic fertilizer or chemical pest control products. We used wood chips to mulch the garden areas which helped conserve moisture and keep the weeds in control. We hope to use this garden as a test bed and example of what other people can do with their back yards. Call Atlantic today to see how we can design, install and maintain a permaculture garden in your yard.

Plenty of vegetables were harvested.


Caterpillar Damage Alert

04/26/2016 - Alert, Arboriculture, Caterpillar, Gypsy Moth, News, Plant Health Care, Tree Pests, Winter Moth

As your shade trees begin to leaf out, be on the look out for caterpillars. They have the ability of being a major nuisance to your property, as well permanently damaging your beloved shade trees. The trees to keep an eye on our the Maples, Cherries, fruit trees and blueberry bushes. The Winter Moth emerge in late November and mate and the females lay eggs primarily on the trunk and large branches of trees. The eggs are very hard to identify, they are very small orange specs which can be seen in the bark. If identified there is a treatment for the eggs. A horticultural oil can be sprayed on the trees in late winter, but temperatures need to be above 45 degrees for dormant oil to be effective. Fruit trees and berry shrubs should be sprayed early with oil to prevent damage to flower buds. If flower buds are damaged, the fruit crop will be lost.

Winter Moth on Norway Maple Leaf

If damage is identified as tree is leafing out, it is crucial to treat promptly. Starting in late April the tiny green caterpillars may appear, they will burrow into the bud scales. This is when injury to your tree will occur. Your leaves will be riddled with holes and even look defoliated as the season progresses. If you identify any of these symptoms it is important to spray immediately. Bacilus thuringiensis, commonly known as B.T, it is ingested by the caterpillar. It works best on the younger states of caterpillars, so spray promptly! Once B.T is ingested the caterpillars will stop feeding immediately.

Caterpillars will also excrete black sticky substance that will make a mess of your walkways, house and cars, And ruin the trees which add great value to your property. It is important to identify the pest, so it can be treated before it is too late!

After damage is present, watering becomes very important to help sustain new growth thats likely to emerge. Caterpillars will fall from leaves later into the spring season. Spraying at this time becomes a wasted effort. Call Atlantic for a free tree evaluation.

Get more info here:

Young Winter Moth on Cherry Trees


Best of Newport County Award

04/26/2016 - Awards, News

Atlantic is proud to be presented the Best of Newport County Award. Each year, Newport Life Magazine recognizes local organizations and businesses that have been voted the BEST by its readers. We are happy to see our list of clients expanding on Aquidneck Island. Thanks to everyone who voted for us.

Best of Newport County Award


Natural Lawn Care

04/14/2016 - Lawn Care, News, Services

There are a few key factors to developing a pesticide free, natural lawn and landscape.

Design

We look at your whole yard and current use of the lawn to come up with low maintenance, natural solutions. Sometimes the best approach is to consider lawn alternatives in those hard to grow locations. Sunny areas can host wonderful meadows while shady spots make great woodlands. To create a healthy pesticide free lawn we recommend a generous amount of good topsoil.

Soil

Our topsoil is mixed with compost to increase it's water holding capacity, nutrient and microbe counts. A strong lawn requires a minimum of 6 inches of topsoil, the more the better. We fertilize our lawns spring and fall with an organic lawn fertilizer which also helps feed the soil. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, the organic approach lasts much longer, requiring fewer applications. Organic fertilizers improve soil quality adding a wide range of nutrients. They have lower dosages of nitrogen with less risk of burning your lawn. Soil tests are available for understanding a soils PH and nutrient deficiencies.

Maintenance

We aerate and slice seed many of our properties to improve the thickness of the lawn. Watering is essential for new seedlings to establish. (we provide a watering service for new lawn and plant installations) Proper mowing practices, cutting at a higher height, helps choke out many weeds. A thick healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds. For other lawn pests like grubs, we recommend monitoring on an annual basis and treating the lawn when necessary. Adding a tree to your yard can create shade and eliminate sun loving crab-grass.

Call us today for a free lawn and landscape consultation.

Natural Lawn Care

We provide lawn care service in Jamestown, North Kingstown, Narragansett, East Greenwich, Warwick, Newport, Middletown and Porstmouth.


Welcome to the new Atlantic website!

10/07/2015 - News

It's been 3 years since we last updated the look of our website and there have been some big changes. Our portfolio now showcases the wide variety of services that we provide and is a great way to get inspiration for an upcoming project, just click the relevant tag or use our smart search. Our goal is to keep the website up-to-date with all the latest news, career opportunities and offers direct from the office and look out for exciting new customer features coming this winter.

The mowing season is almost over and the cold weather is definitely upon us but its still great to see some sharp lines!

We hope you enjoy the changes and we would love to hear your feedback so we can continue to improve the site. You can do that as well as contacting us about any other queries using the Contact Form.

Kind Regards,The Atlantic Team


Rhode Island Monthly Landscaping Award

10/03/2015 - Awards, News

We are excited to see Atlantic was awarded Best Landscaping Company by Rhode Island Monthly this year. They chose us for the wide range of landscape services we offer.

Best of rhode island

Thanks Rhode Island