The soil here rewards preparation more than it rewards product. Amend a whole bed rather than a planting hole, relieve the compaction before seeding, and the same plants that struggled for the previous owner establish without drama.
Where we work from: our shop is at 7980 OH-249, Hicksville, OH. Gratis sits outside our home counties — call and we will confirm scheduling before you commit to anything.
Soil and drainage in Gratis
Because the ground here has fall, most drainage problems are concentration rather than volume — a downspout, a driveway or a neighbouring roof delivering flow into one path it has carved for itself. Spreading that flow out with a shaped swale usually solves more than a pipe does.
Where a property was recently farmland, the plough pan is worth knowing about — a compacted layer left at old tillage depth that roots struggle to cross. Breaking it before establishing turf saves years of a lawn that never quite thickens.
What Gratis properties need most
Overgrown foundation plantings are the most common call in villages like this. Yew, boxwood, lilac, forsythia, spirea, privet, dogwood and viburnum all tolerate hard rejuvenation and can be brought back. Juniper and most conifers cannot — they will not push new growth from bare old wood, so once they are hollow inside, replacement is the honest answer rather than another year of shearing.
Phasing does not save money in total — mobilising a crew three times costs more than once — but it spreads the spend across seasons, which for most households is the difference between doing the work properly and doing a compromised version now. The plan does not change, only the calendar does.
Winter in Gratis
Walks and entries deserve their own line item even on a residential drive agreement. They are where people actually fall, and they are the surfaces a plow truck cannot reach.
Salt damage along drives and walks is the visible cost of over-application: a dead strip of turf that gets a little wider every year and browned evergreens where spray reaches them. Calibrated rates, salt-tolerant planting in the first few feet, and repairing the edge each spring keep it from compounding.
What Gratis properties call us for
These are the services this ground actually needs, ordered by what the soil and terrain in Preble County demand rather than by what is easiest to sell.
- Landscape Design & InstallationA drawn plan before a shovel moves — so the beds, grades and plant choices still make sense in year ten.
- Sod Installation, Seeding & Lawn RenovationNew lawns, thin lawns and construction scars — graded, amended and established properly the first time.
- Mulching & Landscape Bed MaintenanceCrisp cut edges, correct mulch depth, and beds that stay clean instead of needing a rescue every July.
- Lawn Mowing & Property MaintenanceWeekly mowing, trimming and edging on a schedule you can set your watch by — residential and commercial.
- Lawn Fertilization & Weed ControlA season-long program built on what your soil actually tests at — not a generic five-step calendar.
- Spring & Fall CleanupsThe two visits a year that decide how the rest of the season goes — debris out, beds reset, leaves gone.
Why Gratis property owners choose us
We know Preble County ground
Preble County sits in the Central Lowland till plains, where clay loam that holds moisture on the flats and drains adequately on the slopes. We plan around that rather than applying a template written for another part of the state.
We fix the water before anything else
Every dollar spent on plants or hardscape sitting on ground that stays wet gets spent twice. On Preble County soil we diagnose drainage first — and often the honest answer is two downspouts rather than a system.
46 Google reviews, licensed and insured
Verbatim reviews from neighbours across the region, full coverage on every crew and machine, and financing available so a full plan can be built in one season.
One contractor for all four seasons
Landscaping April through November and snow and ice through the winter, from the same crews. The people who stake a drive in November are the people who mowed it in July.
Nearby places we also serve
Gratis sits in Preble County. We cover these neighbouring communities too:
