La Historia de Old Dirty Landscaper
My first job out of high school was at Riverside Golf Course in Fresno, California. I was on the grounds maintenance crew and learned the basics of landscape maintenance; operating equipment, varities of turf grasses, irrigation schedules and repairs, seasonal applications of fertilizers, herbicides and seeding among other golf course related tasks. Most importantly, I realized I had a genuine passion for making outdoor areas functional and aesthetically pleasing. I moved on to a position with the City of Fresno where I was part of a team that maintained the city's parks and median islands further developing my knowledge and experience with landscape maintenance. In 2016, I was presented with an opportunity to join a landscaping company in Belmar, New Jersey where I was introduced to landscape installations such as planting beds, pavers, retaining walls and sod. The realm of installations ignited my passion for outdoor spaces further, creating and building them was even more fun than restoring and maintaining them. Because of the frequent frost/thaw cycles in New Jersey, pavers are a popular option for walkways, patios and driveways. I became particularly enthusiastic with paver installations. Below are some pictures of paver jobs I labored on in New Jersey.
In 2018 my Step Mother expressed the desire to have a landscaped backyard with a paver patio and sod. She asked if I could have my boss give her a quote. I told her I could but that I could potentially save her some money and gain some valuable personal experience if I were to do the work myself. I had been doing landscape installations for 2 years at that point and felt confident in my ability to provide a quality product. I excavated the patio area and used the dirt to create a smooth grade for the sod to lay. To the right are some pictures of the process. Top right is the original. Below that is a photo of my Dad and I enjoying the new patio. To the bottom right is the finished product after the sod had been installed. A few weeks later my Step Mother had a party for her Mother's 91st birthday. She had a Frank Sinatra impersonator perform on the patio. The guests and birthday girl had a good time and nobody was injured. The job was a success.
In 2019 I moved back to Fresno. While in New Jersey, I had been posting photos of all the work I was doing on social media. Back home in Fresno, I began to receive inquiries from friends and family about landscape processes. My brother in law was interested in some artificial turf on the side of his house for a play area for my nephews. The parents of a good high school friend contacted me to convert lawn to drought tolerant xeriscape in the front and install artificial turf in the back.
Over the next few years the calls continued to come in. I worked my regular day job and would do landscape side jobs on weekends. Once I had gathered enough experience I applied to the CSLB to become licensed. I passed my examinations and Old Dirty Landscaper was commenced in 2024. Below is a gallery of work from what I call the friends and family days.
