The full catalog from Johnson Ranch Landscape — both departments. Estate Enhancement for enhancement & maintenance, LandWorks for design-build. What it is, why we do it the way we do, how it fits a piece of land. We work organic — no synthetic pesticides, no salt-based fertilizers, no shortcuts that wreck the soil. Sourced through SiteOne Landscape Supply and Adams Supply here in San Antonio.
A property is a living system. The lawn, the beds, the trees, the soil microbes underneath — they all run on the same loop. Feed the soil and everything above ground takes care of itself. Spray poison and you break the loop: kill the predators along with the pests, sterilize the soil, get a yard that needs more inputs every season just to stay alive.
Organic is slower the first season. Then it compounds. Year two needs less water, less fertilizer, fewer interventions. By year three the property is running on its own biology — and your kids, dogs, and bare feet are safe on it every day of the year.
That's the LandWorks process. Not just "we'll make it pretty." We're building a property that gets healthier every year you own it.
Backpack-mister application of a garlic + cedarwood + rosemary oil barrier blend to perimeter foliage, mulch beds, fence lines, and low resting foliage. Garlic juice extract is the workhorse — mosquitoes hate the sulfur compounds, and once dry the smell is undetectable to humans. Cedarwood + rosemary essential oils boost knockdown. Effective 14–21 days. Safe on contact for kids, pets, pollinators, and beneficial insects.
Synthetic pyrethrin sprays kill mosquitoes — and also bees, butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, and every other beneficial insect they touch. Dragonflies eat hundreds of mosquitoes a day. When you nuke the predators along with the prey, you create a yard that needs spraying every two weeks forever just to stay even.
Garlic-based barriers repel mosquitoes (they fly elsewhere) instead of poisoning the whole food web. The beneficial bug population recovers, and over a season or two the property starts handling its own pest pressure.
Sourced through Site One San Antonio — Mosquito Barrier garlic concentrate + Cedarcide PCO concentrate.
| Item | Cost | Retail | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single treatment | $22 | $30 | ~27% |
| Season pass (7 visits) | $155 | $145 ×7=$1,015 | ~85% |
Two-step organic fire ant program:
The standard fire ant program is bifenthrin and Amdro — broad-spectrum poisons that kill every ant on the property, including the native Texas ant species that compete with fire ants for territory. When you clear the natives, the fire ants re-invade from neighboring properties and have no competition. The treadmill is permanent.
Beneficial nematodes only target ground-nesting pest larvae (fire ants, fleas, grubs). Native ants nest differently and aren't affected. The natives stay, the fire ants get hammered, and the yard becomes resistant to re-invasion. Spinosad on mounds is target-specific and breaks down in sunlight within hours — no residue, safe for pets the same day.
Sourced through Adams Supply — Arbico Organics nematodes (live, refrigerated) + SiteOne carries Conserve SC (Spinosad concentrate).
| Item | Cost | Retail | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single treatment (avg yard, nematodes + mounds) | $58 | $95 | ~39% |
| 2×/year program | $110 | $165 | ~33% |
Four-visit-a-year soil-feeding program for lawn and beds. Each visit: a slow-release organic granular fertilizer (Microlife 6-2-4 or similar), a topdress of compost where needed, and a foliar of compost tea or seaweed extract. We test soil once a year to calibrate amendments. The goal isn't "green it up fast" — it's to build the soil biology that feeds the lawn naturally.
Synthetic fertilizers (the Scotts / TruGreen bag) are salt-based. They flash-green the grass for 3 weeks by force-feeding nitrogen — and they kill the soil microbes that would otherwise do the work for free. Salt accumulates. Earthworms leave. Compaction worsens. Year two you need more fertilizer to get the same green. Runoff carries the excess into our creeks and aquifers.
Organic fertilizers (Microlife, MaestroGro, alfalfa meal, fish emulsion) feed the soil bacteria and fungi. The microbes break down nutrients on the grass's timeline — slow, steady, drought-resilient color. Roots go deeper. Compost tea inoculates beneficial fungi that suppress disease. After 18 months on this program a yard needs ~40% less water and almost no disease intervention.
It's the difference between a sugar-IV drip and a real meal. Slower. Better. Compounds over time.
Sourced through SiteOne San Antonio — Microlife 6-2-4 granular, Medina compost tea concentrate, Adams Supply carries the bulk compost (Bexar County Garden-Ville).
| Item | Cost | Retail | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single visit (granular + foliar) | $48 | $95 | ~50% |
| Quarterly program (4 visits, average yard) | $190 | $340 | ~44% |
| Annual soil test add-on | $22 | $65 | ~66% |
Pre-emergent (Feb + Sept): corn gluten meal broadcast — prevents weed seeds from germinating without harming established plants. Spot weed control: 20% horticultural vinegar with orange oil + dish soap, applied directly to actively growing weeds. Grub control: Heterorhabditis bacteriophora nematodes (a different species than the fire ant nematode) — targets lawn grubs.
Roundup and 2,4-D are linked to soil microbiome collapse and have well-documented health concerns. They also create resistant weed populations — every year the herbicide gets less effective, and the application rates have to go up. Same treadmill as the fertilizer one.
Corn gluten meal is a 60% protein byproduct of corn milling — it's literally food. It also happens to release a peptide that inhibits root formation in germinating seeds, so weeds can't take hold. Once established lawn is fine because it's already rooted. As a bonus, corn gluten is 10% nitrogen by weight — so it fertilizes while it prevents weeds.
For the weeds that do show up, a strong vinegar burn-down is just as effective on the small ones, and it leaves no soil residue.
Sourced through Adams Supply — bulk corn gluten meal (~$28 per 40-lb bag). Vinegar concentrate via local grocery / Amazon.
| Item | Cost | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-emergent (corn gluten, 1 visit) | $42 | $85 |
| 2×/year pre-emergent program | $80 | $155 |
| Spot weed visit (vinegar) | $28 | $60 |
| Grub nematode application | $55 | $110 |
Full gutter clean: scoop debris, bag, flush downspouts with hose, check for leaks/loose hangers, haul off. Adds ~45–90 minutes to a regular service visit.
| Type | Cost (labor only) | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| 1-story average home | $35 | $60 |
| 2-story average home | $55 | $90 |
| 2-story large or steep | $75 | $125 |
Hot or cold water blast (depending on stain type) for patios, driveways, walkways, fences, siding. Soft-wash + detergent for delicate surfaces (siding, painted fences). High-pressure for concrete + stamped patios.
| Surface | Cost (per sqft) | Retail (per sqft) |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete, patio, driveway | $0.45 | $0.85 |
| Fence, siding (soft-wash) | $0.55 | $0.95 |
| Stamped concrete (delicate) | $0.65 | $1.10 |
Spring start-up: pressurize main, run every zone for 1–2 minutes, check head coverage, adjust spray patterns, swap broken heads, reset timer for season schedule, audit for leaks. Winterization: drain main, blow out lines with compressor, cap exposed valves, set timer to "off."
A poorly-tuned irrigation system is the #1 enemy of soil biology. Over-watering drowns roots and washes out soil microbes; under-watering stresses the lawn into pest pressure. A properly-audited system saves 30%+ on the water bill and dovetails with the organic fertilizer program — deeper roots, less evaporation, healthier soil.
We also push drip irrigation on every bed. It cuts water use by ~60% versus spray heads on the same plants and keeps foliage dry, which means less fungal disease — which means no need for fungicide.
| Service | Cost | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Spring start-up (avg 6-zone system) | $55 | $95 |
| Winterization (avg 6-zone system) | $55 | $95 |
| Both (recommended) | $110 | $175 |
| Repair (per head/valve) | varies | $45–$120 |
Professional C9 LED installation on rooflines, eaves, walkways, and accent trees. Install in November, remove in early January. Storage included — we keep the customer's lights in our warehouse, label by address, reuse year-over-year. The customer never touches a ladder, never untangles lights, never stores boxes.
| Package | Lights | Cost (year 1) | Retail (year 1) | Retail (year 2+) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 150 ft + 2 trees | $1,200 | $1,800 | $650/yr install only |
| Premium | 250 ft + 4 trees | $1,800 | $2,800 | $950/yr install only |
| Estate | 400 ft + 6 trees + walkway | $2,800 | $4,800 | $1,500/yr install only |
Every LandWorks project starts with the soil and water story. Before we draw a single bed line we audit drainage, soil compaction, and existing plant health. The build phases — hardscape, planting, irrigation — are designed around the soil's recovery, not against it. A property we touch leaves our hands healthier than we found it. That's the standard.
Integrated patio extension + pergola + outdoor kitchen + fire feature. The whole "second living room outside" play — usually starts as "we want a covered patio" and becomes a full backyard transformation.
| Component | Cost | Retail |
|---|---|---|
| Stamped patio extension (300 sqft) | $2,400 | $5,400 |
| Cedar pergola (12×14) | $3,800 | $8,500 |
| Outdoor kitchen base (L-shape, grill+sink) | $6,500 | $14,000 |
| Fire pit (built-in stone) | $1,800 | $3,800 |
| Low-voltage landscape lighting | $1,200 | $2,800 |
| Typical project total | $15,700 | $34,500 |
French drains, channel drains, swales, dry creek beds, regrading, sub-surface drainage to solve flooding, foundation issues, pooling water. Often the unsexy fix that's also the most important — happy drainage customers become big-project customers.
| Solution | Typical retail |
|---|---|
| French drain (50 lin ft) | $2,400 |
| Channel drain across drive | $1,800 |
| Dry creek bed (decorative + functional) | $3,500–$6,000 |
| Full grading + multi-zone drainage | $12,000–$25,000 |
Drought-smart planting with limestone, decomposed granite, native shrubs (cenizo, agarita, salvia, yucca, agave). Designed for Texas heat — survives a triple-digit August with minimal irrigation once established.
Native plants co-evolved with our soil microbes, our rainfall pattern, and our pollinators. They want to live here. A native garden in year three needs about 25% of the water a typical St. Augustine lawn needs and zero synthetic inputs to stay healthy. Hummingbirds, native bees, and the dragonflies that eat your mosquitoes all show up for free.
Most landscapes fail not because the design was wrong but because they were built against the land. We design with what's already here — limestone bones, alkaline soil, deep summer heat — and let the property do the heavy lifting.
Dry-stack and mortared limestone walls, terrace systems for sloped lots, flagstone patios + paths, stone steps. Texas Hill Country signature work — the stuff that makes a property feel rooted.
For the crew, on every visit: ask yourself which of these could fit. Organic mosquito and fire ant programs are obvious in spring; gutters and pressure wash in fall; holiday lights for anyone over $300k home value. Lead the conversation with the why, not the price. Clients pay for understanding.
For the crew, with new leads: a LandWorks client wants the soil-and-water story plus design vocabulary; a Estate Enhancement client wants reliability, safety on the lawn, and a fair price. The organic angle is the through-line on both — read which side of it lands harder for that client.
For clients reading this: if you got this link from us, it's because we want you to know how we work and why. Ask questions. The whole program — fertilization, pest control, irrigation, design — is built around one idea: a healthier property every year, not a managed one. Send anything to johnsonranchlandscape@gmail.com or text the office.
— Internal reference · update via Dorian —