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Turf wins customers' praise

Country Green installs for sports franchises

By Jim Szymanski | The Olympian • Published October 09, 2007

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Some of Country Green Turf Farms' higher-profile customers have helped the company become better-known in recent years. The turf at Safeco Field, for example, grew at the Thurston County farm just outside Olympia.

Company leaders would rather be known, though, because of the compliments of lower-profile customers, the landscapers to whom the company sells its grasses to be used at high school football fields and housing developments.

"Our customers are the professional landscapers," said Randy Dasalla, Country Green Turf Farms' general manager. "We want to be known more for quality (seed and sod) and the service we provide."

Still, the farm can't help but attract big-name customers.

This week, Country Green Turf Farm sod is being installed at the Seattle Seahawks' headquarters under construction in Renton. It will be used on practice fields at the facility, Dasalla said.

Among the company's products are 42-inch-wide, 145-foot rolls of sod it installs for many of its larger customers. These rolls can be found at places such as the Puyallup Fair, Cheney Stadium in Tacoma and the Mariners' and Seahawks' sports fields. They typically are a combination of Kentucky blue and rye grasses.

Three generations of the Van Lierop family have grown various crops on the loamy, sandy soil that is particularly productive for growing grass. Mindful of this, the Van Lierops converted 5 acres to grow turf in 1988.

Over the years, the turf farm has grown to 660 acres at locations including Monroe and Mount Vernon that were added in the past year.

Besides the productive soils the company owns, it fumigates its fields before planting seeds, Dasalla said. The chemical process kills seeds in the soil before the company plants its owns seeds, which cuts down on weeds, he said.

The company provides services including seeding, erosion control, fertilization and lawn maintenance. Its offices at 7725 Yelm Highway S.E. are open to the public. There, customers can get questions answered about lawn care or buy a bucket of seed or bag of fertilizer.

Besides its grasses, the company's service is what many customers say they remember. The company's sod-delivery drivers typically arrive on job sites before landscapers arrive, said Carl Buehring, a project manager of the Highridge Corp., an Issaquah landscape contractor.

"It's always neat to see them waiting for us rather than us waiting to see them," Buehring said.

Olympia landscape architect Jeff Glander said he seeks out the company's grasses because of its quality soils.

"The quality of their product kind of speaks for itself," Glander said.

He also leans toward buying from Country Green because of its Thurston County roots.

"I try to support local companies," he said. "That puts them first on my list."