Jackson Jones didn\u2019t waste time moving on after playing baseball for several years at Martin High School in Arlington and in college, where he graduated in 2025 with a degree in business from East Texas Baptist University. Jones tried selling roofs and dabbled in property management before he started his own company in July, selling and installing turf into the residential and commercial markets. Jones, a newlywed, lives in Keller with his wife, Taylor, a fifth grade teacher in Keller ISD. Last week, he sat down for a Q&A with the Fort Worth Report over fried chicken at a Chick-fil-A in north Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Silverleaf Turf<\/strong> Co.<\/p>\n Founder:<\/strong> Jackson Jones<\/p>\n Founded:<\/strong> 2026<\/p>\n Business:<\/strong> Seller and installer of turf for residential and commercial uses, including lawn, pet, pool, putting green and sports<\/p>\n Headquarters:<\/strong> Fort Worth<\/p>\n Web:<\/strong> silverleafturf.com<\/a><\/p>\n Instagram:<\/strong> instagram.com\/silverleafturfco<\/a><\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nishimura: So, what was your baseball dream?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> My uncle went to Notre Dame out of Martin High School. He pitched and actually got drafted (out of high school), but decided to go to Notre Dame to get a degree. Pitched there four years. My dad also played at Arlington Martin High School and went to Texas Wesleyan, and then played independent professional baseball.<\/p>\n So my goal was always to one-up them and make it to the majors. But I ended up having Tommy John (surgery) on my elbow in my sophomore summer going into junior year (of college). It was a long road my junior year, and then senior year, I was like let\u2019s just pitch for fun and get on with life. But yeah, that was a dream. MLB, little boy\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n Nishimura: So you were looking for the next thing to do as you closed out your college career. Tell me how this idea \u2014 the turf business \u2014 evolved. How did you break away from baseball? I know that\u2019s tough.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> It\u2019s been a long process. My uncle has a roofing business, and I just hopped into that. I tried to get into roofing sales. Kind of hated it a lot, actually. I did that for two or three months while I tried to start up a cleaning company, and then I got into real estate and that happened for about eight or nine months, and then I got presented an opportunity to work as a property manager, three days a week. I managed 80 units.<\/p>\n And then something crazy happened. The guy that owns all 80 rentals is a very distant family member. But he came into the office and said, \u201cI\u2019m taking back over.\u201d I had no job (any longer), and I figured I\u2019d just go full time with (the turf business).<\/p>\n Nishimura: How did the turf idea come up?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> I met this guy on my bachelor trip. He runs a big (turf) operation out of McKinney. We talked for three or four weeks, and I just kind of like the idea of getting people back into their backyard, not having to deal with stickers and everything like that. I grew up with a backyard with a bunch of stickers, so I know how painful that can be. I\u2019m big on community. I want everybody to have a space, a safe space to gather. That was really attractive to me, playing sports my whole life.<\/p>\n Nishimura: So you\u2019re bootstrapping this? This doesn\u2019t require a lot of capital investment up front?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> Not really. That\u2019s why I was attracted to it. I don\u2019t have to buy a lot of product. I kind of buy the product per project. It\u2019s not like a Chick-fil-A where you\u2019ve got to build the building and then buy all the chicken and fries and then have the customer come to you. You do all the marketing up front, and you have the customer come to you, buy the material that way. It\u2019s good for bootstrapping it with no investors\u2019 money or anything.<\/p>\n Nishimura: So what do you need to have in place up front to do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> Honestly, it\u2019s not a lot. I would say all you really need to have is good subcontracting crews you can rely on. I\u2019ve got three or four of those that I can send work and schedule a day to go work on it. And then your manufacturers, your wholesale turf suppliers. If I call them and say, \u201clook, hey, I need 200 square foot of turf, or I need 1,500 square feet of turf,\u201d they\u2019re gonna cut that turf. They\u2019re gonna give me everything that I need. They\u2019re gonna put it on a truck and deliver it to the job site for me. So it\u2019s nothing really out of pocket that I need, other than LLC, domain, the website. And I\u2019m about to purchase what\u2019s called a Moasure<\/a>. It\u2019s about $1,000. It\u2019s like a GPS measuring tool. It\u2019ll pop up 3D renderings of the area after I\u2019m done. And then marketing, you know, you\u2019ve got to put money into marketing.<\/p>\n Nishimura: How do you come up with the crews?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> My suppliers.<\/p>\n Nishimura: So how\u2019s business going so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jones:<\/strong> I actually gave a quote a couple weeks ago to a guy that wanted a backyard and a putting green. That kind of fell through. I\u2019ve got one (for an area around) an AC unit. We\u2019re gonna get that going here in a couple weeks. And then this other one is for my cousin. He\u2019s got a dog run that doesn\u2019t grow grass.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3R6A4455-1024x683.jpg\")
A section of turf from Keller resident Jackson Jones’ landscape company, Sept. 2, 2026, in Southlake. (Elvis Martinez-Cartagena | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n