Savvy Landscaping: Landscape Design, Ideas, Photography, and More » Sirena Van Schaik

Landscaping Products: Bark Mulch

Sirena Van Schaik — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:30:02 +0000

Probably one of the most widely used landscaping surfaces around, bark mulch can be used for pretty much anything. I have seen it used for children’s playgrounds, and if you are trying to incorporate a swing set or mini playground into your landscaped space, then bark mulch may be the product for you, and I have seen it in countless garden beds and walkways.

Bark Mulch is not only a way to protect your flowers and create a layer of weed control but it is also a great way to decorate a space, tie in flower beds or create lovely walking paths through a garden or yard.

There are a number of different types of bark mulch including:

Hemloch Bark Mulch: This is one of the more popular mulch, it provides a vibrant color that ranges from a dark brown to a brownish red. The mulch is usually preferred since it has a very beautiful smell and it decomposes slowly. This means, less time spent replenishing your mulch. Another bonus with Hemloch Bark Mulch is that it is a “sliver-free” mulch and it provides all the benefits to your garden that other mulches do.
Douglas Fir Bark Mulch: Another popular product that can bring a rich dark chocolate color with a hint of red to your garden. It is a versatile mulch and it can be used for all of the same reasons that you would use any other mulch. One of the biggest bonuses for Douglas Fir Bark Mulch is that you can purchase it as a shredded mulch and also as a nugget.
Pine Bark Mulch: This is one of the more cost effective mulches that you can buy. It has a reddish brown color and is usually used to cover larger areas since it is a cheaper alternative to other bark mulches.
Cedar Bark Mulch: There are several types of Cedar Bark Mulch but one of the best cedar mulches is the Western Red Cedar Bark Mulch. It is a reddish brown in color with just a slight touch of orange and has an excellent smell to it. Cedar Bark Mulch is one of the most weather resistant of all mulches and you will find that fewer pieces will blow away during a wind storm. The product also has a natural herbicide in the bark that helps control weeds in your garden.

And that was a run down of a few bark mulches that you can purchase. If you are looking for cost effective, go with a pine mulch but if price is no deterrent, then by all means go with whatever will look good in your landscaped space.

Sirena Van Schaik

Photo Credit

A Pet Friendly Lawn

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:00:29 +0000

One belief that most people have is that if you have a pet, or more specifically a dog, you aren’t going to have a nice yard. It’s simple, dogs dig up flower beds, dig holes in the lawn and their urine leaves those wonderful burn marks in the grass.

It is just a horrible thing to see and many people just give up without a fight when it comes to deciding between a nice lawn or a happy dog. Still, there are a few things that you can do to keep your lawn healthy and happy the whole time you have a dog or three running around.

First things first, don’t get too down on your dog if he starts destroying your lawn. Things happen and usually it is the owners fault more than the canines. Now that we have that figured out, lets get to the lawn.

One of the biggest complaints that pet owner’s have about dogs and lawns are the burn spots caused by their urine. Now, this isn’t a blog for pets but since some landscapers either have pets or know people that need help with those burn spots, I thought I would take a minute to talk about ways to get rid of those problem spots on your grass.

First, the damage done to a lawn isn’t caused by the actual urine but is in fact caused by the nitrogen that is found in the urine. Have you ever noticed that there are more burns when a person owns a female dog and less with males? This is often because a female will empty her bladder in one spot while a male will distribute it around a space (marking). The amount of nitrogen is spread out and it doesn’t affect a yard as much.

If you prefer to not worry about the grass at all, the best option for you is to add into your landscape plans, an area of gravel or mulch where the dog can go to the washroom. This is actually one of the easiest ways to alleviate the problem of burnt grass but make sure that you avoid using that particular gravel or mulch in your flower beds since the dog may have difficulty differentiating between the two areas.

If you want nice beautiful grass, one of the most inexpensive options is to go outside with your dog and pour a bucket of water on the spot where your dog has urinated. This gets rid of the nitrogen and you should be able to avoid the yellowing stains in your yard.

Since not everyone has time to get out there and pour buckets of water, there are several products available for both pets and lawns. I’m not sure how I feel about feeding pets pills to cut down on the Ph level in their urine but I know that many pet owners have begun to use them. If pills aren’t the way you want to go, you can always go with a treatment for your lawn, such as Pet Peeve, which is an organic treatment that should prevent yellow spots as well as correct burns that have already occurred.

Whatever your choice for dealing with unsightly grass stains, rest assured in knowing that pets and green grass can now be enjoyed by all.

Sirena Van Schaik

Planning for the Future

Sirena Van Schaik — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:00:03 +0000

I am not a patient woman, at least when it comes to landscaping. I see the end result in my mind and I want to see it right away in my yard. I don’t want to wait for the years that it takes for a tree to reach maturity and I don’t want to have to wait until my budget allows me to fulfill every desire that I have for my yard. In everything else in life, I am fairly patient but for some reason, I long for the days when I can see my planning come to a realization and I can sit on my patio and enjoy the crisp morning in a perfectly landscaped yard.

Now besides me coming off as a completely impatient woman that is almost unbearable, I thought I would look at planning a landscape for the future. This is a great way to continually build on your yard and to see improvements each year without having to wait for all the trees and bushes to mature and for everything else to fall into place.

When you sketch your garden out on a piece of paper, you will probably be sketching for the end result of your landscaping, taking into account full sizes for trees, plants and anything else that you are putting in. The whole problem with this type of planning is that you will end up having a lot of empty spaces for several years since it takes time for a landscaped yard to take full effect. So, instead of dealing with all those gaps, plan your landscape for the future.

First, before you do anything else, take a look at your end design. How big is it? how big are the plants that you are putting in? If they are larger sized plants and shrubs, then you aren’t going to need to plan for the future garden too much. If you are starting with young plants, you are going to have a few years to wait for them to grow to the desired size.

Now that you have accessed that, take your garden plan and chop your garden beds into thirds. This is the best way to plan a garden. In the center are the taller bushes and perennials that are going to take some time to grow. When you get outside and put your plan to good use, you will want to dig out the first ring of gardens for the first year.

Fill that first tier of planting with the desired plants and to deal with some of the sparseness, plant some annuals as filler. The second or even third year, move out to the next level and expand your flower beds. Repeat what you did during the first year by adding the new plants that you wanted and filling in with annuals. This is also a great time to reassess what your gardening goals are and you can make some changes now instead of being stuck with a space that you just don’t like.

Lastly, finish the third tier of planting after another year or two. I am using the word tier just to differentiate between the expansions of the garden but it can be a level garden you are planning. Again, fill in with plants and annuals and then sit back and let the garden grow.

This may seem a bit more work but it gives you a chance to see how your garden is working and it will also stretch out the costs of landscaping through several years.

Below is a sketch of how to plan for the future garden. Please bear in mind that it is the levels I’m illustrating and I am by no means an artist.

Sirena Van Schaik

Repairing Your Pool Ring Lawn

Sirena Van Schaik — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:00:45 +0000

This last summer, I decided that I was going to buy one of those large inflatable pools. They are slightly bigger than a kiddie pool, with 2 and a half feet of water and my kids could go in, swim around and I didn’t have to worry about the water being over their head, of course I was always in the pool or beside the pool when they were in there.

When it was time to take the pool down, we were left with that horrible brown spot in the middle of our lawn (okay, not quite the middle because I had it off to the side). Still, the lawn looks awful and there is very little that I can do to fix it now.

Next year, however, I can ensure that my lawn comes back as green as the rest by just following a few simple steps.

Find a grass seed that is similar to the grass in your yard. It doesn’t have to be the same seed, something that can be hard to find if you didn’t lay the original sod, but there are many varieties that will blend in.
Before you apply the grass seed, get the space ready. Just like when you are aerating the yard, prick the soil with a rake or a fork. Don’t go too deep since this is just a brick and not a full aeration.
As you work, remove any weeds, no sense leaving them there to choke the seeds you are putting down.
Take a steel head rake and level the surface that is bald or brown. The rake will create a small furrows for your grass seed.
Apply a thin layer of compost (about an inch) if you are not working with a bald space. You can also use a starter soil. Use the rake to create the small furrows.
Add the grass seed across the space. Make sure it covers well.
Take the rake and lightly draw it across the area in right angles. This will cover the furrows with a thin layer of the soil or compost.
Finish off by stretching black cotton thread over the area and tying the thread down with some stakes. This will keep the birds from eating all the seeds.
Finally, water and continue to water.

One final point to mention about repairing your lawn is to repair in October or early November at the latest. If it is too hot or dry, your grass seeds are not going to have a chance to grow and you will have wasted both the time and money it took to apply the seed.

All the best and goodluck with that green lawn.

Sirena Van Schaik

Royal Botanical Gardens: Rock Garden

Sirena Van Schaik — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:00:36 +0000

This last summer, I was at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton/Burlington, Ontario, Canada. It was my first time to the gardens, surprising since I went to college in that area, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. None of it, however; was as nice as the Rock Gardens. This was a place that truly inspired my landscaping goals.

I have never been overly fond of rock gardens, I find that many people will fill up a flower bed with a garden stone, throw in one or two shrubs and plants and call it a rock garden. I often found them plain and uninviting, at least the few I had seen, but the rock gardens at the Royal Botanical Gardens brought new definition to the term rock garden and I will be rethinking my whole “dream garden” yet again.

So here are a few pictures of the garden that I thought might inspire you a.

Use existing trees as the focal point to your rock garden.

Don’t feel like everything has to be surrounded by rocks. Use low lying plants for flower beds and don’t shy away from having grassy places for contemplation.

Use natural stone slabs for pathways and decks to draw the rock garden out from the flower beds to the yard.

Don’t be afraid of color.

Natural looking ponds offer variety and depth to a rock garden and can give you more variety of plants to play with.

And I hope you enjoyed my little tour of the Royal Botanical Garden’s rock garden. If you get a chance to go there, I would strongly recommend it for a day trip.

Sirena Van Schaik

Creating a Fall Space

Sirena Van Schaik — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:00:37 +0000

I have been to yard after yard and I often see the same thing, the patio furniture fits the space but usually the season that the decor matches is either spring or summer. There is very little change between each season but with only a few items, it is very easy to take your landscaped space from summer to fall for a reasonable price.

Before we actually look at the space, let’s look at your landscaping. Generally, a lot of people will landscape in a sort of top heavy manner. Spring and summer is often the season of the best blooms and many plant their gardens so they are at their peak during the summer months, by the time fall arrives, the garden is beginning to look a little worse for wear. When you are landscaping, take into account all the seasons, try using evergreens, plants that either bloom in fall or ones that last for several weeks, or plants that produce fruit in the fall. This way your landscaped space becomes an enjoyable space year round.

Now that I touched on the actual landscaped space, let’s get you set up for fall entertaining. Nothing is more enjoyable than an evening out during a crisp fall evening. The number of bugs have declined, the nights bring a crisp scent with them and lighting becomes even more important in creating your ambiance.

The Colors: Bring out the colors of fall with bamboo place-mats in autumn color schemes. Table clothes (if you use them outside) can also reflect the autumn theme and you can add a few centerpieces to the tables with fall foliage or scented candles in golds, reds and oranges.
The Leaves: I know that the first thought everyone has about leaves is to rake them up but why not leave some of them on the ground to provide a splash of color in you area. This is great when you are entertaining since a few tumbled leaves around the patio and across the lawn will give a natural feel to the occasion.
Pumpkins: Set up a few pumpkins around your space. Remember that if you place a pumpkin on cement it will decay faster than when it is on grass or soil so try to find a place in the flower bed for your pumpkins.
Fall Mums: You don’t need to fill your flower beds with mums (chrysanthemums) but place a few fall mums in containers around your entertaining area. The colors will draw the fall landscape in and create a cozy space.
Lighting: Since fall welcomes shorter days, bring out some nice lighting with candles, twinkle lights and a backyard fireplace. People will love curling up in front of the fireplace to drink some spiced coffee.
Throw blankets: Not something that you need to bring out every day, throw blankets offer a little protection from the evening chill and add to the overall decadence of a fall space. Keep them in earth tones of browns, golds and dark reds.

And there you have your space. It doesn’t cost a lot to add a few elements to your fall space and you will get the added bonus of having a space you can enjoy throughout the seasons.

Sirena Van Schaik

Working with Landscaping Statues

Sirena Van Schaik — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:29:12 +0000

As I drove past the local statue center, a large number of garden statues covering the lawn in front of it, I turned to my husband and said, “I really hate garden statues.”

He, of course, just nodded since this is the same conversation that I have every time I pass by the statue center and I have passed by it at least 20 times in the last summer.

So why my aversion to landscaping statues? I think it comes down to the fact that most of them remind me of a tombstone and the rest are usually so cheaply made that it seems like a travesty to see them in a garden. Of course, that’s just me on a bad day, and I recently found out that my aversion to landscaping statues has less to do with the previously mentioned reasons and more to do with the fact that all the landscaping statues I like fall in the 200,000 dollars range.

If you haven’t guessed, writing doesn’t pay well enough for that type of expense on anything, let alone a statue.

Still, landscaping statues (ones that are much cheaper) can be used to really complete a landscape. When you are using a statue, it is better to look at the overall feeling you are trying to express. Is the landscape a quiet place for reflection? Or a busy area for guests and children? Will it have a lot of traffic or barely any?

Once you understand what the feeling is behind the space, you can usually find a perfect piece. Surprisingly, it isn’t always like your usual taste in statues but this is where the most success comes out of using landscaping statues. They fit the space and ultimately, even if they seem a little boring at first, they will fit you.

A landscaping statue should continue the flow of the area. If it provides contrast, it should not be a jarring contrast that leaves the viewer uneasy. (One example of this would be a life sized Jessica Rabbit statue in a Japanese rock garden, the flow would be horrible.)

Another point to make is that landscaping statues don’t need to focus on just the garden or the landscaping. A friend of mine, who is a Labrador Retriever breeder and a lover of the breed has a beautiful door that has Labs worked into it. It is very simple and you can barely notice it but when you do, all the various statues of Labs that she has in her garden, in front of the door make complete sense and compliment not only the garden but the entire house.

So, despite my earlier comments about landscaping statues, they really can be a compliment to any landscaped space.

Sirena Van Schaik

How to create a neat edge to your lawn

Sirena Van Schaik — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:24:26 +0000

I have seen it time and time again; a beautiful yard, perfectly landscaped, the lawn as green and well cut as any golf course and all I can look at is the uneven edging and the lawn reaching across the sidewalk. The landscaper, or the person up keeping the landscaping has forgotten one important aesthetic to a perfect lawn; the neat edge.

Sure, maybe I just expect perfection but it often seems that people either forget the edging or the edging is so wide that they need a bridge just to step across it. (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but just the other week, I almost sprained my ankle when I slipped into someone’s attempt at edging.)

Making a neat edge, doesn’t have to be that hard. In fact it is rather simple and all it takes is the right tools.

For any type of edging, you will want to have a pair of sheers. You can use regular sheers but considering the size of some lawns, it is better to have a long handled pair of sheers or a mechanical edge trimmer.

Many people believe that for a neat edge, there has to be an actual gap of an inch or two between the flagstone (or sidewalk) and the lawn. This isn’t necessary at all and can actually lead to soil erosion, something you do not want to deal with. Instead of digging out an edge, simply run your sheers or edge trimmer along the grass where it meets the pavement. This will clip the grass back and you won’t have any creeping out of the lawn. The edge is neat and the soil erosion is nil.

If you are dealing with edging along a planter, then chances are you will need to have a spade or an edging tool. This is where you can dig out an edge but keep the dig about a half inch to an inch wide. Any deeper and you are building channels not edges. Remember that this type of edging does cause soil erosion so there will be times when you need to build up the soil again.

Lastly, if you don’t want to deal with edging tools and spades, simply plan your flower beds around flagstone by having the flagstone work as a divider between the flower beds and the lawn. This way, all you will ever need is your sheers and your lawn will always have a neat edge.

Sirena Van Schaik

Photo Credit

Gee Jolly Jiggers: Ridding your lawn of that awful pest

Sirena Van Schaik — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:54:40 +0000

My first trip to Cincinnati was an interesting one. I had never heard of the pest and when I was asked to go out to the car, I decided to cut across the yard. Halfway there, the voices yelling at me made me freeze. Did I just step into a swarm of wasps? Is my fly undone? Why are these people screaming at me to get off the lawn?

Turns out, they were having a problem with Jiggers and I had happily walked across a lawn infested with them. Thankfully, I didn’t have an outbreak but I heard all about the horrors of these little pests, a first for me, and it scared me enough to keep me off the lawn for the entire trip.

If you aren’t sure what a jiggers are, you might be familiar with the other names for them. They have been called Chiggers, Red Bugs and Harvest Mites. What they are, is the immature harvest mite that are about pin sized and they live off blood. That’s what makes them so annoying, not that they are in the lawn, since they can’t do much to your lawn but the fact that they will climb onto people, or animals, and bite.

The bites cause severe itching and it can last for days. Usually it is in the crevices of the body, such as armpits, elbow joints, etc. From what I have been led to believe, the bite of a Jigger is much worse than any other creepy crawly that can live on a person’s body.

So how do you get rid of Jiggers so that your beautifully landscaped lawn can be enjoyed both on and off of it? Well, it isn’t as simple as one, two, three but there are a few things you can do to get rid of them.

Keep you lawn cut and free of weeds. Jiggers love dense foliage and if there is a lot of it, your sure to see some jiggers there.
Remove any dense foliage that is not needed in your landscaping. Don’t strip the area but if its not needed, try to avoid it.
Get rid of any dying or decaying plants or leaves. Jiggers enjoy these piles as an ideal habitat so try to remove them when you can.
Flood the lawn or affected area with a solution of soap and water. This will kill all the adults as well as the larvae. This should be repeated on a weekly basis for about a month.
Spray your ankles with insect repellent before going into the yard.

Remember, Jiggers are a spring to fall pest and early treatment should see you using your yard without any worries for the majority of the season.

Sirena Van Schaik

Plan-a-Garden

Sirena Van Schaik — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:54:42 +0000

Planning your garden can be a lot of work and for anyone who is unfamiliar with mapping things out, it can be a complete headache. It is almost impossible to see how a square will look within another square on a piece of paper. It might look perfect in a spot of a graph sheet but when you place your square patio set into the same spot on your patio, it might look completely off and suddenly you realize that you will need to fix flower beds, move stones and try to get everything in the way that you want it.

Now, I can’t really help with that but I can help with the difficulty of drawing in all those different geometric shapes onto a piece of graph paper. Whenever I try to sketch something out, I try to remember every little detail my teacher taught me in grade 10 drafting. Needless to say, my shapes are a little wonky, my dimensions are usually inaccurate and I just shake my head in dismay that I can’t fit everything in.

Landscaping programs are perfect for alleviating this problem. It is very easy to punch in dimensions of your yard, and get to planning from there. There are many landscaping programs that you can purchase and all of them have good points and bad. One of the biggest detractors to landscaping programs is the cost but there is a free online landscaping program that you can use to plan your landscaping.

This program is offered by Better Homes and Gardens and it is called “Plan-a-Garden.” The program itself is very basic. There are 3 plans to choose from and one blank plan where you can create your own shape. For all of the plans, all you need to do is click and drag to change the actual measurements.

After you have your general shape and dimension of your space, you can start adding to the space. The program offers you plants, flowers, trees, shrubs, accents, structures and garden beds for the graph. All of the items can be changed in size to reflect the plant or accent that you are thinking of putting in.

This is a great program since it is free and it can help you with a rough idea of what you would like to see in your space. It is very easy to use and all you need to know is how to click and drag your mouse. Another bonus is the ability to save plans to open later. This saves a lot of time if you decide to change something last minute and want to incorporate it onto your plan. Simply open up a saved garden and you are ready to fix it.

One negative to this program is that you need to register to use it. This leaves you open for excess mail to your email account such as the latest news and promotions that is happening at Better Homes and Garden. The other detractor is the limited shapes of items. A patio is square, a walkway is straight and a pool is kidney shaped. If you are going for a circular patio made with a mosaic of flagstones or a winding walkway through a maze like garden, well, it is better for you to pull out the graph paper and get sketching.

Still, for a free program with little fuss, this is an excellent online landscaping tool that I would recommend.

Sirena Van Schaik