Monthly Archives

March 2020

Landscaper in the hole

By | Landscaping | No Comments

I love it when I get to detour from regular landscape maintenance duties and work on a different project. For example, just last week I got to patch up a sinking hole in the lawn. There was a depression in the lawn and nobody was sure why. So, we fixed it in a few hours.

Access

How do you move several yards of lawn and garden mix soil into an area with lousy wheelbarrow access? Well, you make a phone call and you get the soil blown in. And that’s what happened.

We took advantage of a hole in the fence and ran the soil hoses through there. Fortunately, it was on a Monday morning and the worshippers were long gone. I’m not even sure if the new coronavirus allowed them to meet on Sunday.

Brutal access.
Blowing in soil.

Rolling it!

Now, it was important to roll the new soil as it was blown in so I danced with the operators. While I rolled the left side, they blew in soil on the right. Then we switched sides. And so on.

Yes, landscaping is a physical job; rolling a pin full of water to flatten soil is heavy labour. I was sweating under my toque and smiled about the very real possibility of weight loss.

It feels good to empty the rolling pin at the end.

Ginkgo

It wasn’t my idea to move a Ginkgo tree into the middle of the new depression-free lawn. I would prefer to re-plant it into native site soil, not into brand new lawn and garden mix.

So, we preserved as much of the root ball as we could and we plugged it in. Of course, this is a shock for the tree so it’s important to water it in gently with a slow soak.

Last step

Once temperatures go up high enough for grass seed to germinate, this lawn area will get hydroseeded. Hydro seeding is a faster and cheaper alternative to sod install. And it works well. Soon we’ll have a new lawn area to mow and it will be easier to maintain without the freaky depression.

The lesson here is that you can get around lousy site access by blowing soil in and hydroseeding. You will have to supply some labour.

All set for hydro seeding with male Ginkgo biloba.

Blade edger freaks

By | Lawn Care | No Comments

As I scrolled through my group newsfeed on Facebook, I noticed a lawn care post about blade edging. Finally, I found a brother in the United States who appreciates good blade edging. Here’s why you, too, should become a blade edger freak.

No lines

This picture isn’t very inspiring, is it. Left untouched, the grass will creep over and cover up the stepping stones. And that will defeat the purpose of having them installed in the first place.

To keep the grass creep in check, most landscapers will buzz down the edges. It’s not pretty but it arrests the creeping grass.

Also, note that line edgers are too weak to re-establish the hard edges. So, what do we do? I’m glad you asked!

Sharp lines

This is much better. To accomplish this work, we use a blade edger. Hit the engine, use the spinning metal blade to locate the hard edge, sink it in and follow the line. That’s it.

If you’re new to this work, kick the grass until you see the hard edge. Then rev the engine and sink the blade in.

If you encounter resistance, don’t be afraid to step back and hit the line again. Note how the sharp lines guide your eyes straight to the house. I find this extremely pleasing.

Final step

The final step involves blowing the stepping stones along both edges so the lines are nice and clear. Always pick up any grass chunks this work creates. Nicely re-established, these sharp lines should hold for a long time. Touch them up when required.

In online lawn care forums, many lawn care dudes use blade edgers to re-establish lawn edges but all subsequent touch-ups are done with line-edgers.

I don’t recommend this approach because the line edger isn’t as precise as the blade. One exception would be a day when your blade edger isn’t available. You decide.

If you love blade edging, embrace it because it’s normal.