Blog - Page 29 of 63 - Proper Landscaping Inc.

Feb 15

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House plants for beginners

When our house cats died we were all sad, especially the kids. But for me it was a chance to finally purchase some house plants. So, when I walked through Home Depot last fall, I couldn’t resist picking up a few house plants. Cheap, small house plants.

Today, after absentmindedly watering my three house plants for months, I discovered a flower and thorns on one of my plants. Surprised, I finally pulled out the plastic tag and read it. Aha!

Euphorbia milii

Right away I recognized the Spurge family because we have Euphorbias in the landscape and they produce the same poisonous white sap (latex). Now you know why house plants and cats don’t always mix.

Use gloves when handling and pruning the plant. The white latex is a skin irritant and doesn’t belong in your eyes. I’ve pruned Euphorbias in the landscape and the sticky sap was annoying. My skin was fine.

The common name Crown of Thorns makes sense because right below the flower are brown thorns. I tested them gently and it looks like a tight squeeze would hurt. Light touch was fine. I actually like the look. I can see how people would make the association with Jesus.

The flower appears at the end of a stalk and has gentle lobes. I like small, unassuming flowers. Not every flower in your house has to be in your face big. If you re-pot the plant you can expect it to reach 10-50cm. This is my next step, re-potting.

Euphorbia milii is a succulent which, I suspect, is why it’s a perfect house plant for beginners. You can forget to water it and it will still plug away until you remember you owned house plants. I know, life is busy. I’ve tried to get my kids to water our house plants, without success.

Fun, fun, fun

It was fun to learn something new today from a cheap house plant I picked up on the way to the cash register at Home Depot. And while I prefer outdoor plants, it’s still a lot of fun to get some house plants. Try it!

Nov 16

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Risking arrest to see California’s Eucalypts

By Vas Sladek | Events, Trees | No Comments

This past August I found myself in Lake Forest, California because of my son’s soccer tournament. It was yet another sunny morning and it was getting hot. It was too hot for the boys to have a serious soccer practice. So I left the team at the tennis courts and walked across the street.

Private property!

My target was a nearby line of beautiful and huge Eucalyptus trees. It was like Christmas for this arborist. The trees looked awesome and as I took more pictures I drifted onto a church parking lot. There I shot many other landscape plants. I was having a fantastic California morning until a voice woke me up from my plant trance.

I love these Eucalyptus trees.

“Can I help you? This is private property!” Immediately I thought oh, shit, was this an open carry state? Then I mumbled something about visiting California and loving their church landscaping. “We get all kinds here!” was his reply. So I apologized and told the dude I was leaving. No need to call the police. He then wished me a pleasant visit and I wondered what the Sunday sermons were like.

Note the security camera.

Trees in Paradise

I have since learned that Lake Forest used to be an Eucalyptus plantation. Now it’s a master-planned community with beautiful landscaping. I was blown away by the landscaping so much, I walked into the nearest bookstore desperate for some sort of plant guide. And I found a door stopper gem there called Trees in Paradise by Jared Farmer. (I will review this excellent book in a future blog.)

Farmer devotes a one hundred page chapter to Eucalypts and it’s a wild ride. The trees were imported from Australia and became very popular in California. And then it all swung the other way. Eucalyptus plantations in San Francisco were abandoned and the trees were allowed to go wild.

One glitch stands out from this book chapter. Californians wanted to reproduce the success Aussies had with their fast-growing Eucalypts. But what they didn’t notice was that the Aussies were processing old growth Eucalypts.

The new growth Eucalypts in California were extremely difficult to process because the young trees behave badly when they’re run through saw mills. Farmer does a great job of explaining this. Basically the trees break apart at the saw mill so it’s hard to get the nice straight lumber saw mills wanted. Bummer.

I think the Eucalypts I saw in Los Angeles looked great. I can’t wait to see them again in August 2020 but I will be more mindful of private property lines. “Canadian pro blogger dead in California” would be an unfortunate headline.

Nov 15

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Go deep when edging

By Vas Sladek | Edging | No Comments

Deep edging beds is a perfect landscape task for the fall. Many bed edges are worn out or completely obliterated by November and they look awful. And now that we are no longer mowing and edging there is plenty of time for this work.

Also, if your garden never had any edges, you can easily establish them by following the same procedure outlined below. You will be rewarded for your efforts with nicely defined edges.

Step 1

Use a good edging shovel-flat on the bottom- and drive it into your edge at precisely ninety degrees. Don’t fake it. Go for perfect ninety degrees. A few inches deep should suffice but, personally, I love deep ankle busters. And I pay for it when crews call the boss to complain about their supervisor creating hazardous edges.

A) is the tired old edge, B) is the new edge and the white arrow shows the correct shovel angle.

Step 2

After you drive the shovel into your edge, place your foot behind the shovel before you dislodge the soil. You have to do this to prevent the edge from getting rounded off. Remember, the best looking deep edge is ninety degrees.

Step 3

Your deep edging will generate soil and turf chunks. Don’t leave them in your bed. Beat them up with your cultivator and remove any grass chunks. Keep the soil and rake it in for a nice, even finish.

Obviously, if you’re establishing new edges you will generate more waste. In this example, I only touched up existing edges so my clean-up was minimal. Whatever the case, never leave the soil chunks in the bed. They look bad.

Step 4

When you do your clean-up blow, gently blow off any soil off your grass edges. Just do it gently so you don’t blast out soil from your beds.

Then step back and enjoy the view of your new deep edges. They should last until mowing resumes in spring and beyond.

All done! Note the sharp edge, no sign of chunks and the grass is clean.

Nov 14

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Low-idle advice for mechanically-challenged landscapers

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping Equipment | No Comments

I use small engine machines almost every day in the field, mainly Stihl models. I use them but I don’t pretend to understand them. My favourite tasks are almost always related to plants; machines I barely tolerate. When something breaks down the machines go straight to the dealer for repair.

This simple blog post covers low idle problems and it’s intended for mechanically-challenged people.

The problem

Once in a while a problem pops up and I know there must be a simple explanation. Take this recent example from the field.

Power shearing cedar hedges is a common fall task in our West Coast landscapes. Usually there are miles of hedging to shear and time is short. Now imagine my frustration when I let go of my machine to move the ladder along and the engine dies. Once I’m ready to continue the engine starts and functions properly as long as I keep my finger on the trigger.

I also had the same problem with my backpack blower. As soon as I eased up on the trigger, the unit would shut off. Moving the blower off and on my back and restarting it is extremely annoying.

The fix

At it turns out, this low-idle problem has an easy fix which is great news for this mechanically-challenged landscape professional. The fix is so easy, I had to write a blog post about it. Slowly, very slowly, I learn about the machines I use every day and you can too.

Step 1

Grab a small screw driver provided by Stihl or any other model. Until now I’ve been only using it to execute blade changes on blade edgers.

Step 2

Find the circular port hole labelled LA on the back of your blower or small engine. That’s where the screw driver goes.

Step 3

For this step you should consider using a mask because the unit has to be turned on and sucking exhaust isn’t safe. With the unit running, stick the screw driver in and move it until you hear the engine speed up. It took me a while to do this but eventually I let go and let the blower idle. Once it stayed on without shutting off I was back in business. It was an easy fix. I had no idea.

Let’s review. If your blower or small engine shuts off instead of idling, you can easily fix it with a small screw driver. Doing the repair yourself in the field will save you time and needless frustrations with repeated restarting.

Nov 13

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Take this step before challenging the Red Seal exam

By Vas Sladek | Education, Events | No Comments

Hort Education BC is putting on a preparation course on Saturday, November 23, 2019 at the UBC Botanical Gardens. If you have 7, 920 documented hours in the horticulture industry (roughly four seasons) you can challenge the Red Seal exam. This preparation course is an excellent way to increase your chances of passing. Here is why.

Egan Davis

Egan Davis, the instructor, teaches at the UBC Botanical Gardens and he is super experienced and knowledgeable. He is a plant geek. You can ask him lots of questions but not about actual exam questions. Those are kept secret. You have to earn the Red Seal qualification; there are no short-cuts. The exam tests your knowledge and experience.

Egan sports a booming voice and excellent delivery. I doubt you will forget spending a day with him. He helped me pass in 2014 and I will forever be grateful to him.

2014

When I took this course in 2014 I was in a rush because up-coming municipal jobs required Red Seal papers. And the preparation course was very new and evolving which is why it was free. Now it will cost you $90 but trust me, it is money well spent.

I took the full day course, studied for a few weeks and took comfort in the words of my municipal gardener boss. She told me I would do well based on listening to my comments in the field. This definitely encouraged me. The rest was all work experience from fifteen seasons in the field and landscape industry certified studies.

I did not smash the test but I passed! Now the ITA Red Seal diploma hangs on my wall and I am proud of it.

The key

All attendees received a thick manual which focused on areas where people struggle most. See, I told you, money well spent. I have no idea if attendees still receive manuals or what is in them but I bet it is something similar.

If you have any questions, call or e-mail Bill Hardy, he will help you: bhardy@horteducationbc.com or 604-430-0422.

Red Seal Landscape Horticulturist qualification is a nice trade paper to have. It identifies you as an experienced professional and should, in theory, lead to better pay. It also allows you to take on new apprentices.

If you are thinking about challenging the Red Seal exam in landscape horticulture take the preparation course first. Ninety dollars is a steal. Trust me.

Good luck!

Nov 12

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Remembrance Day

By Vas Sladek | Events, Trees | No Comments

Today is Remembrance Day, a day to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom today. Unfortunately, I had to work today but I did stop at 11 a.m. to remember those who made their ultimate sacrifice.

A new bed

In 2014, while working for the City of Coquitlam as a park labourer, we created a new bed for Remembrance Day at Blue Mountain Park. And now I drive by the park weekly so I remember fallen soldiers all year.

In subsequent years the municipality redesigned the front planted bed but the plants in the back remain. And I’m glad they do because I planted them with my city gardener boss. We planted yews (Taxus), Astilbes, maples (Acer) and one dogwood (Cornus).

I planted all of the back plants in 2014 with my city gardener boss. They all look fine.

First bare-root planting

The dogwood planting was very special because it was my first bare-root planting. Bare-root planting is recommended because when you wash off the root ball you can clearly see the tree roots. This then allows you to arrange them so they look like spokes on a wheel before planting. We want all roots to run out and get established, not keep running in circles. Feel free to prune out any rebel roots.

When you wash off the root ball, hold on to the mud you create. You will use it to plant the tree after your roots are nicely arranged like spokes on a wheel. The mud anchors the bare-root tree in the hole. At the time I didn’t know this. Keeping mud in the back of the truck seemed crazy.

The procedure is to install the muddy soil in phases: soil and water go in and then you wait for it to settle, and repeat the procedure until the hole is filled. The mud cements the tree in the hole.

When we did the planting in 2014 the lawn and soil were wet so I got very muddy but it didn’t bother me. I loved the new experience of bare-root planting.

2019

Now, five years later in 2019, I finally stopped by to take a picture of the dogwood and it looks healthy. I gave it a quick wiggle test by moving the trunk back and forth. The base felt solid which means the tree is established. Yay! Success. The other plants look fine as well.

The dogwood in the middle was planted bare-root in 2014.

It feels good to know that my work will be on display for many years to come. I have since done one solo bare-root planting project and I hope to do many more. You should try it next time, too.

I hope you had a great Remembrance Day!

Oct 25

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Lowest point as a landscaper

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping | No Comments

Someone online asked an interesting question: what was your lowest point as a landscaper? Aha. So I gave it some thought and my answer took me to the beginning. I started landscaping in 2000 and I was an eager apprentice working at a prominent landscape maintenance company.

Deep edging

One important winter task we had to perform was establishing deep edges. It was a lot of labour sticking an edging shovel into bed edges at exactly ninety degrees for miles and miles. And since deep edging generated many soil chunks we had to make them disappear.

This was accomplished by shaking off any grass and disposing of it; the remaining soil was cultivated into the bed. Repeat.

As hard as it was, deep edging gave our beds nice definition and a sharp look. But there was more.

Ninety degree edge gives this bed nice definition.

Lowest point

One day I was given a respirator and a plastic applicator full of the granular herbicide Casoron. It wasn’t very clearly explained to me at the time but Casoron is a pre-emergent granular herbicide. Applied in spring, it sterilizes the soil and prevents weeds from germinating.

Few weeds means fewer labour dollars spent on weeding. Casoron application is now illegal in British Columbia but it’s a hard habit to stop. Look around in spring, you will see landscapers quietly sneaking around their sites. But that’s a topic for another blog post.

When it rains after Casoron application, the herbicide can run off and “burn” the grass by leaving it yellow. Beautiful deep edges prevent this from happening. Aha. Vas finally connected the dots.

Was this the wrong company for me? And industry? It was definitely my lowest point as a landscaper.

I had just spent weeks deep edging beds just so we could sterilize the beds with a granular herbicide. Herbicide so bad for your olfactory system it could rob you of your sense of smell.

Oct 20

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Collisions between trees and lawn care equipment

By Vas Sladek | Lawn Care, Trees | No Comments

Oct 17

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How to pimp out a barbecue area

By Vas Sladek | landscape maintenance | No Comments

Good landscape maintenance dictates that we follow our plan for the day. Usually there is a set rotation so that every section of a given site is completed. Working without a plan is a recipe for disaster. Landscape foremen must know what tasks they must complete on the day they visit and on the following visit.

When small requests pop up we try to do them right away. Assuming they are small. Anything bigger and time consuming should be pushed to your next visit.

One exception

There are always exceptions, in life and in landscaping. This occurred to me in late July 2019, when a resident came out to alert us to a social event happening that weekend in the barbecue area. Now what? Do you ignore it and continue with your finesse work plan?

We decided to pimp out the barbecue area because when residents have a social event they talk. And the barbecue area needed some help so we switched and attacked the area.

Tasks

One obvious blemish were the many crack weeds showing around the barbecue pit and benches. So we carefully line trimmed them to oblivion. When you do this work check for nearby windows and pedestrians so there isn’t any trouble.

All unsightly crack weeds are gone.

I also pruned the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) lightly. A few branches were sticking out into the walkway; and there were some dead branches inside the tree. You should be able to see through Japanese maples.

The other maple (Acer palmatum disectum) had a weeping habit and it didn’t require any pruning but there was a lot of landscape fabric showing around the tree. That’s very unsightly. Landscape fabric should be covered by several inches of mulch.

Since we didn’t have any fresh mulch, I poached some mulch from a lonely corner on the site. Poaching mulch from a neighbouring site would be wrong.

Weeds and tree seedlings were also removed from both beds. I cultivated where the old landscape fabric was still covered by mulch. This gives the bed a fresh look and it uproots weeds.

The final task is always a courtesy clean-up blow. Just try not to blow too long in summer because it’s hot and dusty outside and windows are open. I blew the barbecue area and bailed, satisfied that the residents would enjoy their barbecue.

Weeds and seedlings are gone, the bed is cultivated and the maple is off the walkway.

Oct 01

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Would you raze your garden?

By Vas Sladek | gardening | No Comments

Would you raze your own garden? It seems like a radical waste of time but I like the idea. What if you try gardening and years later you admit to yourself that you’re not really a gardener?

This blog post was inspired by a story I had read in the Globe and Mail newspaper. The writer started gardening in her small Calgary garden and everything went well. Her husband helped with spring preparations and the garden produced all sorts of vegetables for the family.

Then they moved to British Columbia where their new neighbours were gardening all-stars. And it must have been a bit intimidating.

I have some experience with this. I was once a happy community garden plot “owner” and then I made the mistake of renting a bigger plot. It was bigger but also closer to the main building. This meant close scrutiny of my plot by a gardener on disability with time to kill. He would constantly analyze my vegetable choices and rob me of the joy of growing and experimenting with new plants. I let my plot go to some lucky person on the waiting list. And to this day I regret accepting the bigger garden plot.

Back to our family. While the husband helped in spring, he didn’t do much beyond that. Same with the kids. The wife was left to care for the garden, weeding, planting, watering, harvesting. And soon she was overwhelmed.

That’s when the family decided to quit. The husband went out and razed the garden; the wife walked out on the patio and instead of worrying about the garden, she opened up a book and relaxed. The change felt great. They weren’t really gardeners and they openly admitted it.

I totally loved reading this article because it’s different from beautiful garden magazine stories. You never read about people giving up and razing their gardens. That wouldn’t sell many gardening magazines or books, tools and seeds.