Blog - Page 51 of 61 - Proper Landscaping Inc.

Nov 04

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Landscape maintenance mistakes, vol.3

By Vas Sladek | Edging, gardening, Landscaping, Lawn Care | No Comments

Here is volume three examining basic mistakes made in landscape maintenance. Learning from other people’s mistakes is much easier. It speeds up our progress. And to become landscape professionals we must progress. That’s mandatory.

A) Re-fuelling like pigs

Sure, accidents can happen. But unnecessary fuel spills cost money, they pollute the environment and they look awful. Imagine if you park your truck in the same spot once a week. It becomes an eye-sore and a potential source of complaints.

Gas up on tarps. (Stay away from grass as it burns and turns yellow.)

B) Don’t leave deep edging chunks behind

Proper deep edging requires a 90 degree edge. Nothing else will do. As you deep edge you will most likely generate some turf chunks. When you clean up, remove all chunks. Finesse the bed like a pro.

Inadequate clean-up; note weeds and chunks

Much better!

C) Mower collisions with trees

This is horrific. One collision may be fine. The tree will be forced to spend precious resources on fixing the damage, instead of on growing. Repeated collisions will kill the tree as water flow is interrupted. Keep your mowers away from trees. Period. Put up tree guards.

A tight fit. To stay on the curb, the mower deck collides with tree bark. Weekly!?

D) Stepping on frosty lawns

If you can help it, stay off frosty lawns. When the lawn is frosty, the grass blades have little oxygen and water inside. That means they can not bounce back the way they do in summer. They get crushed.

Stay off frosty lawns if possible

With little water and oxygen inside frosty grass blades they can’t bounce back and get crushed.

E) Mohawks

Mohawks result from improper overlap. When you finish mowing a line, pivot on the back wheel as you turn. Do not move the back wheel, just spin it around. That should get you nicely lined up.

Mohawks also result from failure to mow straight in laser lines. It takes some practice. The mohawks must be fixed because one week later they will be really noticeable. Practice mowing until you eliminate mohawks forever.

A huge Mohawk. Practice!

Have fun in the field.

Oct 28

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Facing your hardscape fears

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping, Landscaping Equipment, Strata Maintenance, Tips | No Comments

Hardscape shock

2014, Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Sitting in my Red Seal challenge preparation course I was shocked to find out that landscape horticulture involved a lot of hardscape construction. One third of the exam, to be exact. And I wasn’t alone. Many of the other candidates also expected questions on plant families and specific plant species. Clearly, we were about to face our fears.

Fast forward to August, 2016. My boss needed help fixing a hazardous spot at the top of a walkway. Uh-uh. Here we go. No more textbooks. This was real life. Plus consider that I prefer working with live plants. I find hardscape materials too cold.

This is what I learned as I faced my fears.

Basics of paving stone repair

A) Taking notes and pictures as you dismantle everything is very important. It makes it easier later when the stones go back in. Stack everything intelligently.

B) Install mason sand (finely crushed sand) to build up the low spots. Park as close as you can to your work area. Our access was limited which meant bucket work. And lots of sweat.

C) Use tamper tool to flatten the sand and even it out.

D) Re-install bricks and use rubber mallets to beat them into place. Pray they all fit.

E) Cover the stones with mason sand and broom them into gaps.

Mission accomplished. Sort of. The big hole was gone but since there was still a small tripping hazard, we will have to go back and dismantle a larger area. Maybe I will call in sick. Or go and face my fears.

A nasty wash-out at the top of a staircase

Keep track of dismantled stones; install mason sand and use tamper tool

Stones go back in, pray it all fits, use rubber mallets

brush mason sand into gaps

fine mason sand

Tools you will need

Oct 25

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New STIHL BR700 blower

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping Equipment, Reviews, Strata Maintenance | No Comments

Fall is incredibly busy for landscape companies. Now there is extra help in the form of a new Stihl blower. Introducing BR700.

It helps to have a good relationship with your dealer. That’s how my employer recently got hooked up with a test unit of this brand new backpack blower from Stihl. Personally, I get more excited by plants than machines but product testing can be fun. Testing this bad boy was fun. So was writing a blog post about it.

Big gun

Stihl’s brand new backpack blower BR700 is a big gun! It’s their biggest, most powerful blower. This is the kind machine residents in Vancouver’s West End, where blowers are banned, have nightmares about. Landscapers will be asking Santa for one unit under their trees.

You will notice the huge adjustable telescopic tube with an adjustable control handle. This allows workers of different heights to adjust the unit. It’s quick and easy. I love this feature.

The air volume at the nozzle is 30 percent more than for its older sister blower BR600. 1550 cubic meters per hour vs. 1150 cubic meters per hour. This is why the blower is ideal for large properties and tough landscaping tasks. Nozzle attachments are available for more directed flow.

One word of caution. Blowing out leafy beds with this beast might lead to soil loss. The BR600 might be better suited for this. If you have to push leaves down a road the BR700 is great.

Other features

adjustable support harness
anti-vibration system helps reduce operator fatigue
semi-automatic choke for smooth and easy starts
fuel-efficient engine

testing, testing…..Stihl’s new BR700

Handle adjusts easily with a quick-release lever; the tube telescopes after a few twists

Nozzle attachments are available; there is less power at nozzle end compared to BR600

Conclusion

After testing, every crew got one of these big boys to help out with leaf clean up. The BR700 is powerful and a pleasure to use. I highly recommend it.

Oct 23

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All about Japanese Hasegawa landscape tripod ladders

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping Equipment, Reviews | No Comments

Hasegawa landscape tripod ladders are beautiful! In late September, while strolling through the CanWest Horticultural Show trade floor, I ran into a Hasegawa ladder booth. Then it hit me. Vancouver Sun’s Steve Whysall had written about these ladders and how he dismissed them because of the cost. Now I had them in front me to try out. Great!

My observations

1.These ladders are really light. The ten foot version was easy to move.

2. The steps (rungs) are doubled which reduces the chance of slipping, and increases the chance of mud clearing from your boots

3. The third leg adjusts easily with a spring-loaded pin in 6″ increments and connects to the body with a chain. This works great when working on uneven ground.

4. There are no bolts to tighten; all joints are hand-welded.

5. The ten foot version retails at $435, which is expensive. Steve Whysall was right. I would worry about this ladder going missing off my truck.

6. Designed in Japan, production has now shifted to China. What hasn’t? Allegedly production conforms to Japanese Industrial Standards.

7. The only landscaper I know who has a Hasegawa tripod ladder attached to the side of his trailer is Japanese!

8. Rubber boots are available for the clawed feet ( set of 3 for $50)

Brochure notes

no wobble
no screws
welded by hand
extendable back leg
extremely light weight
platform ladder available
Hasegawa has the reputation for making the best quality and safest tripod ladders in use today
incredibly safe and easy to use

Vancouver distributor

Steve Osmond 778-988-7303, gogostevo@gmail.com

beautiful wide base, stable and note the rubber shoes for hard surfaces

no screws! hand-welded

Third leg articulates with a spring-loaded pin in 6″ increments, the pin moved easily

handout photo

Bottom of clawed foot; rubber shoes available for work on hard surfaces

Hasegawa ladder on a trailer owned by a Japanese gardener

Conclusion

If your budget allows, buy this tripod ladder for your tree, garden and landscape work. I will. In the future. Call Steve at 778-988-7303 with questions.

Disclaimer: always use ladders safely! I am in no way associated with Hasegawa ladders or their distribution. The review is based on my observations at CanWest.

Oct 21

2

Rhododendron pruning 101: rejuvenation

By Vas Sladek | Education, gardening, Landscaping, Tips | 2 Comments

Three pruning actions on rhododendrons

There are three pruning actions associated with rhododendrons. One is the removal of spent flowers (trusses) and any diseased or dead wood. Most rhodos produce seeds and you can get your rhodo to concentrate on growth by removing the spent flowers. Do this soon after flowering before the new buds get big and set. I prefer hand pinching. Just be careful so you don’t injure the buds below. Use hand snips if you are worried.

Trusses still on

Trusses pinched off

The second pruning action is for shape. Just follow the branch down to the last whorl of leaves you want to keep and cut just above those leaves. This is what I recommend to clients who wish to keep their rhododendrons from getting too big.

But what if your rhodo is too big? Now what? In this case we employ pruning action three: rejuvenation, which sounds better than renovation. This involves bravely making large cuts and significantly reducing the plant size. This works because rhodos are special. Examine their bark and look for tiny pink dots. Those are latent buds. Always aim to cut above these buds. Best case: cut above a cluster of latent buds. Then watch.

One example

Here is one example from my work site. This rejuvenation pruning was done at a corner unit where there was a problem with vehicle sight lines. Drivers couldn’t see properly when turning. So out came the saw as soon as the request was made. This was the result.

Not much to look at right after pruning. Reduced to 30%.

A few weeks later…..

Latent buds popping

Latent buds in action, a cluster of four buds below the cut

Much better after a few weeks

September 2016

September 2016

Rhododendrons are forgiving plants. Pinch off flower clusters (trusses) soon after flowering and prune for size. Bravely make big cuts if rejuvenation is required.

References: Fine Gardening, issue 86.

Oct 17

0

Notes on urban agriculture

By Vas Sladek | gardening | No Comments

Strata garden plot

There she was. A lovely mother of two busily tending to her community garden plots. It was a sunny morning and the plants were in need of water. The two plots are small but her strata council has approved the construction of one more plot. It wasn’t easy, nor quick, but there will be more space for growing stuff. Not every strata council is this accommodating. Most condo patios are either too small or don’t receive enough sunlight for serious growing.

There is a water barrel for watering. All members take turns watering and taking care of the plots. The harvest is shared among them. Community.

This is a humble strata complex garden plot

Globe article

Soon after meeting this lady, I opened up my Globe and Mail newspaper. I was immediately grabbed by Ian Clarke’s article “The future is inefficient, and it tastes just fine” (The Globe and Mail, Wednesday August 10, 2016)

It is clear that there is more and more interest in these gardens. A mother of two is happy to know that her vegetables are organic, she can save a bit of cash and use the plot to teach her kids about food. This is nothing new. Michelle Obama famously planted a kitchen garden at the White House to promote the value of urban agriculture.

Several years ago I had a community garden plot in the Burquitlam area of Coquitlam. Busy at the time and annoyed with one of the garden directors, I gave up. Now I wish I hadn’t.

As The Globe article mentions, during the world wars, the government encouraged people to plant food gardens in all available urban spaces.

Urban agriculture

From tiny backyard plots, community and school gardens to larger commercial farms, the urban agriculture sector is expanding. It will never replace rural farms. But check out the benefits. It can:

reduce the carbon footprint of our food
create resilient cities and food systems
reduce the urban heat island and air-conditioning costs
reduce demands on city infrastructure
create jobs

Urban agriculture is:

smaller in scale
usually more biodiverse
responds to local tastes and demands
technically inefficient as it uses local workers who make more cash
it is very efficient at producing good food and jobs

I can’t wait to see how the third garden plot develops.

Oct 10

0

Yours to discover: Acer campestre

By Vas Sladek | Arborist Insights, Landscaping, Species | No Comments

First encounter with Acer campestre

Working in Langley, BC on an early spring day, I noticed a low tree branch obstructing an entrance. This is called ‘landscape eye’ and the subject of an earlier blog post. So out came my snips and the branch was cleared out of the way. In seconds. Then the ‘bleeding’ started! In seconds. Oops. I noticed the samaras and only then realized this was a maple tree. The actual species name escaped me because this was our first encounter. I would later look it up and a blog was born.

Maple rule

Maples are ‘bleeders’. They lose large amounts of sap when pruned at the wrong time. This is the maple rule: prune before Christmas or in summer. This was early spring so the sap ‘bleeding’ was noticeable. One week later it had stopped. Thankfully.

If you prune in summer, make sure it’s not under drought conditions. Under drought conditions, trees close their leaf openings to avoid water loss. This means that carbon dioxide can’t enter and food can’t be produced. The tree lives on reserves stored in its branches. If you prune too many branches off, you can starve the tree.

Field maple details

Campestre means ‘from fields’. It is an attractive medium-sized deciduous street tree. It tolerates urban conditions like drought, clay soils, air pollution and soil compaction. It prefers full sun to part shade conditions. It has yellow fall color and can be pruned, sometimes even harshly. In Europe it’s shaped into hedges.

The leaves have five blunt lobes.

This is a low-maintenance street tree. The only work I have done on these trees is walkway clearance. I have yet to encounter this maple species on other sites.

Have you seen Acer campestre?

5 lobes and samaras

Not much work to be done on these trees, other than walkway and house obstruction

City street location with plenty of sun

Sep 30

0

Stihl Lawngrips shoe review

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping, Reviews | No Comments

The Stihl Lawngrips shoes for landscape professionals are great shoes! And yet, it’s ironic that as I finally sit down to write this review blog post, my latest pair is falling apart. I’ve bought at least ten pairs of these shoes without experiencing any major problems. As a busy landscape professional I “killed” the shoes through heavy use.

My last two pairs, however, suffered from a manufacturing defect. See picture below. My dealer kindly exchanged the shoes and the replacement pair lasted barely two weeks. Then the dealer refused to hand over a third new pair. He called Stihl and their response was that they wanted to see the shoes. Great! I get a refund but I’m without my favorite shoes. I will buy a pair from another dealer and hope they last longer. Stihl will get to examine my shoes.

Having gone through at least ten pairs, I feel qualified to review the shoes. (Disclaimer: I’m in no way associated, compensated or sponsored by Stihl. The opinions expressed here are mine and I stand by them.)

Pros:

the shoes feel great for working boots (light weight)
you barely notice they have steel toe and steel plate in sole
they really don’t slip on grassy slopes
they look good and sport the Stihl logo
the retail $99 plus tax cost is good if you compare it to other work boots on the market
specifically designed for landscape professionals
CSA approved
available in shoe and boot style

Cons:

my recent bad experiences make me wonder about the manufacturing quality control
as you wear out the sole, you will reach a point where the shoes make “sucking” sounds when on hard surfaces
the shoelaces must be double-tied otherwise they come undone
many dealers in the Lower Mainland don’t carry the boot version

This was my first-ever hassle with these shoes. Note the crack after only a few weeks.

On the last day….

This is how your Lawngrips will show their age

I love these shoes! Considering my recent hassles, I give them 8/10. If you are a landscape professional you owe it to yourself to test one pair. Good luck.

Sep 23

0

Develop your landscape eye

By Vas Sladek | gardening, Landscaping, Tips | No Comments

Landscape eye

Developing your landscape eye is a critical skill. It takes time to develop but your landscape, bosses and clients will thank you for it. Basically, landscape eye refers to your ability to read a landscape and figure out what’s missing, totally wrong or just slightly off. This usually comes with experience once workers are fully proficient on all equipment.

I started landscaping at a prominent Lower Mainland landscape maintenance corporation we don’t need to name. There, the in-house seminar on “Developing your landscape eye” was delivered by the company owner. Not managers. The owner. That was no accident. Workers with good landscape eye can make corrections which leads to sharper and healthier landscapes. This seminar was a platform for the company owner to train his workers to see the landscape the way he does.

Some obvious examples are weeds, shrub spikes, walkway obstruction, flower deadheading, broken tree branches, tree branches touching buildings, missed blade edging, lawns that don’t look lush, dead plants, garbage, debris, cedar pruning lines, shoddy clean ups, etc.

Examples

Obvious weed problem

Ask yourself: how were these weeds allowed to get this big?

A broken Acer circinatum branch: remove ASAP

Pinus mugo half way across sidewalk: prune back

A broken branch on Liquidambar styraciflua in a high-profile location

Dead cedars

Yucca flower spike can be removed

Mulch volcano: we can’t cover with mulch anything above the root flare or the tree suffers

Very poor tree cuts: the cut below was correct

Hardscape hazards

Tree collisions: to stay on the curb, mowers collide with this tree weekly. Put up a tree guard and instruct workers to avoid all collisions. Repeated abuse kills trees.

The deep edge is fine (90 degrees!) but we can’t leave the chunks. Very poor clean up.

This is common: tree branches touch the building

Remove low branches on trees; we can’t have branches develop this low

Remove suckers off tree trunk (above) and ivy (Hedera helix) below

As you move and work through your gardens and landscapes, pause to take a good look. Does it all makes sense? Is it all healthy and beautiful? Work on developing your landscape eye.

Sep 17

0

Viburnum tinus: problems and solutions

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping, Species, Strata Maintenance | No Comments

We briefly considered Viburnum tinus in an earlier blog. Now is a good time to re-visit the shrub. I was asked recently to plant 15 Euonymus alatus compacta plants for a strata council member. When I arrived at her unit, I realized we had pulled 15 Viburnum tinus specimens because they were full of holes. Holes which resulted from Pyrrhalta viburni beetles feeding on their leaves. Normally it’s a nice looking shrub with flowers and berries. Once the beetles attack, it’s over fairly quickly.

I remember once shearing a weak hedge of Viburnum tinus and getting covered in annoyed beetles. The adults are difficult to control. They can fly away or drop to the ground. In organic Port Moody, British Columbia, there weren’t any chemical controls for the larvae or adult beetles.

Healthy Viburnum tinus

Attacked by….. (Note skeletonized look)

….Pyrrhalta viburni; Adults and larva feed on the plant

When this happens you have two choices:

flush cut the Viburnum and let it grow back
replace it with another shrub

The strata council member opted for option number two. Since the site already sports many healthy specimens of Euonymus alatus compacta, the decision was easy; and budget allowed for it. The whole operation took me about an hour. ( The boss was working directly across the street at another site.)

Replacements ready to go; Space out the pots properly before planting

watch the planting hole depth

done, just add water

All done! Plants are watered in and sidewalk is hosed off to avoid upsetting the owner

Instead of looking at stumps or worrying about chemical controls, consider replacement. It is a neater option. If your shrubs are suffering with skeletonized leaves, plant something new. Change is good! Edit your landscape and have some fun with it, if budget allows. It might be a minor blessing.