Blog - Page 51 of 63 - Proper Landscaping Inc.

Jan 13

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Abandoned Japanese garden

What happens to private gardens when the owners pass on and they get abandoned? I was thinking about this on my vacation this past August. The Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) at the house next door to my in-laws in Niigata City, Japan, was sticking out into the lane. So I took my mother-in-law’s ancient pruning tool and removed all shoots poking out into the lane.

I still remember the couple who lived in the house. They would sit in their kotatsu and look out into the lane through their garden. I lived next door for five years in the 1990s. Eventually the shock wore off as they got used to seeing a white gaijin. I recall only brief small-talk exchanges. I never learned their names.

Then one day, six years ago, I got a phone call from my wife who happened to be visiting at home with our little kids. The man from next door knocked on the sliding door with some urgency. Would my wife help him cut down his wife? Huh? She was still hanging on the side of the house, having committed suicide. To this day, I’m not sure why. Illness leading to money issues? Old age? Panicked and home alone with little kids, my wife sent him to the family construction office. Two office ladies helped him with his unpleasant task. My wife eventually calmed down.

Sadly, the man next door survived his wife by barely a year or two. And as he declined, so did the garden. The family now visits the house periodically but the garden stays untouched.

The Wisteria floribunda is growing through the Acer palmatum. The driveway is weedy. Inside the gate, there is Lavender that requires pruning; the weeds are very tall. Give me one hour or two and it will be good as new. But I wouldn’t even dare step inside the gate. The lady ended her life just around the corner. I think the space between the wall and house was used for drying clothes. The vibe isn’t good. May they both rest in peace.

Wild Wisteria floribunda; I cut it back off the lane, the only work I did in two weeks off

Abandoned garden!

Massive weeds; note the sad Aucuba japonica on the right. The poor lady ended her life around the corner.

Jan 09

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Landscape horticulture apprentice Branden Dallas

By Vas Sladek | Education, Landscape Industry | No Comments

Since I challenged the Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist exam, I missed out on the four winter school sessions all apprentices are required to go through. (I didn’t miss out on the hard work but I did avoid EI collection.)

It was interesting to catch up with Branden Dallas who was putting in his first work day after completing level two of the four year apprenticeship program. I asked him a few questions. His answers are edited but they follow the notes I took during our talk. This might be of interest to workers interested in taking the four year horticulture apprenticeship program. The program is win-win for all parties. The apprentice gains work experience and Red Seal status, the employer gets a decent worker for four years and, hopefully, beyond. Canada gains trained trades people.

Branden Dallas

V: Can you tell us about the program set-up?

B: The winter session at Burnaby Continuing Education goes for six weeks starting in early November. My employer sponsored me by employing me during the season, by completing all paperwork and by covering the $1250 school fee. While I’m in school, EI covers 55% of my regular pay. EI application is done by the student. There is a final exam to sit, three hours long. Course passing mark is 75%. Final grades are sent through e-mail.

V: What was your typical school day like?

B: The school days are Monday to Friday, 9 to 3:30 pm with one hour for lunch. We had four different instructors. Field trips happened at least once a week and I enjoyed all of them. In class we followed a printed manual and books like “Botany for gardeners“. [ By Brian Capon]

V: What was the best part of the school session?

B: Definitely machines. Machines like backhoes. I wasn’t the best in class at it but it was a fun challenge. We built up soil in a bed close to the school.

V: What was the worst part of the school session?

B: Soils! The instructor was a Ph.D. candidate and he crammed a lot of soil science into a few classes. My head was spinning at the end. It was dry.

V: What are your future plans?

B: I will work for my employer all year to gain important landscape work experience. Then I will register for level three of the program this winter.

If you are interested in landscape horticulture this is a great program for you and your employer.

Jan 06

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Allright ladder fun

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

Tripod ladders rule

Japanese-style tripod ladders are excellent landscape and garden tools! Out in the field helping one of our strata maintenance crews with pruning, I took my lunch and opened up the Vancouver Sun. There, on page B3 was an article on ladders by Steve Whysall. Happy coincidence!

Let’s get to the best part right away. The single peg on the ladder is brilliant because you can position it almost anywhere. It will fit through hedges and you can punch it into your soil for stability. The most common size is ten feet. Since I was pruning small hedges in tight entrances, the small six foot ladder was perfect. It’s light to carry and maneuver and it got me just high enough to perform my cedar shearing. Lifting the extendable shears above my shoulders is tiring and leads to needless exhaust sucking. Why do that? Always position yourself for maximum output and comfort.

6 ft ladder is easy to maneuver in tight entrances and gets you just high enough to shear the cedars nicely

Safety

Obviously, the bigger the ladder and the higher you are, the bigger the dangers. Always think about safety. Don’t rush. My only serious injury in seventeen seasons of landscaping happened while I was descending one of the bigger ladders. It was a 12 or 14 foot “widow-maker”. I started descending before my power shears were completely stopped. Yeah, I know, this was early in my career. Then my thumb met the steel blades. If it hadn’t been for my nail, the top of my thumb would have been missing. I still recall my helper down below, horrified by my blood dripping on her.

Incidentally, this was also the first- and I hope only- time when I jumped the line at a walk-in medical clinic. I remember an older gentleman probably waiting for his cough syrup, objecting to my line jump. I couldn’t care less.

The Allright Ladder Company is based in Vancouver and it is the oldest ladder company in Canada. They’ve been making them since 1921. Visit their website for safety information or read the Vancouver Sun article sidebar.

As the fall and winter pruning seasons come, I will use these Japanese-style tripod pruning ladders often. Consider getting one for your garden. Most landscape companies have them on their trucks.

6 ft is the smallest available ladder from Allright

Jan 04

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Requiem for a Recycling facility

By Vas Sladek | Landscape Industry | No Comments

Only a landscaper would find the long-term closure of a recycling facility distressing. So let’s just say it. It sucks. The Coquitlam Construction Recovery Facility at 995 United Blvd, in Coquitlam, closed last November 30. The actual reasons for the closure by Wastech Services Ltd. are not very clear to me. It’s a long twisted tale that would explode the post length SEO settings for any blog on the internet. It was a mix of decline in construction material recycling volumes and pressure from the land owners of the recovery plant located nearby at 1200 United Blvd. Now we are promised a brand new facility in two years. I hope the workers who lost their jobs found suitable employment for 2017.

Why was the facility beautiful?

It was never really super busy; I don’t recall any extra long wait times.
The green waste dumping area was very large. It made green waste dumping a breeze with a larger one tonne truck. No stress with backing into tight spaces. Washroom nearby.
The location was brilliant, close as it was to both work sites and truck parking.

Alternatives

The handout given to all customers showed three of the closest disposal options. So let’s take a look at the two I know. The closest dump is the nearby Coquitlam Resource Recovery Plant at 1200 United Blvd, Coquitlam. Once you clear the scale turn right and follow the blue line into the covered green waste dumping area. It fits 5-6 trucks comfortably. I find the exit a bit tight. The overwhelming smell of garbage is responsible for quick dumping times. Crew helpers are less inclined to milk it.

Getting into the facility can be challenging. This blog post was inspired by a long line-up that spilled over to United Blvd and required traffic controllers to risk their lives. Residents come to dump garbage and recyclables; and big garbage trucks also come in. That’s when I miss the now closed facility.

Meadows Landscape Recycling Center, 17799 Ferry Slip Road, in Pitt Meadows is a bit of a drive. The green waste dumping area is small, good for 3-4 trucks, but it’s much improved over the dump that used to be inside the Meadows Landscape Center. I clearly recall the elderly gentlemen who would park their trucks and trailers parallel to the dump and proceed to empty their garbage bags by hand.

I’m not familiar with Urban Wood Recyclers at 10 Spruce Street, in New Westminster. It’s commercial only.

So for now we dump most of our green waste at 1200 United Blvd and wait for the old facility to re-open. Good luck to all of the workers who lost their jobs. I hope Wastech helped them.

Handout for all customers

My last historic dump run on the last day

Jan 01

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Winter failure of co-dominant stems on maples

By Vas Sladek | Arborist Insights, Landscaping | No Comments

It was yet another snow day. Just before Christmas. En route to a snow clearing session, we got a call to check out a damaged tree. So we turned around. Only the one damaged tree turned out to be eighteen. Mostly maples (Acer). It was shocking to see the trees fall apart after snowfall, overnight freezing and morning rain. The damage was recent and branches were snapping as we spoke to the garden liaison. She was clearly distressed and eager to speak to an arborist. I didn’t have good news for her.

Let’s examine the Acers on site. They clearly had lots of co-dominant stems with included bark. Why is that so bad?

C0-dominant stems are not proper branches. Proper branches have several layers of overlapping wood a their junction points. Some of this wood is produced by the trunk and some of it by the branch. This means that the point of attachment is very strong!
Included bark is a problem. Imagine two stems growing as if they were the leaders. They grow by producing bark, cambium, phloem and xylem. As the two stems grow bigger, some of their bark gets buried inside the junction. This only weakens the junction point and increases the chance of failure.
Normal branches have bark protection zones. These are areas inside the wood, near the branch-trunk junction. They are rich in protective chemicals that help to prevent pathogens from reaching inside the trunk. So, when kids snap a branch on the way from school, the protection zone does its job of sealing the trunk from pathogens. Co-dominant stems lack these protection areas so diseases can travel down to the trunk. This also makes it difficult to remove one stem because the wound won’t get help with keeping disease out. Normally it would be good if you could prune one of the co-dominant stems right out.
Trees with damaged co-dominant stems often die. The wounds are horrific and because they lack bark protection zones, pathogens, fungi and pests get in.

It turns out, maples are known for co-dominant stems. The site we were on looks very different after the costly removal of eighteen trees. What can you do? Port Moody hasn’t seen this much snow in a long time.

Day of failure pictures

Two co-dominant stems. One is gone. The wound is large. The tree got removed.

There is no comeback from this wound, even if you had a bark protection zone.

Always consider safety! This Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) branch came down five minutes after we arrived.

Post-removal picture

Dec 30

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Perfect lawn: “American Green” book review

By Vas Sladek | Books, Landscape Industry, Landscaping, Lawn Care | No Comments

This is a true story about green lawns and how they came to dominate in the United States. Ted Steinberg’s “American Green: the obsessive quest for the perfect lawn” is an excellent book.
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Steinberg is an environmental historian and it shows. Landscapers, gardeners, and people who love or hate lawns should definitely read it. As a landscape professional I found it fascinating on my second reading.

The book isn’t new. It was published in 2006. I read it and my copy ended up in storage until now. My second reading was better. I recommend buying the softcover edition for your own library.

Steinberg takes you from the Origins, through the Dark Side and into the Future. With global warming and severe droughts in California, the Future chapters would look different if the second edition were to be published now in 2016.

Some things haven’t changed. People still die in ride-on mower accidents and Latinos still dominate the workforce in places like California. The excerpts from Spanish Phrases for Landscaping Professionals alone are worth the book cost. For example, Nosostros no ofrecemos seguro de salud (we don’t offer health insurance.)

In the Origins you will meet the key characters that shaped the landscape industry and made the lawn a key feature. It really is a fascinating question: why should the lawn dominate so much? A huge industry developed around it as landscape turned into landscaping. A father and son would share the lawn care work around their home but eventually a new industry rose up to do the work for them. Fertilizer and pesticide use went up and soon a debate started. Lawn lovers versus detractors.

This client loves his lawns….

The case for brown lawns now makes a lot of sense. With water restrictions in the US and Canada, it makes sense to let lawns go dormant in summer. Unless you are rich and living in a place where brown can’t happen. But that will be the subject of a future blog post based on a recent Harper’s magazine story from California.

You can dive deep into this subject if you follow Steinberg’s notes. I looked up an interesting story from 1983. It was a case where a wife in Massachusetts wanted to surprise her husband with a beautiful lawn. She hired a company but managed to catch a worker urinating on her property. When she confronted him, he assaulted her, choked and strangled her and eventually crushed her skull with pieces from a retaining wall.

Defence lawyers argued that repeated exposure to chemicals made the 23 year old worker unable to decide between right and wrong. The jury disagreed. First degree murder charge carried an automatic life sentence for the recent college graduate. A sad and bizarre story.

If you work in the green industry, this is one must-read book. Likewise if you love or hate lawns. Five stars out of five.

Vas now understands how landscape turned into landscaping

Dec 23

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A note on landscape bathroom breaks

By Vas Sladek | Lawn Care | No Comments

Landscape bathroom breaks

At first glance, this may seem like an off-putting blog post topic. You’re right. But read on because it gets better. Landscapers spend long seasons in the field dealing with rain, extreme heat, machine noise, and sometimes unkind clients and harsh bosses. Lack of proper bathrooms on work sites is the final indignity.

If you’re lucky, your strata complex has a fob key and you have access to proper bathrooms. This is especially important for female workers. Driving off-site to use proper bathrooms is an unfortunate loss of time. Guys have it easier. Sometimes you can find a pee break site with benefits. In one case, it was ready access to ripe native salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis).

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One of the best pee break spots with ripe salmon berries

David Garabedian

Now consider the bizarre March 29, 1983 case of Dave Garabedian, a 23-year-old lawn care worker. Dave was a recent college graduate and worked for the Old Fox Lawn Company in Chelmsford, MA, USA. One day he URINATED on his client’s lawn. The client, 34-year-old Eileen Muldoon confronted Dave about his indiscretion. An argument ensued and it turned into assault as Dave used his hand to choke and strangle the woman. He then removed a drawstring from his uniform and strangled the woman a second time. Skull-crushing rocks followed at the end, taken from a retaining wall.

The prosecution said “it began with an argument, it escalated into an assault and it ended with an execution.” And what about the defense? The defense built a case around the chemical dursban. It argued that Dave’s repeated exposure to dursban in the two weeks prior to the incident made him unable to distinguish between right or wrong. The six man jury deliberated and disagreed. First-degree murder convictions in Massachusetts carry automatic life sentences.

All the woman wanted was to give her husband a gift of a beautiful lawn. Sad. And bizarre.

Sources: UPI.com archives; “American Green: the obsessive quest for the perfect lawn” by Ted Steinberg

Dec 16

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Vancouver Tree Book

By Vas Sladek | Arborist Insights, Books, Reviews | No Comments

Vancouver Tree Book by David Tracey is now available in bookstores. Normally I would wait for Amazon to ship the book but I didn’t want to wait. Not for a new tree book. I picked it up from Chapter’s for $21, tax included. Not bad.

It’s pocket-sized and features 100 trees. It will easily slip into your backpack. One nice touch is that we are given actual City of Vancouver spots where the trees can be seen. There is also a list of 10 treasured trees in the city.

The illustrations are very nice. Since this is a pocket guide, only basic information is presented. After scanning the guide, it’s clear I still have some work left to do on my tree identification skills. Not to worry. I will get there. I’m an arborist just like Tracey.

Having discovered Acer campestre in Langley and nowhere else, I was relieved to find out that there are plenty of specimens in Vancouver. My favorite tree, Albizia julibrissin is also in the guide, which means the guide automatically gets a passing grade.

The guide makes references to an earlier book on Vancouver Trees. Trees of Vancouver by Gerald B. Straley we learn is now out of print (I have a copy!) . Sadly, the author has passed away. That makes my copy that much more precious.

Unlike Tracey’s pocket guide, this is a bigger book that covers over 470 trees and includes leaf drawings. In the middle are 86 beautiful color photographs. Location information is also given which makes it easy for you to locate your favorite species. Tracey obviously copied this handy approach.

New and pocket-sized, 100 trees

Information on 470 trees, now out of print

Summary

This is a handy guide for all green professionals. It’s well worth $21. I will now go through it and scan it for the species I don’t yet know well. I hope you do the same.

Dec 09

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Crazy about gardening: Des Kennedy

By Vas Sladek | Books, Company News, gardening, Reviews | No Comments

Crazy about gardening

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes. Walking back to my car after returning bottles for deposit, I noticed a used bookshop sign. Closing, Final day, 70% off all used books. Aha. A very pleasant detour on my way to discovering Des Kennedy.

Half an hour later I walked out with the BC garden writer’s book. At $1.30 it was a steal. Kennedy is an award-winning writer and it shows. “Crazy about gardening” is a funny book. It’s subtitled “Reflections on the sweet seductions of a garden“. So we know this isn’t a technical manual. The lessons are subtle, mixed in with jokes and stories. If you let him, Kennedy has plenty to teach you.

There were also many spots where I almost reached for my dictionary. I also enjoyed the odd poem:

Life’s a short summer, man a flower.

He dies-alas! how soon he dies.

Obviously, just like stand-up comedy, your enjoyment is directly related to your age and experience. If you are an experienced gardener, you will definitely be entertained. If you are new to gardening, read and learn. Your vocabulary will also improve.

Some highlights

Kennedy hires a water diviner to find water on his property. A water witch. I find this fascinating because my own grandfather did this with outrageous accuracy just outside Prague. As a little city kid, visiting the country, I found it amazing. Grandpa would pick a branch, slice one end in half, grab one end with each hand and walk. Once he hit water, the top uncut end of the branch would dip down towards the ground. Success. Grandpa also made money by digging wells. The hard way.

Dog days droop. Kennedy makes fun of the late summer period when what was beautiful is all of a sudden dreary and desiccated. Pests multiply. April energy is long gone. The gardener temporarily loses grip.

Lawns. We know they use water, fertilizers, herbicides, and require time and effort to maintain. It’s a bizarre fetish. Once the lawn is nicely cut Kennedy admits to feeling a “bizarre little thrill of satisfaction, of emotional well-being.” I concur. There is something to this.

At $1.30 this book was a steal. Des Kennedy is worth whatever Amazon charges for his books. Give him a try.

Dec 02

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Crushing frosty lawns!

By Vas Sladek | Landscaping, Lawn Care, Strata Maintenance | No Comments

In November 2015, as I arrived at a small Burnaby commercial site on a cool Saturday morning, my task was very simple. All I had to do was collect leaves from the base of a cherry tree. But, the lawn was very frosty and I had to be at another site in a few hours.

As I took my first step onto the frosty lawn, I recalled an article from the New York Times I had read several years ago. Let us see what is happening under my big foot.

Big frosty steps

During the growing season as we walk on our properly maintained lush green lawns the individual grass plants are in active growth. The cells that make up their leaves are full of water, food and gases that help them hold their shape and bounce back when stepped on.

When the grass is dormant, the intricate biological processes that happen in the leaf slow to a near stand still. As temperatures dip in winter, the nights are cold enough to begin to freeze the soil below. Now as you walk over the frosty lawn the ground below has little give because it is frozen and the cells in the dormant leaves can not rebound. This is the key point: The grass plant can get crushed under your foot. It is best to limit traffic until a blanket of snow provides cushioning. Aside from cushioning, plants also use snow as insulation, moderating temperatures around their buds and shoots when the temperatures drop.

Hoping that any damage to the lawn was minimal or better yet, imagined, I quickly collected my leaves from the site into a tarp and left. Still feeling a bit guilty. The winter rains would come soon enough. Snow, as good as it is for plant insulation, is bad for business.

It is best to stay off frosty lawns

Guilty steps!