Category

gardening

Oct 07
0

Low-profile zones need love, too!

By | gardening, landscape maintenance | No Comments

Don’t discriminate

I love seeing and knowing the entire garden or strata complex landscape. Not just the high-profile entrance and car ramp areas but every little corner, including raised box beds and back of the building areas. You must move beyond the “beauty strip” to succeed.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about it; but I remembered the idea when I substituted recently for another vacationing landscape foreman. His main helper volunteered to cover the back of the building by himself, which sounds like he reads my blogs. Not so. He’s a smoker and by working at the back of the building he gets to smoke a lot of “fags”. My only worry, with the province in drought conditions, was a human-caused fire in the neighbouring wild zone.

Tasks

Low-profile zones are weedy; full of small weeds and big trophies. There is also some seed drift from the wild zone next door. Cultivation fluffs up the soil nicely as well.

Another less obvious task was establishing tree wells around trees planted in the lawn. Without tree wells to warn lawn care workers about trees, there is bound to be trouble as lawn care machines crash into tree bark. This leads to stress and, if repeated weekly, to death.

Blemishes

When we walked the back area later in the afternoon to assess everything we noticed several blemishes. One was tree stakes installed way too low. Normally, stakes are roughly at chest height, depending on the tree. The stakes we saw were at knee height which makes them ineffective.

Another blemish worth covering in a separate blog, involves shrub planting. Many of the shrubs were sitting high with portions of their root balls exposed. That’s crazy because the roots desiccate and die. Read my next blog post to find out how this can happen.

Residential low-profile corners

Yesterday, my job was to clean-up a backyard residential garden. It was full of magnolia leaves from last fall; there were some dead shrubs and dead branches to remove, and of course, weeds. When I did the final clean up blow I discovered a hidden corner behind a stack of chairs. A perfect example of low-profile garden neglect.

Small weedy areas like this produce weed seeds so it’s best to keep everything in check. Remember, check every single area around your house and garden. Don’t discriminate!

A cleaned-up low-profile zone

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Sep 27
0

“The joy of Gardening” book review

By | Books, gardening | No Comments

Worth your time!

I picked up Ellen Mary’s book “The joy of gardening” in audio format on Audible.com. And I’m glad I did. It was a nice listen while I worked outside in the landscape. I actually listened to it again today while weeding a residential garden for a client.

The book is written for people new to gardening and it covers every angle but it doesn’t mean that more experienced gardeners can’t learn something. I know I did. For example, I had never heard of bulb lasagnas until I listened to this book. You can read my blog post about it on my West Coast Landscape Pro blog. Briefly, it involves planting different kinds of bulbs in one pot. The top layer flowers first, and so on down the pot.

Mental health

Ellen Mary’s background is, among other things, plant therapy and it shows. While this is a book about gardening, she does bring in mental health issues. And it’s done well. It doesn’t distract you from gardening issues; and if you need help with your mental health, then it will help you.

For example, when Mary explains how to thin out seedlings she suggests letting go of negative issues in your life with every seedling you eliminate. She also describes how she mows her lawn by concentrating on the physical task of mowing without thinking about anything else.

She also touches on the Japanese concept of “shinrin-yoku” or forest bathing. By now it’s a well-known topic covered in many books. The main idea is that a walk in the woods is good for people and the Japanese have study data to back it up. For example, blood pressure drops nicely once people enter the forest.

Interconnection

Now, I know you’re focused on your own garden, whatever its size. However, Mary’s book reminds you that we are all connected. Even if your garden is very humble, it will provide homes for insects, birds and small animals. Weeds might cause panic for you but pollinators might still enjoy them.

Also, your garden gives back through beauty and contact with soil. You’re encouraged to relax in your garden and observe what’s going on.

Conclusion

Ellen Mary’s book is a nice gardening primer for beginners. She covers all angles so you can relax and learn as you read or listen. There are lessons hidden in the book that even experienced gardeners will appreciate.

The narrator does a great job, too. If you’re looking for a new book on gardening, you can’t go wrong with this one. Yes, Ellen Mary is from the UK but everything in the book applies to Canada. Don’t worry.

Happy gardening!

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Sep 13
0

Let black bears play in your garden

By | gardening | No Comments

“Kids playing”

Two weeks ago I was push mowing in a strata complex when an elderly couple drove up and stopped me to warn me about black bears playing on their back patio. Clearly distressed, they were worried about the well-being of my crew but loud lawn care machines usually repel black bears.

They also bitterly complained about a part of their cedar hedge (Thuja occidentalis) being down. The bears broke off one stem and then sat on it while the owners looked on from the comforts of their over-priced home.

I found it funny because there was nothing to be done. I believe we are extremely lucky to have black bears roaming our neighbourhoods; they’re beautiful animals. Beyond the patio they abused there is a large wild zone and beyond that are long dykes. That’s where the bears find food and hang out. This is their home. So yes, be careful and know what to do when you encounter black bears in the city or on the trails. But don’t worry about any damage they do to your garden. We are fortunate to have these animals.

Easy fix

Later that day I brought over a sharp hand saw, and a rake and tarp. The lady living in this unit is pretty interesting; some would describe her as “high-maintenance”. Often she bikes around on her pricey e-bike and stops by to tell me- in great detail- about invasive plant species that keep her up at night.

My job was to cut and remove the broken cedar stem which was easy with my sharp hand saw. Always use sharp hand saws so you can make quick, sharp cuts. Then, as specified by the homeowner, I had to rake up the drop inside the cedar hedge. Before we left the site, I sent one of our guys there to blow off the grass so it looked like we were never there.

The bears were responsible for the large hole in the hedge. It should grow over eventually. Let the kids play!

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Sep 03
0

Pruning: don’t be so formal

By | gardening, Pruning | No Comments

Check before pruning

Before you start pruning, stop to assess everything. Ask yourself why you are pruning and then decide how you will do it. In my nightmares, dudes indiscriminately gun down every shrub in sight with power shears.

It also helps when the clients give you a hint, like this past weekend in White Rock. The lady took me for a walk around her back garden and showed me what work she wanted me to get done soon. One obvious target was a shaggy Euonymus.

Gardens vs Strata complexes

Now, I know that most strata landscapers would grab power shears and prune it into a ball, leaving behind tons of debris on the ground and on top of the shrub. It looks fast but it’s a mirage. We’ll get to that soon.

Luckily, I knew the lady’s garden well and nothing in her garden is sheared into formal shapes: balls, squares, rectangles, etc. She has a nice garden and my monthly visits involve a lot of bitch work. I weed, remove leafiness and cultivate the beds. And I also prune so let’s get back to our euonymus shrub. I grabbed my Felco hand snips and, always minding the location of my pretty fingers, carefully grabbed a few stems before snipping them off. And I held on to the debris which was then disposed of in my garden bag. Power shears seem to be faster but not if you include clean-up time. I had almost zero debris on the ground and on top of the shrub.

Good result

Hand snipping gives the shrub a more natural look since the pruning cuts are slightly staggered. And in this garden setting it totally fits. Tight round balls would only make sense if we had some formal shapes in the garden already, either plants or fixed elements. That isn’t the case in this garden and I love it! I openly confess to happily leaving loud, polluting power shears in the truck and enjoying quiet hand snipping on a sunny day in a quiet-and also white and rich-neighbourhood. It feels like therapy.

Before

After
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Mar 08
0

How landscapers stay busy on cold winter days

By | gardening, landscape maintenance | No Comments

There’s always work

If you live in a strata building and look outside at your landscapers with suspicion, fear not. They’re busy even though it’s cold outside. Let’s see what they’re doing.

Garbage

There’s no point making a site look beautiful when there is a pile of garbage on the lawn. You might as well pick it up, otherwise it will detract from your overall maintenance presentation. This will also take the pressure off your building caretaker.

Deep-edging

Assuming your edges aren’t frozen solid, you can re-establish your deep edges with an edging shovel which is flat on the bottom. Make sure the edges are sharp ninety degrees and remove any dislodged grass chunks.

Edging gives our beds nice definition, it will help guide our lawn care edger machines, and it’s best done now in winter when we’re not busy cutting grass.

Dead out

Now is a great time to snip out dead foliage out of our plants. Often people are too busy during the season to stop and deal with this. Not deep into January: I snipped out dead branches from trees, dead out of Salal and evergreens. We should aim for beautiful, healthy landscapes. Dead foliage looks awful so snip it out.

Salal

Add soil

If there’s budget, adding soil amender to tired, depleted beds, is also a great winter time task. The warm soil might even warm you up. New soil looks great immediately and you won’t have to weed for months. The plants also appreciate the new soil.

My commercial site in Coquitlam.

Note the Miscanthus sinensis ornamental grass. Since it’s still beautiful and upright, I’m leaving the cutback closer to spring. It’s important to cut it back before new foliage starts to emerge in spring. But for now, enjoy it.

This bed usually requires cultivation but now, with new soil installed, I shouldn’t have to touch it too much.

Conclusion

Yes, the winter is a slow season but we still have work to do. We can add new soil to tired, depleted beds, snip out dead foliage from trees and shrubs, prune roses and deep edge our beds. And don’t skip garbage picking.

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Jan 25
0

Early 2023 fine-tuning tasks for your garden

By | gardening, Trees | No Comments

New season

The new year is here and the garden is very quiet. But if you look closely, there is some fine-tuning you can do now. Assuming you feel motivated to go out into your garden in January. Let’s take a look at some of my work.

Black eyed Susans

I’m not a fan of stubs. On trees they die and create a pathway for diseases to enter. On perennials like Rudbeckias, they create homes for bugs to move into and sharp sticks for gardeners to get stabbed with.

I hate this look. If you must cutback your Rudbeckias early, use hand snips and enjoy the work. Remove the entire flower stalk so only the basal leaves remain. It will look much better. These long stubs look weird.

Clean up tree damage

If you don’t manage to knock off snow from your trees before damage occurs, then just make sure the break points are cleaned up. I found one small evergreen with a broken top so I cut it to make it look decent. Always use sharp hand saws.

Rubbing branches on trees should also be eliminated. See the white arrow.

Perennial cutback

January is a good time for perennial cutback but it’s not critical. Just get it done before spring hits. Personally, when I see the bed below, I don’t want to wait any longer.

This deserves a clean up.

Once Hellebores start pushing out new foliage, you can clip back the old leaves. Flowers follow. I don’t like to rush this. The old leaves at least give us something green to look at.

Now you can cutback the old leaves at the base.

Conclusion

Take a good look at your winter garden to see if you can fine-tune it a little bit before spring. There is always something to do.

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Jan 07
0

My favorite moment of 2022

By | gardening | No Comments

The best moment

While spending some time on LinkedIn recently, I came across a post asking a simple question: what was your favorite moment of 2022? It didn’t take me long to think of my favorite moment. What about you?

City note

Early in the season, I picked up what would quickly become my best-paying client. It’s a logistics company and business is good because goods have to move. The business is based at the back of a residence and both employees and clients pass through the gardens on their way in and out. Therefore, everything has to look presentable.

When I first took on the work, there was a lot of weeding and pruning to do. By summer I had everything under control. Then, when I showed up for my weekly service session, the owner informed me that she had received a note from the city.

Immediately I assumed it was about me over-stuffing the green waste bin and causing headaches for the truck driver. Not so. The note was asking her to take photos of her garden and submit them to their municipal website! That was funny, and it made me looked good. It also made my client feel like she was getting her money’s worth by hiring Red Seal Vas.

Yes, my maintenance work was brilliant as always, but it would be wrong to take credit for the garden design. The tall lupins, Columbines and bright Calendulas must have looked awesome in the summer sunshine as the city people drove by- slowly I’m sure. So they dropped off their door-hanger note and left.

Calendulas: deadhead often for continuous blooms

Timing

Now you see why this was my favorite moment of the year. I was trying hard to impress my well-paying clients and the garden looked really good in summer. To have the city stop by and say it looked good was a huge bonus. And by inviting my clients to submit photos of their garden, they made them feel good. Everything came together well, which, sadly, isn’t always the case.

I had a huge grin on my face when I drove away with my weekly service cheque in my pocket.

What was YOUR favorite moment of 2022?

Jan 04
0

Gardening and karaoke

By | gardening | No Comments

On demand gardening

The text message came through exactly one week from Christmas; and flurries in the forecast. Looking at the weekend forecast, I was totally prepared to shut down my side-hustle operation. It’s been a good, long season. But I’m a well-known landscape slut. I can’t say no.

Plus, this was a serious request. My client was having a karaoke party and the garden looked like hell after the recent snow melted away. Could I clean it all up and also give the back pool area a blow? Absolutely!

Residential service

This is exactly why my side-hustle business exists: you enjoy your party and sing karaoke, I make sure your guests aren’t horrified when they arrive and see your gardens. Some of my clients do yoga by the pool while I garden nearby. And many of my clients are, sadly, too invalid to do the work themselves. I work for elderly couples where both the husband and wife have serious health issues. So my work saves them from having to look out on a weedy, wild-looking garden.

Some of my clients are in their nineties and living alone. They barely make it up and down the stairs, never mind lawn mowing and weeding. Vas can handle that.

Proper Landscaping provides the same great service but on a larger, strata scale.

Basic tasks

I had to do a lot of raking to do because the cherry tree on the boulevard finished dropping its leaves. Weed weren’t a big issue because in spring we installed several yards of mulch to keep them down. The mulch worked well, except along the fence line where it was too thin.

As I raked, I noticed a beautiful Callicarpa shrub, now completely bare and showing its purple berries. Deep into December, it was the only thing putting on a show.

Callicarpa berries in mid-December

Another important task was removing spent hostas and daylilies. But the key final task was a clean up blow, only hours before guests would start arriving for the karaoke party. I blew the property thoroughly, including the back pool area.

As soon as I got home, I sent my fat invoice to the owner, knowing full well she’s already busy drinking and singing, and very unlikely to question the dollar amount.

This then is the reward. Not just the money and profits but the satisfaction of delivering good service, on time, so the client can relax and concentrate on whatever they’re doing.

Relax while I do the labor.
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Dec 03
0

Put your garden to bed with these late season tasks

By | gardening, Lawn Care, Pruning | No Comments

Steps to take

I have a great residential client in Port Coquitlam, BC, and his main concern is tidiness. So, when the pin oaks (Quercus palustris) from a neighboring high school drop leaves on his property, he usually calls me in a panic.

Let’s see what I did at this house to put it to bed for the winter.

Lawns

Mowing in late November isn’t ideal but it had to be done. So, I pre-blew the oak leaf drop onto the lawn, raked up the bulk of it and then mowed over the rest. Done! Now we leave the lawns alone until spring.

The front lawn also got a final blade edge which should keep it nice and sharp until spring.

Annuals

Obviously, annuals are toast by late November. I took out the petunias from the curb pot; and I removed annuals from the front bed. I will most likely plant bulbs in the pot so we can surprise the wife: she loves pretty flowers!

The show is over.

Blueberries

I have never winterized blueberries, so I Googled it and did it anyway. I pruned back most of the canes and moved the pots into a sheltered spot between the fence and shed. Then I put a tarp over the pots.

It might be better to park the pots in the garden shed but that’s not what the owners wanted. And it makes sense. They have two spotless Lexus cars in the garage, and when I forget to blow off their front door seat cushions, they text me about it!

Hydrangea

Again, it’s all about the look. The hydrangea was fine; just the leaves were still hanging on and the owners were creeped out every time they used the front entrance. So, I pruned the hydrangea back by a few bud sections and manually removed the spent leaves. If I cut it back too much, into old wood, you won’t get any flowers next year.

Eventually I will remove the canes that are close to the ground but for now it will do.

New planted bed

The new planted bed in the back got a quick cultivate to freshen it up a bit and to uproot any weeds. I deadheaded lavenders and cutback Liatris spicatas. Note that I left the Rudbeckia stems alone. The birds can enjoy the seeds and I can cutback the stems later, closer to spring. When you do this, cut the stem off close to the ground so you don’t leave a stub.

Final blow

As always, everything ends with one final blow, so the property is nice and clean. Since the front lawn is shared with the neighbors, I’m not ashamed to admit that I blasted some of the remaining leaves on the lawn into their groundcover.

There you have it. One last service in late November seals the deal. The garden should hold nicely into spring. I might stop by to blow the stubborn pin oak leaves; and to install the bulbs, secretly.

When I got home, it was dark. So, I made some coffee and sent off my hefty invoice.

Nice and clean.

If you need help with your residential property, contact:
Green First! Landscaping

Nov 30
0

No escape from desperate homeowners

By | gardening, Landscaping | No Comments

Tracked me down

Yes, of course you can find me on Google. You can search for landscapers in the Tri-cities area, and you should be able to find me. But people still track me down while I work for other clients. And don’t get me wrong, I love meeting new people and helping them.

Yesterday, I was rushing to complete one more residence before daylight ran out. I had roughly four hours left, three with decent light. So, I blew the leaves into piles and picked them up. Then I gave the lawns one last cut. What light remained I used to prune a Magnolia tree and cut down many perennials; all brown and spent, they were ready for cutback. They’ll be back next year. Don’t worry.

Bittersweet

As I worked yesterday, my focus was on finishing the garden and putting it to bed for the season. The owners are both facing health challenges; challenges so severe that they can’t do their own gardening anymore. So, I’m happy to help them and every dollar I make helps me beat inflation. It’s also nice to see the owners pleased.

It can be distressing to see a weedy garden and long grass outside when your day is dominated by health issues. Incidentally, this also happened when the pandemic first hit, and people had to self-isolate at home. Seeing their landscapers outside on regular basis brought some normalcy to a crazy time.

Then, just as I was finishing, I saw the man approaching. And sure enough, he wanted me to see his garden. These are bittersweet moments for landscape side-hustlers. My focus is on finishing one house, not on taking more work. Now, I know it doesn’t make sense to cry about extra work walking in without any effort on my part. I am grateful for every single client. But in that moment, it’s bittersweet. I want a finish line, not a new race.

I also can’t say no because I know people need help. In this case, the couple moved into their house last summer and now they needed help. Lots of help.

Typical issues

How can Red Seal Vas help you? Well, there is lawn damage from European chafer beetles to fix, and the wife wants pretty flowers by the door where there are only shrubs and groundcovers. In the back, there is a patch of prickly bramble that will only get bigger; and next to it are three alders that will not stop growing until they’re towering over the house.

The garden wall has ivy, Pieris and junipers trailing over the lawn. And the neighbors haven’t touched their trees in a while so now they’re coming over and must be pruned. This actually gets me excited because tree work can be done in winter, just as regular landscape maintenance work ends.

Let’s do it!

Many homeowners need help with their gardens and I’m happy to help, assuming I can fit it into my schedule. You can find me on Google Maps; and approach me when you see me working in your neighborhood. I’m such a landscape slut, it’s unlikely I will say no.

And it will feel bittersweet all the way.

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