Category

landscape maintenance

Apr 23
0

Sarcococca condemned by caretaker

By | landscape maintenance | No Comments

Weird requests

I’m used to being dragged away from my regular landscape duties by caretakers, but sometimes it’s hard to swallow the weird requests they assault me with. Take last week, as an example. It was late in our shift and we were barely thirty minutes away from calling it a day.

Then, out he came, caretaker on a mission, sneezing and looking like he had Omicron. Now, he’s a great guy and a huge ally. But I couldn’t believe what he was asking me to do.

Annihilation

The poor caretaker was suffering from terrible allergies. Allegedly he had trouble breathing at night, his eyes watered and his nose was runny, like a pre-schooler’s. So of course, right away I thought that taking a COVID rapid test would have been a great idea but I’m not a doctor.

To avoid stuffing his body with pills and adding to Big Pharma’s profits, he needed me to level a patch of Sarcococca growing under his windows. The evergreen shrub flowers now, in February, and produces a sweet fragrance, especially when mass-planted.

Now, I had never before heard of anyone suffering allergic reactions from Sarcococcas. It’s plausible, I guess, but weird. And so was his request.

I did hear from a Facebook friend who claims to suffer nasty headaches from the fragrance.

So, out came my power shears. And before I annihilated the plants, the caretaker reminded me to watch out for the sprinkler heads. Last year, all of them got slashed.

The only trick was to hand snip the plants from all of the wall edges and from around the irrigation sprinklers. Then we raked up most of the mutilated plant material and went home. I promised myself I would blog about this. Perhaps there are other caretakers like this.

When Sarcococca goes missing

It looks like hell but, luckily, it’s a very low profile corner. Long term, it should be changed over, assuming there is budget.

Like COVID, weird requests aren’t going away anytime soon. I have to learn to live with them and decline the ones that are clearly over-the-top.

Mar 12
0

Delegate, don’t micro-manage

By | landscape maintenance, Training | No Comments

Easy delegation

Delegation can be super easy, if you do it right. In this blog post I obviously use a landscaping example, but it applies to other industries as well. The key is avoiding micro-management. But first, let’s consider my situation.

I had an open, leafy field and planted beds with a high-profile walkway running through it. Now, with the snow gone, it looked awful. It needed a quick blow but I had other, more pressing tasks to attend to. Backpack leaf blowing doesn’t have to be done by managers. We can easily delegate tasks like this.

The helper

Since I didn’t ask my helper for permission to talk about him, I will have to disguise it a little bit. If you read this, and think it’s about you, you’re mistaken. It’s just coincidence.

So, my helper isn’t a star on staff. He does his job at barely acceptable speeds, doesn’t stress and therefore, rarely looks like he’s out of breath. Think of him as a reliable drone. He shows up on time and does his job.

Knowing all this, I walked him over to my leafy park section and went over his task. Since the leaf pick-up afterwards would be up to him, we brought a tarp and a rake. Walking back and forth is inefficient so don’t do it.

I explained what I needed him to do: blow the entire area and make one or two piles for pick up. I also showed him the boundaries to avoid blowing neighbourhoods we don’t maintain.

Then, I let it go and walked away.

Don’t micro-manage

Avoid micro-management at all costs. Standing there and pointing to every leaf he missed wouldn’t make sense. Good or bad, the worker needs to do his work and learn from the feedback he gets. My worker isn’t a new landscaper; he has experience. But, sometimes, he gets treated like a new guy.

And to provide feedback, I had to go back later to check his work. And I’m happy to report, it was totally fine. Which is what I told him. The park was blown clean and the tarp was full of leaves, ready for pick-up by the road. Case closed.

All done!

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks to others. When I show up on sites to help my foremen, they’re never shy about delegating the worst tasks to their manager.

Explain the task, show them the area, give them time parameters and walk away. Let it go. Trust them to do their job. If they mess it up, they will learn from it. If they do it well, they will appreciate the autonomy and extra fun. That’s why we have to give feedback.

Micro-management would just suck the life out of their work day. Avoid it.

Debris tarped up and positioned by the road for easy pick-up.
Jan 08
0

Bittersweet max leaf drop

By | landscape maintenance, machines, Seasonal | No Comments

Bittersweet

The first time I noticed the word bittersweet used in reference to trees was in Japan. There, the famous cherry blossoms make people delirious; some follow the blossoms from south to north, like junkies craving their next fix.

Why bittersweet? Because like life, the cherry blossoms are beautiful but they don’t last long. Cheery blossoms in Japan are a must-see item for your live it bucket list. Especially if you go to ancient Kyoto in spring.

Leafiness

When it comes to fall leaf clean-up, bittersweet refers to that moment when you get maximum leaf drop and you know you are about to suffer for one more day. It’s also one of those moments when hearing about attempts to ban leaf blowers seems like a cruel joke.

This past fall has been the most difficult of my twenty-plus landscaping career. It rained heavily for months; it was so bad, I don’t even remember blowing any dry leaves. I would call it a suffer-fest.

All at once

When the weather network announced high winds for one of our fall weekends, some of my co-workers lit up the company WhatsApp, excited about all of the leaves falling in one weekend. And they did! Except, it also rained and the resulting Monday morning mess almost broke us.

I had two helpers for mountains of soggy leaves and it was hard. We cleaned-up leaves from 8-6pm and, because my son had soccer practice at 7, I had to leave at 6. Soccer or no, I would have left anyway.

Soggy Katsura leaves covering the entire site after a storm.

Grinding

Knowing that this was our last big day was little consolation. And we used Stihl’s bad boy 800 model leaf blowers which have high air volume and air pressure. They blow away insects and garden gnomes like nothing but on this day, they too struggled.

And right here is the key point: current battery-operated technology isn’t good enough to handle this kind of leafy mess. It would have taken hours longer and I don’t even know how many battery packs we would have gone through.

The National Association of Landscape Professionals recently made this point to the State of California, which is considering a full ban on gas-powered small engines.

Nasty fall

Leaf clean-up on strata properties is hard work and when the weather turns bad, it can get even harder. For now we use gas-powered leaf blowers because they can handle the load. Once the battery operated technology improves, I will be the first one to test it in the field.

As I write, Christmas is one week away and I’m looking forward to some much-needed down time. It was a long, strange year. When this blog post is published in February, 2022, we’ll be closer to spring. Spring! I can’t wait.

Jan 02
0

The final blow in landscape maintenance

By | landscape maintenance | No Comments

First a missed tarp

Before we discuss the importance of the final blow in landscape maintenance, we should mention the case of a lonely tarp. One full tarp got left behind and it was left right over top of a drain. Now, normally that wouldn’t be a big deal but at the time, the province of British Columbia was dealing with historic floods and people were on edge.

Leaving a big, fat tarp over top of a drain didn’t help anyone. And since I happened to be nearby, I stopped by and loaded it into the back of my Mazda 3. Just barely.

The final blow

The final blow is landscape maintenance is super important. It’s what we refer to as “courtesy blow”. It’s a clean-up blow at the end of the day; and when it’s done right, you shouldn’t even notice that the landscapers were on site.

Yes, the final blow is noisy but it’s a critical step. When the final blow is done correctly, it’s practically impossible to leave a full tarp behind. Yes, sometimes empty tarps get stuffed into hard to spot spaces but it’s hard to miss full tarps. Assuming you blow the entire site religiously.

The final check

Goal number is site cleanliness. Every time. But there is more. Since it’s not always feasible for a foreman to walk her entire site, the final blow doubles as the final check.

Did you see any piles that were missed? What about full tarps blocking drains? Did you see any tools left behind? Are all gates closed? Did you make all remnant piles disappear? (See my blog post on remnant piles on December 14)

Training

While strata residents only hear the noise of our final blow, I think about the workers doing it and wonder how seriously they’re taking it. Check and blow every corner of the site, unless there wasn’t any work done in a section.

It’s surprisingly difficult to get people switched on. They blow like drones, only thinking about messy spots while ignoring everything else. So keep on training them. That’s the key.

Yes, mistakes will happen. I’m quite confident I will one day soon be called in again to collect a lonely tarp left behind by a crew. But with good training, this problem can be minimized.

The final blow is the final check. Don’t take it lightly.

Mar 29
0

Winter brush cutting

By | landscape maintenance | No Comments

Ready for some labor?

This isn’t the first time I’m mentioning brush cutting in winter. It’s a perfect cold-weather task and it shows how labor-heavy landscaping can be. We might as well say it: landscapers get sweaty. If generating sweat spooks you, I would suggest a less-strenuous career path.

The day we went out brush cutting, it was nice and sunny and the goal was to level masses of prickly bramble. It’s done once a year and it’s nice to put in a full day’s work in winter.

Safety first!

The brush-cutting task itself is fairly easy. All you need is some mixed fuel (gas and oil) and protective gear. Do not skip this part. Gloves, steel-toe boots, goggles and a helmet system with face shield and ear protection are all standard equipment. Leave your shorts at home. Don’t take any chances.

Since you’re working in a wild zone, take a good look around. I spotted rebar sticking out of the ground before I even started. Sadly, the rebar ran all the way along, with gaps in-between, so I had to look out for it all day. Next year I will try to remove it or at least bend it. As it is right now, one slip could really mess you up. See the picture below.

Always identify hazards in the landscape.

Depending on how low you brush cut, you can expect rocks and wood to fly out. For this reason the three of us separated; and later, when got close to passersby, we paused to let them go. Safety first! Never play around.

The rest of the day was fairly monotonous. We leveled prickly bramble all day and managed to finish the entire wild bank. Given the size of the bank, bramble removal isn’t practical. We just left the shredded canes on the ground. We’ll be back in twelve months to do it again, unless the boss delegates this task to someone else. But, considering the physical nature and safety aspect of this project, this isn’t a good gig for new employees.

What I hope you take away from this blog post is the physical nature of landscaping work, the occasional monotony and the importance of safety.

When we reassembled at the back of the truck, it was clear the dudes were happy to get the bank done. They worked hard brush cutting on a winter day when not too much else could be done on site.

All done!

Feb 28
0

Training success!

By | landscape maintenance, Training | No Comments

Loving success

I train landscapers all year. Mostly in the field and sometimes through technical posts on the company’s WhatsApp. Some people absorb my brilliant wisdom like sponges, some are indifferent and, a few, couldn’t care less.

So, it makes me happy when I see workers doing well in the field without having to ask or remind them. I think it’s important to celebrate these small wins. Let’s take a look.

Fixed pin oak

Broken branches on trees look awful and, if left unattended, they can invite disease into the tree. So, it’s important to identify broken branches on site or in your garden, and remove them with a sharp saw.

On site I had a newly promoted foreman searching for a handsaw so I inquired about what he was doing. A broken branch in a pin oak (Quercus palustris) on the boulevard, was the answer. I nodded and smiled. Finally, my training was paying off.

For, usually, workers just worry about their lawn care tasks. They don’t worry about other details so it’s nice to see this in the field.

Ornamental grasses

When it comes to ornamental grasses, some people disagree with me on the timing of cutback. I believe most ornamental grasses should be left alone until spring; and cut back before new growth happens.

But, in practice, tall ornamental grasses get beat up by rains and snow and therefore lose their shape. This gets some people upset and they immediately flush cut their grasses.

Many ornamental grass species mature and flower in the fall so it’s a good idea to leave them alone. You can easily do this at home in your garden but at strata complexes it’s up to the site foreman to make the call.

Now, imagine my surprise, when I drove up to one of our strata sites on what would be a sunny day, and saw ornamental grasses still standing. And glorious! I was beaming and congratulated the young foreman for his patience. Spring is coming.

Looking great in early February, 2021.

At other sites all you see is a profusion of small mounds where ornamental grasses used to be. I find it a bit depressing. Even Pennisetum alopecuroides look fine in the snow.

Feb 13
0

Pine cones from Douglas fir

By | Arborist Insights, landscape maintenance | No Comments

Requests

Getting requests from strata owners and councils is standard. Some of them are quick and easy; and some are more involved and require approval; some generate extra invoices. Also, some are suspicious.

At one small site last fall, I got a request to clean-up pine cones along the boulevard. Ok. Except I knew there weren’t any pine trees growing along the boulevard. But, I had to go check it out. Requests are no joke, they must be taken care of.

Psedotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir)

Douglas fir

The only cones I could find belonged to a massive Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), which is a native tree in British Columbia. Thus, you find it everywhere and it’s easy to identify because of its cones.

The cones have protruding bracts which make it super easy to identify the tree. People living in British Columbia should be familiar with the tree. But, not in this complex. Here, every cone is a pine cone.

So, what’s the point of this blog post? Am I just poking fun at people’s ignorance? No, although, it wouldn’t hurt if people could identify a few key native tree species.

Educate

What concerned me was the site foreman’s relaxed attitude. Why not use this request as a way to educate the clients about their own trees? If you do it gently, they might even appreciate it. You can even offer them a free copy of my picture e-book.

The other issue is removing “pine cones” from a semi-wild corner. Douglas firs shed branches and cones all year. It’s extremely difficult to keep forests “clean”. I think it’s pointless, but their strata fees pay for our services. So, we clean forest floors by removing “pine cones”. Now you know.

“Pine cone-free zone!“

Conclusion

Learn about your local native trees or, if you’re an expert, share your knowledge with your friends and neighbors. Leave some debris on the forest floor.

Jan 05
0

Lessons from municipal parks

By | gardening, landscape maintenance | No Comments

Go stress-free

There is something to be said for municipal landscapes in late fall. I noticed how stress-free municipal park maintenance is. Unlike commercial strata maintenance where grooming and control are the norm.

Now, I know that municipalities have set annual budgets and during a pandemic there probably wasn’t enough cash to groom every public park.

Strata owners pay hefty monthly maintenance fees and expect to see well-groomed landscapes. Still, there are lessons you can learn from public parks and apply them in your own gardens. Let’s take a look.

Perennial cutback

In strata maintenance, spent perennials are cut-back as soon as possible. But you can leave them standing in your own garden. Covered in frost, perennials can look great; and birds eat their seeds or hide in them.

Don’t rush to cutback your perennials.

Astilbe produce gorgeous flowers in summer and I don’t mind this look. If you touch the brown stalks, they will break off in your hand.

The leafy layer protects the soil and shelters tiny life forms. Of course, in strata landscape maintenance, this kind of bed isn’t tolerated. It’s groomed!

Enjoy the December holdouts, like this Rudbeckia. Don’t rush to cut them back. Walking by today, this reminded me of warm late summer days.

Grasses

In strata maintenance, when ornamental grasses like this Miscanthus flop over even a little bit they get power-sheared into low mounds. Why the rush? Like your spent perennials, it’s OK to leave your grasses standing in winter.

Pennisetum should be left alone until spring. I quite like this look, as opposed to a harshly shaved mound.

Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) is supposed to look like this all year. Don’t shear it. Maybe run your fingers through it in spring. It looks fantastic when it moves in the wind.

Conclusion

Learn from your public parks and stop rushing to cut everything back. Ornamental grasses look great in late fall and when covered by frost in winter. Pennisetums should be cutback in spring.

Look at your garden and experiment. Take one winter and don’t cutback all of your perennials and grasses. Leave it for next spring.

Nov 30
0

Obstruction pruning

By | landscape maintenance, Pruning | No Comments

Favor for friends

It’s always nice to get a call from your friends during a pandemic. It allows you to catch up and feel some sort of connection. It’s even nicer when you know your buddy has extra work for you.

Now, normally this would be a headache because my buddy, let’s call him Sam, lives deep in Vancouver. And driving for forty-five minutes to do a small job isn’t appealing. Sam knows this so he pays me well.

So, I solve his problem and I earn some extra money during a sketchy pandemic time. With COVID-19 raging on, it would be insane to turn down extra work on a Saturday. Take the work while you can because it’s not very clear what 2021 will bring.

The problem

Sam’s bamboo badly encroached into the sidewalk and it was only a matter of time before a neighborhood Karen complained about it. So I drove in on a sunny Saturday morning to take care of it.

Incidentally, I waited until ten o’clock to start. Municipalities have different by-laws but ten o’clock is a standard start time for Saturdays. Always be careful in mature, well-to-do neighborhoods.

The shearing and clean-up took me exactly fifteen minutes. I used sharp shears and the green waste filled up one tarp. Then there was some touch up work with my hand snips where the bamboo encroached onto the sidewalk.

I did my clean-up blow quickly with the smallest gas-powered backpack blower, designed for noise-sensitive environments. By ten thirty the street was full of landscapers with heavyweight Stihl blowers on their backs. Of course!

Later, Sam stopped by the house to check things out and we had enough time to catch up, with masks on. Then I casually confirmed that he would be taking care of my invoice.

Pro tip:

Do side-gigs on project basis, not by the hour. For this job I quoted a price based on pictures. The actual length of the job is my problem. Sell your service, not man-hours!

Much better.

Obstruction in the landscape is a problem that shouldn’t be ignored. Eliminate the obstruction as soon as you can.

Nov 22
0

3 West Coast lawn issues

By | gardening, landscape maintenance, Lawn Care | No Comments

Season over

Now that the regular lawn care season is over, it’s a good time to recap some of the issues that came up in 2020. Let’s examine three issues: one is comical, one is frustrating for me and the last one isn’t going away anytime soon.

Bend over!

This issue came up in a Facebook group. The lawn care operator was asking for a good machine or technique to remove the shaggy bit of grass in the corner. The light wood is clear evidence that they’ve tried removing it with line edgers but the geometry didn’t work out.

Sometimes you just have to do it the low-tech way: bend over and rip it out.

Tree or lawn?

This looks just like another neglected tree well; it’s full of grass and lacks a sharp, ninety degree edge. But, it’s actually a misunderstanding between the unit owner and maintenance staff.

Landscapers are trained to keep tree wells weed-free and well-defined with sharp deep edges. The plastic guard on the tree is extra insurance against tree abuse from lawn care machines.

Unable to keep the tree well clean, it finally came to light that the owner had been over-seeding the tree well in order to eliminate the tree circle. He wanted a nice uniform lawn with the tree in the middle. Thus the plastic guard.

There is just one problem with the homeowner’s approach. Young trees often get outcompeted by turf. They struggle and often die because turf is an efficient competitor and lawn care machines are bound to take some liberties with the bark.

If you want to keep the tree, keep the tree well.

Chafers aren’t going away

When animals dig up your lawn in late October looking for European chafer beetle grubs, it can be a shocking site. The strata president tracked me down looking for help but by late October there isn’t much I can do. The grubs in the soil are juicy and, I presume, delicious.

I raked up the damaged turf chunks and peeled back whatever was still attached. Then I added soil and over-seeded it with good renovation seed mix.

The treatment window for chafers is in late summer after the females deposit their eggs in lawns, but there are now new treatments coming in. So, check with your local garden center. They will be happy to take your money.

Search for my European chafer beetle blogs on this website.

Female European chafer beetles. Only one is really dead!