Tag: garden design

Categories
DIY Gardening

Adventures in Buying Dirt

Adventures in Buying Dirt

by Carolyn Hasenfratz Winkelmann

Tom and I need a lot of dirt for the landscape design we’ve been working on. We need to regrade some areas and we need to add dirt to raised beds that I’m making. We’ve been buying a few bags of topsoil and potting soil here and there but to get the job done right we are going to have to order a truckload – or two?

In order to know how many cubic yards of dirt to order, I needed to calculate the area of several spots on the property where we wanted to add dirt. The more conventional way to do this is to use graph paper, tracing paper and special rulers to draw the areas to the right scale. Another way is to purchase a graphics kit such as this Patio and Outdoor Living Room Spacing Kit that I bought to experiment with. There is also landscaping computer software that is designed specifically for making landscape or home plans. I have a graphic design background and a subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud so for our project I decided to start out with the tools I know best – my computer, a scanner, Abobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

Last year to begin our landscape plan I went to the St. Louis County real estate lookup web page and did a search for our house. I took a screenshot of the aerial photo and edited the image in Adobe Photoshop to cut out the areas I didn’t need. I imported the image into Adobe Illustrator and drew over the photo to produce the rudimentary diagram shown in this article.

Measuring the whole house and yard by hand to figure out the square footage of areas where we want to add dirt was an option but not a very appealing one! So as a shortcut I took a piece of graph paper from the Patio and Outdoor Living Room Spacing Kit and scanned it. I made that a layer in Photoshop. Then I imported my diagram as another layer and measured a part of the property that was a nice even number. The porch is 8 ft wide. The scale of the graph paper was 1/4 inch (one square) = 1 foot. I shrunk the graph paper image so that 8 squares on the graph paper lined up with the length of the porch. I duplicated the layer enough times for the grid pattern to cover the whole diagram. Now to find out the length and width anywhere on the property all I have to do is count the squares on the graph paper layer.

Still in Photoshop, I drew transparent yellow blocks over the areas for which we need dirt. For each block, I figured the length and width and multiplied them to get the square footage. I made a list of each distinct area and its square footage. Then I used the cubic yardage calculator on the St. Louis Composting web site to convert my numbers into a quantity of cubic yardage for each section. The calculator doesn’t require that you calculate the square footage but I wrote those numbers down just in case I need the information later for some other purpose such as calculating fertilizer or seed.

Here is an example:

Back Ornamental Plant Area:
8 ft x 73 ft = 584 square feet
4″ of soil = 10.81 cubic yards

I added up the cubic yardage for the entire project and came up with 28 cubic yards. St. Louis Composting’s dump truck (although quite large) only holds 13 cubic yards at a time so I ordered one truckload to start off. It was difficult for me to picture what 13 cubic yards of dirt looks like until I saw it – it turned out to be a good thing that they couldn’t haul all 28 yards at one time!

To prepare for the shipment I purchased a couple of 10 x 20 ft tarps from Schnarr’s and laid them on the driveway to receive the dirt. I covered the pile with other tarps I already owned and it was barely enough. It started raining about 10 minutes after the delivery and it’s taking us a couple of weeks to distribute this pile. We didn’t want our new dirt to get heavier than it needed to be or wash away in the rain so it was well worth the effort to cover it!

One of these days I’d like to learn the industry standard method of diagramming landscape plans. My goal is to do some practicing while I work on detail areas of our landscape plan. For now, I’m the only one who needs to understand this diagram but if you are handing off work to someone else you might need to hire a professional landscape designer to draw up a plan in the conventional way. Landscape design services might be included if you are getting work done. You can also hire a designer to draw up the plan for you to use with other firms doing the actual work or in the future.

Additional Resources

Here are some other applications that can help you out with measuring your property:

Categories
DIY Gardening Lawns

A New Beginning in a New Garden

A New Beginning in a New Garden

by Carolyn Hasenfratz

It’s always a thrill in spring to see what comes up again in an established garden, but I have to say I get even more excited at the prospect of planning a new garden. I am getting married in August and I will be moving into my fiance’s house at that time. His yard has minimal plantings so there is a lot of potential. I will be able to expand my horizons a lot because there will be more sun and fewer restrictions on what I can do.

I will be renting out my condo after moving instead of selling it so there is no need to move all of my current garden plants right away. Even so, I have already started moving some of them because it’s a huge job and is too overwhelming to tackle all at once. Also, the future home has some issues with water leaking in the basement and I want to get an early start on using plants to reduce this problem. As I move my plants, I need to know right now where is the best place to put them. I have need of a thorough yard and garden plan so I that I put plants in the right place the first time to save money and labor in the long term. It’s kind of crude, but one of my favorite motivational sayings in any kind of work that I do is “Proper Planning Prevents Pi** Poor Performance”.

To begin my garden plan, I made a personal wish list for what I would like to do. Then I asked my fiance Tom what were his areas of dissatisfaction with the current landscaping. Next I made an appointment with Tim Wittmaier of Wittmaier Landscaping for a consultation. Here are some of the existing issues Tim and I discussed.

Moss in front lawn
This is a major problem in the front yard and one that many Schnarr’s customers are also dealing with. Tim informed me that most of the soil in this front yard is so played out that planting any more grass seed without major renovation is a waste.


Moss growing in a lawn

 

Oak tree in front has a ring of soil around the base


planting ring around an oak tree

A planting ring around the base of tree like this is a disaster because it will slowly cause the bark to rot at the base and possibly kill the tree. It may take many years for damage to be apparent. This is a long-lived valuable tree so it’s worth trying to save.

 

Problems around the foundation
There is poorly located and executed pavement directing water toward the basement. Some of the grading around the foundation is sloping the wrong way adding to basement leak issues.


concrete directing water at the foundation
The existing patio is unattractive and also slopes the wrong way, directing water toward the foundation. It’s helping cause the basement to be “jacked up” so it needs to be literally jacked up with a jackhammer and replaced!

 

Invasive honeysuckle under power lines:


A volunteer hedge of invasive plants
Until we can replace the honeysuckle, I’m adding part-shade loving plants from my existing garden to the front of this border that birds made.

 

A row of invasive honeysuckle has grown underneath power lines at the back of the property where birds perch. Have you heard of the technique of stringing a line for birds to perch on to get a free hedgerow? It works because the birds transfer seeds with their droppings. This particular “volunteer” hedge is actually very functional because it partially screens a view of the back of an apartment complex and provides a bit of privacy for us and them. However since this row mostly consists of invasive, non-native plants I want to gradually replace the honeysuckle with something more eco-friendly.

In addition to fixing problems, I have an extensive “wish list”. Some items are short term goals, some are long-term. I created a draft of a garden plan that includes the most realistic items from my wish list – roughly things that might be possible in the first three years. Later I will make another version that includes some longer term plans so that when I work on the short term items they are not in conflict with any long-term items that we might be able to do in the future.

What are your goals for your property?

When you make your own garden plan, keep in mind how your garden can solve problems as well as help you meet your personal goals for the use of your property. For example items on my wish list promote my highest priority garden goals which include in no particular order:

  • Wildlife habitat

  • Harvesting herbs and maybe someday food plants for personal use

  • Healthy and beautiful outdoor space to promote mental and physical wellness

  • Horticultural experiments and learning

  • Propagate and preserve heirloom plants and native plants

  • Learn and teach sustainable practices

  • Increase skills to help clients and customers meet their goals

  • Maintain Master Gardener certification

Examples of goals that have been high on clients’ priority lists:

  • Great looking lawns

  • Reduce maintenance costs

  • Reduce water use

  • Increase visual appeal of property for sale, customers, entertaining and personal use

  • Maintain neighborhood standards

  • Noise abatement

  • Reduce energy costs

  • Pest management

  • Garden maintenance

  • Improve water quality in water features

  • Bird watching

There are probably as many reasons to garden and landscape as there are people. If you keep in mind what your own goals are, your decisions will be easier.

Create a Plan

Once I know what my goals are, I can start to work on a plan. Here are the steps I’m plan to follow.


1. Review ordinances and rules for the neighborhood.

Find out what the governing body is and read the rules before you plan. For example, the property in my plan is in unincorporated St. Louis County, that means there is no level of government between me and St. Louis County. I have read the county code to see what I’m allowed to do and what requires a permit. You might have a neighborhood association and/or a municipality to conform to like I have at my current condo. It’s tempting to to try to slide something by but I personally don’t recommend investing time and money in work you might have to undo later. We live in a “gotcha” culture and someone will be looking for reasons to pick on you. Don’t give them any ammunition!

2. Prepare a diagram of the property with the information you need included.


My first draft of garden plans for my new home
My first draft of garden plans for my future home

My first draft is missing some of these items and I need to add them. What is necessary information for you will vary by what your goals are. I recommend starting with:

  • Property boundaries
  • Power lines
  • Direction of North
  • House and outbuilding outline
  • Trees and shrubs
  • Paved and hardscaped areas – sidewalk, driveway, patio, walls, paths, etc.
  • Special features – play area, pool, dog house, chicken coop, compost pile, hot tub, fire pit, trellis, vegetable garden, fountain, patio furniture, grill, electrical outlets, etc.
  • Things that need to be accessible – utility panels, windows, doors, gates, air condtioners, pool filter, fire hydrant, etc.
  • If there is one, location of irrigation system and components.
  • Locations of outdoor faucets for hoses – for example will you need to hook three or four hoses together to reach a bed that needs a lot of water? Do you really want to do that on a regular basis? Three or four hoses hooked together are HEAVY (ask me how I know!).
  • Plantings that are going to stay as is.
  • Call 1-800-DIG-RITE and have them mark underground utilities for you. Put these on your diagram.
  • Areas of sun and shade.
  • Areas that tend to collect water.
  • Sight lines from parts of the yard and house that you use a lot.
  • Routes that machinery such as lawn mowers will take during maintenance. For example at Tom’s house the lawn mower needs a path through the planned herb garden from the garage to the front and back yards.
  • Paths that you will walk on to perform maintenance in the beds. Plan for mulch or more permanent paths so you don’t have to walk in the planting beds themselves.
  • Heavily used natural walking routes – for example, I’ve had a client whose mailman was wearing a path in the front lawn. That would be a good place to add a path with planting beds on either side so I put that in the drawing I made for the client. I don’t know if my plan got used or not, but paths help make gardens so appealing that I use any opportunity I can to suggest them!

You might consider drawing an overlay on tracing paper of what you would like to add or change, that’s a great way to visualize your plan and make sure it is workable with what is already there.

3. Get a soil test before making a big investment in time or money:

For example, a dying lawn filled with moss is a problem with our front yard and the yards of many customers right now. The moss did not kill the grass, the moss grew opportunistically after the grass died. It’s always safe to add organic fertilizer and compost – but please get a soil test and diagnose the problem before you do anything else. The soil test may give you all the answers you need or just be data that you use to lead to another diagnosis. Tim from Wittmaier Landscaping suspects that Tom’s lawn was killed by too much fertilizer. We don’t know for sure but it’s a common problem. If your grass does not need conventional fertilizer, adding it does not help and may hurt. If your lawn does not need lime, it’s useless and maybe destructive to add it. You might make a lucky guess, or you might cause a big problem that will take a lot of money and time to fix. What if your grass died from soil compaction, salt damage, a disease, a pest, too much shade or too much or too little water? It’s easy to add things like fertilzer and lime, but the actual remedy might be something else entirely.

Here is how and where to get a soil test: Test your soil now to assess your fertilizer needs

After I have made a good plan, I can start to break it down into individual projects. Stay tuned!

Categories
Gardening Home Decor

Disguise Problem Spots with Containers

Disguise Problem Spots with Containers

by Carolyn Hasenfratz

Let’s face it, our area is inherently challenging to gardeners. We have continentality which causes extreme variations in temperature and moisture, and we are in an area of the continent that is a transition zone for East, West, North and South. It’s difficult to keep all parts of our gardens looking good at the same time. With the recent dry spell we just had, many of us have spots in our gardens that look a little burned out. I have a lot of native plants which love our conditions, but even some of those look ragged and dried up in late summer.


Cacti and succulents
The cactus in the middle is my oldest one – I’ve had it since I was five years old!

When choosing containers, first keep in mind what style of garden you have. You can break design “rules” but you will have more predictable success if you try to match the style of pots to the style of home and garden you have.

A traditional planter for a traditional homeWe have a client with a large Colonial Revival house and a lot of iron fencing and furniture in the backyard. When adding some container plantings we chose symmetrical numbers of faux cast iron urn style planters that harmonized with the existing architecture and garden. We filled them with traditional flowers in a limited color palette that went well with what was already planted in the yard and garden. The look we chose for that client would not be appropriate in my garden.

My own informal garden contains a lot of wildflowers and herbs mixed with ornamentals that grow in shade. Mixing and matching pots and using odd numbers of containers are design techniques that work well with an informal garden.

To prepare a place to set the pots, I gathered up an assortment of flat decorative sandstone pieces and made little stands for the pots. You can set pots right on the ground, but I think they look better raised a little bit. I used some extra thin pieces of rock as shims for any pots that did not look level.


Raising containers off the ground with decorative sandstone pieces
Starting a new container grouping in a bare spot.



Finished container group with foliage plants
Finished container group with foliage plants.

Two of the pots you see here already had plants in them. Keeping in mind the colors, shapes and sizes of the other three pots I wanted to add to the grouping, I went plant shopping for part shade annuals. I chose Sweet Potato Vine, Ornamental Pepper ‘Black Pearl’, and Hypoestes. I couldn’t resist adding a Basil plant that was on sale. In large pots a good design formula is to mix tall, shorter, and trailing plants. In the largest pot I made the Basil the tall plant. I just love the smell of Basil and I’ll harvest it just before frost and cook with it. I know it’s a little late in the season to be planting annuals but these should last into October. If we’re lucky and we get an extra long growing season, maybe I’ll get more out of them. Containers small enough to move can be brought inside to avoid frosty nights and extend the life of the plants. I love the colors of the garden with bright fall leaves nestled among the plants so to me the extra effort of adding some more colorful foliage is worth it. I chose all foliage plants instead of flowering plants because two of my containers featured a mosaic design that I did and they were already very colorful on their own.

Group of container plantsI made a design mistake in this second grouping. The Hypoestes in the tall pot does not contrast enough with the color of the ground cover that was already there. How would I fix this? One way would be to add some brightly colored trailing plants around the edge of the pot. Or if I had any faux flowers or foliage around I could stick some in. Or I could sink an empty narrow container that holds water like a test tube into the soil and put a colorful cutting in there for a temporary display that would still look natural. Or for a nighttime display I could add a tall narrow water container to the pot, fill it with acrylic or glass gems and put a battery powered water light in it and say “I meant to do that!”

As you can see, container gardening is a great addition to your existing garden. It provides a fun outlet for creativity and some instant gratification too!