Tag Archives: Landscaping

Is Landscape Fabric Even Necessary In Landscaping?

December 24, 2023   Matt

Is Landscape Fabric Even Necessary In Landscaping?

Landscaping fabrics are by no means an answer to a no maintenance landscape. I know a lot of folks are under the impression that they can simply buy it, place it, cover it, and forget it. Forever.

First. There is no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. In many instances landscape fabric can make your life a lot easier. However, there is an upside and a downside to using it. And as with most everything else, proper installation and maintenance is required if you intend to use it.

Landscape fabrics have their applications. They aren’t necessary in all applications but might be preferred in regards to the type of groundcover you use.

Our company uses weed barrier in 95% of the designs we create. It’s the nature of our business as we use decorative rock as the preferred groundcover around here. When using rock for groundcover and path work, it’s necessary to have a separator between the soil and groundcover. Otherwise, you’ll have mud rocks by the first rain storm.

In theory you should be able to use almost anything as a separator. I’ve seen do it yourselfers use anything from plastics to newspapers and cardboard boxes to old carpet remnants. Of course, as a professional, I can’t use or even suggest something like this to my clients. You’re on your own there.

Now personally, on any given project, I would much rather do away with fabrics altogether. I prefer to create living soil planting areas that are mulched and tended rather than being covered and forgotten. However, some areas are simply too large to apply this method and some folks just outright prefer to cover an area with decorative rock.

Both mulched living beds and rock beds underlain with fabric will require some work to keep them beautiful. Neither is maintenance free. As long as there is wind, rain dirt, and blown in seed, there will be something for you to do in your yard.

When we create a design using landscaping fabric and rock, I make the client aware of a few things. 1) There will be blown in seed and dirt. 2) Something will have to be done about it to keep it from accumulating. I assure them that with the quality of fabric we use, nothing will grow in from the bottom. However, we have no control of what blows in on the top.

Spraying the unwanted weeds with herbicide will take care of the weed problem. However, this does nothing for the dirt, leaf, and plant particles that are hiding under your rocks. And if you allow these to accumulate, they’ll continue to accumulate and you will never get rid of them. So periodic maintenance is required even if you do use landscaping fabric.

Periodically using a blower on your bedding areas will slow down the accumulation of dirt and in some cases eliminate it altogether. How easy and thorough this is depends a lot on the type and size of rock you use.

Small pea gravel accumulates and holds onto dirt, and is harder to clean than rock of a 1 ½” + nature. Not only does it hold onto dirt but has a tendency to be blown all around when being cleaned with a blower. Pea gravel works well for paths, walkways, and smaller areas but I don’t recommend it for covering larger areas.

As far as using landscape fabric under bark and mulch covered beds? In many cases this can actually be easier to take care of than living beds or rock covered areas as it can easily be picked up and replaced every few years. This will keep your landscape always looking new without having to blow dirt or mulch beds.

Remember. There’s no such thing as a no maintenance landscape. Landscape fabrics can make things easier in many applications but like everything else, they require a little bit of keeping up. No, they aren’t necessary in all landscaping applications. However, I believe you’ll find them to be your best choice for many groundcover applications.

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Landscaping Stone Designs That May Make the House Look it’s Best

December 19, 2023   Matt

Landscaping Stone Designs That May Make the House Look it’s Best

When you own a home, you want the exterior to appear just as good as the inside. This is why you notice lots of people on the weekends planting tons of plants and trying their best to create their yards appear amazing. However, the only problem is the fact that plenty of the good ideas for landscaping have previously been performed. Obviously, there is one thing that people used to forget about whenever it comes to landscaping, and it actually is one of the great things to work with, and that is stone. Landscaping stone ideas can, not only provide your yard a look all of its own, however at the same time, it will give your yard a fresh feel. There are so lots of various things that you can do with stone, it’s curious that more people do not utilize it. The possibilities are endless, and that stone is a best method to create every yard different.

To start with, you have to understand that stones, not only make an ideal walk way, but they create a good patio. Whenever people are using stones around their house, the main thing that they always do is utilize it for a walk way. Sure it’s a good idea, but it’s been played out to death. It’s time to come up with a fresh idea. Rather than just using it for a pathway, utilize it to build the ground of your patio. They make very flat stones that are perfect to be used as a floor. This will furnish your patio a very classy, yet, very outdoor feel. Another plan you may want to consider about using is using the stones to create levels to your floors. What you do is put down stones to build a wall (not a big wall, but a small one). Then behind the wall you fill it by dirt. Then you set your flowers. Behind those flowers you craft one more wall, but this time you build it a bit bigger. Then you fill that with dirt and you repeat as several times as you desire.

The finest idea for stones, however, is to apply them when making a pond in your plot. This is actually simple to do, and just about anybody can perform it over the course of just one weekend. Not only that, but the stones around it are going to give it an incredible look. If you add a little pump to the pond to create the pond have moving water, then it will keep things like mosquitoes out of it. There is no end to the amount of things that you can do with stones in your backyard. The great news is that the majority of it can be completed in a day, and stones (for the most part) do no cost that much to work with.

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Landscaping Your Summer Garden

December 09, 2023   Matt

Landscaping Your Summer Garden

There are many things that must be considered when planning and planting your summer garden. One of those things is the natural landscape or terrain of your lawn and garden area. It is best, whenever possible to work with the landscape rather than working against it or going to extraordinary efforts to make changes to the natural landscape of your lawn when you could very easily and beautifully plan your summer garden to go with the flow of and work well with the natural terrain of your lawn and garden area.

One way in which this is accomplished is by taking a quick survey of your lawn. This will need to be more than a cursory visual survey. You will need to walk your lawn and the area in which you are planning for your garden space. You will need to measure the terrain and take not of inclines and slopes. While you are at it, you need to study the condition of the soil and any areas that seem particularly inhospitable for planting. If these types of areas are present in your garden you need to decide what you want to do about them. Is it possible to turn this patch into a water feature or some other attractive addition to your garden rather than remaining a bare patch in the midst of your flowers, plants, and/or vegetables?

You should also determine the amount of shade a particular area receive and, if in direct sunlight, how to create shade for those plants, vegetables, or flowers that grow best in indirect sunlight. This can be accomplished by planting them creatively in the shadow of plants, shrubs, or vegetables that grow much taller or by using rocks to create shade or even climbing vines on trellises or fences in order to create an artificial shade.

Once you have a good feel for the terrain and landscape of your summer garden you will need to plan for the vegetables, flowers, or plants that will be used. Vegetable gardens tend to be less aesthetic in nature and are often the easiest to landscape, as it is a matter of need rather than beauty. If you are planting a flowery summer garden however, it is quite likely that you will be planning to achieve some degree of beauty within your garden. Decide now if you want to keep the flowers and plants within a certain color scheme or if you want dramatic blues and greens combined with bright and vivid reds and yellows. This is a personal decision but will greatly affect the appearance of your garden when all is said and done.

You should also landscape your garden according to the amount of time and effort you want to devote to working your garden on any given week. Some plants require more care than others. If you want a garden that is basically sow and go then you need to make sure it is filled with plants and flowers that are suited to that sort of low maintenance. Most vegetable gardens require a good deal of tending in order to flourish and are not acceptable in this sort of situation.

If you are completely lost as to how to landscape your summer garden it may be worth the effort to have a team of professionals come in and do the landscaping for you. When procuring their services be sure to either check into a maintenance program with them in which the upkeep the landscaping or have them provide a low maintenance type of landscaping that you will be able to maintain and duplicate on your own.

Many gardeners find the task of landscaping their summer garden to be the highlight of the summer growing season. If you are not among those, the hope is that the recommendations provided here will provide you with a good start and several helpful tips on getting your garden landscaped and ready to grow.

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Hillside Landscaping – Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes

September 30, 2023   Matt

Hillside Landscaping – Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes

Sloped and hillside lawns and landscapes tend to develop dry dead spots during the hot part of the season. This is primarily due to water run off before it has a chance to saturate into the soil. Deep saturation is a key to a healthy lawns and plants. Deep watering helps establish deeper roots that can handle Summer heat stress.
Water that runs off or just barely breaks the surface, obviously does the lawn or landscape very little good. So how do you give landscaping and lawn on a slope better saturation?
Split your water cycle duration into two or three short cycles. If your water cycle is 30 minutes, you might split the cycle into three 10 minute cycles. So on watering days, you’ll run the system for the specified amount of time, let it soak for a few hours, then repeat this for the number of times needed.
To determine the exact amount of time needed, turn on the lawn sprinkler and watch for how long it takes for runoff to begin. This is the maximum of how long each cycle should be.
Don’t just split your cycles into different days. You need deep saturation for healthier plants. Plants and lawns like infrequent deep waterings much more than frequent shallow waterings.
Landscaping and specimen plants on a hillside will also benefit from better saturation. Plants should be planted in larger holes filled with good soil that absorbs water easily. Also, dams and water wells should be built on the downhill side of the plant. This will help give the water time to soak straight down to the root zone before it runs off.

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3 Tips in Landscaping your Garden

September 15, 2023   Matt

3 Tips in Landscaping your Garden

Landscaping is usually a fairly big task, consuming much time and energy. But before you hire that professional, here are some tips that could save both time and money.

1. Spend some time thinking about exactly how you want the final design to be. You need to take account of the style and function of your landscape. Do you want to include an area for entertaining? A barbeque? Is there to be an area for children to play, a fishpond or a swimming pool? An idea of the plants you want to be there will also help. Focus on the area where you spend most of your time. That’s a good place to start.

2. Think twice before hiring a pro. An independent designer might cost you hundreds of dollars when you may be able to access free plans on the internet or at a nursery. But if you have an awkward block such as very steep ground, a pro might give you the expertise to save costly mistakes.

3. The style of your home must be taken into account. If you have a rural cottage, formal gardens surrounding it will look out of place. Think also about your lifestyle. Do you want to spend hours caring for many beds of annuals or pruning beds of roses? If so, go ahead and plant them, but if you’d rather spend your free time at the beach, then go for an easy-care garden and landscape.

Here are the various landscape styles you can choose for your own garden:

a. Formal. This style uses lots of straight lines and perfect geometrical shapes. Orderly arrangement of plants instead of random positioning is employed. Close arrangement and pruning is seen on many landscaped gardens with this style.

b. Informal. This kind of landscaping workds well with cosy cottages. Beds with curved edges instead of straight lines and random placement of plants suit this landscape style.

c. English Garden. This style emphasizes the harmony between the house’s architecture and the garden.

d. Formal/Informal Garden. This style often comes with a brick walkway that exudes formality. This walkway leads to the rear with a circle of plants. The arrangement of plants resembles the English garden style but it has no formal borders.

e. Oriental. It is often the kind of garden found in small backyards. It uses rocks, evergreens and water. A wide variety of plants create several interesting angles with this style.

f. Woodland. This landscaping suits a house that has a wooded backyard and sloping ground.

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Finding the Right Landscaping Company

September 05, 2023   Matt

Finding the Right Landscaping Company

Hiring a good landscaper will make completing your landscape a much simpler process. If you create goals and properly layout your plans for your landscaping you will be able to get specific pricing. Here are some tips on how to hire a landscaper the right way.

1. What do you really want or need?
Some landscapes are beautiful as they are, but the owners sometimes just want to add new appeal to their homes so they opt to have a landscape job done. Be sure that you have already identified what you want in the landscape design. This should be in your preparatory plan before you even speak to a professional contractor. Once you have your plans you can present them to the contractor to see if everything will work and is possible. The blog on paramountlawns.com is a great place to start for your landscaping ideas.

2. Set a firm budget.
Next you should prepare your budget. Will your dream garden be feasible? Is it practical or do you need to make some adjustments or compromises? The best thing is that you know what you want and you are able to identify alternatives if your budget fails to accommodate your vision. With the plans and budget in place things tend to be easier when negotiating with the contractor. The landscaper will ensure that this project will meet your budget and assure that it will look closely to what you are expecting. Be sure to get accurate measurements so that materials do not accidentally go over budget. Some contractors like to give you the best price in the estimate, but find out later that they can’t provide all the material at the quote given. Which brings us to the next step, get references!

3. Get references.
Know the landscape companies that you are contacting and negotiate with them. Gauge their level of experience and the quality work by asking for photos or tours of their previous projects. You should also ask for references and their professional affiliations. Make sure the company is a legitimate company and that everything is written down. Without written proof of the agreed upon services it is difficult to prove if you are not happy in the end.

Summary
It all boils down to good planning and documentation. If you have a solid plan and ask the right questions you will end up with an exceptional landscape. In the Sacramento California valley, Paramount Properties is the premiere landscaping company. Visit the website for more information and for services.

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