Archive for Uncategorized
Get Started on a Santa Rosa Xeriscape Design
Xeriscapes aren’t a human invention. Xeriscape (pronounced zeh·ri·skayp) exists all over the planet in desert and arid climates and areas where cyclical droughts are the norm. The root “xeri” means zero and refers to the landscape’s ability to thrive without regular irrigation.
Here in Santa Rosa, we benefit from a Mediterranean climate – but one prone to droughts. Therefore, wise home and business owners focus on drought-tolerant landscape design – the very essence of xeriscape.
Xeriscape Sana Rosa: There’s No Need to Sacrifice Abundance
That said, there’s no need to worry that your Santa Rosa xeriscape’s minimal water needs translate to sacrificing abundance, lush foliage, or bright seasonal colors. Quite the opposite. Sonoma county is lucky to have an indigenous tree, shrub, and plant base that supports year-round greenery, color, and interest.
Here are three basic tenets of creating your own xeriscape landscape design. Use them to guide your initial planning stages. Then, connect with a local landscape design team specializing in xeriscape to watch your ideas sustainably come to fruition.
1. Observe your property’s micro-climate
Our county has a wide range of climates, from drier and more arid climates to the north and east, to wetter climates as you approach the coastal areas and into the redwood forests. Even a single quarter or half-acre can have multiple microclimates based on sun/shade exposure or soil drainage.
Observe your property and selected landscape areas, and evaluate them through a no-irrigation lens.
- What are the various soil types?
- How does water move, drain, or not drain?
- Which areas get the most sun versus the most shade?
- Which areas are more exposed to the wind?
- How does sunlight move across your landscape?
- How do soil/sun/shade conditions change with the seasons? For example, areas protected by deciduous trees during the spring and summer may be more exposed to winter sunlight once the leaves fall.
Draw a map of your property and take notes at different times of the day and throughout the seasons. You can fill in seasonal gaps if you have outdoor photos from previous years. Otherwise, your landscaper will make astute guesstimates based on lot orientation and existing tree/shrub/plant species.
This assessment helps you determine which plants will grow best – and where. Ideally, we’d work with the existing soil on your property – without too much amendment – replicating what Mother Nature already provides. However, in some cases, initial soil amendments are necessary to restore or reconfigure previously manipulated soil during construction or previous non-xeriscape landscape plans.
2. Minimize lawn space (or eliminate them)
Green lawns are incredibly water consumptive. The most complete Santa Rosa xeriscape landscape has zero lawn space. We understand if you can’t imagine a yard without some lawn space. However, it’s best to limit the size of the lawn to minimize water usage. Similarly, you may find that relocating the lawn makes more sense.
Shadier spots require less water, making better homes for lawns. And we promise there are plenty of drought-friendly, green groundcover options that provide the visual appeal of a cool green lawn.
Dichondra is a perfect example of a green, drought-tolerant ground cover that makes an excellent substitute for lawns. Once established, dichondra requires very little water and can be mowed just like your lawn (although it requires far less mowing than a lawn does). Best of all, dichondra feels soft and lush underneath bare feet and doesn’t cause itchy skin after sitting or lying down on it.
3. Mimic Mother Nature’s plant selection
Xeriscapes can and do include plants native to other parts of the county or the globe. However, we recommend mimicking the native landscape as much as possible. And, as referenced above, that’s pretty easy to do here in Sonoma County, where tree, shrub, and flowering plant diversity abounds.
Before meeting with your landscape designer, we recommend visiting the University of California’s page on Master Gardening and native, drought-tolerant plants. They’ve cataloged extensive lists of native plants that thrive in drought-tolerant landscapes. Pay careful attention to the codes as you navigate the lists.
- “N” stands for Native, and those plants are best for a xeriscape landscape that honors our cyclical rain/drought cycles and supports native wildlife populations.
- “L” and “V” stand for low-water and very low-water needs. This is the priority for a xeriscape.
- “S,” “A,” “P,” & “F” stand for full sun, afternoon shade, part shade, and full shade.”
- “s,” “m,” and “g,” means small, medium, or large.
Those are great for beginning planners to get started. However, if you’re up for more complexity of design, you can also look for plants that serve your property’s needs based on seasonal observations in terms of things like “deer resistance,” “pollinator friendly,” “erosion control,” “wildlife habitat,” and so on.
Ready To Get Started on a Xeriscape Landscape?
The team at XXX are xeriscape Santa Rosa professionals who specialize in planning, implementing, and maintaining xeriscape landscape designs. Contact us to schedule your on-site consultation and begin designing a drought-tolerant landscape specific to your property’s microclimate.
6 Simple Garden Care and Maintenance Tips
Regular garden service and maintenance are critical to not only keeping your garden in tip-top shape but also discouraging pests and keeping your plants in prime condition. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced gardener, there are several tips and tricks that you need to have up your sleeve to ensure your garden thrives.
Here are some simple and effective things you can do to make garden maintenance more manageable.
Understand Your Soil
When it comes to proper garden care and maintenance, you first need to know the type of soil in your garden. Having a good understanding of your soil allows you to make good choices regarding what kind of plants to grow, how often you should water them, and the appropriate fertilizer to use.
Before you start planting, adding a layer of mulch to your soil is also an excellent idea to minimize soil erosion and improve water retention.
Establish and Maintain a Watering Routine
Although it might seem like a simple garden management tip, watering your garden is one of the things that people tend to ignore. The fact is the majority of the plants in your garden won’t have deep roots, which can make it harder for them to access subsurface water. This is especially true of potted plants, which typically depend on the rain and the water you provide.
It’s, therefore, essential to establish a daily watering schedule for your plants. Avoid planting during the hottest part of the day, when the intense sun can vaporize the water before your plants’ roots can access it.
You should also be careful only to hydrate your plants’ roots rather than their leaves and blossoms. Watering leaves encourages the growth of mold and fungi, which can lure pests and potentially lead to disease.
Choose An Appropriate Fertilizer
Because plants obtain nourishment from the soil, it is crucial to ensure your soil is of exceptional quality. One of the best ways to enhance the quality of your soil is through fertilizer application.
Fortunately, you can readily purchase fertilizers with nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. That being said, most fertilizers purchased from stores often contain hazardous compounds. So a great alternative is to make your natural fertilizers from compost.
Eggshells, for instance, are a great source of calcium and other essential nutrients. So crushing and sprinkling eggshells around your crops can help your crops obtain these nutrients once the eggshells naturally decompose and release their nutrients into the soil.
Control Weeds In Your Garden
The presence of weeds can be a huge obstacle to your garden service and maintenance. Not only are weeds an unsightly nuisance, but they can rob your crops of the nutrition they require to thrive. For this reason, weed control should be an important part of your garden maintenance practice.
There are several methods you can use to remove weeds from your garden. For instance, you can use your hand or a little object like a hand fork to manually excavate and pull out the weeds from the soil. It’s important to ensure that you’ve removed all of the weed’s roots since if any are left behind, the plant will grow back up.
An alternative you can use if you prefer a hands-off approach to weed control is spraying herbicides on the weeds. Just remember not to spray your plants when using this approach since doing so can damage or kill them.
Deadhead Your Plants
Deadheading refers to the practice of removing dead or dying flowers from ornamental plants. Deadheading flower is beneficial to your plants for several reasons. First, it allows for the blossoming of new healthy flowers, which enhances the aesthetic appearance of the plants. Another benefit of deadheading is that it inhibits seed formation and self-seeding.
To deadhead a flower, simply pinch the wilting flower and pluck it from the stem. Alternatively, you can use cut the stem just below the flower head.
Have The Right Tools And Comfortable
It’s crucial to have the proper tools and equipment if you want to keep your garden looking its best. Ensure the tools you select for your garden are the appropriate size and shape.
A huge wheelbarrow works well for transporting heavy loads of soil or mulch, whilst a compact garden trowel is ideal for planting in confined locations.
You could also require some other instruments in addition to gardening tools, like a hose or a sprinkler system. Having the right tools and equipment at your disposal will make your garden service and maintenance a lot simpler and more fun.
In Conclusion
While keeping your garden well-maintained is no easy task, regularly applying the above-mentioned tips in your garden maintenance practice will help you ensure your garden looks beautiful all year long.
A Guide to Lawn and Landscape Maintenance
In theory, landscape maintenance shouldn’t be so hard, right? Just trim, water, and fertilizer. In actuality, landscape maintenance comes with a host of problems. Maybe your grass is dying in patches, or weeds have taken over your lawn.
Achieving a beautiful lawn and garden takes time, patience, and the right information. From pruning to fertilization and pest control, here’s everything you need to know about proper landscape maintenance.
Landscape Maintenance Tips and Tricks
1. A healthy lawn starts with healthy soil
For a healthy lawn, your soil should ideally be loam soil – a balance of sand, silt, and clay. Such a composition is great at retaining both moisture and nutrients. It allows for proper aeration, creating the perfect foundation for plant growth.
Nutrient-stressed soils are breeding grounds for weeds. Naturally, healthy soil has a highly diverse array of microscopic life. It’s this blend of living organisms that helps create ideal growing conditions and strengthen your lawn against disease and pests. Your grass will have deeper, healthier roots and will naturally thrive in all seasons.
So, how can you make your lawn soil healthy?
- Feed your soil with organic matter such as shredded leaves, humus, peat moss, and home composting organic matter
- Protect your soil with organic mulching, as this will lessen weed growth and germination and help retain soil moisture
- Remove weeds as they steal nutrients from your grass
You might also consider getting your soil tested. Just because your dirt looks rich doesn’t mean it’s the right pH for grass and plant growth, as most grasses prefer a pH of 6.0 to 7.2. Fortunately, you can easily fix soil PH by adding lime to raise it or iron to lower it.
2. Tread and till with care
Soil compaction occurs with too much foot traffic. Treat your garden soil with extra care by walking on paths and not parking or riding heavy vehicles on the lawn – especially when the soil is wet and compacted. Soil compaction increases soil density preventing plant roots from penetrating the soil properly. As such, your plants or grass will be unable to exploit the soil for nutrients and moisture.
If your lawn soil is hard to the touch or your grass looks stressed, you might have compaction problems. Aerate your lawn at least once a year to improve the flow of oxygen and nutrients. You can hire a landscape maintenance service to aerate your lawn for you or invest in aerators and do it yourself like a pro.
3. Re-assess your mowing technique
The number one cause of a lackluster lawn is mowing too short, so it’s important to keep your lawn at the right height throughout the year. You never want to cut more than 1/3 of the existing grass blade as you could burn the roots. Doing so also reduces water retention, which means you’ll have to water your yard more often.
On that note, it’s important to grow the grass variety that’s best adapted to the local environment. You’ll find that such grass requires less maintenance to look good.
4. Water properly
Now, this doesn’t mean you should water your lawn more – you just need to change the way you water. Aim to water deeply instead.
Water conservation and a healthy, luscious lawn aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Most lawn grasses need the equivalent of 1 inch of rainfall to retain a healthy and attractive appearance. If it doesn’t often rain in your area, supplemental irrigation is an absolute must. There’s no hard-and-fast definition for watering deeply. It just means watering in a way that soaks the soil, as most plant roots aren’t sitting close to the surface.
Consider investing in a drip irrigation system as it will water your grass slowly, thereby limiting evaporation concerns.
5. Mulch for your flowerbeds
Mulching is important for a few reasons:
- It insulates the soil, providing a buffer from heat and cold temperatures
- It helps retain soil moisture
- It prevents soil compaction
- It prevents weeds from popping up in your flower beds
- It helps control soil erosion, enabling you to retain the healthy layer of fertile soil
6. Address aggressive weeds early
It’s best to deal with weeds in early spring just as they’re popping up. The longer you allow them to grow, the more deep-rooted they’ll become. You may opt for an organic herbicide, but the best way to minimize weed is through good cultural practices.
- Maintain the health of your soil
- Leave mow clippings on the grass for nutrients and protection
- Devote parts of your lawn to wildflowers
- Do not mow your grass too short
Work with a Landscape Business You Can Trust
We’ve been creating and maintaining beautiful landscapes for years. Contact us for more tips and tricks on keeping your landscaping manageable and low maintenance.
7 Lawn Treatment Tips for the Best Looking Lawn on the Block
Your lawn needs just as much love as any garden. A good lawn brings all the elements of your yard together, creating a perfect space for fun and relaxation. It also works wonders for curb appeal.
Lawn care is a bit more involving than most people realize. It involves trimming, mowing, watering, weed removal, fertilizing, soil health, and more. A thorough lawn care program involves services like pest control and soil testing to ensure your turf is healthy and disease-free. And this is in addition to your lawn maintenance responsibilities like removing debris, edging borders, and mowing grass.
Keeping your lawn healthy and luscious can be overwhelming. So, here are some lawn treatment tips to make the process less tasking so you can achieve a thick, lush green lawn.
1. Establish a Lawn Care Calendar
Mowing is one of the most important processes for maintaining a healthy lawn. Ideally, you should cut your lawn at least once a week during the summer months and once every two weeks during the rest of the year.
If you’ve already established a great-looking lawn, then your priority will be maintaining the health of the grass year-round. If not, autumn is the perfect time of year to start again with your lawn treatment – as temperatures are still warm enough to sustain growth.
2. Get to Know Your Soil
The fastest way to a beautiful, healthy lawn starts with healthy living soil. And nothing contributes to the health of your soil more than a thick, rich organic lawn. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
Although the way a lawn looks is a good indicator of the overall health of the soil, the only way to know for sure what lawn treatments it needs is to do a soil test. Taking a soil sample to your local agriculture extension office helps you understand which fertilizer you should use and whether nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels are sufficient.
Everything else is mere guesswork and could lead to over-fertilizing your lawn, which could kill your grass in the worst-case scenario.
3. Use Natural Lawn Fertilizers
Nitrogen is what gives your lawn that lush green color. Lawns should be fed with fertilizer at most twice a year – in spring and autumn. Natural lawn fertilizers are made from organic matter and can improve the health of your lawn without introducing potentially harmful substances into the soil and water.
Depending on the health of your soil, spring feed should be high in nitrogen to facilitate growth, whereas autumn feed should be high in phosphorous and potassium to toughen the grass for harsh winter weather.
4. “Grass-Cycle” Your Grass Clippings
Grasscycling is simply the process of leaving leftover grass clipping on your yard after mowing. As the clippings break down, they improve the health of your soil as they contain moisture and valuable nutrients. What’s more, grass clippings decompose fairly quickly, providing your lawn with a ready source of nutrients.
Not only does grasscycling improve the texture of your lawn by helping the soil retain more water, but it’s also an environmentally friendly option.
5. Aerate Your Lawn
Aerating, or spiking, involves perforating the soil with small holes to allow air, water, and nutrients to penetrate the grass roots. It relieves soil compaction and enhances growth. Aerate your lawn in the spring and the autumn for best results and when your lawn gets compacted.
On that note, make a point of regularly removing weeds, thatch, and moss as they can prevent growth by blocking air and nutrients from getting to the roots.
6. Pre-Emergent and Targeted Weed Control
Weed control helps improve your lawn’s natural defenses and reduce future maintenance chores. Finding the right weed treatment plan requires you to understand:
- The different types of weeds
- Their growing seasons
- And how to treat them based on these conditions
Weeds are a problem you need to deal with sooner rather than later. Do so by using weeding tools to get rid of deep-rooted dandelions or get a weed killer if your yard is run over with weeds. You can even use a pre-emergent herbicide to stop weeds from germinating.
7. Watering
A lawn needs enough water for it to grow bright green– that much is clear. What’s less clear is how much and how often you should water your lawn. Too little water and your lawn will shrivel up and die; too much and it’ll become over-saturated and die.
The best method for lawn watering is to water deeply and infrequently unless you’re going through a dry spell. If the weather is especially dry, then it’s best to have a consistent irrigation schedule.
Maintain the Perfect Lawn with a Professional Landscaper
Lawn care involves a combination of simple daily and weekly tasks that you can do yourself. You can also get a little bit of help from a landscaping professional, particularly if you’re dealing with bare patches, pests, or weeds.
Get in touch to see how we can help you get the perfect lawn.
4 Best Mulch Options for Your Home Landscape
Your home landscaping is the first thing people notice when they pay you a visit. It should not only be intricate but also well maintained. However, a network of components working together to sustain healthy plants is beyond the landscape aesthetics. Mulch is among the key elements. While it is considered the gardener’s best friend, mulching is usually the most overlooked gardening technique. Most gardeners fail to understand that mulching is a powerful technique to incorporate into their landscape as it comes in handy with benefits.
Selecting the suitable landscape mulch can be overwhelming, especially for a beginner. Read on to learn the ideal type of mulch for your landscape. But first, let’s understand what mulch is and why it’s essential for your landscape.
What is Mulch?
Mulch is any material laid over the soil’s surface as a cover. Here are the two types of mulch:
- Organic mulch. Includes formerly living materials such as straws and wood chips
- Inorganic mulch. Consists of synthetic materials such as plastics
Benefits of Mulching
There is no better way to sustain a healthy landscape than covering the bare soil. Beyond the aesthetics, here is why mulching is essential.
- Controls weeds
- Provides insulation for roots
- Prevents soil erosion
- Add nutrients to the soil
- Encourages earthworms to move-In
Selecting the Right Mulch for the Job
There is no perfect mulch. It requires careful consideration of each type of mulch to help you choose the best mulch for a particular setting. Several factors such as appearance, availability, and expense also play a role in determining the best mulch. If you wonder which mulch type is ideal for your landscape, weigh out the pros and cons of the following mulch types before laying it down.
Wood Chips mulch
Wood mulch is chopped-up wood material in a wide range of sizes. The variety of sizes prevents compaction and therefore allows easy water infiltration. Cedar, pine, and hemlock make effective mulches.
Pros
- Decomposes at different rates, creating a diverse environment for soil organisms.
- Readily available
- Easy to apply and remove
- Environmentally clean
Cons
- The wrong application can cause molds, rot, or suffocation of the roots
- Not ideal for every plant due to cases of nitrogen theft when wood chips are breaking down
Straw mulch
Straw mulch is a remnant of cereal and grain crops. The straw mulch prevents the grass seeds from washing off while preventing rodents. However, do not confuse straw mulch with hay as far as mulches go. The latter is known to contain weed seeds and sometimes molds. Therefore, always go for certified weed-free straws as your mulching option.
Pros
- It’s clean
- It’s light
- It breaks down quickly and composts into nutrients
Cons
- Straw mulch can be messy
- They easily blow around in wind
Rock mulch
Rocks tend to be more expensive than organic mulches. Rocks do not break down easily; hence annual reapplication is not required. Rock mulch is an excellent choice if you have drainage issues on your property as it allows quick drainage of water. When using rocks as mulch, there are essential things to keep in mind:
- A fabric weed barrier is needed underneath to prevent weeds from sprouting through the rocks
- Only drought-tolerant plants thrive in rock-mulched beds
- Steel edging is required to keep off stray rocks to achieve a tidy appearance
Pros
- They are durable
- Require low maintenance
- They are fire-proof
- They keep off weeds longer
Cons
- They are expensive
- Rocks don’t add anything to the soil, unlike organic mulches
Geotextile mulch
Geotextile is also known as landscaping fabric. It is made predominantly from starch and is 100% eco-friendly. Geotextiles are an improvement over old-style plastic mulches. They not only suppress weeds but also reduce surface evaporation. Choosing the right one can be overwhelming with so many different geotextiles. Some factors to consider are: ease of the material applied to the land, ease of water penetration, relative cost, and effectiveness of the material in weed suppression.
Pros
- No clean-up is required
- Geotextile can minimize nutrient leaching during the rainy season
Cons
- It is expensive
- Prone to blockage by residues
Conclusion
Your choice of mulch is a matter of personal taste and preference. However, mulching is not as easy as grabbing shredded straws and pouring them around your plants. There is the right way to mulch. When a professional landscaper is involved, mulching can slow the erosion process, retain soil moisture, and control weeds.
Are you looking for a reliable landscape maintenance company to advise you accordingly on your landscape’s ideal mulch? We specialize in maintenance, repair, and water-saving landscaping design. By hiring us, we guarantee you’ll get the highest quality mulch product at a reasonable price. Reach out to us.
Six Yard Maintenance Tips You Need to Know
Nothing beats the feeling of enjoying the sight of freshly mowed grass and the aroma of nature in your own yard. Spending time in your yard can help relieve stress and keep you in balance.
One common misconception about yard maintenance Rohnert Park is that you need a big budget to keep your yard looking healthy and fresh. The truth is that lawn care doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money. There are various practices that can help you save on these costs.
It’s no secret that a healthy and lush yard can boost your home’s general appearance and resale value. The landscape also provides ample space for you and your family/friends to enjoy. Below are six tips on how to take good care of your lawn in all seasons.
- Mow Regularly
Regular lawn care is one of the crucial factors contributing to a healthy lawn. As the grass grows in your yard, it needs frequent mowing. Consider cutting the grass twice a week in peak growth periods to keep it looking tidy.
Depending on the type of grass grown, cut it to a height of between 2.5 and 3 inches. Note that only one-third of the height of the grass should be cut. Also, grass grows between 2 and 6 inches in length every month.
Mow your lawn once every two weeks in warm winters, autumn, and spring. Do the same at least once every week during summer. Regular mowing makes it easier for the roots to spread further, fill up any gaps and restrict weed growth.
- Water the Yard in the Morning
Use a sprinkler to water your yard twice or thrice a week. Unless your lawn has new grass seeds sprouting, avoid watering it every day.
Water sprinklers cover the entire part of a yard, thus enabling you to get the most out of the task. Even more, watering in the morning allows water to seep through the soil with little evaporation.
Avoid overwatering your young lawns to prevent root rot. Overwatering may also hinder root growth and result in waterlogging.
- Loosen Compacted Soil
It’s common for soil to get compacted in your flower beds when the temperatures rise. Your yard may get compacted soil if animals or people step on it regularly.
If this is the case, start by removing the thick leaf layers that cover your flower beds. You should also thin the leaf layers for them to decompose into organic matter quickly. Gently use a stick to loosen the soil for oxygen to penetrate the roots.
Aerate your lawn if you notice any signs of decline or moss patches. This practice allows air and water to reach the root area faster and boost root growth/development.
- Deal with Aggressive Weeds Early
Weed out your yard in early spring to remove any aggressive or invasive weeds. If you leave them to grow into the summer, their roots will develop further, making it hard to pull them out.
You may use a pre-emergent or organic herbicide to kill the weeds. Only apply the pre-emergent herbicide for five consecutive days when the topsoil temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The chemical will prevent the weed seeds from germinating.
Spray a post-emergent herbicide (organic or traditional) if you spot weeds in your yard in spring. You should also dig out dandelions by their roots if they start emerging on your lawn at this time.
- Carefully Time Your Pruning Routines
Prune any badly disfigured or broken branches damaged by ice and snow in late winter as part of your yard maintenance Rohnert Park routine. You should also cut off any unwanted lower branches on your evergreen trees and shrubs at the same time.
If you have a summer-flowering shrub in your yard, prune it early in spring or late winter to prevent further growth. Prune your spring-flowering shrubs once the flowers start fading too.
- Mulch Carefully
Hold off any mulching tasks until the weather warms and the soil in the flower beds starts to dry out. You should also mulch the beds when you have edged them and trimmed back any broken branches on the shrubs.
Use a heavy mulch consisting of over-dyed brown wood chips or hardwood bark mulches. That’s because heavy mulches look better, last longer, and are of higher quality.
Looking for Yard Maintenance Rohnert Park Services?
Now is the right time to clean up your yard and give it the liveliness it needs. From weed control to pruning, the tips discussed in this guide can help you care for your yard, garden beds, and lawn. Yard maintenance Rohnert Park is all about creating beautiful and healthy outdoor spaces all year round.
Landscaping services are crucial if you want your yard to give a long-lasting impression. Engage a landscaping maintenance professional to create a beautiful environment around your home. Our experts will be ready to help you with whichever landscaping issue you have.
Sprinkler Irrigation System: A Proper Way to Water Your Backyard in Summer
Summer is quickly approaching. You’re already planning some backyard garden activities such as barbecue and watching the sunset. But have you checked the condition of your lawn? You need a watering system to keep the grass fresh from the summer sun. How about installing a sprinkler irrigation system to provide sufficient water supply throughout the hot months?
What is a Sprinkler Irrigation System?
In a sprinkler irrigation system, water is applied to the land in a spray. It is an artificial rain that originates from a sprinkler system design. In this case, you need to have the necessary skills and experience to join several pipes and pumps to form a system that will irrigate your land. However, you can always contact professional landscaping experts to assist in sprinkler system design, especially when you want to irrigate a huge backyard.
What are the Benefits of Sprinkler Irrigation System in Lawn Watering?
As you already know, there are multiple watering systems that you can use to water your lawn. However, it is essential to use a sprinkler irrigation system because many landscaping experts highly recommend it. Besides the huge number of recommendations, sprinkling your lawn offers considerable benefits.
- Reduced Soil Erosion
The last problem you want is to erode all the soil on your garden lawn. This will discourage the growth of flowers and grass. Therefore, you need to consider a watering method that does not encourage soil erosion. As it stands, using the sprinkling method to water your grass reduces incidences of soil erosion. Property owners are currently using a sprinkler irrigation system in different topographies. However, besides drip irrigation, there’s no other irrigation method essential in preventing soil erosion.
- Equal Water Distribution
You want every flower and grass on your lawn to get a sufficient water supply during watering. It is the only way it will remain green and fresh in summer. The sprinkler irrigation system has proven to be a reliable method of watering lawns. It is very effective and reaches the extreme corners of your land. This will play a vital role in supporting even the growth of grass and other plants on your land.
- Suitable for All Fields
As you prepare to water your lawn, you must analyze the soil type in your field. The kind of soil highly determines the mode of irrigation used. Notably, a sprinkler irrigation system is suitable for almost all soil types. In addition, it does not encourage flooding, so you will not experience soil erosion and uprooting of your plants. The only areas where you should avoid sprinkler irrigation systems are fields with clay soils.
- Accurate Measurement of Water
For optimum growth of grass and flowers in your backyard, you need to supply accurate amounts of water. Excessive water will lead to flooding, while a limited water supply is not sufficient to keep your grass green in summer. However, with a sprinkler irrigation system, you don’t have to struggle to measure the amount of water supplied. Sprinkler irrigation systems can measure accurately the amount of water provided on your land.
- Efficient Use of Water
Water is a scarce commodity. Therefore, you should always consider a watering system that makes maximum use of the water available. As highlighted above, a sprinkler irrigation system has mechanisms that measure the amount of water supplied to your grass. Therefore, if you have a limited water supply, this system will irrigate it efficiently. Remember, you need a sustainable irrigation system that optimizes the limited water supply on your land.
- Easy to Operate
The majority of the watering methods available are labor-intensive. You have to spend much of your time watering each plant. However, in the sprinkler irrigation system, you don’t have to be available to water your lawn. The system can automatically sprinkle your grass when you’re away. You only need to strategically time your system to have even intervals between watering. Whether at home or away, you’ll not skip watering your land.
- Easy to Apply Soluble Fertilizers
Occasionally, you’ll be required to supply nutrients to your grass for healthy growth. The sprinkler irrigation method gives you an easy way of supplying your plants with soluble nutrients. You’ll irrigate and supply the necessary nutrients to your lawn by dissolving fertilizers in water. Besides, the sprinkling method of watering makes it easier to apply herbicides and fungicides to your crops.
Why Do You Need Assistance in Sprinkler Irrigation System?
As you can see, a sprinkler irrigation system has multiple benefits that other forms of lawn watering will not provide. However, sometimes it can get messy, especially when setting up your sprinkler system design. As such, it is necessary to work with experienced landscaping experts to help with setups. Landscaping technicians will ensure that your system supplies sufficient water to every corner of your land without occasional breakdowns and uneven water pressure. Contact us for more information.
Choose the Right Professional for Your Xeriscape Santa Rosa Project
Hiring a xeriscaping company is a great way to reduce your water bill, boost your home’s curb appeal, and increase your property’s monetary value. After all, professionals have the skills that eliminate the guesswork in your xeriscape Santa Rosa project. You avoid costly mistakes and get the best results in your project.
However, different xeriscaping companies offer different experiences and results. So, how do you choose the right professionals to handle your xeriscaping project in Santa Rosa? Here’s a step-by-step procedure for picking a xeriscape expert that fits your budget and delivers the best results.
Step 1: Define Your Xeriscaping Needs
Knowing what you want from your outdoor space ensures you hire the right professional. The reason is that xeriscaping companies offer different services. Knowing what you want ensures you only hire professionals offering services that suit your needs.
For this reason, you should create a list of your xeriscaping needs, which may include:
- Water-saving irrigation methods
- Mulching techniques that prevent excessive loss of water from your garden soil
- Drought-resistant plant species for your garden or outdoor space
- Improving soil conditions to enhance water retention
- Grouping plants according to their water needs
Once you’ve created the list, compare it with various professionals’ services. Your needs should match the services of the company you choose. If you’re unsure of the designs that work for you, an experienced professional will help you come up with ideas. Read on to learn how to identify an experienced xeriscape professional.
Step 2: Compare Your Budget With the Costs of Xeriscape Services
How much you’re willing to spend influences the professional you’ll choose for your xeriscape Santa Rosa project. You need to choose xeriscape services that fall within your budget to avoid financial issues like huge debts.
However, be careful with professionals that offer low prices. After all, you get what you pay for most of the time. Look for a xeriscape company that offers affordable prices without sacrificing the quality of its services.
The next step shows you how to identify a professional that offers legitimate, high-quality xeriscaping services.
Step 3: Leverage Online Reviews and Testimonials
With the increasing growth of the internet, it’s simple to check the reputation of a xeriscape professional. You can quickly check testimonials on the professional’s site. Alternatively, you can check the online reviews to verify a professional’s credibility and the value of their services.
Look for a xeriscape company with authentic testimonials and online reviews from past clients who had similar needs as yours. Testimonials and reviews show you what to expect if you hire a particular professional to handle your xeriscape project. However, be wary of sugarcoated testimonials and reviews that are too good to be true.
Step 4: Check the Experience of the Xeriscape Professional
To identify the experience of a professional, check how long they’ve been in business. The longer the period, the higher the experience. Checking the experience helps you evaluate whether a xeriscape company has the necessary skills, tools, and technology to handle your project.
An experienced professional will finish your xeriscape Santa Rosa project on time. You will also avoid costly design mistakes, ensuring the project starts and ends within budget. As a result, you get a landscape design tailored to your needs and save a lot of money.
Step 5: Evaluate Your Options Properly
When looking for the right professional for your xeriscape Santa Rosa project, you need to evaluate your options. You shouldn’t hurry into hiring the first company you speak to on the phone since you may miss out on better options.
Instead, shortlist some of the best xeriscaping companies in Santa Rosa. Then, narrow down your options based on your budget, the professional’s landscaping services, and experience. Your xeriscaping needs should also influence the professional you choose.
Step 6: Identify How the Xeriscaping Company Interacts with Clients
You want to work with a company that respects you and prioritizes your interests. To achieve this, you must hire a xeriscaping company with reliable customer service and friendly experts. Consider the following when looking for a company that will value you as a client:
- How does the company interact with you when inquiring about their services? Are the people there friendly? How long does it take for the company to respond to your inquiries? With these details, it’s easy to gauge what to expect if you hire a particular xeriscaping company.
- Is the professional willing to listen to your ideas and build upon them to help you create the landscape design you’re looking for? If you have no idea what you want from your xeriscaping project, the right expert will give you suitable suggestions and help you choose what works for you.
An Expert Wants to Help in Your Xeriscape Santa Rosa Project
Choosing the right xeriscaping expert ensures you make your ideas a reality. With a reliable professional, your xeriscape Santa Rosa project will run seamlessly.
We would love to help you bring your xeriscape ideas to real life. We specialize in water-saving landscape designs, irrigation, and landscape maintenance. Contact us today to help you improve the beauty of your outdoor space.
Landscaping Ideas for a Contemporary Easy-Maintenance Look
A nicely designed landscape makes a good first impression on your visitors and passersby. Besides, landscaping is a great way to add curb appeal and value to your home. Unless you’re comfortable with your not-so-good-looking backyard, lawn, or front yard, you might need to incorporate a few landscaping ideas.
Most people think landscaping is all about having a lush green lawn. If you’re one of those people, you’re mistaken. There are so many ideas you can apply to make your landscape appealing. Here are some ideas that should help improve your outdoor space and make your home more welcoming.
1. Swap Grass for Gravel
Low-maintenance lawns are increasingly becoming popular, and this trend isn’t going away any time soon. Your yard can still look beautiful without grass, and that’s why xeriscapers recommend the use of gravel and stone. Amazingly, landscaping with gravel will reduce your reliance on chemical fertilizers, watering, and regular mowing to keep the lawn beautiful.
Gravel and stone landscaping can be ideal alternatives to grass, mainly if your home is located in hot, dry areas. Materials such as crushed granite, lava rocks, pea gravel, and river rocks can complement the rest of your landscaping, so don’t be afraid to use them.
2. Expand Your Living Space
If you feel that neither grass nor gravel cuts it, try bringing your living space outdoors. You just need to ‘steal’ a little more space and use it for your outdoor living areas. You can liven up your home’s exterior with outdoor seating areas and a few fire pits.
Not only will you be expanding your living space, but also reducing the need for ground cover plants. You can take your landscape design to the next level by creating the perfect outdoor living space.
Be as creative as possible during the ideation phase, but if creativity isn’t your thing, involve a landscaping professional or advisor. Professionals should come in handy when developing a plan on how to create an inviting outdoor living area.
3. Landscape with Succulents
Watering restrictions are slowly inspiring the trend towards low maintenance gardens. It’s becoming challenging to maintain lawns and flowerbeds, meaning you have to keep water guzzler plants to a minimum. Luckily, you can still develop a lovely-looking garden with succulents.
Surprisingly, succulents can thrive without frequent watering. Besides, they can withstand extended dry spells without losing their colors or withering.
Unlike other plants, you’ll have plenty of design possibilities when using succulents. As you well know, these plants come in different colors, textures, and all sorts of exciting forms. If you want to create a desert theme around your landscape, there’s no better way to do so than using succulents.
4. Embrace Hardscapes, Pathways, and Pavers
If you’re willing to adopt xeriscape, you might want to incorporate hardscape into your yard. Hardscape refers to wood, gravel, concrete, stone, and bricks. All these elements should bring harmony to your landscape.
Landscapers will help you add a modern touch to your home by using evenly spaced pavers. Moreover, the use of different-sized pavers allows you to create geometric patterns that will intrigue your visitors.
Ensure you make a statement with your garden pathways and walkways. Luckily, building a pathway system can be fun, and the good thing is you can incorporate a few pattern ideas to make it unique. All you need to do is find inspiration from photos, videos, and landscaping advisors.
5. Try Out a Few Shade-Providing Structures
Shade providing structures not only make your home look luxurious but also helps cool your landscape by a whopping 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep in mind that shade-casting structures are not limited to trees. You can also add covered driveways or porticos to your home. Such structures will cast plenty of shade upon your yard and provide a striking entrance as well.
6. Install Artificial Turf
Installing artificial turf is another idea worth considering if you want to achieve a modern and easy-to-maintain look. Fake grass requires little to no maintenance, meaning you don’t need to apply fertilizer, deal with weeds or pests, mow it, or water it.
With artificial turf, you can create spectacular curb appeal, one that will have people around your block talking. The good thing with artificial grass is it blends in well with other landscaping features and can be used in small and big spaces.
Final Thoughts
There’s a lot of value in landscaping, and it’s high time you give your yard a face-lift. You don’t have to invest a lot of money to make your outside look attractive. It’s the simple things you do that make your yard livable and gorgeous.
Regardless of where your house is located, you can’t go wrong with the above xeriscape ideas. Incredibly, these ideas will keep your yard looking amazing with minimal maintenance efforts. If you’re ready to proceed, our landscapers and designers at DK Landscaping can help you incorporate various landscaping ideas into your yard.
Hiring Yard Maintenance in Rohnert Park
The beauty and styling of your yard change with seasons, which means your stunning outdoor space can rapidly become unattractive without consistent care. For this reason, you need to adopt regular maintenance practices like:
- Trimming your garden hedges
- Fertilizing your flower beds
- Mowing and edging your lawn
- Weed control and watering your plants
While yard maintenance isn’t rocket science for do-it-yourself enthusiasts, you need solid gardening skills for magnificent beauty in your outdoor space. That’s where outsourcing yard maintenance to a professional comes in.
Apart from eliminating extra work in your busy schedule, a professional is experienced and skilled to handle the job seamlessly. But if you’re still unsure whether or not to hire yard maintenance Rohnert Park, here are the unbeatable benefits of working with professionals.
1. They Offer a Pool of Yard Maintenance Services
Yard maintenance experts offer multiple services as a package, helping you access all the garden care utilities you need to make your outdoor space a lasting beauty. They provide both basic and advanced maintenance services like;
Bed Maintenance
It includes trimming ground-cover plants to a suitable height to ensure proper and healthy growth throughout the seasons. Bed maintenance also includes weeding and removing dead plants and leaves from the soil bed for a beautiful appearance.
Hedging and Pruning
Pruning eliminates dead blooms and diseased plant parts, which promotes growth. On the other hand, hedging involves shaping your garden hedges to form attractive boundaries and structures.
These two maintenance practices boost plant health and bloom performance, forming a beautiful view in your outdoor space. Considering you should trim and prune your plants at a specific time, a professional knows different plant species, their optimum blooming period, and the appropriate time to prune them.
Irrigation System Start-Up and Shut-Down
If you haven’t set up an irrigation system, a yard maintenance company can set up one for you. These systems are essential during spring when you need to irrigate the plants.
If you already have an irrigation system set up, a yard maintenance professional can help you properly shut it down during winter. That’s because freezing conditions can damage your irrigation system.
When standing water in the irrigation system freezes, it expands and can cause components like valves, sprinklers, and pipes to break. A professional can help you blow out water in the system to avoid unnecessary damages, which are usually costly.
Repair Services
Replacing a broken garden structure with a new one can be expensive. With a yard maintenance provider, you’ll access repair services that help you restore structures to their initial beauty and performance, eliminating the need to buy a new one.
So, hiring a professional is the better option if you have a broken garden cabin, sheds, pavilions, pergolas, or arbors.
2. It Improves the Value of Your Property
Having a beautiful front and backyard adds value to your property, which appreciates with regular maintenance. While your property’s interior styling and decor become obsolete with time, the plants in your garden can remain beautiful scenery for years with professional supervision.
After all, your yard makes the first impression when a buyer sees your home for the first time. With reliable maintenance services, you can create a lasting impression and have a price advantage over homes with unsightly gardens.
Even if you’re not looking forward to selling your home, wouldn’t it be better to ensure its value increases with time?
3. Hiring a Reliable Professional Saves You Money
You might be wondering, how does hiring yard maintenance Rohnert Park save you money, yet you pay for the services?
First, they have the experience and skills to care for your yard — no guesswork, which usually comes with costly errors. They do the maintenance tasks with the necessary accuracy for the best results without repeating expensive procedures like soil research.
Second, professionals have the necessary tools and equipment to maintain magnificent beauty in your outdoor space. As a result, you won’t have to buy or hire expensive machines like a lawnmower and leaf clearing blower, saving you money.
Lastly, reliable professionals offer various maintenance services as a package, helping you access everything you need from a central place. That way, you’ll not hire several experts (who charge differently) to handle specific maintenance tasks.
4. It Saves You Time
A well-maintained garden requires a great deal of time and effort. Proper yard maintenance is a continuous process that demands careful and constant attention. Considering how busy modern life has made us, you probably have a lot on your plate.
A professional will bear the commitment to take care of your yard, allowing you to focus on other essential aspects of life.
Let us Transform Your Outdoor Space into Paradise
We offer personalized yard maintenance Rohnert Park to ensure everything in your outdoor space is exactly how you want it to be. We specialize in high-quality maintenance, repair, irrigation, and water-saving landscape designs.
Contact us for more information.
