Most of us in the Southeast saw a very wet September. Hopefully most of you were able to get those sprinklers off, unlike my neighbor who ran his water all through the rain. When I asked him, he said he had no idea how to turn it off. I guess I'm going to have to volunteer to show him the off switch. If you don't take the time to turn it off, don't get an irrigation system, it makes us all look silly running irrigation during the rain storms. Gee whiz. I've had a hard time keeping some of my seasonal color from getting rot. The encore azalea and Hardy Gardenia azaleas are looking good with color breaking this week.
I've been ordering trees for fall planting and have found growers in a good mood on some trees as far as prices. I got most of my bulbs order 2 weeks ago. Cool temps today has got me in the mood for fall.
This is a great time to get out fire ant bait. Ants are foraging as they know winter is coming. I've been using Over'n out this year and like the results. Let me know what works for you. I recently had a guy ask me if coke worked for fire ants. I had to clarify if he was giving them lunch or wanted them to go away. There are lots of wives tells on fire ant control like grits, sugar. Baits are good for long term control and liquid and aerosols provide good quick knock down for those hot spots. Remember to read and follow the labels.
Martha Hill, award winning Landscape professor
You're in for a real treat! On August 18, 2009 I conducted a podcast with Landscape Professor Martha Hill from Hines Community College in Raymond, MS. She will get you fired up about doing landscaping right! Her passion for teaching comes through in the podcast. She gives us great advice for design, budgeting, and how to pick a contractor. She also gives us information about how to save the wonderful, established, trees in our yards. She is the 2003 Educator of year from Associated Landscape Contractors of America, which is now entitled PLANET. That is a big deal, folks! Martha's enthusiasm is contagious so hold on and get ready!
Unfolding the design process, Dr. Gary Keever
Recently I was able to sit down with Dr. Gary Keever, professor at Auburn University, to discuss how the landscape design process affects our home. He gives us some great "nuggets" of wisdom on what we should do before we rush out and start purchasing our favorite blooming plant. Dr. Keever helps walk us through the process of landscaping by teaching us to decide for what purpose we would like to use our space, and to develop a future plan or goal. This is important even if your budget may not allow for it currently. Dr. Keever sent us the powerful message that, a good plan is well worth having! Dr. Keever unfolds the details that play into the design process, as well as sheds some light on when to call an expert or when to do it ourselves. I hope you enjoy his insight. He is one of the best design experts in the country!
Rotate. Ready?
This is the time of year when most of us are looking forward to seeing a little cooler weather come our way. When the warm nights meet the moisture we have been blessed to have, it is a great combo for great growing warm season grasses. Great for new grass grow in!! This time of year we are reminded about rotating mowing patterns, which means do not always mow in the same direction each week. Change the direction you mow or making sure you move over 12" or more so the mower does not start creating tracks or ruts in the turf. I like to change directions because it allows the turf blades to be mowed in a different direction too. If mowing rotation has not happened and you got the ruts, change your mowing patterns now and in time your ruts should go away. :-)
If not, you may want to review the yard with an expert to see if verticutting, dethatching or other handy tips can improve your lawn.
If not, you may want to review the yard with an expert to see if verticutting, dethatching or other handy tips can improve your lawn.
The Biltmore Estate grounds is one of the best maintained in the country. As a winner of 2007 Professional Grounds Maintenance Society Green Star Award, this property is truly one of the best of the best. If you are near Ashville, N.C. it is well worth the visit. Susanne Woodell, Landscape Manager, has led the way with high standard to detail and consistent devotion to quality. Susanne and her staff understand the importance to a great first impression and attention to detail.
How have you been dealing with deer eating with your landscaping? As a child in the 60-70's I don't remember ever having to deal with deer, I remember going hunting as a child and never seeing anything that remotely looked like a deer. Over the years I have seen some fairly interesting ways folks have tried to keep "Bambi" at bay in the landscape. Recently, I saw empty shot gun shell (sgs) sprinkled around the base of some fairly new planted trees in the yard. When I asked the owner how the sgs worked, he said not so good, these city deer have never been shot at so I guess the smell of sgs does not trigger a bad experience and the deer are damaging my trees. I have found a few useful tricks from my experience and from others.
There are very few plants that are totally deer proof, but of course there are some that are less on the deer's radar than others. We will discuss those plants on a later date. What I want to talk about is the existing landscape that may be getting eaten now.
An outdoor dog across the street from my house seems to keep my neighbors Hosta in one piece from the deer. Research articles I have read seem to confirm this is true as well. Deer are afraid of dogs. Fences of course seem to do fairly well - higher the better but, even shorter fences have worked fairly well. Yes, deer can hurdle low fences, but the neighborhood deer I have encountered seem to be looking for the easiest meals and my observation has been they will normally walk around the fence in search of an easy meal. I read where others had successfully used a wire(s) strung above low fences to help prevent an easy jump over too.
One of sons had put out some corn in our backyard one day to feed our neighborhood deer, just for fun. The next couple of days he put fishing line around the area about grazing height. The corn stayed in place for several days until the deer figure out how to walk behind the fishing line.
Of course we have all heard that deer are creatures of habit and are very sensitive to smells. Knowing this it helps provide some soft and fairly simple ways to keep them away from our landscape plants. I have used several products on a rotating bases and found them to work extremely well if I do one thing. Yes, the one thing is very important. It is the difference in success and letting Bambi clean me out or destroy a new 'Red Maple' trees. Oh, speaking of trees, the I have used wire fences and metal post to protect tree trunks from rutting. Please do not use solid pieces of black drain pipe on tree trunks, you are asking for heat troubles to your trees.
I have used Irish Spring soap around the plants I want to protect and found it to work fairly well. I cut the soap into 3 or 4 pieces and toss them in or just under the mulch. After a couple of weeks I will use Milorganite fertilizer sprinkled generously on the shrub beds. This organic fertilizer is good source of nitrogen for plants and deer do not enjoy the odor it gives off. Yes, it can be smell somewhat by humans too, so don't put it out the day of the outdoor wedding in your backyard. The smell for us human types seems to go away fairly fast, but deer smell it for a while. After another 2 to 4 weeks passes I use another product of two that I have found very good on repelling deer away. One is called Invisible Fence and the other is Deer Away. These products have been great, but it will make you wonder what you are doing when you are spraying it out. It carries a smelly punch till it dries. Now the key is to remember one thing about these products. You have to be consistent in appling it to the landscape and you have to rotate between the products. If you only use Irish Spring soap, eventual deer will get use to the smell and move in. After a heavy rain or multi irrigation use, you have to re-apply materials again, otherwise expect the deer to return to your plants. I have use this method for several years and seen a herds of deer walk past hosta plants.
There are very few plants that are totally deer proof, but of course there are some that are less on the deer's radar than others. We will discuss those plants on a later date. What I want to talk about is the existing landscape that may be getting eaten now.
An outdoor dog across the street from my house seems to keep my neighbors Hosta in one piece from the deer. Research articles I have read seem to confirm this is true as well. Deer are afraid of dogs. Fences of course seem to do fairly well - higher the better but, even shorter fences have worked fairly well. Yes, deer can hurdle low fences, but the neighborhood deer I have encountered seem to be looking for the easiest meals and my observation has been they will normally walk around the fence in search of an easy meal. I read where others had successfully used a wire(s) strung above low fences to help prevent an easy jump over too.
One of sons had put out some corn in our backyard one day to feed our neighborhood deer, just for fun. The next couple of days he put fishing line around the area about grazing height. The corn stayed in place for several days until the deer figure out how to walk behind the fishing line.
Of course we have all heard that deer are creatures of habit and are very sensitive to smells. Knowing this it helps provide some soft and fairly simple ways to keep them away from our landscape plants. I have used several products on a rotating bases and found them to work extremely well if I do one thing. Yes, the one thing is very important. It is the difference in success and letting Bambi clean me out or destroy a new 'Red Maple' trees. Oh, speaking of trees, the I have used wire fences and metal post to protect tree trunks from rutting. Please do not use solid pieces of black drain pipe on tree trunks, you are asking for heat troubles to your trees.
I have used Irish Spring soap around the plants I want to protect and found it to work fairly well. I cut the soap into 3 or 4 pieces and toss them in or just under the mulch. After a couple of weeks I will use Milorganite fertilizer sprinkled generously on the shrub beds. This organic fertilizer is good source of nitrogen for plants and deer do not enjoy the odor it gives off. Yes, it can be smell somewhat by humans too, so don't put it out the day of the outdoor wedding in your backyard. The smell for us human types seems to go away fairly fast, but deer smell it for a while. After another 2 to 4 weeks passes I use another product of two that I have found very good on repelling deer away. One is called Invisible Fence and the other is Deer Away. These products have been great, but it will make you wonder what you are doing when you are spraying it out. It carries a smelly punch till it dries. Now the key is to remember one thing about these products. You have to be consistent in appling it to the landscape and you have to rotate between the products. If you only use Irish Spring soap, eventual deer will get use to the smell and move in. After a heavy rain or multi irrigation use, you have to re-apply materials again, otherwise expect the deer to return to your plants. I have use this method for several years and seen a herds of deer walk past hosta plants.
June 19, 2009 - I'm often asked which type of mulch I prefer in shrub beds. Pine straw and hardwood mulch are very popular mulches. The quick answer is, that I like both. Pine straw is fairly easy to distribute, less labor intense when doing large areas, has interlocking needles that help with weed control, and pine straw helps with minor erosion issues. Pine straw also has what I like to call, "fluff appeal". When pine straw is spread or “fluffed” out, it is more forgiving if you accidentally add too much to an area. Pine straw breaks down fairly quickly and allows me the opportunity to freshen up my beds two times a year without the fear of over doing it. Two to six inches is a good amount to add to a shrub bed. If your pine straw looks too "fluffy" it will settled in about two weeks time.
Hardwood mulch has a beautiful look, holds up longer than pine straw, and is easier to walk on in most places. I like to use hardwood mulch for nature trails, transitions from lawns to other areas in the yard, or around the water hose. Hardwood mulch works great near water features like swimming pools or fountains. It does not seem to move as much during windy days like pine straw. Hardwood mulch does not break down fast, but it does fade in the sun, like pine straw. Fresh hardwood much looks great and professional, but years of adding fresh hardwood mulch can be bad for the plants if not done correctly. Plants need to breath and too much hardwood mulch can limit that process. I sometimes remove old layers of hardwood mulch before adding new, to make sure the layers are not too thick for the plants to breath. This is a very labor intense but very beneficial task. If removing the old hardwood mulch is not practical for you, then it is possible to just add a very light or dusting layer of hardwood mulch on top of the older layer. This has worked well for me. This gives the fresh look without the heavy layer.
Cypress mulch and pine bark mulch is good mulch as well. I follow the same guideline for them as I do for hardwood mulch. Rock, lava rock, and or dyed wood chips don't fit the style of the landscaping I use, so I have not really used them. I really don’t prefer the look that they give a landscape.
Using mulch is a really simple way to add curb appeal to your investment, and can be beneficial to your plants, if done correctly. Mulch helps reduce evaporation in the soil, so irrigation can be reduced. Mulch also lowers the soil temperatures in the summer and raises them in the winter. Mulch helps prevent weeds, and works great for combating minor soil erosion. Adding mulch around your trees can keep mowers and other lawn equipment off the tree trunk base and reduce damage. If you have an area that is heavily traveled or an area that is possibly parked or driven on, a thick layer of mulch really helps prevent soil compaction in the area and especially around trees.
Hardwood mulch has a beautiful look, holds up longer than pine straw, and is easier to walk on in most places. I like to use hardwood mulch for nature trails, transitions from lawns to other areas in the yard, or around the water hose. Hardwood mulch works great near water features like swimming pools or fountains. It does not seem to move as much during windy days like pine straw. Hardwood mulch does not break down fast, but it does fade in the sun, like pine straw. Fresh hardwood much looks great and professional, but years of adding fresh hardwood mulch can be bad for the plants if not done correctly. Plants need to breath and too much hardwood mulch can limit that process. I sometimes remove old layers of hardwood mulch before adding new, to make sure the layers are not too thick for the plants to breath. This is a very labor intense but very beneficial task. If removing the old hardwood mulch is not practical for you, then it is possible to just add a very light or dusting layer of hardwood mulch on top of the older layer. This has worked well for me. This gives the fresh look without the heavy layer.
Cypress mulch and pine bark mulch is good mulch as well. I follow the same guideline for them as I do for hardwood mulch. Rock, lava rock, and or dyed wood chips don't fit the style of the landscaping I use, so I have not really used them. I really don’t prefer the look that they give a landscape.
Using mulch is a really simple way to add curb appeal to your investment, and can be beneficial to your plants, if done correctly. Mulch helps reduce evaporation in the soil, so irrigation can be reduced. Mulch also lowers the soil temperatures in the summer and raises them in the winter. Mulch helps prevent weeds, and works great for combating minor soil erosion. Adding mulch around your trees can keep mowers and other lawn equipment off the tree trunk base and reduce damage. If you have an area that is heavily traveled or an area that is possibly parked or driven on, a thick layer of mulch really helps prevent soil compaction in the area and especially around trees.
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