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The old adage – Plant a $5 plant in a $25 hole holds true in Kansas City’s Landscaping.
On a recent project I planted over 70 Hostas, Coral Bells and Astible in an existing garden. This garden had gravel already put down and the soil underneath was not great. Normally, when making a new bed it is best to amend the entire bed with high quality organic compost. However, this is not possible in a bed that already is covered with several inches of gravel. So you have to amend the planting hole. You have to be careful when doing this though. You have to make the hole quite large in comparison to the plant you are planting.
Start by removing the rocks from where you are going to dig the hole. Notice that the hole is about 3x as big as the plant itself.
The laws of geometry then say that you are not just increasing the volume of the hole by 3 – but closer to 9x the original plant container size so you will need to add a considerable amount of extra compost. I use a high quality compost made from landscaping debris. It is tested regularly to ensure its purity of toxins.
After mixing the compost with the native soils – carefully plant the plant.
With Coral bells specifically – Be careful of their crown and make sure that crown of the plant is carefully planted just below the surface.
Then slide the rocks back in place around the plant.
Each plant can take upwards of 10 minutes to plant carefully and correctly. So it truly is a $25 hole for a $5 plant. However, The long term growth and vigor of the plants will be worth it to the customer. However, with 70+ plants to plant – it is not a quick job.
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One of the landscaping projects I am most excited about this year is the remaking of a new clients complete backyard in Brookside. These clients called me in April, looking to have the work done by their wedding in May. In order to get things done in time I knew we would have to work fast to be able to schedule, plan and get everything ready. Right now, we are on track.
The plan was fairly simple and drawn out on the spot since we were going to have to move fast. Essentially, we will be removing all the existing shrubs in the back since they were not part of a cohesive plan. New beds would be created around the perimeter of the property and then new sod would be installed.
Here are the plants that we will be using in this landscaping project.
The Dirt
Dirt is quite a misnomer. I don’t use dirt for many of my Kansas City Landscaping Projects. This is 8 yards of pure compost. Generated organically from a local yard waste recycling center. It is the single most important thing to the the landscapes I plant not just surviving, but thriving. This dirt will be spread out and tilled into all bed and new lawn areas.
 
The Removal
A lot of plants had to be removed before anything else could be accomplished.
Once all the shrubs were removed. This is what it looked like as it filled my trailer!  There is a lot of plant material in that trailer !
Moving the Dirt
Here are progress shots as the
compost is trucked around to the back. Because of the layout of this yard, the dirt could only be moved by wheelbarrow. 10,000 – 12,000 pounds of compost was used for this project.
    
That was the stage 1 of the project. Next, will be the more exciting part of preparing the beds and installing the plants.
Stay tuned 
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This year, Kansas City Landscaping has seen a Spring that was more gradual than in past years. This has been good for the plants and lawns in Kansas City . Consistently cool Kansas City temperatures with only rare and short warm-up have allowed us to gradually slip into Spring and avoid the landscaping pitfalls of moving too fast. Landscapers like slow springs because very few plants have been hurt by April freezes this year and although it has been fairly dry the plants have faired well. However, gradual will soon give way to rapid growth as soon as we get some heat. Lawn Mowing will soon be the most common weekend chore for most Kansas City homeowners.
Blue Grass and Fescue lawns have thrived in this slightly cooler temperature. They have been growing laterally and down for the last several weeks. The imminent heat will spur rapid upward growth – we will soon be mowing VERY often!
One of the negatives of this low soil temperature ahs been for any new spring lawn seeding. The grass has not grown much at all if any. That is again due to cooler than normal soil temps. This may not be a great thing for Spring seeded lawns since it simply will not have the time needed to grow before summer heat sets in. However, if my inside sources at NBC Action News are accurate, we may have a cooler than normal Summer which would be good for all of Kansas City’s lawns.
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Its a purely human phenomenon – really. If you see a mistake repeated often enough then it becomes perceived not as a mistake, but as the way things should be done. This is being done in Kansas City Landscapes right now
This is the case with the dreaded Mulch Volcano. Mulch volcanoes are not a Kansas City landscaping phenomenon, they effect cities all over the US
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Despite recent public campaigns by The Johnson County Extension Office and the City of Overland Park, there are still instance found all over the city.
The above example was just yesterday ata very nice office park. I am sure that the manager of this office park paid good money to a “reputable” landscaping company to maintain their landscaping. However, what has now happened is that these trees have been forever weakened by this ignorant practice
When mulch is spread more than 2″ thick against the base of a tree several things happen — and none of the m are good. First, the mulch will hold moisture against the trunk pf the tree. This si dangerous because it encourages rotting and disease. It will also rot the bark away adding additional avenues for insects and disease to attack the flesh of the tree. Roots are also damaged by the moisture held in the mulch because they will grow upwards seeking this moisture. As they do they will begin to circle the trunk. These circling roots will eventually kill the tree byessentially strangling it.
How should trees be mulched then? Trees should be mulched 2″ – 3″ thick (about one finger deep) and all mulch should be pulled away from the trunk of the tree truck 2 or 3 inches. Think doughnut instead of volcano. How big you want the mulch ring to be is up to you. Ideally — it should extend to the drip line of the tree — but that is not always practical or aesthetically the best choice. However, a good minimum is a 6′ diameter.
Here is what a tree looks like when you peel away the mulch volcano after several years. This particular was at a new customer in Overland Park that I started working with this season. I did not pull the mulch away — it was done before he had moved in. You can see that this tree will NEVER be a beautiful specimen again and will likely die prematurely from earlier neglect.
 Mulch volcanoo aftermath Related posts
A Hard freeze is coming up Monday night and will effect Kansas City Landscaping plants for sure. However, I wanted to help people see HOW to protect the plants. When you put a cover over the plant it needs to go all the way down to the ground and preferably be staked to provide air flow around plants of 1 –2 inches.
The reason is, by covering the plant you are holding in latent heat from the ground and sheltering from the wind.
This person, who I came upon my walk yesterday, had NOT done that. She did everything wrong. First she used plastic – a terrible insulator and second she didn’t help the plant out at all because the air in the bag is going to be just as cold as the air outside of the bag. To cover this plant well she should have places something over the plant that would have gone all the way to the ground. This would have helped keep the temperature around the plant just a couple degrees warmer and protected it from the blast of cold air we received.
Excuse the poor picture please – it was taken with a camera phone while holding a three year old and being pulled by a dog in a 30 mph wind.
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Kansas City Landscaping is feeling the cold this winter as we experience a true Zone 5 Winter!
It will be interesting to see how some of the newly release plants in KC fare in this typical winter. We haven’t had one in a while.
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A gift has been bequeathed to you. As part of this gift, each homeowner in Kansas City will be given over 200 pounds of this miracle product –guaranteed to revitalize your soil, allow it to store more moisture, improve soil structure and provide high grade fertilizer. The gift will fall from above and scatter itself over your lawn. Many of your neighbors will even freely share with you – some even purposely blowing this gift into your yard.
If you haven’t yet figured it out, this gift is the leaves from trees.
The sad thing is hundreds of people will throw this gift out. Collect it, bag it and put it on the curb.
Instead of raking and bagging those bulky leaves, save yourself some time and put them to good use as a natural mulch and soil amendment from your lawn.
I suggest two ways of utilizing this gift for your lawn based on your personality type. To determine your personality type, consider the cast of the popular TV sitcom Friends’. If your personality type mirrors the character of Monica, you are Type A. If you are more closely aligned with Joey, then you are type B. If you do not know what the show Friends is, you can assume you are Type A.
The Monica Personalities
Since you are very concerned with every detail of your lawn, the best way for you to use your leaves is by regularly mowing your lawn with the bag attached. Use a lawn mower with a bag attachment to quickly gather your leaves and shred them into mulch. This will vacuum and clean your lawn as well as shred the leaves at the same time. These shredded leaves are more valuable than gold for all the plants in your landscape. They can be piled in vegetable gardens to be tilled in later or they can be added as mulch in perennial gardens. Then spread these leaves up to 12" deep in your gardens. Mulching with leaves conserves moisture, controls weeds and grasses, protects against extreme heat and cold, and prevents soil erosion. Additionally, they can be composted in a compost pile to be used later.
The Joey Personalities
As a Type B personality you are focused on long term results of your lawn. You are willing to deal with a little bit of shredded leaf clutter on the lawn knowing that in the long run your lawn will look better and be healthier. Mow your lawn with a mulching lawn mower regularly. The mulching mower will shred the leaves into fine particles which will filter down through the blades of grass onto your lawn where they will disappear and benefit the soil. With regular mulch mowing, many homeowners would never have to rake their lawns as an acre of lawn can recycle the leaves of 60 trees.
Either of these methods is paramount to the old standby of raking and trashing your leaves. By raking and trashing you are adding immense amounts of waste to our landfills and depriving your lawn of necessary nutrients and organic matter. But more importantly, at least to all of us TYPE B’s in the world; it is a whole lot less work! There is only one reason I can see where raking is ever necessary. If you have small children, it is imperative that you rake the largest pile of leaves you can possibly assemble in the middle of the yard. Then, spend at least 3 hours jumping in and redistributing them all over your yard before mowing them by one of the methods mentioned above.
Enjoy the gifts that fall from the sky this autumn and make sure you fully utilize them to make your lawn more healthy and lush.
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Summer is still burning strong and we surely have several weeks left of stifling heat in Kansas City. Many of the lawns in the city are showing the stresses of surviving yet another brutal summer of heat and dryness. If your lawn no longer looks thick and healthy or has more weeds than grass, it is time to renovate. Renovating your lawn involves removing all unwanted weeds and grass types and then reseeding with improved varieties of your choice of turf. Timing is critical for successfully renovating your lawn – late enough to avoid the worst of the summer heat yet early enough to allow ample time for growth before the freezing weather arrives.
In Kansas City, the first week of September is usually the ideal time to seed.
To seed your lawn properly requires a broad knowledge of grass, several different pieces of specialized equipment and a large commitment of time. For these reasons, I suggest that homeowners contact a qualified professional who specializes in growing quality turf. Although cost is a consideration, when you look at the time, supplies and rental fees you might quickly realize that using a pro will pay off. Every year, I am disheartened by the dozens of calls I get in late fall from homeowners who have spent hundreds of dollars and lots of hard work seeding their lawns with poor results. I have to tell these customers that we have missed the ideal time for seeding and the repair will require considerable extra time and cost without the guarantee of superior results.
Of all the lawn care tasks needed each year, I strongly believe that lawn seeding is the most important one to be done by a professional.
When you hire a lawn care company, you will want to check their license, insurance and references to make sure you are working with a professional. Then ask them about their seeding process. The highest quality lawn will come from a professional who includes all of the following steps:
- Soil Test - imperative to start by fixing and soil chemistry problems (4 weeks prior)
- Spray Herbicide - important to control weeds prior to seeding (4 weeks prior)
- Spray with Growth Regulator - slows down growth of existing turf so it does not compete with new grass (2 weeks prior)
- Plant seed - prepared by first aerating and then followed with a slit seeder that will slice precise grooves into the soil creating ideal areas for seed to grow
- Starter fertilizer and Rooting stimulant - applied to the soil to provide nutrients to emerging seedlings
Now, the professional’s work is done and it’s time to care for your newly planted lawn. You will need to moisten the ground daily for two weeks to promote germination and then to pamper the young seedlings. As the grass grows stronger, you will begin to establish a regular schedule of deep, thorough watering. Proper watering is essential to your lawns success and it involves quite a commitment – however, it is the last step to the lush, healthy lawn you envisioned when you started the renovation process. Soon you will be walking barefoot through your lawn enjoying the thick green carpet, underfoot.
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Stop worrying about your grass and start worrying about your dirt. As a professional turf grass manager, I am actually fairly uninterested in turf. I spend all of my time managing soil. I know that by creating fertile soil, my customers will have the nicest lawns in town.
Managing dirt is a complex task that even people with degrees in Soil Science will admit having more to learn. Volumes of books and scientific articles have been written on the subject and I would never be able to disclose everything you would need to know in this article. However, I do hope to reveal enough information to convey the importance of soil to you in growing quality turf.
There are three important factors to consider when evaluating your soil: Soil Texture, Nutrients and Chemistry. Each of these factors needs to be evaluated independently and actions taken to create the ideal growing environment for your turf.
SOIL TEXTURE
Soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay. The percentage of each element determines the type of soil your lawn has. Ideal soil is composed of 40% sand, 40% clay and 20% silt. In Kansas City, the ideal soil texture is usually nothing but a dream as we have a much higher percentage of clay. However, this can be improved. First, you have to determine your soil makeup. This requires getting your hands dirty. Take a handful of dirt and roll the soil in your hand until it’s about the size of a golf ball. Then, gently squeeze the soil between your thumb and index finger. Sand feels gritty, silt feels more like talcum powder and clay feels slippery. Now squeeze the ball in your hand. If it crumbles, it has a well-balanced texture. If it holds its shape, it has a fair amount of clay. And if you can roll it into a snake, it has more clay than you want. This method can only act as an indicator. A soil test performed by a qualified laboratory will give you more accurate and scientific results. However, if your soil has too much clay, you will need to alleviate the problem with aeration and topdressing or completely renovating the area and adding organic matter.
NUTRIENTS
Soil holds nutrients which are then used by the turf to grow thick and lush. Evaluating the nutrient status of your soil is an important step in developing a quality turf. The best way to find out what your soil needs to nourish healthy turf is to have it tested by a professional laboratory. This can either be done by our local extension office or at a private lab.
Any fertilizing done by a homeowner or professional without a soil test is a shot in the dark at best. Short term results can be gained. However, you will not get the long term results desired by most homeowners. Additionally, you will be wasting nutrients as you dump excess nutrients on your lawn just to assure all your bases are covered. A soil test will cost you less than $20 and will give you benefits many times that. A good soil test will give you quantities of Organic Matter, Available Phosphorus, Exchangeable Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Iron and Soluble Salts. Based on these results, a knowledgeable professional will be able to create a nutrition program for your lawn.
SOIL CHEMISTRY
In addition to soil nutrition and texture, a good soil test will also provide you with information about the chemistry of your soil. The process of transferring the nutrients into soil requires a complex chain of chemical reactions that can only happen if several elements are in balance. The most important of these is pH. In Kansas City, our soils tend to be alkaline and need to be amended with Lime to provide an ideal growing environment. How lime and other chemicals react with the soil requires knowledge of cation exchange sites, particle attractions and base saturations. All of these come into play just to grow the grass you like to look at from your window.
This month, when you see your neighbors playing in the dirt making muddy snakes and dirty golf balls, you will know they are on their way to having a beautiful lawn.
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