The Garden Gates Blog » Planning

All Ideas are not created equal

Jesse — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:06:00 +0000

Landscaping is not cheap! The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is obvious when comparing companies in the landscape industry.

When it comes to landscaping your home, customers often have an idea of what they want it to look like. Through searching websites, flipping pages of that favorite magazine there comes a time to make dreamy ideas into reality. Your first step is contacting local landscape companies in your area to share your ideas with the people that can turn them into the garden of your dreams.

How do you take the estimates prepared by the local professionals and get an apples to apples comparison?

The best option is to research the types of projects completed by certain company’s, meet with them and choose a company to stick with and work through the project. This is similar to when you’re working with a team in building a house; the client is involved in the entire process and you are not limited by the original bid, which can sometimes limit landscape architects.

But if you are on tight budget constraints and want to compare companies bids, here is our recommendation to help you make the best decision for your garden:

1. Make sure each estimate is accompanied by a detailed plan, but understand that a company may not give you their plan in order to protect their intellectual property.

2. Make sure each estimate provides a breakdown of all materials, pricing per unit, labor hours and labor costs. Having a detailed estimate will ensure that the company doing the work is providing what they have discussed. This also provides you with a base estimate if you decide to add or reduce the work while in progress.

3. Make sure each company that you contact maintains all the necessary insurance certificates, local, state and federal licensing requirements. Often landscape companies are operated as home-based businesses. This business operators don’t always have the necessary insurance and license in place.

4. Make sure each company provides a detailed list of contact numbers so you may contact them to discuss your estimate.

5. It is recommended that you meet at the companies office and go over the plans as well as review all the plants, materials and accessories to get a full understanding of all the parts of your project. This gives you an opportunity to see the sizes, colors and textures before they arrive at your home.

6. Be confident in your landscape professional, feel free to ask their qualifications for giving you this advice!

7. Lastly, ask to review completed projects of similar landscape styles so you can have a visual idea of what you are buying.

The Garden Gates offers a wide range of services for the New Orleans homeowner. Our trained staff of professionals hold all the necessary licenses, insurance and eduction to provide you with the best service. Check out our Qualified Professionals Now!

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NOLA Winter Gardening Made Simple

Jesse — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:19:26 +0000

Here in Metairie, Louisiana plants survive in hardiness zones from 8b to 9a. Because of the climate we experience…some 70 degree days some 30 degree days there are some important tips one needs to know when working on or preparing ones garden for the upcoming spring.

#1 Today is a great day to plant! Just as tomorrow and the next day and the day after! As long as a shovel can get into the dirt so can the roots of a plant. It is because the ground hardly freezes here that we are blessed with the ability to start plants on their growth journey a little early. It is actually better to plant in the winter then the spring or summer in New Orleans. The main plant parts may be in a dormant state but the roots of the plant are actively seeking water and nutrients year-round. Because of the root stimulation the plant can be much more prepared to take on the heat of the summer with an extra few months of root growth.

#2 Mulch! Mulch! Mulch! Now that the fall leaf color (not that there is much in New Orleans) has made its way into the trash or compost pile its time to add a fresh layer of crushed pine needle much to help keep moisture in the soil around plants. Winters tend to dry plants out especially if there is no mulch.

#3 Pruning is a great idea on plants not flowering in the spring. As long as the plant flowers after April, pruning is recommend during the winter. Choose a cool day to do it so as not to stunt new growth which may occur on warmer days.

#4 Stay off your turf! Let it remain dormant if it is a warm season grass, it can not regenerate to repair itself when it gets into the dormant state.

#5 If you do not have a plan for your garden or yard now is a perfect time to work with a Landscape Architect on preparing the perfect atmosphere for your outdoor living. Set up a consultation at the Garden Gates today!

Jesse Edmondson, ASSOCIATE ASLA

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Being a Garden Gater

Jesse — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:07:36 +0000

CHRISTMAS TREES DELIVERED FREE

The Garden Gates having its roots as a landscape company, people would think of the winter as a slower time of year….

The idea of Christmas Trees Delivered Free program is to not only provide the New Orleans area with the highest quality trees avaliable, it is to keep the talented landscape employees busy.

Chad and Beth Harris figured out by delivering the trees we may even have to hire more people! Just another reason to shop at The Garden Gates.

THE GARDEN GATES DELIVERY TRUCK

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Fall Color Now or Never…

Jesse — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:56:29 +0000

The Garden Gate is gearing up for our favorite time of year..Christmas Tree Arrival!

The Trees arrive November 16th and we will have to move all of our beautiful fall annuals/perennials to other homes throughout New Orleans.

Get your fall color looking great before the holiday season, stop in now!

Amos' Famous Baskets

Amos says, “Now listen here, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, if people want their yard to look good they need to plant and fertilize this weekend.”

Don’t make the old rooster angry, come in and get your fall color!

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Garden Made Simple Week 3

saracdraper — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:53:42 +0000

I went all week starring at my almost finished patio and bare bed; dreaming of the final product. Now it is done and it feels so good I can’t stop smiling!!! The final steps took me one more day. I was up with the sun and so I was able to relax in the afternoon and enjoy my hard work.

The first phase of completing my project was to put Quick Crete in between the pavers to solidify it so we can roll over it with our trash cans. Spray the area with water so the sand sinks and compacts under the stones. Then go back and re-level some of the stones that are low or wobbly. You can do this the day before, because you want the area dry before putting down the Quick Crete. We did this in one day, so while I was letting the area dry I went ahead and started my bed prep.

Prepping the bed is really easy. I did this all by myself, just take your time and throughly clean the area. First map out where you want the bed to go. You can use your garden hose or spray paint (don’t worry it fades after you mow the grass). Once you have established your line follow it with a shovel separating the grass and bed with a small 3″ trench. If you do this a head of time you can spray Round up inside the bed and kill all the weeds. That way when you go to remove the debris it comes up much easier. I like to do things the hard way so I just used my shovel and scraped the old grass form the bed and pulled all the weeds. I then applied a thin layer of Amaze to the bare area.

Amaze is a great chemical. It prohibits the growth of the weed seeds that you don’t see in your bed. It works for almost all weeds accept torpedo grass (because the roots are too deep). The only draw back is that it is not environmentally friendly. I have searched far and wide for similar products that do the same thing with out being harmful; so far no luck. The closest thing would be corn gluten (which has received very poor ratings) or a landscape cloth (which is time consuming and unreliable). When they develop a good weed preventive that isn’t harmful you will be the first to know.

On to the next step, put your dirt in the bed. You want to use a good organic soil, stinky is a good thing. Build up your bed about 4″. You want enough soil, so when you plant your plants you are using your existing soil and new soil. Level out your bed sloping away from the house and toward the street. This should be slight, you don’t want to create mountains in your front yard and you do not need a swamp near your slab. A gentle sloped bed is ideal. Lightly coat the top with more Amaze and a high nitrogen fertilizer,

mix in the top two inches.

The fun part, place your plants according to your design. Now Stop….go get some water and sit down in front of your bed and placed plants. While you are hydrating look at the spacing of your plants. 3 gallon plants should be spaced 36″ on center, 1 gallon plants about 12″ on center depending on the variety. Do not put your 4″ plants out until after you mulch.

This is the best way to think about the spacing of your plants…how much maintenance do you want to do? Plants that are planted close together are going to become a hedge row; which will require pruning. Plants placed far apart are going to become a specimen plant. Use the guidelines above for an average shrub and for most designs. I my design I have a combination of these practices. I planted my camellias close together as well as my boxwood; both of these are to create a hedge effect. The rest of my plants are spaced properly so I don’t have to tend to those as much.

Enough of all this relaxing….time to plant your plants. Make sure and leave about 1″ of the root ball above your existing grade. This helps the plant breath. Tweak your irrigation system. I ran a small drip head to each major grouping of plants as well as where my annuals and ground cover are going to be located.

Now lets talk mulch. This is so important to your bed health. Despite all the critics out there that believe we are killing trees by using mulch, they are wrong. Pine needle mulch is the best, it is environmentally sound because it is harvested off of the forest and doesn’t require the cutting of trees. Cypress is rather controversial; sick to Grade A cypress. It is harvested from Florida cypress that is cut from lumber and the mulch is a by product. So, as long as they are using cypress in buildings there will always be this mulch. I use pine needle mulch and that is what I recommend to you. Mulch keeps the moisture in and the weeds out, it also adds valuable nutrients to the bed.

Once you have mulched place your 4″ flowers and ground cover according to the design. Plant by moving the mulch and soil directly under the plant, remove sleeve and drop in. When this is done water throughly, with hose and test irrigation system.

At this point the patio is dry. Eric pored the dry Quick Crete and I swept it into the cracks, making sure that it is completely filled. I then sprayed it with the hose saturating the concrete and rinsing off any dust on the stones themselves. Concrete takes awhile to dry even if it has an accelerator in it like Quick Crete. We will not be using the patio for a few more days, but when it is finished drying it will be so easy to use.

This project took about 6 weeks from start to finish. I now have a master plan to follow for my other projects around the house. The total cost was well under $1000.00 because I did it myself. The Gardening Made Simple Program is designed to save you money. The cost of labor is usually around 50 to 60% of the overall cost, sometimes more with hardscaping. If you have the will, we have the knowledge. In the end you will feel so good that you did it yourself and your yard is the envy of the neighborhood.

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Gardening Made Simple

Chad Harris — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:32:48 +0000

The Fall is a great time to consider planning renovations or additions to your garden. Fall in New Orleans is the second spring in the Big Easy. As the temperatures turn favorable for planting and the humidity starts to decline making our plants actually smile.

Here are a handful for gardening ideas that can entire you into the hall of Gardening Fame in your neighborhood.

1. Start by looking at all the plants and the condition have this summer and recent Gustav challenge. If you notice broken limbs, damaged leaves, fungus or insect damage then consider replacing.

2.Revisit your long term gardening plan. Maybe its time to remove those old hedges by adding some new hedges. There are new varieties of plants released every year with improvements as well as pest resistant.

3.Make sure you are feeding our plants as this will provide a return on your investment 10 fold. A solid feeding program throughout the year will make all your plants healthier as well as stronger. Healthier plants need less care.

4.Add colorful potted accent plants at entrance ways and focal points in the yard.

5.Plan your garden thinking about all 4 seasons. Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer with annual rotations for each season. Planning will give you something to look forward to in your yard and rather than be a follower..you will be the leader.

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Spring one day and winter the next!

Chad Harris — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:15:35 +0000

New Orleans temperatures have such a huge variation that you can count on only one thing these days, a huge change from day to day. What does this mean for a gardener? It means that you will have to follow the gardeners guide to winter rather than, “ I wish it was Spring early” Get out there and get to working.

Advice from The Garden Gate Guy:

Use Mardi Gras as the date as the being of spring and use for the following:

Prune the winter dieback off of all plants.

Prune Crape Myrtles

Fertilize lawns

Apply Eptam or Snap Shots about 1lbs per 1000 sq. feet

Prepare beds for spring planting by turning the soil over adding new soil conditioner

Remulch the beds at least to a depth of 3″

Plan your garden planting to begin March 1st

When your done, go treat yourself to a day at the spa.

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Materials

Planning

Materials

How do I plan my Garden?

Why Garden?

Materials

Chad Harris — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:18:55 +0000

It is important to select plant materials that are healthy and in a growing state. Look closely for insects, disease or signs of stress. It is always recommended that a small more compact plant will transplant easier and easier to control its growth than a leggy plant. Make sure to inspect the root stock of the plant. The root system provides all the essential food for the plant. Make sure not to select plants that have become root bound. Take the opportunity to look at the mature plant variety you are selecting to be able to determine if this plant will work for situation. During the selection of the plant material, make sure the plant is hydrated, foliage is clean and foliage colors are dark green or bright. Check for spotting, leaf edge burn or other common plant problems. (A single burned leaf can be snipped, but if the entire plant shows signs of distress, forget it.) Flowering plants should have young, tight buds. It’s nice to see the plant in full bloom, but if it is fully flowered now, you may not see it bloom in your garden until the following year. This is especially true with Azaleas and other flowering shrubs. Some perennials and most annuals have an extended blooming period, so with these plants this is not a major concern, but should be carefully examined for quality. Understanding the importance of soil is an understatement. It always said that it’s better to have a $5 hole with a $1 dollar plant than a $5 plant in a $1 hole. The majority of annuals and shrubs prefer well-drained soil with moderate humus content. If your soil has high clay content, you can amend it with pine bark fines or well-rotted manure; after the first year, you should need only a light reapplication in spring. Shrubs require regular feeding 3 times per year to maintain a balance between flowering, foliage and rooting development. Use Sta-green fertilizer for Azaleas and Camellias during early spring at 1-2 lbs. of nitrogen per 1000 square feet. All other shrubs should be fertilized with Sta-green Nursery Special at 1.5 lbs. per 1000 square feet. Some annuals, including cosmos, gazania and nasturtium, require little in the way of fertilizer and, in fact, do better in relatively infertile soil. Portulaca is at its best where the soil is poor and the same holds true for poppies, whose gorgeous blooms are at their best in the dry, fast-draining soil of stony banks and alpine rock gardens as well as lavender. Use Peter’s 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer applying with a hose end applicator with 1 tablespoon per gallon water every 7 days.

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Spring one day and winter the next!

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Planning

Chad Harris — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 12:35:59 +0000

Planning is the critical factor to the success of any garden. Before planning a garden, it is important to think about the function or functions of the garden. Is it a place to entertain, a shaded arbor for seating, a water feature for noise, a sculpture, screening of a neighbor or open areas for play? All these are questions you should answer before buying plants. To have a unified garden, where all the components function together, planning is essential. If the idea is to work on the garden in stages, planning or developing a plan is a necessity. Planning will help make decisions about where to place garden elements. In addition, planning will help you begin to visualize how the garden will look or function together.   Start by gather your ideas, take photos of the proposed garden, cut out pictures from magazines that may inspire you and write everything down you want in your garden.   Begin by taking pictures of the area that you are going to create your new garden. Once you have these pictures, scatter them on your table so you can visualize the space. Begin to make a list of elements that you want in the garden.
Consider how you are going water this new garden, are you going to add lighting, drainage, and what about children’s equipment. Once you have made your list, prioritizes the list based on need or want. It is important to recognize that in the beginning of building a new garden, you should not compromise on quality materials. Using poor quality materials leads to multiple problems later with the garden. You will encounter insect, disease, drainage and other problems cutting corners during the building of the garden.
   Drainage problems will be the death of any garden. It is important to work on correcting the drainage problems before the any other steps are taken. Review the existing area, note if after a hard rain visible water is standing. Investigate if gutters are clean, does the gutter downspout connect into subsurface drainage, are there visible signs of erosion and identify low areas in the lawn and or garden. Correct the low areas in the lawn or garden by adding fill. Make sure to use clean pump sand for lawn areas and an organic based soil for the garden. Both of these soils will assist with drainage. To correct more difficult drainage problems you will need to call a company that is experience in correcting drainage problems. Consider having sub surface drainage installed to eliminate standing water and gutter downspout run off.
Plan to water y our garden. Make sure that you are not planting more than you can maintain. Watering is the most important care plant material requires being healthy and providing years of enjoyment. One solution is an automatic irrigation system which once you get over the initial investment, it actually pays for itself. Automatic irrigation systems last on average 10-15 years but can be extended with proper maintenance using an irrigation service company. Another less expensive solution is a movable sprinklers which can be automated with a timer. This will allow regular watering but will give everything the same equal amount of water.
Think about creating perennial planting layouts. Make sure to consider height as well as light requirements. I would suggest adding Rubeckia in sun areas as a taller planting with an accent of Artemisia as a border to create a mounding effect. For a shading area, Lobelia will work as the taller planting and chocolate chip ajuga for the lower planting. You can also plant masses of hosta in conjunction with the Lobelia for foliage contrast.    It is important to consulate with an experience perennial gardener to make these additional successful.
Now that you have put some thought into your garden, the property needs to be surveyed. Surveying the property is simply locating all the elements that exist and measuring their exact location. Once you have the exact locations of all the elements from the property, use the graph paper in Designing My Garden to sketch the property. Let’s say we have decided to have a patio, a water feature, and an arbor in the newly planned garden. Where will all this be placed? Functionally the patio will be located at the door from the house to the yard. If I want to enjoy the water feature and hear the sound of water while on the patio, this will need to be located very close or within the patio. Existing trees could be a factor for the features location as well. The arbor will be located at the sunny part of the yard where you can go sit and enjoy filtered sunlight while reading. This area should be connected to the back patio. This is an example of how the garden should functions together with consideration for circulation, function, interest, color, water, fragrance, shade, openness, activity, privacy.

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Materials

Chad Harris — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:23:53 +0000

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