MowingAround.com Blog

What is Ecological Landscape designing?  It is designing a landscape by taking into consideration the existing landscape that is present.  This is achieved as follows:

1. Ecological Landscape design involves taking into consideration the soil that is present.  By completing a soil texture test you will have a much clearer indication of the soil that you will be working with.  Is it sandy loam, silty loam, clay loam?  This step will help you understand the conditions in which plants are going to live.  The soil may require amendment but at least you can amend the soil before the planting to ensure the long term health of the soil and plants.  This step taken early in the design process will reduce or eliminate the need for manual intrusion at a later date. 

2. Ecological landscape design takes into consideration the native environment that you are designing with.  If you have a Garry Oak tree as an overstorey (as you do in many instances here in Victoria, BC), you plant what you would find in a native understorey (ie. trees: Arbutus, Garry Oak – Shrubs: Oceanspray, Tall Oregon Grape- Grasses: California brome, Blue wildrye -Herbaceous plants: Great camas, Yarrow etc).  You may have some success planting something non native (and I have seen many non native plants under Garry Oak) but we now know that in their natural environment these plants form a symbiotic relationship with the Oak.  They basically help each other to prosper.  This is ecological landscape designing, ie. designing a landscape that works in harmony.

3. The planting plan must also take into consideration the light requirements of the site, water requirements at the site, traffic (pedestrian), and useage.  All of this can be determined by sitting down with the client and asking questions to determine their vision coupled with practical and ecological planning.

4. An ecological landscape design will also project what the landscape will look like in 20-30 yrs.  To many times I have seen the wrong plant in the wrong location.  A baby Douglas Fir may look attractive in that back flower bed but in 30 yrs what is the impact?  That Blue spruce looks great in contrast to the other plants you have included but that spruce will grow quickly under the correct conditions and may cause some grief twenty years down the road or have to be removed in its entirety.  Ecological Landscape Designing is designing with the future in mind to ensure the least amount of intrusion into the system. 

5.  What are the food requirements of the client from the landscape?  This question will become more and more prevelant as the world changes.  A landscape can be designed to not only provide the client with a source of food, it can be designed to attract birds, butterflies and insects.  Yes, insects!  Incredibly important for not only controlling pests, but they are part of the overall balance of a healthy landscape.  No bees, no life on earth!

Ecological landscape designing differs from conventional thinking in that it tries to duplicate what happens in nature as opposed to planting just for the aesthetic component.

Many times I am contacted by a client who is looking to have their flower beds removed and lawn installed to “lower the maintenance” of the property.  Having maintained lawns and gardens for several years now, I can tell you that lawn maintenance consumes most of the maintenance costs of a landscape.  A properly prepared garden requires less attention than the lawn.   A lawn requires at least a bi-weekly attendance and in some instances weekly attendance is necessary to keep the length of the grass under control.  A properly maintained flower bed, on the other hand, will only require attention every 6-8 weeks at the earliest and that can stretch to 3-4 times a year.  A properly maintained flower bed is one that has proper mulch in place.  The proper mulch depends on the sites requirements.  Bark mulch when the plants present prefer a fungal dominated soil, leaf mulch when a bacteria dominated soil is required.  Mixing the two together is also an option to optimize the health of the plants but to also lower the maintenance.  Any landscape is easy to manage and the cost to the client can be reduced significantly by following the proper steps.  A thorough weeding of the flower beds, followed by the proper mulch is the first step.  You also want to ensure the proper placement of plants.  A shade loving plant in a sunny location is not going to work.  The same applies for a sun loving plant in a shady location.  By searching the internet you can quickly determine the optimum growing conditions of each plant.  A stressed plant will be attacked by predators.  It is natures way of getting rid of the sick for the healthy.  You can avoid and/or eliminate your plants being attacked by ensuring they are properly placed in the landscape.  This is the essence of ecological landscaping.

How do you maintain a lawn organically?  That can be difficult in this day and age when the dandelion is considered public enemy number one.  But did you know that a dandelion is an indication your soil may be lacking in calcium?  Every weed (with the exception of the invasive) is nature’s way of filling a landscape with a plant that is suited to the conditions.  If your lawn is properly irrigated and fed, there is little chance weeds will establish.  If the lawn is not properly watered, it will die or become dormant.  In such an instance that lawn is going to be replaced by plants more suited to the conditions at hand and that is when the weeds appear.  If the lawn is under fed it risks becoming weak, is subject to attack from pests and will be replaced by weeds. 

You can spread synthetic fertilizers on your lawn and it will green up and look great for awhile.  What eventually happens is a build up of salt in the soil.  Most synthetic fertilizers are salt based.  The salt build up can weaken or kill the grass.  Weeds will appear.  The homeowner then sprays the weeds with a pesticide.  The weed will die back but what about the conditions that led to the weed in the first place?  Another weed will return in its place and probably more weeds than before because the pesticide has killed micro organisms in the soil leading to a degradation of soil conditions so grass can no longer prosper.  In a desperate effort to have that green lawn, the homeowner sprays the weeds again and spreads more fertilizer.  The problem has increased!  The lawn is probably now chemically dependent and the health of the organisms in that soil have been affected because of an overabundance of salts (chemicals).   All potential problems can be avoided by doing things organically!

-Mulch your lawn instead of bagging and removing the clippings. The clippings are the single most important food source for the soil.

-mulch the lawn regularly (ie. do not let the lawn grow to long between cuts).  The grass has a stem and a leaf.  It is the leaf you want to cut with the mower.  If the grass gets to long you are cutting the stem and effectively killing that grass shoot.  Another will appear but the dead shoot now forms thatch in the lawn. 

-irrigation is essential!  Probably the single most important factor is to have an irrigation system in place.  Without an irrigation system the lawn will go dormant or die in the heat of the summer.  Weeds will replace the grass.  If an irrigation system is not within your budget then you must realize that you will have weeds in your lawn and you will have to live with them unless you plan to poison them.

-do not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. I believe they only create future problems for the lawn and soil, not to mention the potential health risks to your family and of course, the water.

-there are organic soil amendments available for your lawn.  These soil amendments feed the micro organisms in the soil and allow the soil to feed the plant.  It is essential to enhance the natural system with natural product.

Our future health depends on a change in some habits introduced at the beginning of the 1900′s when the introduction of NPK fertilizers was marketed.  Farmers found that they could increase production by planting crops beyond what the land could naturally produce by using fertilizers that fed the plants “some”  of the trace elements they required.  We are now realizing that production has come at a heavy price: contamination of land, water and our bodies with the chemical elements used in production.  That same damage is being done to our residential properties.  An organic approach is easy, affordable and simply smart.

With the escallating prices in everything Organic I am often asked if Organic gardening is more expensive than the methods employed by many local gardeners that use synthetic product.  The answer is no. Organic gardening, I believe, is cheaper than conventional methods because it is better for the health of your landscape. The improvement in health results in less manual intrusion which equals lower trade costs. And we can’t forget that the better the health of the landscape, the better the health of the occupant of that landscape (priceless).

A conventional gardener will weed your flower beds every other attendance, regularly mow the lawn and remove the clippings, fertilize the lawn and garden beds two or three times a year with synthetic fertilizers and remove the leaves in the fall.  There is several things wrong with this method of maintaining a landscape.  First of all, every time you weed the flower beds you are disturbing the soil.  That soil literally contains thousands upon thousands of micro organisms that have taken time to establish themselves in a communtiy in which they take up key nutrients from the air and soil and provide those to plants in a form the plants can digest.  In exchange, the plants provide the micro organisms with elements that only the plants can process from the air and excrete the elements in a form that the organisms can digest.  They enter into a relationship where they help each other live.  Disturbing the soil disturbs this community.  Adding to the disturbance is the spreading of synthetic fertilizers.  Unfortunately synthetic fertilizers contain only a few of the trace elements plants require for optimum health.  These fertilizers are also salt based so their introduction to the soil results in an accumulation of salts which will degrade the soil and kill some of the mico organisms.  Synthetic fertilizers can also lead to an over abundance of certain trace elements (ie. Nitrogen).  This over abundance can create an imbalance in the soil which will affect the health of the landscape.  Finally, when you remove all the leaves, you are removing all the organic food that the plants have naturally provided for themselves.

How can it be done differently-Organically?  Weed the beds thoroughly and then mulch the beds with shredded debris from the beds (this can be a mixture of twigs, leaves, weeds that have been composted) and leave the bed alone.  Do not use bark mulch (unless you know how this breaks down and what plants specifically call for these conditions- not as many as I see planted).  The shredded mulch will provide a layer of protection for the soil thus reducing erosion.  The mulch will also decompose and provide food for the micro organisms in the soil.  Weeds will still appear but you will be weeding dramatically less than without the mulch.  We have seen a reduction of as much as 50% in weeding at those properties we have mulched.  Those weeds that do appear are easy to remove because the soil is less compact.   Less time weeding means more time on important aspects of the landscape (shaping, transplanting, upgrading). You can use whole leaves for your mulch but they do take a long time to break down and that is why I suggest mulching.  Compost T and/or Effective Micro organisms will help speed up the decomposition process of the mulch.  Both involve the introduction of micro organisms onto the leaves. 

With your lawn, leave the clippings!!  If your lawn contractor is removing the clippings after each cut they are removing the single most important food source for a healthy lawn. Leaving the clippings is leaving the food for the micro organisms in the lawn.  Removing the clippings robs the micro organisms of the food they need to support the grass. 

By going organic, you are reducing the weeding which reduces manual labour.  You are eliminating synthetic fertilizers so the soil does not become degraded over time.  This will lead to the elimination of regular power rake and/or aerating, not to mention the cost you save in materials.  By going organic your plants will receive all of the essential nutrients they require for optimum health.   A healthy landscape will eliminate the need for any pesticide.  By going organic you help reduce contamination of our water.  Imagine how much you can reduce your carbon footprint by just going organic!  I know that just one small company going organic has resulted in the reduction of hundreds of pounds of synthetic fertilizers.  Colin Eaton, MowingAround Landscape and Maintenance

Irrigation is one of the most important factors in a healthy lawn.  Without irrigation it is virtually impossible to regulate the moisture that is essential for the life that exists in the soil.  That life is essential in the long term health of an organic landscape. Many of the micro organisms in the soil will go dormant or die altogether in drought conditions.  Once the turf grass is dormant or dies, it is replaced by a plant (weed) more suited to the conditions.  If you are serious about a healthy lawn then one must consider the installation of an irrigation system.  Some homeowners lug their hose around each summer in a desperate attempt to keep the lawn irrigated.  Sprinklers connected to hose bibs are far inferior to a professional irrigation system.  A plumbed irrigation system can be programmed to operate in the early hours before most owners are up and about. This early hours is the optimum time to water the lawn.  Why early hour irrigation?  For one the plant (grass) is just waking up for another day of growth and it is ready for food and hydration.  Secondly, evaporation is greater later in the day when the temperature is higher so early morning irrigation ensures more water to the soil and root zone.  Lastly, a plumbed irrigation system will provide complete coverage of your lawn which may or may not be the case with the owner lugging the hose around.

In addition to an irrigation system, mulching the lawn as opposed to bagging the grass clippings ensures the lawn is constantly receiving organic mulch that decomposes to feed the microbes in the soil.  Each time you remove the clippings you are removing a valuable food for the soil microbes.  If it is a matter of aesthetics (ie. clippings leaves a mess), the lawn can be cut higher for a first cut and lower for the second so the clippings should not be visible on the lawn.  If it is a matter of time (ie. why waste time cutting twice), the food you are removing must be replaced somehow or the lawn will become weak, be subject to disease, or simply die back to be replaced by weeds.  You can substitute the mulch with synthetic fertilizers which are meant to replace the food you are removing but synthetic fertilizers are mostly salt based so every time you fertilize you are actually salting the soil.  This can lead to an accumulation of salts which damages/destroys microbes in the soil, leading to a weak plant that will most likely die or be attacked by pests.  Synthetic fertilizers can also overload the natural system with specific concentrations of NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) with the waste leaching away into our water.  It is a vicious circle that requires constant manual intrusion (power raking, aerating, pest control, more fertilizer because the lawn has become chemically dependent, weed control because the grass has become so weak it is being replaced by weeds so you spray the weeds, contaminate the soil, kill more microbes in the soil with the pesticide).  All of this can be avoided by proper mulching of the lawn but also consider feeding the soil with an organic amendment as opposed to a synthetic fertilizer.  There are many organic amendments available commercially but be forewarned- you will not see immediate results like you would with a synthetic fertilizer.  Organic amendments feed the microbes in the soil and these microbes provide the ideal conditions for the lawn.  Depending on the condition of the soil and the extent that synthetic fertilizers and/or pesticides have been used in the past, it can be one or two years before your lawn returns to a truly “healthy” state,  and when I say healthy I mean one not controlled by chemicals.  The switch will not only benefit your lawn, no longer are you contributing to the contamination of  our water and soil. No longer are you spreading chemicals on your lawn that may be toxic to your health and that of your family and pets.

What is soil?  That is the first question I was asked when I began my studies of organic landscaping.  The answer is that soil is the interaction between three equal partners:

•  the abiotic component
•  the living organisms in the soil
•  environmental components (temperature, water,air). 

 Beginning with the first, the primary a-biotic component of soil is rock which becomes reduced to smaller particles and then contributes to secondary components: sand, silt, clay (soil separates) and mineral nutrients.  The percentage of sand, silt and clay in the soil is known as the ‘soil texture’.  Sand, silt and clay each bring different qualities to the soil partnership:

• structural qualities (density/compaction)
• water holding qualities
• electrical nutrient holding qualities

The second partner is living organisms. Living organisms in the soil make the following contributions to the soil partnership:

• convert carbon and nitrogen gas into solid compounds
• modify inherent soil fertility through biological transmutation
• convert mineral soil nutrients into organic forms
• create multi level food production and storage systems
• create habitat through structural improvement of soil

The necessity to work with this living system, I believe, is essential to the long term health of the properties I am involved with.  The introduction and/or use of pesticides and/or synthetic fertilizers can harm this living ecosystem by destroying the micro organisms themselves or destroying the habitat they live in.  We continue to develop ways in which to organically enhance this living ecosystem as opposed to destroying it.  By feeding the micro organisms with organic product, by manually weeding the flower/’garden beds we work with and by applying organic mulches to our properties, we are seeing a tremendous change in the overall health of the properties.  There may be a weed or two in the turf grass, and we continue to explore organic solutions to these weeds, but a few weeds is a more acceptable compromise to me than the spreading of what I view as toxic components on a property.