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Do you have water puddling in your yard? Does water remain for days after a rain? Does soil or mulch erode from your landscape beds and wind up on your lawn? In large storm events, do you experience flooding? Water is nature’s most powerful force and an essential element for our health and well being. We should cherish and value it. That doesn’t mean we should not consider manipulating and directing or redirecting its flow patterns. When it rains, I usually have a busy day studying flow paths, sheet flow and erosion problems.

Identifying problems in your landscape before they become real health issues or negatively impact your life style or property values is important. Simple things like making sure your gutters and leaders are clean can help. Look in your attic, basement or crawl space to be sure it is properly vented to prohibit mold from forming. Fresh air is as important to wood for respiration as it is to our bodies. I have had the unfortunate experience of discovering that the contractor who I hired to do my roof, gutters/leaders and windows ( a $30k job) did not adequately vent the attic interior. I found this out during an inspection to refinance the house. The cost for mold remediation was $5k. You can’t always see or smell the mold problem! Test for it and save the $ and discomfort my family went through.

Grading your landscape beds and lawn areas is critical. Another important consideration is how well your soil drains. This may have to do with soil texture and composition, compaction (most likely), clogged drains and catch basins or any number of other factors. Some things we have to accept. Living in a flood plain or proximity to a natural wetland may be one.

Most water and drainage issues can be improved. Sometimes with simple ecological landscape methods. This can be accomplished by improving the soil with compost, sand or other soil amendments, such as yucca, which helps break the surface tension allowing percolation and infiltration rates to improve. This may make expensive excavation and piping avoidable.

Often drywells, storm chambers and other permanent subgrade structures may be needed. Remember safety first! When considering drainage, look at safety and liability to determine design and construction values and methods. Modern bio-engineering methods, practices and products can be extremely beneficial as well as cost effective.

If you have a problem, please call or email us. If you are concerned about water management and want to learn more, call or email us.

Stay Safe, Healthy, Happy, Dry and Warm

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

Green Landscaping is the future and the future is here and now!

We at Green Jay Landscape Design embrace science and technology while rejecting the notion that our landscape/garden management and horticultural practices require toxic chemical compounds in order to produce the best appearance and performance. The concept of killing to control pest and disease organisms is outdated and unsound. The primary reason and motivation to discontinue the use of toxic pesticides in our environment is that they do not work. By killing so called pests and weeds, we necessarily select other organisms to succeed. Unfortunately the dominant species which shows up next is often harmful and a greater threat to the environment. This has occurred over and over again, usually with one threatening pest species being replaced by a more resistant species or strain.

Let’s put own health above the needs of plants in the landscape!

We at Green Jay Landscape Design believe in fostering an environment where all beneficial life flourishes. By creating a healthy, toxin-free environment we strive to achieve balance in our landscape. Instead of focusing on killing and eliminating what is undesirable, our focus is on encouraging naturally beautiful plants and animals to inhabit the world of our outdoor spaces. If we invite and encourage a diversity of birdlife we are less likely to experience and be exposed to unhealthy tick and mosquito populations. Similarly, by creating habitat-friendly gardens and landscapes we will find we have a greater interest and desire in being outdoors. Improving the air circulation improves the air quality thereby improving our own human respiratory process and health. Removing plants that cause stagnation around the foundation of the home is one suggestion. Draining areas where stagnant water pools, maybe with a rain garden, is another. There are so many beautiful, attractive ways to improve the health and appearance of a home or properties appearance by making positive changes. Planting or removing trees to increase light or shade as needed or desired is a consideration.

The key to success with organics in terms of establishing and maintaining a naturally sustainable landscape begins with the soil. Determining a base-line of soil conditions, as well as the quality of light and air is critical to developing and executing a landscape design or maintenance/management plan. In order to do that you need soil testing and a proper professional site analysis. Real information of the highest value does not come without a cost or price tag. In my opinion, if a landscape contractor offers this kind of service for free, I can’t imagine that there could be a high value attached to the results. An incomplete test or analysis could lead to erroneous conclusions and poor design and/or planning. This is the first step to costly mistakes in construction or management of a project.

For soil testing, see Soil Foodweb Labs or Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Consider as well the infrastructure. Do you have a crawl space or attic? What is down there or up there? Do you have water, dampness or drains in the basement? How does that affect your air quality? These are quality of life issues. Does anyone in your family have health issues? Start with considering how to improve the quality of your living environment for your health and well being. You can have a beautiful healthy home and landscape if you follow the simple principals and practices of ‘Landscapes for Better Living’. Think and Live Green… it’s natures way.

Our passion is to help you live a healthy, happy life by beautifying your home and landscape.

Call today for a free consultation.

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

The vibrant, verdant beauty of spring is just around the corner. This is the most important time of year to prepare for enjoying your landscape and outdoor living space. Do you have a plan for developing your landscape? Do you have a program that insures the best performance and appearance for your lawns, trees, shrubs and flowers? Are you caring for your property like you would care for your body? Remember,’garbage in, garbage out’. Are you aware of what chemicals or products are being used on your landscape, and why?

Creating and maintaining a beautiful healthy landscape starts with excellent planning. What goes where determines how much you will use and enjoy your outdoor living environment. A beautiful flowering dogwood tree you see from your kitchen window, or a small water feature or fountain on your deck can bring peace into your heart. A nice patio/fire pit combination may be just the thing to extend your quiet moments of relaxation after a busy day. There is much to think about and so little time.

Call or email us today and let us help you get the most from your landscape and home living environment.

Live the Beautiful Peaceful Life You Love

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

Eco-Friendly Gardening

To those of us who are plant design driven, this means producing the most while imputing the least. What this means to start with is eliminating pesticides for pest and disease control. Once again it comes back to design. Instead of approaching organics from the standpoint of what do we spray and apply, when and where, we should consider how to reduce the need for any treatment.

The answer is incredibly simple! If we are to reduce the need to control pests (which really means kill things we don’t want), we need to identify what we do want! If what we want is beautiful foliage and flowers without blemishes from disease or insect damage, then we should start with the right plant for the conditions, light moisture, soil, etc. Then maybe select a cultivare that is bred to be resistant to insects, disease etc., next we may want to alter, change or in some way manipulate the conditions. That is what we do as gardeners and designers. So let’s do it! Let’s do it right!

Removing or pruning a tree to bring in more light is an example. Putting in a subsurface drain is another one. Amending the soil with sand or compost to change the structure and improve the biology is another. Anything that we do to strengthen the plants health and immune system will positively affect our gardens’ well being. Think of the garden as a body with living organs, sometimes serving different functions, just as our own bodies work.

Back to design. If we increase the bio-diversity by incorporating a variety of plants we can reduce pest populations by biologically selecting beneficial insects who will act as predators on harmful pests, or balance the populations, thus reducing damage. The advantage being, from a succession point of view, we will increase the overall composition as well as health of the ecosystem. Attracting different birds, bees, bugs and butterflies throughout the season should be a design goal.

Next, cultural practices. As we now know the best way to improve your lawn is…don’t cut it too short! Leaf mulching reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers etc. The root to shoot ratio of biomass for turfgrass is low. So reduce or eliminate the lawn areas! Prairie grasses and wildflowers have deeper roots, requiring less water, typically no fertilizer, little or no pruning and, once established, very little weeding or maintenance of any kind. They also add organic matter naturally to the soil subsurface as roots decay and die, creating food for other organisms and space for air and water.

Don’t forget about watering! You’re going to need it to get things established. Are you going to do it by hand? Are you going to buy hoses, set up timers etc.? Will you hire a professional to install an irrigation system? What kind of system? Drip, mist, pop-up heads? What about passive irrigation or harvesting rain water? Remember, trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals all have different watering requirements. Are they all growing in the same bed? Then there’s the deer! You may need deer repellent or God forbid, fencing. (Deer resistant plants are an option, limiting, depending on the browse pressure).

Back to design again. If you develop a naturalized area or border in your landscape, not only will you invite, see, and enjoy more birdlife, you will reduce your carbon footprint as well as labor and $.

Now you can consider what organic natural products in terms or soil amendments (compost, worm casting etc.), bio-stimulants, soaps, oil, etc. you may or may not use for your “Best Management Practices” in the garden/landscape. For great info, see Rutgers, Cornell, UConn, UMass. Even if you’re out of state, I find them great resources.

Last, if you need help, you can or hire a real horticultural professional. A garden ecologist is something more that a landscaper with a pickup truck.

I’m a guy who loves pickup trucks but there’s a lot more to it! I was recently asked by no less than three prospective employees what they could do to get the necessary skills, over the winter, to join our landscape/gardening division in a supervisory position. It’s like asking how do you acquire the skills to play in the Super Bowl in three months! How do you get to Carnegie Hall….

It absolutely, definitely, pays to hire a ecological landscape professional if your intention is to transform your existing landscape into one of natural beauty, a landscape environment happier and healthier for all living things to share and enjoy.

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

There are many ways to manage storm water. Traditional or conventional methods include french drains, curtain drains, perimeter drains, dry wells, trench drains, culverts, catch basins…

These systems are designed to convey storm water underground (sub-surface) to a destination, usually a water course or subterranean chamber. Although these systems function to drain and convey water from the surface, thereby eliminating pooling, they are often invasive and expensive.

When we think about drainage we should consider the big picture. We may need a storm drain or channel drain to evacuate water from a hardscape surface in a hurry for safety or we may want to manage the sheet flow (surface water) across the grade of the entire landscape. There are many creative and sometimes even attractive ways to go about this. One way is to interrupt the grade, particularly on a steep pitch, with berms, contouring or planting beds. Bio-swales are occasionally employed as a decorative landscape feature. In addition to meeting our physical and code requirements, including sustainability, they can add interest to the landscape appearance. When using decorative gravel in a bio-swale you need to determine the flow rate. If the flow is great enough in storm events to move the gravel you may have a problem maintaining it.

Drainage Systems can pose challenges in engineering and construction yet are a necessary component for an optimally functioning landscape. If we consider water management a priority in landscape design and development we can avoid costly and sometimes plain ugly mistakes. As usual, I recommend hiring a professional to design and execute these features. Determine what your requirements are first and work with them, not around them. Integrating water management into design works well and makes sense, aesthetically, ecologically and financially.

For more info on Drainage Design and Construction stay tuned, see our Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Youtube

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

Although we may have just experienced the longest sub-freezing period anyone can remember here in Fairfield, Putnam and Westchester Counties, there is hope for a brighter tomorrow! This is a reminder of why we dig in the fall to plant bulbs with hope and faith that we will both survive and flourish in the new year. The squirrels dig to bury nuts for later, even though they can’t always remember where. We dig to harvest joy and celebrate new life. When we plant bulbs, we try to complete at least one area. It’s very difficult to go back and fill in next fall when they are not visible. One of the neat ways we use to get around that is by planting bulbs in containers, covered with mulch, placed on pallets or gravel (for drainage). Although they may not all survive, its’ well worth the effort to have them around in spring to fill in.

As with everything else that we do in designing planting plans, we are thinking of diversity and wildlife. We love to see the positive interaction between all God’s creatures, plants, animals, etc. It’s a wonder to behold. We need to remember what can attract and provide food for deer. I have found that you can even grow tulips and crocus in Westchester County (very succulent to deer) by simply treating them with an organic, natural source repellent. The key to the effectiveness of these producst are two important practices:

First, mix the concentrate at a higher than recommended rate by one third. You will not harm anything if it’s a naturally based organic formulation. The reason for this is that most repellants are intended for moderate deer browse. I don’t know about you but that’s not what we have around here!

Second, remember is to be critically aware of timing. If you spray the foliage as it emerges, then again about a week later, again when the flowers are about to open and finally when the flowers are fully open and in bloom, you will have the best results.
The beauty of color energizes the soul after the drabness of winter passes. There are so many interesting varieties of bulbs, including many natives. They are also a good investment if properly done ( like anything else). You should use an organic bulb foodwhen planting. You may consider dipping the bulbs in a repellant and allowing to dry overnight to reduce rodent damage. We like to plant bulbs in late October through early December. Plant them too early and the animals may dig them up!

Spring flowering bulbs add a rich dimension to any landscape and inspire a cheerful optimism when our landscapes need it most! Have Fun and enjoy life!

Jay Archer, President (and Bulb Enthusiast)

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com

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