Viewer Note - the Our Story and home page S.A.A.B.L.P.  blog entries below concern additional information about aspects  of our home page site message. 

 

* Topic: Our Story (revisited)  During a thirty year business career we have been blessed with a rich hands on work experience in the field and business which has been broadened by both academic education, certification and yearly training in the latest research and best practice upgrades. The result is a wide variety of issues and lessons learned solutions at our customers disposal. With this background we are confident that our consulting, design & management skills position our clients with a broad base of successful landscape outcomes.

       If you have a landscape issue, need or problem contact us  at 571.216.9993 or infoTGW@aol.com to arrange a  visit. Our help can be limited by your questions especially the ones you don't ask!

            

* Topic: T.G.W. Home Page Six Words (S.A.A.B.L.P.) Guiding Our Work Practice  Whether consultation, design  or management, the following six words below, briefly outlined, guide the process we use to reach a result when consulting on a solution to a problem or creating a new landscape design.

SHARE

    To begin we must understand the nature of the problem, issue or need.

We uncover information initially at the first customer meeting. The exchange allows us to review the 

customers  needs and wants, reviewing property history, unearthing and clarify facts related to the problem. With questions and lots of listening, we are able to build the basis of the analyze phase.

ANALYZE

    Next to arrive at a workable  solution, we analyze the information gathered in sharing phase. 

We review, examine and research the relevant facts, symptoms, measurements and other data gathered to clearly define the problem or issue, i.e., what is relevant and not. The relevant facets become the common denominator and forms the basis to achieve a solution.

ACHIEVE, BEST, LANDSCAPE, PRACTICE

    The final phase a result is achieved by creating a plan of action from the analyzed common denominator of facts. The consulting plan outlines the coarse of action in written form.  Where as in design, the plan of action is achieved by a graphic/visual illustration as in a  concept plan or master plan. In either coarse of action, proven landscape industry standards,  protocols/ practices and  techniques are combined with required local and state government regulations to achieve a best landscape practice solution.

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* Topic: Rain Garden -  Natures Water Management system  Looking back on a recent rain garden talk

with a local garden club my opening remark How rain gardens  enable nature to solve standing water problems in the landscape addressed this  management topic.. When rain gathers in dips or low land areas or ponds, it can lead to erosion, spongy soft spots, mud trafficking, temporary unsightly or maybe greater problem of permanency. A solution can be the rain garden, a man made solution using elements of nature possibly found in your garden.

     Initially rain gardens use the water adsorbing  power the plant roots like perennial flowers, shrubs and trees. This combined with the adsorption power of the soil and the water evaporation from the sun's heat removes standing rain water. Briefly this concept when designed properly uses plants with "wet feet or roots" that thrive in wet soils.  Wetlands in the wild remove water in a similar manor as well as being a major impurity filtering system - a separate topic unto itself for another discussion. 

     When the water ponding is more frequent and longer lasting, man made evacuation techniques enhancing removal maybe desirable. They include amending the soil, water adsorption dry well, pumping, earth damning, retention ponds, ground swale or in-ground drainage systems.

     To begin, you personally may take on the soil amending and planting  strategy's. If it requires more enhanced techniques, seriously consider professional help including the designer, etc. that will guide you saving time, money and peace of mind.

     The design professional knows the soil, required testing and regulations, the appropriate plant selection/ installation, water removal enhancement techniques as well as the selection and management of resource associates. Equally important is the planning of a design that works for your site.

     If you have a drainage problem in general or think you might have rain garden need not knowing where or how to address it, call us T.G.W. at 571.216.9993 . We can examine, advise  and if needed provide a plan with a strategy and the tools that manages your sites successful  solution. We have

been providing our customers water management strategies successfully for over 30 years.

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* Topic   Turf Paver - A novel use of turf seemingly "40 ways from Sunday"  Maybe not quite but its applications continue to grow. Years ago one of my customers rear yard had a slope transitioning downward from the back  to the side yard where grass never grew. The area was the only way lawn maintenance crew could access the rear.

     So began one of my novel uses of turf i.e. the "turf paver". The paver unit is a  2' x 3' x 4" size piece of concrete with three parallel rows of holes penetrating through.  Where in small plugs of sod are placed after the hole space is initially filled partly with a drainage layer of permeable small gravel followed by a layer of topsoil.

    Before placing the pavers to cover the area, the base it rests on must be prepared. Following the soil excavation a layer 3-4" thick of a gravel mix go's down and then tamped. Next a 2" layer of fine construction sand or similar stone fines is graded and tamped. Finally, a fine loose layer of the above

material is placed for the pavers to set on. Lastly the complete paver cover system is placed on the base top and tamped. The system is built with a 1-2 percent slope for surface water drainage.

    For growing the turf you can apply seed directly over the soil covered with sphagnum moss, fertilize and water. Or grow juvenile turf plugs by seed in soil contained in  Dixie cups then plant. Or buy sheets of freshly cut sod, cut to size and install. The quickest install is by direct seeding of paver opening. The longest is the Dixie plug method with a close second to cut mature turf.  If possible hold off on mowing until the whole stand of turf matures. Though a lot more work, the cut mature sod approach has the best  and lasting results - healthiest, no voids, strongest root system. Growing turf by applying seed to the paver openings would seem least expensive but in reality its not considering the many additional steps and time to arrive at complete germination surface coverage. The most time consuming is the Dixie cup method and useful for small jobs mainly.

     From a use standpoint, practically speaking, like in the driveway application the turf thrives best in the long term when the site is used as a pass through not for parking. The care of the turf from watering, fertilizing, etc. should be treated like your main lawn.

     Other turf paver uses can be main driveway, a secondary utility pass through drive, temporary parking area, steps filled with washed 1"river gravel in place of turf, a side walk in turf, patio with the paver about the perimeter the main stone or concrete or brick or wood unit (the useful patio area is extended while giving the effect of transitioning to the surrounding lawn}, a small pad at the foot of a mail box, the walk area of an indoor plant atrium space where turf maybe substituted with mondo grass, moss and other low tread well substitutes.

 

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                                       infoTGW@aol.com                                                 571.216.9993

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