Category Archives: Sustainable design

Bad irrigation

We see this a lot: all kinds of different heads stuck almost randomly on the same lateral line. I guess some people think that installing irrigation heads is just like plugging things into a socket. As long as the circuit breaker doesn’t blow, everything is good. Well, they’re not. Instead of something shutting everything off,Continue reading “Bad irrigation”

Transforming a cherry tree from landscape to furniture & art

Long ago, someone planted a tiny, spindly tree. It grew. A puppy chewed off much of the bark. The tree survived. It grew, and grew, and grew until it spread over the pool, the roof, the patio. Its trunk thickened until nobody could see the pool from the house. Sadly, it was time for theContinue reading “Transforming a cherry tree from landscape to furniture & art”

It’s bird-eat-bird out there

Funny how we tend to think that providing food and habitat in the garden will create some kind of harmonious place where everyone gets along, a kind of Bambi scenario where all the animals are friends. This wasn’t true with the insects, and it’s not the case with the birds, either. I found a brokenContinue reading “It’s bird-eat-bird out there”

Soil compaction

Installing a new landscape often involves the use of heavy equipment. Although this can speed the work and reduce the amount of time the site is a mess, it can also compact soils. This site has heavy clay soil, so the equipment didn’t do the soil any favors. Luckily, there are ways to fix theContinue reading “Soil compaction”

It’s nesting season

If you look closely, you’ll find two mourning doves. One is sitting on their nest, a loose gathering of twigs that doesn’t look like it could support even a tiny egg, let alone a bird or sometimes two. Every year, a pair of mourning doves arrives at the river birch to start a family. OverContinue reading “It’s nesting season”