Best products from r/landscaping

You're welcome I hope it willbe useful!

>Thank you for this awesome reply!

>I have not seen the pond in warm weather yet… it’s only gotten up to around 65 degrees F here this year, so there’s a definite possibility that some algae bloom is on the horizon. Is it safe to use an algaecide like this if algae does start to bloom?

It will probably work, you'll need a lot though. This will treat 60 m3/container and your ponds is at least 180 m3, so it's 150 bucks. And products like this kill the algae and might prevent some growth, but pretty soon the product is diluted enough so the algae will just grow back. Meaning you'll probably have to repeat it a few times each growth season. Removing the root cause might be more cost effective. If I were to guess the main ingredient is hydrogen peroxide (diluted) which isn't extremely damaging if diluted enough.

>Have you heard of [Muck Away]http://www.amazon.com/Pond-Logic-MuckAway-16-Scoops/dp/B0015AMEDK) or Pond Clear? Both products look interesting, and I’m trying to figure out if they’re really as harmless as they sound.

No I haven't! If they do what they promise, that would be amazing. I'm a bit suspicious though. I work on solving algae problems a lot and I've never encountered a product like this in the professional field. Ingredients aren't listed unfortunately. As far as I know, there are no bacteria that remove nutrients from the water effectively. Nitrogen, yes, that's possible (bacteria can form nitrogen gasses under certain conditions and it will be released into the air), phosphorus, no. That's chemically impossible. And phosphorus is the major problem for algal blooms seeing how cyanobacteria can fixate nitrogen from the air. What could be is that iron is added to the mix. Iron forms a bond with phosphates but this bond isn't very stable (risky). Bacteria involved in breaking down organic matter won't remove phosphorus. Your sediment will still be eutrophic, just not very organic. Same goes here, it will be a repeating process (yearly investment) while you can fix it up and be done with it for a slightly higher investment and some small scale maintanance.

>I probably will leave the leaves on the banks for a few days to spare the frogs (I’m a bleeding heart, what can I say). This shouldn’t negatively impact the ducks either, right? It’s just the one pair.

My guess is the ducks will be more or less unphased. You might scare them off but your dog might also do whether you remove the leaves or not. Most likely they'll return. If you're an animal friend, don't feed them bread btw.

>I’ve been reading a bunch, and it sounds like a combination of Muck Away, Pond Clear, and some serious quality raking time, I could probably get a pretty good handle on the situation myself.

>We may end up paying someone to come and do it, but it would be pretty difficult to access the area with large equipment for professional dredging due to where the house and septic system are located. Or is this something I could pay a team of guys to do with rakes?

You could pay a few guys with rakes but it will require a lot of man hours (difficult to guess, I'd say up to 40 hours) which at a (relatively cheap) rate of 50 bucks / hour would cost you 2000. A friend and a free weekend could save you that amount of money. Professional equipment doesn't have to be actual dredging equipment (boats / trucks) but a professional version of the pond vacuum will do. A landscaping company that does ponds should have something like that. Maybe you can even rent one at your local hardware store.

Good luck!

The plantsman's bible is Dirr's Manual. It has a very horticultural slant, but is invaluable for someone truly dedicated to plants. It is 1300 pages of comprehensive plant knowledge and will tell you exactly how to germinate seeds of Trochodendron aralioides. The problem for most is that it has no pictures - only line drawings of leaf shapes. This is probably not the book you need, but is a tremendous resource for someone with a thirst for knowledge.

http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Woody-Landscape-Plants-Characteristics/dp/1588748685/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1408405815&sr=8-4&keywords=dirr%27s+encyclopedia+of+trees+and+shrubs

My favorite plant book for casual reading is Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs. It has color photos of seemingly every tree and shrub in existence, as well as discussions of their landscape value.

http://www.amazon.com/Dirrs-Encyclopedia-Trees-Shrubs-Michael/dp/0881929018/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408405815&sr=8-1&keywords=dirr%27s+encyclopedia+of+trees+and+shrubs

When I was a budding plantsman, my father gave me a very useful book which I still refer to today. This National Arboretum publication gives a broad overview of all different types of plants(vines, annuals, perennials, evergreens, aquatic plants, shade trees, etc) and is a great way to come up with ideas of what to plant.

http://www.amazon.com/National-Arboretum-Outstanding-Garden-Plants/dp/0671669575

If you are more interested in just selecting plants online, Monrovia has an excellent website that lets you narrow down plants by requirements.

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/

Maybe we just need a closer picture. I would say do it in sections and when you weed it, plant more low maintenance flowers that go with the style that is there now. Echinacea, rudbeckia, golden alexanders, alliums, columbines and phlox would all look great there. Prairie plants will suffocate weeds after a few years. This book is the best I've read on low maintenance landscaping: Know Maintenance Perennial Gardening and it's got great recommendations for the midwest. You will still need to do some weeding (and probably a lot to begin with) but if you get a dutch hoe like he recommends it doesn't take long and I personally enjoy it. You have a great start already with some healthy looking flowers there already. Mixing in some tall grasses can be cool if you just want to take up some space. Wild geraniums would look awesome on the front border.

Italian cypress are easy care trees and will help give your yard some privacy.

Olives and citrus also do well in your climate, although citrus will need watering and some have sharp thorns. Fruitless olives are best if you don't want fruit all over the yard.

Lavenders, santolinas, myrtles, box, euphorbias are all easy care shrubs. Rosemary and New Zealand flax also do well. Agapanthus and daffodils put on attractive seasonal displays.

You might want to go to your local library and check out some books about gardening in Mediterranean climates.

Like [this one] (https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Mediterranean-Way-Waterwise-Drought-Tolerant/dp/0810956004/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0810956004&pd_rd_r=1c30bf26-af6e-11e8-b369-ffe841fc31b4&pd_rd_w=SjWsA&pd_rd_wg=RTzIz&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=SY3QVJM87AZDG3BQ08RK&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=SY3QVJM87AZDG3BQ08RK)

Las Pilitas Nursery also has a good selection of California natives if you want to add some to your landscape:

http://www.laspilitas.com/


The Sunset Western Garden Book is a good resource for California gardeners, available at your local library or used on Amazon.

If you want a super quick and cheap upgrade to the garage door, get a set of these magnetic door accents.

They're cheap and easy to install (they're magnets, so just pop em on), and they look nice on that style of garage door (that's the same style we have). I put mine on almost 2 years ago and other than my toddler moving the handles once, they've been awesome.

Oh, and for that size of garage door, a single pack of those is enough - doing the double pack setup like they have pics of on the product page looks a little silly IMO.

Thank you for this awesome reply!

I have not seen the pond in warm weather yet… it’s only gotten up to around 65 degrees F here this year, so there’s a definite possibility that some algae bloom is on the horizon. Is it safe to use an algaecide like this if algae does start to bloom?

Have you heard of Muck Away or Pond Clear? Both products look interesting, and I’m trying to figure out if they’re really as harmless as they sound.

I probably will leave the leaves on the banks for a few days to spare the frogs (I’m a bleeding heart, what can I say). This shouldn’t negatively impact the ducks either, right? It’s just the one pair.

I’ve been reading a bunch, and it sounds like a combination of Muck Away, Pond Clear, and some serious quality raking time, I could probably get a pretty good handle on the situation myself.

We may end up paying someone to come and do it, but it would be pretty difficult to access the area with large equipment for professional dredging due to where the house and septic system are located. Or is this something I could pay a team of guys to do with rakes?

Not sure where you are located but I just bought a book on Amazon I found really useful. Looks like they make it for all different locations. It has a nice layout, explains things about each plant, and gives ideas for sun and shade.

Northeast Home Landscaping, 3rd... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1580115152?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Getting professional testing takes a couple weeks.

I used this one off Amazon; gives results in a few minutes. It told me that my soil was completely depleted of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. I threw down a bunch of Urea and Phosphate; my research said to not worry about potassium. And then I put down a ton of composted manure to fix the soil structure and add some organic material because my soil was heavy on clay (yours looks heavy on sand and could probably use it as well. Then I rented a tiller and went to town.

I don't remember how much fertilizer I put down, but I based it off recommendations I found on the internet easy enough. For compost I used approximately 4 cu ft per 100 sq ft of lawn.

I can't say whether or not it made a difference, but my lawn is about 2 months old and it looks amazing.

Your best bet is to go to your local library. Find a book on landscaping for beginners. Something like this would be a great place to start:https://www.amazon.com/Step--Landscaping-Better-Gardens-Gardening/dp/0696230828/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474102022&sr=8-2&keywords=landscaping+for+beginners

A kit is pretty good. You may actually want to see if there are labs you can send it to, since you're now dealing with what may be random chemicals in your soil. I don't really know the process on that, to be honest. Was never forced to do it.

Reshaping the walk will open everything up. It also may give you the chance to use potted plantings if your soil is shit. I've seen white rock used decoratively like that.

Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Northeast-Home-Landscaping-3rd-Including/dp/1580115152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367969926&sr=8-1&keywords=landscaping+in+the+northeast

I have used other versions and it has spectacular designs.

The Renegade Gardener

Tons of great landscape design info here. Going through the Design, Myth of the Week, and Don't Do That sections will pretty much put you in the top percentile of landscaping-literate homeowners.

You don't say where you're located, but I always recommend Creating the Prairie Xeriscape by Sara Williams. The plant selections are geared toward colder zones but the principles of low-water, low maintenance landscaping that isn't barren or sterile looking are applicable pretty much anywhere.

Yes, pre-emergent on St. Augustine is a great idea. As for over or under, that's tough to say. What you want is for the pre-emergent to form a chemical barrier on the soil, sorta like a really really thin coat of wood sealant. So whatever you do, you'll want to do the pre-emergent last, so that you don't disturb that chemical barrier and negate your product. So if I were you I'd put it overtop the sod. It'll get tricky though, cause you'll also have to water the sod, but you don't want to wash away the pre-emergent before it dries. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how to handle the timing on that one.

And if you're worried about cost, you can also get prodiamine, which is generic Barricade, or dithiopyr, which is generic Dimension. You may also be able to find Halts, which uses pendamethalin as its active ingredient. I can't really find it in stores though, so I don't know if you'll be able to either. I also don't know how effective it is, but I know prodiamine is awesome.

Toro 51617 Rake and Vac Leaf Blower Vacuum,, 2-speed (up to 210 mph), 10.5 amp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EL1UPXG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_3g1UDb1HFHZJF
Is plenty strong enough for moving around some damp leaves. I’m happy enough for $50.

It’s a corded one since I didn’t want to sacrifice power. Batteries aren’t exactly environmentally friendly either, I thought a plug in blower with a 100’ extension cord was a good compromise, I have another 50’ cord if I need it. Cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and I’ll never be stuck because my gas engines sucks or the battery pack won’t hold a charge anymore. The cord isn’t that big of a pain, and has been worth the trade off for me.

I use a red dragon torch professionally and it works great. Shouldn't harm the landscape fabric as a light pass is sufficient for anything that isn't deeply rooted. https://www.amazon.com/Red-Dragon-VT-2-23-000-BTU/dp/B00004Z2FP

They had a machine to lay it, and then used a form like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Curb-It-Yourself-Concrete-Trowel/dp/B01MZAWYI6

Good luck!

Well, I have been looking for an excuse to buy a flamethrower! You mean something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Red-Dragon-VT-2-23-000-BTU/dp/B00004Z2FP/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1525109503&sr=8-5&keywords=flamethrower

Any book by Michael Dirr. He is fantastic. It was a much used and recommended book throughout my university.

Edit : https://www.amazon.com/Dirrs-Encyclopedia-Trees-Shrubs-Michael/dp/0881929018

Very lovely, if you want that look you better learn to propagate plants or you're going to be spending a few boatloads of cash for it. Learn what is native to your area and plant that, that's what they did here. There are a bunch of plants here I recognize from the book 'Know Maintenance Perennial Garden' which I recommend (somewhat Illinois/midwest specific but maybe not too bad)

I recommend getting a soil test. You can order a kit from Amazon or send a sample off for analysis.

Your pH could be off or your soil may need fertilizer. To grow anything you need to start with the dirt and then work your way up.

This little kit will get you started off in the right direction. I use this one and highly recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Luster-Leaf-1601-Rapitest-Soil/dp/B0000DI845

Check out Creating the Prairie Xeriscape. Great book, all the info you need to set up a low maintenance garden that can withstand northern winters.

Maybe you could torch the weeds with something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Dragon-VT-2-23-000-BTU/dp/B00004Z2FP

Use prodiamine to prevent most weeds.

Check this out at Amazon.com - Prodiamine 65 WDG Generic Barricade 65 WDG 5lbs ali8056 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GTQBEK/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_h3UKDb617EBVJ

Burn them with this. Then put polymeric sand down.