Many people who design their own landscapes [music] end up with gardens that require much more maintenance than they would like. Today, Eddie the lazy landscaper [music] and I are going to share seven landscaping tips so that you can actually enjoy your garden. [music] >> I'm glad you didn't say seven deadly sins because you know that would be too much work.
[music] >> You know what most people overdo in their yards? I would think that depends on whether the neighbors could see or not. >> But actually it's watering.
>> Ah well yeah >> and doing too much watering is a very common problem and a problem that leads to all kinds of ramifications. Too much weed growth, too many pests and diseases, poor performance of plants. Nothing can kill a plant faster than too much water.
I always like to say we want to water as little as possible and have everything look like it doesn't need watering, which is sometimes a little hard to get there >> in a drought area where we are. I mean, I think that's a really good path to follow anyway cuz there's not a lot of water to waste. >> So, Eddie, what do you do in your yard to apply less water?
>> I want to be able to give the plants just the amount of water they need or as close to that. So, in many cases, I use automated watering systems with drip going to the plants, and that works pretty well. The other thing that I'm concerned about in areas where too much water is applied is that you have a proliferation of weeds.
So, what I do is mulch, and I use mulch year round, 1 to 3 in depending, and that helps keep the germination of weeds down. Bojan, this one might get us [music] in trouble. >> Apparently, we're going to go after lawns here.
You know, a lot of people treat their lawns like their favorite pet, >> which is great if you need a lawn. You know, lawns are excellent for some things. They take traffic and you can play on them.
The way I look at it is nothing takes more work and time and resources than lawn. And so, we should be very selective of when we need it. So, sometimes there's a good reason, but you should be strategic about how you use it and not have it dominate your whole lot.
If your goal is to minimize maintenance, some people like lawns so much, but they don't want the work, they're going more and more to artificial turf, which I'm not a big fan of, but many like lawns that much that they want to put in a fake turf. >> You know, I thought about that actually, but where do you get the artificial water [laughter] >> in your yard? You don't have a lawn, >> and I think that makes your maintenance much simpler.
I've had lawns in the past, but there wasn't a need for it. And I have a smaller lot. And so I felt I could do without it.
And we have a dedicated area steps from me that has plenty of lawn that we can use. And somebody else takes care of that. >> I'll just teach you just real quickly cuz you know I'm fluent in French.
>> French bread, French fries. I mean I come on the way to say cut the grass in French. Mole the lawn.
There are things out there that make your yard highmaintenance if you let them. >> And one of the biggest culprits, Eddie the lazy landscaper, is >> the sun or where your plants are planted in relationship to the sun. Some plants thrive on sun.
Others don't >> because folks don't know better. They buy them at a nursery or a big store and bring them home and plant them next to other plants with completely different watering needs and completely different sun and shade needs. >> Yeah, that's true.
So, there are a lot of things uh besides the lawn that can cause a high degree of maintenance. >> In our area, a lot of home gardeners seem to like plants that don't like a lot of sun, but they like them so much that they insist on planting them. And so, if you're going to plant those in areas where they get too much sun, your point is a good one.
You should plant them all together and water them all together because you're going to want to keep those root balls moist in the middle of the summer. and you shouldn't combine them with plants all over your yard that need regular watering. Sun exposure is a big deal in determining the appropriateness of plants in different areas of your yard and nothing should be considered much more than what kind of sun exposure.
It's usually one of the first questions you get asked when you think about what plant you're going to use. We just talked all about exposures. Are you optimistic that people will understand what we're trying to explain?
I'd say there's a ray of hope. >> Okay, Eddie, we're back to water again, [music] but this time we're not necessarily talking about your sprinklers. >> This one's sneakier.
This is the kind that shows up uninvited. >> When we first went into business in 1979, one of the first jobs we did, the builder builds the house and we work out a beautiful plan and then we're provided the landscape and we go at it. and we relied on the general contractor to grade it properly.
That winter it rained like crazy and they had all kinds of problems with water intrusion into their house. Then they go to their attorney and they sue their builder and they sue the landscape contract. They sue everybody.
And that is a big lesson that I learned in that very first job is to pay a lot of attention to how your yard drains and try to get that water out. When I first moved, the yard in the back was a mini lake. Yeah.
it it had some problems in this case too. I also knew that being in that part of town in the northwest that we did have some compacted clay and even some hard pan in certain areas. So what we did is we had a drainage system put in with some French drains with pipes leading out to the gutter and that helped.
Yeah, that's an excellent solution and usually those solutions are easier to accomplish if you plan them out before you put in your landscape. The most common way to drain is with gravity. You grade your soil properly just to have it drain.
But then when that presents problems, then you can resort to French drains, dry wells, drains that have inlets. Drinage is part of a bigger problem that usually starts [music] before a plant is even in the ground. >> Well, yeah.
I mean, you've got to have the plans for your landscape. And if you don't, you're already getting off to a shaky start. >> Yes.
It starts when we are actually initiating and working on the design. A good landscape design will help you avoid overplanting. Avoid one of my pet peeves which is planting plants that are too big for their place.
We think we have a nicel looking house. You have a nicel looking house. Why plant 20ft shrubs in front of it that then you have to prune like crazy?
That's not how they look their best and that's high maintenance. Most plants you can plant them in the right spacing and the right places that you just let them grow. >> You know, another thing of consideration wasn't as much a consideration in my smaller yard, but in especially in a little larger properties, folks want to have topography.
They want to have mounds, but if they're not placed in the correct way, they can cause some drainage problems on their own. Man-made drainage problems. >> I see that all the time.
come back into a house, even go into a neighbor's property. >> A properly considered and thought out design is one of the most important steps to limiting maintenance. If you feel landscape design isn't your strong suit, but you want a great design, I got a solution for you.
Subscribe to this channel. So, an expert along with Eddie the Lady Landscaper on minimizing work and problems in your garden is Chip Valentino, my vice president in charge of easy peasy landscaping. I'll admit there are some parts of landscape maintenance that I don't even like doing >> really.
>> But the good news is there are a few tools and tricks that will make it so you and I and Chip will never have to do it again. >> Oh, that sounds good to me. If you have a lawn, let's contain that lawn so that it doesn't become a weed and grow outside the desired area.
Many people have that problem with lawn that grows and spreads like Bermuda. And that is a big part of minimizing landscape maintenance. The other neat thing I like about proper edging is you maintain a certain shape to it and you maintain certain lines which you probably spent a lot of time coming up with when you designed the garden.
And so that allows you to stick to that. You now have it contained. It won't spread.
It won't become a weed growing into your planting areas. That makes it good for Eddie the lazy landscape. >> Absolutely.
And I've had reverse situations where I'm trying to keep ground cover that's spreading within a flower bed to not get in a compacted gravel area. >> Have you ever seen a tree at the nursery and immediately fell in love with it and think, "That's [music] it. That's the one.
" And five years later, it looks like you're living in the shadow of a skyscraper. >> And that shadow creates all kinds of problems. I've been there and I've seen it.
Let's tell you how not to make that mistake. Tree sizes. There's lots of tempting trees to plant that are way too big for small sites.
And we see them used all the time, especially in new subdivisions because they tend to have smaller lots. And they're trees that not only get too big on the top, but they get too big in the roots and they cause all kinds of problems. maybe with your foundation, with your driveway, with your walkways.
Nothing makes a more highmaintenance landscape than inappropriately sized trees. >> That's why I've chosen in my yard a smaller yard trees like uh lagrass draia crepe myrtle, the hibiscus tree, some of the Japanese maples, you know, they come in different sizes. I like to talk a lot about patio scale trees.
And patio scale trees like you have at your house next to your pool make it so that you can do lots of interesting things around those trees. They don't get too big for their spot. They don't damage neighboring paving and foundations.
They behave themselves. The other thing that's a real pet peeve for me when I go into especially into neighborhoods that are kind of pre-planned with all the same size lots and that kind of thing, people have not been considered of their neighbors and they plant a 25- ft canopy tree 5 ft from the fence. Part of that's going to help you with shade, but it's going to really impose on your neighbor.
Those are things that are important considerations if you want to get along with your neighbors in a few years. >> And those might drop right into their pool. >> They very well could.
Bonus time. [music] >> This might be the most important one of all. >> If you skip this, everything else we've talked about could just fall apart.
>> I think it's the most important part of landscaping and gardening, and that's the health of your soil. And I define healthy soil by soil that has lots of beneficial microbiology. So beneficial bacteria, fungi, good nematodeses, prozzoa.
If you build life in the soil, you're creating soil that can most effectively feed your plants and most effectively prevent and defeat pests and disease. So in other words, you're creating a garden that Eddie the Lazy Landscaper would thrive in because it will need very little outside help. It's a self- sustaining ecosystem if you do it properly with your soil.
>> So on the spectrum of developing an intelligent landscape, we have to start with a good plan. And then we have to take into consideration the other things we've talked about and end with a healthy alive soil that helps all the other things we've talked about, the trees, the plants to prosper. Yeah.
The health of the soil impacts drainage. It impacts the ability of the plants to prosper. It impacts everything there is in a landscape, especially everything that you need to be successful, >> right?
>> And everything Eddie the lazy landscaper is concerned about in order to minimize maintenance >> and maximize nap time. >> There's nothing like a good garden nap. After 60 years of gardening, I've had a lot more lessons than just the ones we just talked about in this video.
