Landscape Design Designing For Maintenance Task

Question: Currently maintaining our yard and landscape continues to present a challenge and waste a lot of time I mow the yard or run the weed eater. Do you have any suggestions on the design tips for our landscape to make the care easier and less time consuming? Kelly, Douglasville, Georgia

Answer: Many challenges in landscape maintenance can be reduced or avoided by simply taking the time to put the proper design in place. When designing any landscape it is important to take into account the work involved in maintaining the landscape after the landscape is installed.

We all have heard the phrase the “devil is in the details”. A landscape plan is no different. Little details can slip by during the design phase and later on create maintenance problems later on. I wish more designers and landscape architects would take the time to work on a landscape maintenance crew for a few weeks to understand the challenges landscape personnel face on a daily basis.

Drainage and Slopes - Difficulties Headaches and Erosion Problems

Many people look at their yard as a canvas waiting to be painted with plants, trees, rocks, flowers, a patio or deck and maybe a pool. It’s important to look beyond the flat canvas and look down. Find out if the landscape drains. Drainage problems in parts of the landscape can cause lots of maintenance issues. For example, poor plant health can be one-result, runoff and erosion issues. Drainage can also prevent the possibility of a birdbath being installed. Paved areas can push the flow of water into areas which will experience excessive moisture. This can cause mowing issues or make mowing impossible. This can also affect plant health as plant roots sit in unnatural moisture conditions.

Grading and drainage need to be addressed and a part of the landscape plan from the beginning to eliminate future problems. Slopes if they are too steep can make mowing dangerous and unsafe. Planting them with groundcover or using ornamental grasses or massing shrubs making a tropical look may better handle steep slopes, also consider some solar landscape lighting to show things off at night. Using mulch on steep slopes make be a difficult task making it easy for weeds to sprout and soil erosion to occur.

In commercial landscapes retention ponds are sometimes the method used to address drainage problems and excessive runoff. Reception ponds also cause maintenance issues when the ponds are not holding water. The slopes may be too steep or too mushy to run a mower over. This can increase maintenance time as weed eaters or string trimmers will be required. String trimmers used in any application often increases job cost.

Irrigation Design Issues

Irrigation is a very important part of the design of any landscape project. A poor irrigation design can cause major landscape headaches. Poor spacing of sprinkler heads creates dry spots; overspray wastewater and systems with inadequate water pressure can stop sprinkler heads from applying enough water in the proper area. Incorrect head selection, improper water zones and other system design shortcomings will put too much water in one area and not enough is another. For example, beds of seasonal color should be put on separate zones.

Commercial irrigation may require irrigation controllers inside of building, which are access difficult and could also create a nice trail of mud track into building. If frequent system monitoring and adjustments will be needed put weatherproof controllers on the outside of buildings.

Smooth Bed Edges – Easier Maintenance

One of fundamental principle to follow in the design of a landscape plan should be to create smooth flowing bed lines. This will allow mowers and their operators to maneuver easier through grass. Beds that snake around, uneven edges, bed edging incorrectly installed or beds with tight turns for mowers can result in a mini obstacle course. Sharp turns can present challenges in mowing and waste time. Smooth flowing lines of beds soften the look and make turf management and maintenance easier.

Bed Maintenance

The edge of beds should be sharply cut using a shovel or edged with a string trimmer, bed edger or other type of mechanical equipment. During warm summer months maintaining the edge of the bed may require more time as the grass stolens aggressively grow.

Stay away from the use of chemicals to control or slow the growth of bed edges. Chemicals will create a burn or brown edge and in general looks bad. Grass as it grows to the edge of a bed gives a clean, crisp, sharp look. Chemical edging cannot offer that manicured appearance. This is highly recommended for areas where traffic can see everything like in a front yard. However, for areas such as the backyard or in the back of a property where the public will not see the landscape beds, chemical control can save lots of time.

Watch Tree Placement

When placing trees keep in mind not the size of the tree when mature, but also the ring around the tree. Don’t put a tree so slow to a fence that a mower deck will have enough room to get by. More and more people today use of zero-turn mowers. Even though these mowers can turn in tight corners they still require room to navigate between plants, beds and structures.

The secret to lowering cost in time and effort comes down to planning. The overall design of the landscape contributes to the consumable resources of maintenance – time and equipment. Even if your landscape is already installed reducing the landscape workload can still be implemented. Step back and look at what areas eat your time. Then start looking for new design elements, which will reduce those time wasters.