Lawn and Plantings

New sod lawn and simple planting

Page Outline:

1. Soils
2. Lawn Types
3. Lawn Edging
4. Time of Year
5. Design/Plant Selection
6. Plant Spacing/Growth

I. Soils

There are many keys to a successful landscape. The three main ones are design, installation, and maintenance. But soil quality is also an essential key.

Few plants will do as well in poor soil as in good soil. Good soil has adequate drainage and air spaces, yet retains moisture, and either has nutrients or can store nutrients when they are added. Good soil is a blend of its three main components, sand, silt (clay) and humus (organic matter). Often we can improve an existing soil by amending it by tilling in additional organic matter.

Tilling in organic matter helps sandy soils hold moisture and nutrients, and helps improve the texture of clay soils.

Sometimes (eg. if there is too much rock) it is easier to spread a layer of topsoil over the existing soil. Then you need to be concerned with the quality of the imported topsoil and with layering. Frequently with a layer of good topsoil on top, the lawn or plants will keep their roots in this upper layer (ie layering). That often results in shallow rooting that is more susceptible to drought.

II. Lawn Types

There are three common methods of starting a lawn: from sod, hydroseed, or seed. Each method usually uses about 5 different types of lawn seed mixed together to allow the final lawn to do well in different conditions of sun, soil, and season.

Sod is grown from seed at a sod farm for about a year, then a thin layer is cut, transported, and relayed on the new site with fertilizer and lime. Finally it is rolled and the edge is trimmed.

Hydroseed is a watery mixture of seed, fertilizer, and mulch (wood fiber) that is sprayed onto a prepared seedbed for new lawn. It usually costs less than sod but more than seed.

A seeded lawn is often the least expensive and is accomplished by spreading grass seeds and fertilizers over a prepared area.

III. Lawn Edging

Often even the finest estate gardens have no edging materials on the lawn. The edge is just carefully maintained. But edging can be used to keep a tidy, defined border to the lawn. Some materials are: wood, concrete, plastic, steel, aluminum, or bricks.

IV. Time of Year

Lawn plantings and sod lawn installation can be done most any time of year in the Seattle area, including Renton, Burien, West Seattle and more. Our summer drought is the most difficult time for new plants, so fall planting is good for getting new plants rooted to prepare them for summer.

V. Design/Plant Selection

A good landscape design reflects your tastes and lifestyle, as well as taking into account the physical attributes of the property. How will you, the owner, use different areas of your site? What are your dreams of a perfect garden? Do you crave more privacy or want a view opened up? Do you need play areas for children and/or pets or areas to entertain friends? Are there certain plants or colors you love or hate in a garden? Do neat, controlled plantings or loose, blowsy ones feel better to you? Do you enjoy gardening or is “low maintenance” more appealing? And how about drought tolerance? Are there places in the world you would like to be reminded of or should the garden style reflect the style of your house?

We provide the creativity to plan your landscape, combining your ideas with our expertise in construction and planting. A plan drawn to scale, with the plants and hardscaping features labeled, will help you visualize your finished garden and provide a roadmap of how to proceed or how to divide your project into phases. The finished landscape needs to please you.

VI. Plant Spacing/Growth

There is a “right type of plant for right place” phenomenon. Some are rapid growers, continuing to grow larger with each year. Others are medium to slow growers, staying a more controlled size for more years. Very few plants grow rapidly, then stop at a certain height, bamboo being the exception. We design plantings with individual plants spaced so they will provide visually full plantings in 3-5 years and larger growing plants so they won’t outgrow their spaces. This means that plants look pretty spread apart for the first few years.

Contact Us for an Appointment!

- Frank F.