Irrigation: Go for Green this Summer!

Irrigation: Go for Green this Summer!

With the summer Olympics just around the corner, we might be thinking about gold more often than usual. But, when it comes to your yard, you want it to be anything but a golden hue this summer. Dry grass, dying plants and malnourished gardens are not ideal. We’re going for the green this summer with irrigation!

Not only is irrigation good for keeping a yard looking and feeling lush, it’s also a common agricultural practice that’s been used for centuries. The earliest forms started with people carrying buckets of water from wells, rivers or other water sources. Then came canals and aqueducts. And now we have modern sprinkler systems and other irrigation forms.

While the Nashville area is humid, especially in the spring and summer months, that doesn’t always equal precipitation. If you’ve lived in the southeastern U.S. at any point during the summer, then you know it can be unbelievably hot and prone to dry landscapes. 

Irrigation can be the solution to protecting your yard and your plants (and also local wildlife and insects!). When your landscape is full, bright and blooming, you can enjoy it visually. Wildlife can also benefit from it as shelter and food sources, which can be hard to come by in the heat of summer.

spring color for your doorstep

Even something as simple as hooking up a sprinkler to a hose can make a difference in a dry yard or garden. Not to mention, this can also be a great way to get the kids in your life involved in outdoor spaces. You can turn watering the yard, plants or garden into work and playtime as kids also have fun running through sprinklers.

However, not all irrigation systems are equal. While standard sprinkles are ok for some situations, most flowering plants prefer drip irrigation. You may have seen drip irrigation systems while browsing a greenhouse, especially if you were browsing ferns earlier this spring. Drip irrigation saves flowering plants’ delicate blooms and stems from being battered by overhead water, and directly waters the soil around their roots. Not only is this better for your flowers, it also saves money by wasting less water.

Integrated sprinkler and irrigation systems can be even more effective for your yard, as they are adjusted based on different areas. Some spots have more shade or more slope, and don’t need as much water as more exposed areas. These systems also help reduce water waste for this same reason.

You can now take even more hassle out of caring for your yard. Many sprinkler systems now have smart capabilities. This smart technology allows you to design proper water schedules. Your plants and landscape will flourish without you having to think about them. Plus, you’ll never have to worry about your yard getting watered properly while you’re enjoying your summer vacation.

Additional Tips for Successful Watering

  • Hand Watering: In areas not covered by an irrigation system, hand watering is essential. This is especially important during the first 90 days after planting your new additions.
  • Consistent Monitoring: Keep an eye on your irrigation system to make sure it’s functioning correctly and delivering adequate water to all areas of your landscape. Even smart irrigation systems need regular monitoring and maintenance to make sure they run properly. (Not sure how to maintain your system? Gardens of Babylon provides installation and maintenance services!)
  • Winter Considerations: We’re in the thick of summer, so winter is probably the last thing on your mind. However, you can prepare for the lifelong success of your yard, garden and plants anytime of year. Protect your plants from harsh winter conditions by ensuring they are well-watered before the first freeze. Also check your irrigation system before closing it up for winter, so it’ll be ready to go next spring.

By following these guidelines, you can help ensure your new plants establish strong roots and grow to be healthy and robust – and that your green spaces are successful all year long!

At Gardens of Babylon, we’re committed to connecting you with nature and providing the best care for your landscape. Are you looking to set up your landscape for success with an irrigation system? We provide irrigation system installation and maintenance, so you’ll never have to wonder if your yard is getting the care it needs. Schedule an appointment with our irrigation experts today, and enjoy the lush landscape of your dreams. Happy gardening!

Compost Tea Puts the ‘Good Guys’ in Charge of Your Soil

Compost Tea Puts the ‘Good Guys’ in Charge of Your Soil

Compost tea is the superfood that gives your landscape a boost – a rich brew that uses the science of Mother Nature to improve soil. And as spring rolls into sultry summer, it’s a good time to plan for how doses of this rejuvenating liquid can help your landscape. Gardens of Babylon’s landscape maintenance team provides a new “recipe” to keep soil alive and healthy.

“I learned about the importance of compost tea at least 20 years ago, and it just made sense to me,” says Gardens of Babylon owner Mark Kerske, who oversees the brewing of compost tea for clients’ landscapes and gardens.

“The soils in Tennessee are not only compacted due to heavy clay, but also depleted by the constant use of toxic fertilizers, Kerske says. “Plants are now dependent on the fertilizers for growth, which have wiped out all the good, beneficial microbes in the soil. Using compost tea is the best way to put the ‘good guys’ back in.”

It’s a mixture teeming with life that nourishes your landscape without the use of toxic fertilizers. The life in the soil allows plants to manage their own nutrient needs. “Without a healthy soil food web, the pesticides and herbicides kill those good guys, and the crawly creatures that are in there working,” Kerske says. “If we don’t have that food web, soil structure deteriorates, and pathogens and disease start to take over.” With synthetic fertilizers, you kill the soil, he says. 

What’s brewing?

By “good guys,” Kerske refers to the micro-organisms that make up the nutrients in compost that improve soil. The tea is a liquid form of compost, but it has the extra boost from a buffet of treats — fish hydrolysates, humic acid, kelp, bacteria, fungi and other ingredients – to encourage those organisms to reproduce at higher levels. 

Gardens of Babylon’s new “recipe” used for the tea application depends on what’s best for your landscape: “If you want to grow a better lawn and annual flowers, you want to use more of a bacterial type of compost tea,” Kerske explains. “A fungal type of compost tea is better for trees, woody plants and perennials.”

It takes about 24 hours to brew a batch of compost tea, Kerske says. It’s an aerobic process: “When we’re brewing the tea, we’re injecting oxygen.” Moreover, the mixture remains oxygenated in the tank on its way to a clients’ landscape. “When you start to decrease the oxygen, the microbes start to die off,” he says. “Our tea is healthy, happy and full of oxygen when it’s sprayed on the yards.”

When? And how?

Spring, summer and fall are good seasons to give your landscape a dose of compost tea, Kerske says. “It’s usually applied once the soil temperature gets above 50 to 60 degrees.” It’s a good idea to first aerate a lawn, pulling out plugs of soil and allowing the tea to go deeper into the ground, “so it’s working a lot faster that way.” Spring is a good time to aerate, as well as fall, especially if you are overseeding the lawn ahead of winter, he says.

Compost tea is applied to established lawns, but is especially good for new lawns started from scratch. If soil is compacted, Kerske recommends three applications a year. “It’s taken years to make your soil bad, so it will take a couple years of applications to improve it.” 

The amount to apply is measured per square foot; usually, a typical residential lawn benefits from 50 to 100 gallons of compost tea, Kerske says. 

The Gardens of Babylon landscape team can provide a total maintenance package with tea applications – “weed and green applications is how we refer to it,” he says. “It’s one of the tools we use throughout the year to keep peoples’ lawns and landscapes healthy.”

Ready to rejuvenate your soil with a dose of compost tea? Book a consultation with the Gardens of Babylon Landscape Maintenance team here

How to Choose the Right Landscape Designer for Your Job!

How to Choose the Right Landscape Designer for Your Job!

Whether your yard is a blank slate that needs form and color or a hot mess that needs to be re-imagined and refurbished, a landscape designer can help. How do you find the right person for the job?

First, look for someone who has training in the field, is certified and has experience, suggests Gardens of Babylon’s co-owner Matt Kerske. “A designer learns to become a great designer by seeing finished designs and learning from them.” A landscape architect is also schooled in handling drainage issues, hardscape elements and other structural changes.  

Consider the scale of your ideas and ask to see projects in the designer’s portfolio to determine the level and type of work they do. Some designers only provide a concept and final plan, and may suggest installers; others offer start-to-finish design and installation. Think about whether you want design only, or if yours is to be a design-and-install project.

You + Landscape Designer = Working Together

It’s important for the designer’s and client’s visions to align from the beginning, and as a client, you can help the designer get a feel for your style by sharing pictures of landscapes you like, or showing photos of your interior spaces. 

Then it’s good to establish priorities. “I like to call them the needs and the wants in the beginning,” Matt says. A good designer can help define and adjust priorities, and will discuss what’s most important in considering a finished plan. Once work has begun, any revisions may cause delays and frustrations. 

Consider the cost

For many clients, the budget is the really big consideration, Matt says. “It’s really common that people are not aware of what a lot of landscape elements cost.”

When the client has an idea at the beginning of the process of how much they can spend, the designer and client can work together to establish the scope of the work to be done. When the designer knows the budget boundaries, it’s easier to establish a realistic idea of what can be accomplished. This may mean choosing similar materials and finishes in a lower price range, for example, to achieve a client’s goal, so it’s important for the designer to have a sense of what a typical project can usually cost.

“It comes down to money, and value, for the client,” Matt says. “A designer wants to make sure the client is getting a good value for what they are expecting. This helps the customer establish priorities.”

Getting it done

Gardens of Babylon is a design/build company that works with clients from concept plan to final draft on the design end, and a project team that installs the landscape elements and plantings based on the design. The design/project team works with the client in choosing materials and plantings, and discusses any possible adjustments or modifications and their accompanying costs that may arise. “We make sure there are no hidden fees, and see the project from start to finish,” Matt says.

Designers on the staff have worked to develop a creative list of plants that are appropriate for the Middle Tennessee climate, and hardscape items that are time tested and durable. “Our firm has more than 15 years of experience and we’re very practical on our designs. That’s a great asset when it comes to ease and efficiency of the overall project.”

If you’re interested in speaking to designer about a new landscape project, click here to select a time for a free phone consultation.

Creating Your Stay-At-Home Oasis

Creating Your Stay-At-Home Oasis

If you’re a gardener, you already know the advantages of spending time outdoors: lower stress levels, less mental fatigue, a boost in creativity and a variety of benefits that can improve health. If you are spending more time working at home, playing with kids or just relaxing, why not make it the best outdoors it can be?

“A backyard oasis can be your own personal escape

says Eric Van Grinsven, a landscape designer with the Gardens of Babylon design team. “It’s the area where you can be when you’re stressed from work or things are getting to you, your little spot you can disappear to or just relax and be surrounded by nature.

Eric offers these tips for turning your outdoor space into a place for retreat, rest and relaxation with well-planned hardscapes, plantings and garden amenities.

A perfect retreat

  • Consider the space: Do you have a large, sweeping yard? A city lot with a moderate amount of space for a garden? Maybe all you have to work with is a deck or balcony.
  • Start by thinking about the sort of feeling you want to generate: Do you prefer a place that’s clean and uncluttered? Or do you see your ideal outdoor sanctuary being lush, full and densely planted?
  • What will it take to maintain your stay-at-home oasis? Can you hire someone to keep an expansive landscape in good order? Do you enjoy doing your own planting, mulching, watering and weeding?

before after nashville landscape

Landscape lights, pavers and plantings turn this plain backyard
in
East Nashville into an attractive retreat.

Find the right balance

In a large landscape, think about the areas where you spend the most time or views that could be visually pleasing, and focus your efforts there, Eric suggests. The same advice goes for smaller areas where it may be more of a challenge to carve out garden space.

“We want to strike a nice balance between planted spaces and open, flex area.” You can maximize the use of space in a small back yard with an equal distribution of hardscape elements, usable area, plantings, and open lawn, for example.

If your retreat is your balcony or deck, consider how much space you have to work with and what the primary goal will be. A collection of potted plants and rail hangers can bring you closer to nature. For a shady balcony, bring on the shade-loving perennials and annuals. Sunny areas can hold containers planted with herbs or a patio tomato or two.

Don’t forget the ‘extras’ for your Stay-at-Home Oasis

  • Lighting: Think about how you want to experience the space after dark, Eric suggests. Landscape lights make a space more usable at night for gatherings with family and friends, and in a new design, accent lights are easier to install as part of the construction process. Lights can also be strategically placed in an existing landscape or patio design.
  • Irrigation: An irrigation system is a big help if you have an extensive lawn of water-hungry fescue, or if your plantings are so extensive it’s difficult to accomplish watering with a hose or sprinklers.
  • Outdoor audio: Music, provided through outdoor speakers via a Bluetooth receiver, can add a soothing layer to your peaceful retreat, or be a lively addition to gatherings of family and friends.
  • The extras: A firepit, custom designed walls, trellises and other hardscape elements, along with containers, statuary, sculpture or other art, specimen trees or shrubs and other amenities make your stay-at-home oasis unique.

You get to experience the world the way it was meant to be, and it’s in your own back yard,” Eric says.

Click here to schedule a free phone consultation or to set up an initial appointment with Gardens of Babylon’s design team (Eric Van Grinsven, Mike Omar, Ryan Fogarty).