state of the artState Of The Art

Venice Forida Landscape design is one of the most important parts of your properties living environment.  Most people think of the kitchen or bathroom as what they should spend the most money and time on designing, however even though the kitchen will be used a lot for those of us who love to cook and entertain, however a well designed landscape will be more used than any other part of your living space.  A well designed landscape that is planned properly can become the most used space the family or single family home owner will use.

When planning your Venice Florida landscape design make sure you take al the aspects of your families lifestyle into account, small kids will love gardening vegetables, taking care of fruit such as oranges, lemons and the such, children take great pride in nurturing gardens and then harvesting the fruits of their labor, bringing it in the home and preparing it for the table, it not only gives them a really helpful hobby it teaches them that work brings good things in life.  Here are some tips on designing landscapes that are kid friendly.

1. Let your children be involved in the planning stages, let them give their ideas on what they want to see when the landscape is finished, give them books that they can understand,and even let them get their classroom involved in the process.  this will give them an exciting  reason to get to school and participate.

2. After they have helped in the design process, let them go to the nursery and pick out the plants with you, letting them get involved in the buying process will teach them that this is an investment, not just game. When visiting the nursery give them time to view all the plants, educate them on why we plant tree’s for shade, why we use ground covers, why ornamental and eatable landscapes are not only beneficiary for man kind but how the animals benefit from a well designed Venice Florida landscape Design .

3. Designing a vegetable garden in the plan will really get them excited, I have not met a kid yet that did not like gardening and working with vegetables it’s very therapeutic and gives them a good reward system.

4. Even if the labor is too much, let them watch the crew or the adults install the tree’s and plants, let them look up the benefits of grass, tree’s and shrubs, a little education will go along way and be with them the rest of their life.  Again let them involve their class mates.

After the design and install is complete let them write about the process, letting them expalin why a well designed  Venice Florida landscape design is so important to our environment and gives us many years of enjoyment.

Replacing your lawn in Venice florida can be very challenging, first of all how to get all that grass out, especially Bermuda, Bermuda being so thick and almost like wire can a daunting task. Here are a few tips on removing your lawn ans replacing with new grass and preferably ground cover.  

1. First of all use a non selective herbicide that can be planted on with in weeks of spraying, Round up and Prosecuter from Lesco are both very good products.

2. With most herbicides you have to wait ten days to see what is all the way dead, believe me it is much harder thatn you think to kill al the non wanted grass, in some cases it seems as if the grass just wont die, thats why a second and third application are almost always needed, this way there is no question that the Beruda is all the way dead.

3. Rake all debris from new area of planting, removing root zone is no very important as long as you are sure grass died from herbicide application.  after raking and removing all debris, check irrigation for proper coverage, after coverage is established apply milorginite, it is 2600 sq ft per 35 pounds, make sure to Read bag, you want to apply on ground for root zone and on turf after applied, one good thing is it wont burn or over fertilize your lawn.

4. When selecting where to buy your sod make sure its local there are many sod farms in the Sarsota Mantee County arae and sod distributers, make sure the sod is delivered the day it is cut, this is very important with Venice Lawn Care Replacing Lawn  this will ensure that turf is  fungus free, all commercial turf companies have to be certified to provide weed free and insect free turf.  Install turf that day if possible do not let turf sit on pallets more than three days.

5. After turf is installed apply more milorginite, read bag and apply properly.  check irrigation to make sure any heads are not covered with new turf, and for proper coverage.  after two weeks mow lawn with walk behind mower making sure not to scalp lawn.  St. Augustine should be afull 7″ tall then remove one third this will bring it to 4″ it looks tall but this will protect root zone and Ensure lush green healhy lawn.

6. Apply pest control and fertilizer every two months, do not over apply or apply near any water ways, this means retention ponds also.

Hope this will help you with making sure you have a beautiful lawn for years to come.

Venice Florida landsape design begins with hiring a reputable landscape designer.  As a local landscape designer here in Venice Florida I see so many landscapes that look nice when installed but are so hard to maintain, a lot of the landscape designers do not provide landscape maintenance services, there for they have no idea on the care that is needed to maintain the landscape in a professional manner which will not only enhance the appearance of the new landscape but keep it healthy.  The biggest mistake I see with landscape designers is they install plant material too close to houses and other structures, so when plant material matures it is against house or other structure making trimming areal nightmare.  We all see big mature tree’s under power lines, the county has to come along and hack the tree in half leaving it unsightly and usually affecting the health of the tree, do not plant large tree’s under power lines, not too close to homes. 

Of course landscape companies are profit motivated, this seems to blur thier vision of designing and installing an affective landscape, it looks really good when its installed but within months we see it is way over planted, shrubs growing into other shrubs, trees shading plants that need full sunshine, ground cover over taking plants that start declining because of crowding.  One other problem I see a lot is too many colors in th landscape design, we all love color, however too many colors make the landscape look busy and takes the eye in all different directions, Venice Florida landscape design starts with picking no more tan three primary colors, installing colors within focal points such as entrance ways, corners to give balance, its a lot like interior design, too much stuff with too many colors looks like it was just thrown together.  A well designed landscape will have three colors installed at focal points, a dark green back ground, and tree’s installed to give the most affect of shading where needed, installing shade trees in South West Florida is very smart idea, South West Corner of house installed far enough from house that it wont affect the house in a negative way, such as dropping leaves on roof, filling gutters with leaves, damaging tiles on roof and the such.  Installing shade tree’s  in the proper location on property will help with electric bills just as much as good insulation will, plant deciduous trees that drop leaves in Winter so that the sun shoine will help heat the house and in spring and summer as the tree puts back on leaves it will help cool the house.  Many studies show huge savings in the electric bill, also tree’s are the biggest asset to any landscape, most people do not know the value of well maintained tree’s on a property, they add thousand of dollars in property value, making your property easier to sell and for more money.

Venice Florida Landscape design can be very benificial to all of us, along with providing habitat for all the animals that need well planned landscapes to thrive and provide the natural beauty of our envirnment.

Venice Florida landscape service is very important to hire a true professional that is  not only knowledgeable in this field of expertise but will actually answer the phone when you have concerns.  With most landscape services in Venice Florida, the profit margins are thin, so can a customer actual expect to get someone to answer the phone and respond that day?, most likely not, however if you do not get an answer or return call or email with in 24 hrs, I suggest you change your services, especially if it has happened in the past or more than two times.  Venice Florida landscape service can vary from one man or woman in a truck to a full service land management company with a fully staffed office, and many trucks fully equipped with all  tools to actually provide all the different needs of   landscape management.  Hiring the mom and pop service you many think you are getting a deal, however the chances of a small outfit being able to provide irrigation, fertilization, tree care and turf management is probably not going to happen, then you can hire really big regional or national company, the problem with this is they are usually very expensive and you are not going to get the service such as talking to the same person or persons each time you have to contact the service provider, turn over in employees is very high with any labor intensive job, people come and go, so the same crew taking care of specific needs you discussed when hiring the company will get lost in the shuffle.  I suggest when hiring Vencie Florida landscape service you hire a company with no more than three crew’s that the company has an owner that is on site at least one time per week, that the company can repair irrigation, can provide fertilization and pest control, can trim tree’s palms, oaks, and the such.  All these different needs in your yard will take a professional  with many years of experience.  Always hire a landscape maintenance provider that has completed the Best management Practices program, this class is provided by the Sarasota County Extension Services and is run by the University Of Florida, with experience in the field and the management practices program a medium sized company will be your best choice.  This will give you the best chance at not ending up un happy with your lawn care and the best chance of keeping your landscape management manageable.  For more information on land

Sarasota landscape protecting against frost  with the cold weather today and tonight feb.12-2012 bearing down on us here in southwest florida what to do  about plants, trees, flowers and turf.

1. Water today to hydrate plants and other landscaping, plants suffer most damage from being dry, the cold winds dry foliage and make it much easier for damage to occur.

2. let plant material and turf dry before covering with frost blankets, old sheets, try not to use plastic and if so remove plastic before the next day sun comes out, sun will burn plants and damage anything plastic is touching.

3.  Make sure plants, trees and turf have been fertilized properly, healthy landscape always does better during stressful weather events.

4. Bring all potted plants in doors or cover, the heat from sheets blankets and such actually keeps the warmth from the ground near plants, as heat rises from ground it protects the plants from the brutal effects of cold and frost.

5.  do  not cut beneficial tree’s down because of what you may think is a lot of raking in winter, tree’s provide beneficial canopy during winter, covering plants and turf with natural frost cover.  thin trees and keep healthy this will keep leaves down and make tree’s one of your landscapes best friends.

6. Sarasota landscape protecting against frost is a little work but can actualy be good excersise, get you involved in tour yard which is very soothing, relieves stress, better than anything I know.  Providing yourself with

Watering responsibly in Venice is becoming more than just a responsibility its going to become a way of life, if you care at all about using irrigation to water your turf and landscape in the future.  Walgreen’s here in the State Of Florida is going to the highest technology that is available, Using Hunter IBM clocks, low pressure shut off valves, rain sensors and soil sensors to insure responsible irrigation practices inVenice Florida    along with the entire State Of Florida so that we have water in the future, for younger generations.  If we don’t take steps such as these there will be no water available for new developments, Growing the wonderful vegetables and fruits we have here in the sunshine state.  Along with low pressure shut off switches which by the way shut system down when there is a break in the main line, down stream of main line  or missing nozzle, low pressure shut off valve recognizes drop in operating pressure and shuts water off.  Hunter has also come out with high efficiency nozzles which use the water more efficiently and patters are more correct.  Of course we can use less water just by planting trees in the right areas, using drought tolerant plants.

Using less water in Venice  when watering turf just takes a few important items such as making sure who ever installs irrigation uses the highest quality components, I pre ferRain Bird however Hunter makes good quality irrigation equipment either of these companies will be a good choice.  Use irrigation companies that are not in and out in a flash, installing irrigation takes time to do correctly, such as cleaning all glue joints and using a good quality primer and glue.  Installing pressure regulating valves, using sprinkler heads with check valves in them this way when the system shuts down water does not leak out of heads after system has shut down.  Make sure that proper heads are use installed to cover areas to be water with most efficiency possible.  If you design landscape  make sure irrigation is designed to the landscapes needs, remember plants do grow.  Installing four inch spray heads behind 3 gallon plats is not going to work after plants mature.  Remember watering responsibly in Venice florida is everone that uses water of any kind, recalimed, well water and city or county water.

Venice lawn care tips on annuals are available in many local libraries and bood stores.  There are so many beautiful flowers to choose from when it comes to annuals, Geraniums, petunias, or lobelia, these common annuals can make any property come alive with color, here are some tips on planting annuals in Venice.  First pick a site that will accommodate your flowers such as full sun, partial shade mostly shade, always read instructions on how to polant before installing your annuals.  After picking site and flowers that will do well there, make sure to do a soil test to check ph.  stabilizing ph will help flowers thrive and last much longer.  I always work soil ammendments into planting area, such as perlite, fertilizer, pine bark, oak leaves to give soil some components to break down, another important component of successful annuals in Venice is proper irrigation, you need to have well drained soil with proper irrigation coverage, after watering check to see how quick the water dissapates into the soil, or if there is quick run off.  A real good way to make big impact is to mix up to three colors and layer your annuals, and plant them against an all green woody ornamental back ground this will make them stand out and pop.  Remember annuals have endless application, theycan be used in window boxes, entrance beds, as cutting for the table, there are some with good fragrance, some from seed, and the ones I like bewst is from your local nursery, for more information on annuals call me at 941-809-8735.  or visit our web site at www.stateoftheartlandscaping.com