We are working on development of a password protected client section to our website that will provide greater information and resources for our current and former customers. More to come in the weeks ahead!

It looks like there was a misprint of the first edition calenders that we sent out at the beginning of the year to clients and friends. If you were one of those who are confusedly seeing January in July, you can print and paste a corrected version (download .pdf). Our apologies for the misprint and confusion.

We seem to be finding our way into several postings on Business Blog anaylsis, such as Mike Sansome’s, Converstations- Changing how business talk to their customers.

In the case of the post he is referring to, the blog is a great tool for posting serial information like construction progress photos.

GardenDesignOnline had an interesting post on Green driveways with a link to an article from the New York Times. The featured architects, Greenmeadow Architects, in the story are right in our neck of the woods.

As for our take on Green Driveways, they are, of course, more maintenance intensive. The technique they show in the article is better than using the traditional turf paver blocks, where the grass tends to die out over time. Newer styles of turf paving block claim to have helped reduce this problem. There are links in the NYT article to manufacturers. Alternatives include permeable pavements such as Polypavement, Decomposed Granite with natural resin binding agents.

I have been riding my bicycle from home to work this week. It is about a 10 mile ride each way from San Rafael to Novato. A few things struck me. First, and this is true of walking as well, biking through a neighborhood gives a completely different perspective than driving. From a landscape perspective this means being able to look at the front yard landscapings (or lack of them of) for the residences along route. It also is a much more sensory experience, a true feeling of distance as it relates to human scale. On Monday the sensory experience was profound as I was drenched from head to toe.

The other curiosity was the lack of bikers on the road. Marin is touted as one of the strongest areas in the country for bicycle activism, such as the Marin Bicycle Coalition, who helped bring home a lot of cash in the latest transportation bill for bike path pilot programs. Marin also has a significant history in the evolution of mountain biking. So why then is it that there are not more bikers commuting on the road? Sure, there are hoards of weekend warriors in west Marin, around the skirt of Mt. Tam, and in China Camp, but where are they during the week?

Maybe this is something that is more prevalent in southern Marin, but in the north part of the county, I don’t see very many bikers. We certainly can’t hold a candle to Holland, where bicycling is a means of transport primarily, rather than a recreational pursuit.

When was the last time you saw a scene like this in Marin?

Bikes and a very small car in Amsterdam. The structure in the background is bike parking with 10’s of thousands of bikes

For More:
Southern Marin Bike Route Map from MBC
Northern Marin Bike Route Map from MBC
Marin IJ Article on new bike paths

With sunny skies returning to California, and temperatures in the 80’s, it is time to turn the sprinklers on. Here are a few tips:

1- Check the settings on your controller- It have been a while since they were adjusted. Drip stations should generally have 20 minutes – 1 hour of scheduled watering time a week, divided in 2-4 weekly waterings. This of course depends on the location, solar exposure, plant types, and type of irrigation system that was installed. Once the thermostat starts to climb into the 90’s, increase the frequency and reduce the duration of watering. Soft stemmed plants or plants in pots may even need two waterings to keep from wilting in high temperatures.

Lawns should receive 30 minutes to an hour per week, again depending on conditions and temperature. More frequent waterings 4-6 times per week are typically required in the warm season.

2- Check your sprinklers: Run through the stations of your controller to check for problems. For lawns, check head coverage and distribution. Heads may have rotated out of alignment, or nozzles may have become clogged. For drip systems, turn on the station and listen for leaks, look for wet spots, or squirting water from drip lines. Where plants have grown over the lines listening may be the best way to find leaks. After the air has escaped the lines, listen for the sounds of escaping water. Check the emitters of plants that look dry.

3- Not sure how much to water? Probe the soil- The soil should be moist but not wet. Brush back mulch around emitters to see the amount of water plants are getting from drip systems. If you want a better way to check moisture content, purchase a soil probe from your local garden center.

Check the posting “Scheduling your Controller in Warm Weather” for more watering tips.

Our blog was recently reviewed by Brian Brown’s Pajama Market, a blog dedicated to reviews of Small Business blogs.

The review is an interesting critique. For the most part it is favorable of the type of material we post here. With regards to subject matter, he has his critiques, such as my series on biking commuters.

Part of the intriguing nature of landscape architecture as a whole is that it covers a diverse range of topics. From a residential landscape construction perspective, Brian is right, biking to work is not pertinent. From a landscape architecture perspective, urban planning issues and alternative transportation are very relevant.

Our blog is meant to focus on subjects relating to our industry, but there is only some much fodder here for a regular running commentary. We also try to post information that is related in art & design, and items that are of interest to our community. In addition, as Brian notes, the blog is meant to be a more personal and varied look at the goings-on of our company, rather than a formalized newsletter approach. As far as his critique, my only critical reaction is that he could have looked at more of our past postings over the last 10 months, instead of justthe last few weeks. There are some very good posts that have both content and scholarship, rather than just pure content aggregation and links.