November 20, 2012 By Bruce Koehler

Built-in Kitchens for your Backyard

We absolutely love it when our clients are interested in bringing their “indoor” lives outside. There are so many new and interesting options for creating a backyard kitchen and dining area which will enhance your outdoor living spaces.

Santa Barbara is great for outdoor entertaining because our weather is so mild in the winter that it makes it possible to comfortably entertain family and friends for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas outside in your backyard.

During the last few weeks, we’ve been working on installing an example of one of these outdoor living spaces.. a fully functional outdoor kitchen. dining area and fire pit. Our client had some of their own ideas and and we found the project a fun challenge so we thought we’d share it with you , our blog readers.

The steps we recommend:

Step 1: Select a reputable landscape architect. We recommend finding someone whose vision matches your own. For this project, we called on our friend Leland Walmsley of EverGREEN Landscape Architects located in Carpinteria, California. We enjoy working with Leland because he is brilliant and gifted. He has an artist’s eye, just like we do! Furthermore, his focus—as his name suggests—is on the green landscape. We both prefer to use sustainable products that make your garden look beautiful while saving water and energy. Check out his website at: http://www.evergreen-sb.com/.
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Santa Barbara Autumn Lawn Care Checklist

November 8, 2012 By Bruce Koehler

Fall Lawn Care Tips

In our previous blog, we talked about how autumn is the perfect time to create a checklist for “winterizing” your Santa Barbara gardens. As a part of your landscape maintenance education, it is important to know about lawn care during the autumn season.

Dethatching the Lawn

Thanks to Glenn Hardebeck, Agronomist, Purdue University for the photo

This is often called lawn thinning. De-thatching refers to a process of removing dead grass in a lawn. A certain amount of thatch protects the roots, but excessive amounts negatively affect the health of the lawn. This is necessary because dethatching encourages the flow of nutrients and oxygen to the lawn. Regular dethatching forces buds to grow near the base of the grass stems, preventing the grass plants from being dead underneath and only green on top. Thatching frees new grass shoots to grow in thick and lush. Think of it as a body cleanse for your lawn. It balances the lawn’s chemistry. There are a couple of ways to do it.

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