See Our Work

We were called to this job, to look at a dying tree, that needed to be removed. What we found was a whole yard in stress.

Erosion, compacted soils and red clay subsoil, graded 4-5 inches over the topsoil. The rhizosphere was suffocating.

The whole yard was covered in red clay. Right into the woods.

In most cases of poor soil respiration, the first thing we do is vertical mulching.

After the hole is bored into the soil, we fill the hole with ¼ inch screened food compost.

Natural soils are full of life. What they need to survive is the same things we need. Oxygen, water, nutrients and carbon.

Every time it rained a river of red mud would flow into the woods. This added to the stress of some of the trees, by deepening the clay over their roots.

A look up towards the back of the house.

The home owner had put limbs and logs in the path of the storm water to try and slow it down. It did very little to fix the problem.

Sediment had been building up over the roots of many trees for months.

The grade of the property is not so steep. It was just impermeable. So the rain couldn’t soak in, it just ran off taking the soil with it.

A major landscape plan, was in the works for this yard. In the meantime, we covered the yard 4” deep in partially composted mulch. My son Brett McConnell helps spread the mulch.

Storm water always follows the path of least resistance. The channeled areas will get a deeper layer of mulch.

Ideally we would regrade the yard before applying the mulch. That would allow us to better control the flow of the storm water.

The Stone Walls are finished. The Topsoil and Mulch are spread, starting to look good.

I’ve got lots of pictures and text to fill in between this slide and the previous one. I just don’t have the time, yet. So as to not leave the job hanging in cyber space, here's a finish shot. More to come..

Kim Ledford is a Master Gardener! Thank you Kim for making my work look so good!