• Home
  • Design & Installation
    • Services
    • Getting Started
    • Portfolio
    • FieldStudio
    • Commercial Landscaping Services
    • Remodel with Uplift!
  • FIELD PLANT SALE 2020
  • Project Care
    • Landscape Care Quick Reference Guide
    • Field Recommended Products
    • Plant Replacement
    • Landscape Care Referral Sources
  • The Field Shop
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Awards & Recognitions
    • Outdoor Careers
    • The Field Story
    • High School Internship
    • Articles
  • Contact Us
blog
logo

5 Ways to Make Your Landscape Enviro-friendlier

Landscaping for the Environment

1. Keep it small. There is no better way to have an environmentally friendly landscape than to have a small space. Big yards generally require more maintenance and will require chemical or mechanical assistance. If you have a big yard look at “keeping what you need and returning the rest.” Put in groupings of small trees and shrubs where you don’t need lawn or living space. You can do this inexpensively by planting bareroot in the spring. Or seed a prairie or “rough area.” This also can be inexpensive and, if done right, quite attractive. These areas will be excellent resources for wildlife and could include edible fruit trees and shrubs. Trees like white pine are self-mulching and require little maintenance long-term.

2. Retain Your Rain. Storm water that ends up in the street is collected and jettisoned into our rivers and streams. This not only jeopardizes the health of our waterways, but ends up causing huge dead areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Plus our cities’ storm water systems are overloaded and will cost billions to redo. Try to keep all of your stormwater on your lot through the use of raingardens, driveway troughs and permeable pavers. Most lots can capture most of the stormwater during even a hard rain and let it filter on-site with some re-engineering.

3. Right Size Your Lawn. I love lawns. A beautiful green yard is visually calming and there is nothing better for play. But lawns can require a lot of maintenance and offer very little habitat and complexity for other living things. Design the lawn to be the size you need. And use No-Mow or other alternative lawns where appropriate.

4. Grow Your Own. By growing your own fruits and vegetables you relieve pressure on the agricultural industry to take more and more land for farming. I heard somewhere that 40% of Russia’s vegetables are sourced from individuals’ gardens. Share with neighbors – create community.

5. Use it; love it. The more you are in your landscape using it and loving it, the more you will be able to weed a little, notice little changes and be a devoted caretaker.

April 17, 2015
0

The Urban Yard: A Case Study

One of our favorite projects, Urban Oasis, shows the potential of a standard 40’x 110′ urban property and how landscaping can flow with the house, provide outdoor living space, be personal to the homeowner and greet the neighborhood. The project was completed over four years with the front yard as the first phase. We designed and installed a new entrance deck, with composite lumber for the stair treads and deck, andwood and willow for the front, giving a unique cottage-y feel. The willow has worn wonderfully over the last seven years. The front also features a sidewalk-facing bench in the slope inviting walkers to both enjoy the exuberant plantings as well as take time to sit and enjoy.

The sideyard is often a potential that is unexplored and this yard has great ones. The northside is a beautiful Japanese-inspired walkthrough rock garden that also functions as a drainage way to the backyard raingarden. On the south side of the house, we installed cedar planter boxes with willow facing to match the front deck. The homeowner grows flourishing vegetables and produce from these planters in this nice sunny area.

The backyard was completed over a couple of years and done in conjunction with a house renovation completed by our friends at Colette and Company. It is definitely a truism that landscaping is easy when you have a beautiful house in the background. See how fantastic the back sitting room and second floor deck are and how easy this architecture makes it to flow into the backyard. The backyard features a bluestone flagstone patio. The clean lines of the space are defined by a small glacial rock wall. The northside of the yard fits in both a raingarden and a firepit area. The plantings are carefully chosen out of our large palette of favorite reliable plants with golden colors supplied by forest grass and creeping veronica. In the sunny areas we chose fun, cheerful and explosive plants like ‘Gateway’ joe pyeweed and false sunflower. Not forgetting the alleyview (since both you and your neighbors are greeted nightly here), by setting back the fence three feet we were able to fit in beautiful natural plantings.

  • Patio Shot
    Patio Shot
  • Alley view
    Alley view
  • Garden Gate
    Garden Gate
  • Front View
    Front View
  • Narrow Side Path
    Narrow Side Path

Note: The photos with the interior lighting were taken by Michael O’Halloran.

March 9, 2015
0

Urban Oasis: Before and After

Watch this urban backyard transform before your very eyes:

House renovation by our friends Colette and Company.

February 11, 2015
0

Backyard Life Package

Field makes it easy for you to have the ideal backyard. Our “Backyard Life Package” provides a simple baseline for renewing your backyard. For anywhere between $12,500-$16,000 you can completely renew your backyard:

• Complete removal of current landscaping.

• New lawn and planting beds.

• Patio – up to 225 sq. ft.

• Lawn edging

• $2,000 planting budget.

• Beds prepped with compost and topped with high-quality mulch.

 

Optional Add-ons:

(2) 6’x 6’ Trellis – $1,200

10’ x 10’ Pergola – $4,000

(1) 6’ x 2’ x 20” Cor-Ten® Planter – $900

(1) Bubbling Rock – $2,500

February 26, 2013
0

Veggie Gardens with Harvest Moon

http://www.harvestmoonlandscapes.com/

Want to grow a vegetable garden but don’t know where to start? The best thing you can do is call Harvest Moon Edible Landscapes. For as little as $150 they can help you plan your garden plot.

I did my first vegetable garden with their help a few years ago and it was awesome. They helped figure out what to plant, how much to plant and when to harvest. They offer pre-packaged designs, too, including a “Salsa Garden,” “Basic Veggie Patch” and “Deluxe Veggie Patch.” Harvest Moon offers consulting and planning for more involved “homesteading” design too, where they can design a whole landscape to optimize vegetable and food production for any size space.

Field and Harvest Moon work together on projects that create urban living spaces that are beautiful, comfortable to live in, and maximize food production through trellising, planters, and well-designed vegetable plots.

See their website for contact information and more details.

February 15, 2013
0

Our Plants

There’s nothing we’re more proud of than our plant knowledge and experience. We have four horticulturalists on staff and put a great deal of thought into all of our tree, shrub, perennial and annual plant selections. In 2014, we took a big step and started to custom grow plants through Wilson’s Nursery. This will allow us to fully realize our design ideas and offer our clients exactly the right plant combinations that are tough and low-maintenance.

Many of the plants we grow go with a “wild but controlled” look, including several goldenrods (Solidago ‘Little Lemon’, Solidago ‘Solar Cascade’), a couple asters (Aster ‘Eastern Star’, Aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’) a less-common yellow baptisia (Baptisia tinctoria), and Thermopsis villosa. We are also growing some plants that are small versions of plants we love like Allium ‘Millenium.’ As our relationship with Wilson’s matures we will be able to be first-to-market with plants that are good fits for our clients’ gardens and planting style. Thanks to Andy Wilson at Wilson’s for taking this step with us to help us be the best natural and urban landscaping company in the Twin Cities.

February 19, 2012
0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
Portfolio
Professional Certifications

ICPI Certification – Interconnected Concrete Paver Institute

MNLA Certified Professional

Blue Thumb Member

Recent Posts
  • The 2020 "Social Distanced" Patio and the New Online Field Shop
  • Winter Protection
  • Asian Jumping Worms
  • Landscape Design Sprint
Connect with us

 

 

© 2018 Field Outdoor Spaces, Inc.

© 2021 Field Outdoor Spaces. Nibiru Theme by Pixel Object