Trust me!
Inexperience in landscape foremen is easy to spot. They will pen a text message like the one below, with a straight face. It happens every year.
Now, sometimes it’s pure laziness, but I know from experience that new landscape foremen are genuinely lost. Especially on days when the morning is a bit frosty, and they’re working alone.
Myth: My site is mint
Dream on. Saying my site is mint screams inexperience because there is always work to be done on a site. To be fair, I came close once, when I had to maintain a residential tower early in the season. Since it was too early for lawn care, I had all day to do finesse work. And after weeks of this, I had to use all of my experience to find work.
A new foreman isn’t experienced enough to find work. Finding work means you have to read the landscape well, and that skill can only come with time in the field. It’s something you can’t fake, thus the message above. The young dude is lost on a frosty morning and reaching out for help.
Incidentally, this is why you shouldn’t make fun of older, wiser workers. They can read a landscape and still deliver great service on a frosty morning.
What do we do?
Alright, so what do we do? Take a good, detailed look at your trees and shrubs. There is always an ugly stub to remove or crossing branches to take out. Just last week, I removed a vine maple branch that was growing to the right, and into a neighbouring Rose of Sharon shrub. One cut with a sharp hand saw, and I solved that problem.
This winter, I found many over-mature Sambucus (Elderberry) shrubs. They should be cut right down every three to five years, and it can be done now. Most of the thick stems I removed were already dead.
I also found Viburnum davidii shrub branches poking through a railing onto steps. Five cuts later, life was good again.
Now, it’s unlikely that every bed edge is frozen stiff, or at least not all day. So, grab an edging shovel (flat bottom) and edge your bed edges and tree wells. It gives your site good definition, and it makes edging during the mowing season easier. Just make sure you beat up any soil chunks you create while edging.
More tasks
Another job you could do is removing Sedum spikes left behind by power shearing in the fall. Since power shears can’t reach low enough into the plant, they leave annoying stubs. You can use your hand snips to safely prune them all out.
By February, your ornamental grasses will start to look worse, so consider cutting them back. They’ve had a good run. Technically speaking, they should be cut back in late winter, but if you’re stuck, looking for work on a frosty morning, you have my approval.
It’s also likely that you will see lilac (Syringa) shrubs that haven’t been deadheaded. Carefully remove the spent flowers, but don’t touch the new buds.
Yet another source of work is low-profile corners. For example, green zones behind visitor parking stalls. They’re often weedy, full of garbage, and might have dead plants in them.
No work?
It’s an obvious sign of inexperience when your landscape workers and foremen say, “There is no work.” Send in your experienced professionals to set them straight.
