Sometimes you need help to create your perfect desert friendly landscape. Many times, this involves hiring a landscape contractor. The Water Utility Authority is committed to helping its customers. Below we share some tips to help you choose a landscape contractor.
It’s important to start with a to-scale landscape design plan. This may be done by a professional landscape architect or a landscape designer. Or perhaps you worked up your own design plan.
Hiring a landscape contractor requires research similar to what you would do when hiring any home repair contractor. It’s important to consider the following:
Is the contractor able to secure bonding and are they insured?
What are the contractor’s credentials (formal training, references, professional certification)?
Does the contractor belong to a local or national trade association and abide by its standards?
Does the contractor have a Water Smart Contractor listing through the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority?
The contractor should provide references for projects similar in size, scope and design so you can talk to previous customers about their experiences.
The contractor should share photographs of other projects you can check out.
Estimate/Bid and Contract
The contractor should provide you with a detailed, line-item estimate for the work. This will include the price of the materials, labor, taxes and permit costs if applicable. A detailed estimate will help you accurately compare pricing and services.
A signed estimate may act as the official contract, a legal requirement that will protect both you and the contractor if anything goes wrong.
What is the payment schedule? Most contractors will ask for anywhere from 30% to 50% up front so they can purchase materials. They should provide you with a general timeline or payment schedule.
How long will the construction take, and what does the sequencing/schedule look like?
How does the contractor manage additional work that may be added in the middle of the project and is not on the plan?
During and After Construction
Who will be the contractor’s point person, someone you can go to with questions? How will they communicate with you and how often?
How will the contractor handle variabilities that come up during construction?
What happens if there is a delay once construction has started?
The contractor should show you how to maintain the landscape after it is built and how to work the elements installed, such as the irrigation controller.
What are the warranties for the project? What do they cover and exclude?
Does the contractor provide troubleshooting support during the first year after installation?
One of the questions the Water Authority xeriscape inspector gets asked most often is how to inexpensively build a trellis for vines. You can make a DIY trellis from materials that are easy to find at your local hardware store. Off-the-shelf trellises can be expensive, and more than likely they are too small. Most homeowners are looking for a trellis to go next to a house or concrete block wall or to divide spaces. Below are two trellis options that will suit those needs.
Freestanding Trellis
Materials
4”x4” post (height according to specific project need)
42”x84” steel wire remesh sheet or welded wire mesh
12 fence staples
Asphalt emulsion waterproofing paint or spray paint
Concrete
Tools
Shovel or post hole digger
Hammer
Paint brush
Measuring tape
Level
Step by Step
Step 1: Dig holes for post.
Step 2: Apply waterproofing paint to the section of the posts that will be buried.
Step 3: Set post in hole. Measure and level post. Once leveled, fill the hole with concrete. If not using concrete, backfill with existing dirt, making sure dirt is compacted every four inches.
Step 4: Attach steel mesh to wood posts by hammering in fence staples.
Making sure post is the correct height and level. Concrete footing for post. Fence Staple
Trellis Attached to Concrete Block Wall
Materials
42”x84” steel wire remesh sheet or welded wire mesh
6 ¼” fender washers, 2” circumference
6 ¼” x 4” Blue Hex Head Tapcon® concrete screws
6 1” silicon or steel spacers
Tools
Drill with 3/16” concrete bit
Hammer drill
Measuring tape
Level
Step by Step
Step 1: Measure, level and mark locations to attach fasteners to the wall using wire mesh as a guide.
Step 2: Drill holes for the screws.
Step 3: Attach steel mesh to the concrete wall using suggested screws, washers and fasteners as shown in the diagram.
One of our favorite things to do at Bennu Organics is design container gardens. We like to talk about the “wow factor,” and containers are a fantastic way to add stunning, season-long color to our landscapes without digging a single hole in our hard, unforgiving soil.
Here are six helpful hints for creating your own successful container designs:
1) Location: Will the containers be in full sun, partial sun or full shade? In most cases, full sun containers in New Mexico require daily watering. If you don’t want to water every day, consider selecting plants that require less water, like succulents, cacti or perennials. Placing containers in partial shade will also save water. It’s important to know the amount of sunlight you will have available for each container prior to purchasing plants.
2) Size: What size are the containers, or what size do you want them to be if you’re purchasing them? You’ll need plenty of soil to fill or refresh the containers, and you want to make sure you have enough plant material to give your containers a nice, full look.
3) Design: Well-designed containers require three types of plants: thrillers, fillers and spillers. The thriller is something tall and showy, while fillers are shorter plants that fill in the spaces. Spillers are those low vining-type plants that spill gracefully over the sides of the container.
4) Color theme: I like picking a color palette and then selecting different plants within that palette. I don’t want my containers to be identical, but I do want them to complement each other. Also, depending on the locations of the containers, I will often do a “mirror image” design if the containers are on either side of an entry way, for example.
5) Lighting and water: Select plants that have similar lighting and water requirements. You don’t want to put a cactus as a thriller and wave petunias as your filler. One or both will suffer from too much or a lack of water.
6) Maintenance: Besides watering consistently, you will want to trim and deadhead your designs frequently. Petunias and calibrachoa (classified both as fillers and spillers) need regular deadheading to keep the blooms going strong. Trim them heavily when they get “leggy.” They respond well to a really good haircut. If you are consistent with your maintenance and watering, the containers should keep their “wow factor” all season long. Also, regular fertilizing is crucial to maintaining season-long blooms. In the active growing season, we fertilize our containers every two weeks.
While the following list of possible plants you can use in containers is hardly comprehensive, it should help get your creative juices flowing:
Shade/Part Shade
Thrillers: caladium, alocasia, sansevieria/dracaena, colocasia, cordyline, etc.
Fillers: bacopa, begonias, Boston fern, caladium, coleus, begonias, dusty miller, impatiens, etc.
Finally, your container designs should bring you joy, so get creative! What do you love? What are your goals? Do you want to attract hummingbirds and butterflies? Do you want fragrance? Do you want a color explosion, or are you looking for something more subdued? Your containers should reflect their designer, so pick things that you really enjoy — not just the plants you see on Pinterest or in magazines, although if you love the ones you see in those places, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Some people like to use all annuals, some like a combination of annuals and perennials and some even add edible plants into their designs. The sky is the limit!
As with all things related to plants, design and gardening, remember that everything we do is a grand experiment. Don’t feel guilty if you mistakenly combine a low-water plant and a high-water plant in the same container and one of them dies. Learn from your experience and simply replace the dead plant with something more suitable.
Edible garden landscapes need to have dedicated valves so they can be watered more frequently than our average desert-friendly landscapes. These landscapes should not be watered at the same time as the rest of the drip zones.
The key to growing the best quality produce, fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and vegetables is having a consistent watering schedule that is maintained until harvest. If you are unable to install a new irrigation valve for your edible garden, you can connect it to your hose spigot with a spigot irrigation timer. We recommend the smart versions of these timers. Rebates are available.
We recommend using ¼” polyline with inline drip emitter tubing. Drippers should be located every 6” along the tubing for irrigation in both raised beds and veggie rows. The drippers require no maintenance since they are installed within the polyline. Each dripper is engineered with a little bit of copper that kills off roots that try to grow into the dripline. They are easily connected to a ¾” polyline flexible irrigation supply line. Metal irrigation stakes help keep everything in place.
All these materials can be purchased at local irrigation stores. Drip irrigation is not only the most efficient way to water your edible garden but it is also very affordable.
Why is it important to compost? Between 30 and 50 percent of residential waste could be composted instead of put in a landfill, which would reduce the volume of trash and the production of greenhouse gas. Compost is nature’s way of recycling nutrients by using microbes to help break down organic material. The end result is a nutrient-rich soil amendment with an earthy aroma that improves soil and plant health and can eliminate the need for fertilizers.
If you have limited outdoor space for composting, consider the Bokashi bucket method or explore other options. There are also community-based composting programs in Albuquerque. To find a composting option in your area, simply enter “composting near me” into your Internet search engine.
The Four Required Elements for Backyard Bin Composting
Moisture (water) to sustain the microbial life
Nitrogen-rich materials, also referred to as “greens,” that heat up the compost pile to create ideal conditions for decomposition
Carbon-rich materials, or “browns,” that provide food for the microorganisms and help balance the green materials
Oxygen to maintain aerobic conditions necessary for the desired microbes
What Can be Composted?
Greens (Nitrogen)
Browns (Carbon)
Food and vegetable scraps
Dry leaves
Grass clippings and yard trim
Shredded straw or hay
Coffee grounds and paper filters
Shredded paper (non-glossy, not colored)
Paper tea bags
Shredded cardboard (no wax coating, tape or glue)
Eggshells
Sawdust
Bread and grains
Wood chips
Fruit or fruit peels (limit citrus)
Paper towels and towel rolls
Keep These Items Out of Your Compost
Meat, fish and bones
Dairy products
Pet waste or cat litter
Stickers left on produce
Fats, oils and greases
Aggressive weeds or weeds with seeds*
*Certain carefully-maintained compost techniques can kill seeds
How to Bin Compost
Collect and store materials. An easy way to collect food scraps (greens) is to use a dedicated, washable container that can be stored under the sink or on the counter. When preparing meals, place scraps into this container. To avoid smells and pests, store the container in your fridge or freezer until you are ready to build or add to your pile. Browns, like leaves and wood chips, can be collected throughout the year and set aside until needed.
Select a space and then build or buy a bin. Choose a space outside that is dry, shady, within reach of a watering hose and easily accessible. Next, build a compost bin system or purchase a three-bin system, barrel or tumbler.
Prepare your browns and greens. Break large items into smaller pieces to speed up the process and create a more uniform product.
Build your pile. Start your bin with a 4 to 6-inch layer of large-sized brown material like twigs and wood chips. Then, layer greens and browns like you’re making lasagna at a ratio of two parts brown to one part green. Finally, add water to dampen the compost pile so it is moist but not soaked. *Tip: Squeeze a handful of the compost. If a few drops fall, it is moist. If water streams out, it is too wet.
Maintain the pile. As the material begins to decompose, the temperature will rise. Turn and mix your compost pile every few weeks so the decomposition process is sped up. Monitor the bin for moisture (damp, but not dripping) and odor (earthy, not stinky), and troubleshoot as needed.
Cure and use the finished compost. When there are no visible food scraps (except small pieces of eggshell), allow the compost pile to cure (sit unturned) for at least four weeks. If well-maintained, the whole process will take about three to five months.
Whether you decide to use a bin system, vermicompost or a different method, you will be turning waste into compost that builds healthy soils and sequesters carbon. To learn more about composting in New Mexico visit NM Master Composters and the NM Healthy Soil Working Group. Visit the City of Albuquerque for more information on the city’s sustainability efforts and tips for food waste prevention.
Typically, a conventional turfgrass yard includes a few large trees and some planting beds for flowers and shrubs around the foundation of the home. This type of yard often has a couple of existing irrigation valves for sprinkler irrigation. A conventional turfgrass landscape requires tremendous amounts of water to thrive in our region — a minimum of 40” (with an average of 50″-55”) of water per growing season, which is about three to five times more than what is provided by natural precipitation each year. This is why we do not consider a turfgrass yard a desert-friendly landscape.
Climate change is causing us to rethink our yards, and that includes yards with lawns. For a yard with a lawn to be truly desert-friendly, the amount and type of grass used must be considered. A desert-friendly turfscape should also have efficient sprinkler nozzles and pressure compensating sprinkler bodies to maximize the water that’s used to maintain the lawn.
We recommend that no more than 10% of your total yard is devoted to a lawn. Research from various universities in the Southwest and lawn seed producers (such as Pennington Seed) is now suggesting that New Mexico’s climate is no longer suitable for cool-season grasses to thrive. Instead, we need to make a shift to various warm-season grasses, which will grow well with significantly less water.
Cool-season and warm-season lawns are the two different categories of turfgrass lawns found in Albuquerque. Cool-season grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and tall fescue) thrive between 65F and 75F degrees in the summer. They create a softer, darker green and lush-looking lawn. In Albuquerque, most lawns are composed of cool-season grasses that are cold-tolerant and green most of the year. They can withstand considerable amounts of foot traffic. One disadvantage is that they use a substantial amount of water in the summer months. Parkblend (a blend of cool season grasses) is the most common lawn in the Albuquerque metro area. It uses around 40” of water a year.
Warm-season grasses (Bermuda grass, blue grama, and buffalo grass), which thrive in 70F to 90F degrees, have been used in Albuquerque for many years. There are parts of town where they are quite prevalent. Warm-season grasses have a shorter growing season. They green up later and go dormant earlier than cool-season lawns. They are low maintenance and require less water than cool-season grasses.
Buffalo GrassBermuda Grass
Knowing what type of lawn or turfgrass is being installed or already being watered can make a significant difference in how much water should be applied. The key to choosing a turfgrass for a new area is to determine the one most suited to the specific needs of the landscape.
Water Budget (this includes 1,000 square feet of cool-season grass and a number of mature trees, shrubs and vines):
