Making Mountains Out Of Moles

So...your lawn is looking amazing.  The grass has just been manicured...it looks like an immaculate green carpet out there. You couldn't be more proud of the kingdom you survey. Suddenly, you start to notice little piles of earth being pushed up around your pristine lawn. The ground becomes soft and uneven in places. Where there was once perfection, little brown piles now punctuate your sea of green, taunting your obsessive compulsive side. This means war! How can I get rid of these damn moles!

But before you begin, its important that - in the words of Sun Tzu - you know your enemy.

The first thing you should know is that (if you live in South Africa) there are no moles in your garden.

"But wait!" I hear you say, "I'm definitely not imagining this mess in my garden." Thats true, but moles are not native to Africa. They are a resident of North America, Asia and Europe. What you are actually seeing in your garden is one of either two groups of mole-like creatures that are found in Southern Africa - Golden Moles, or Mole Rats.

Take a look at this cute little Golden Mole (picture credit)

Golden Moles are a distant relative of the hedgehog, and are mainly insectivores, with a predilection for termites. They range in size from 8-20cm, and are covered in a moisture and dirt repellant, black/grey/yellow fur. Their eyes are non-functional, and their ears are just tiny holes, so their sense of touch is highly developed to the point where they can feel termites and other insects nearby. Golden Moles are generally solitary creatures, and can travel great distances (up to as much as 6km in the case of the Grant's Golden Mole) in search of food.  Sadly, 11 of the 21 species of Golden Moles are now threatened with extinction.

Mole Rat caught pink handed (picture credit)

The name Mole Rat is a misleading title, as it is neither a mole, nor a rat.  It is possibly a closer relative to a porcupine. They're herbivores, and enjoy munching on bulbs and grass stolons. Very often eating but not destroying the bulbs that they feed on. They tend to live in family units of up to 14 individuals. Their tunnels are quite extensive, and can go down as much as a 80cm below the surface. Tunnels have been found to be as much as a kilometre in length. They can be quite grumpy little creatures if they are cornered, so take care when handling them.

The second thing you should know about these 2 groups of creatures that we have up till now been mis-calling moles, is that they also perform an important function of aerating the soil, improving drainage, and essentially tilling the soil from underneath.

Thirdly, and most importantly, based on my experience, it is very difficult to get rid of mole rats in particular. I have employed most of them - sonic devices, spinning plastic coke bottles, garlic solutions, urination (not me personally), Jack Russells, and I'm sad to say that when I was younger I even used pesticides. None of these solutions have worked for more than a couple of months, and most didn't work at all. Pesticides seemed to work the best, but you have to weigh up the long term damage that you are doing to the environment. The chemicals are highly toxic, heavier than air and will poison the groundwater, all the surrounding soil, and in the process killing off all the life in the soil. In the long term your grass and plants will end up suffering, as the symbiotic relationship they have with the myriad organisms in the soil will be destroyed.

There are 2 solutions that I have as yet not tried. The first is the use of wire mesh. This involves, essentially spreading galvanised wire mesh over the entire area about 15cm below the surface. The problems with this option are that the wire mesh would have to have a tiny aperture to prevent the moles from squeezing through, it would be quite an expensive option especially for larger areas, and there would be nothing stopping the mole from walking along the surface, and burrowing into the newly fenced off area. But it still may be a good option worth exploring. I would imagine the key would be finding the right depth for the layer of wire to be spread out at.

The second solution is in my opinion the best. At one point I heard about someone who traps moles/mole rats/golden moles alive, and then releases the animals back into the wild far away.  I was never able to get hold of his details. I would have been happy to send him lots of work.

At the moment, the advice that I most often give my clients is more of a remedial one. Prior to regular mowing, any mole hills, and and any surface tunnelling, should be stamped down.
Then during your annual top-dressing, the loose soil can be stamped back down, rolled and then top-dressed to deal with any minor unevenness.
This essentially gives the lawn a fresh start, but the moles will still be there and will eventually work your lawn back to its previous bumpy self.

As with most garden problems that come about from our attempts to control our environment, I believe the best mindset is to work with nature and not against it. The Japanese have a way of thinking called Wabi-sabi, which essentially means embracing imperfection. Something we obsessive compulsive westerners would do well to learn.

Embracing the unevenness, the weeds, the creatures, the yellowing leaves, the non-linear and the imperfect is so hard for us to do, but says so much about our need for control of the world around us. I wonder if it is an outward sign of an impossibility that we expect of ourselves and others around us.

The Problem is the Solution

Gardening is for old people.

That sounds like an absurd over-simplification, and besides, why should you care? What difference does it make if young people aren't interested in gardens and nature? We live in a hi-tech world, where all the worlds problems will be solved by computers, and where science will be our saviour.

A group of young people preparing a food garden at Summerhill Children's Home in Salt Rock

That's an attractive thought for today's youth, that live in an instant world with its resulting short-term thinking.

So how does digging in the dirt, or mixing manure compete in this internet age, and why should it?

In South Africa, the latest statistics show that 1 in every 4 people are unemployed.

Education stats are even scarier. Out of 100 children that start school, only 28 will pass matric, 4 will enter university and only 1 out of those 4 will graduate.
Of the staff that I have employed over the last 2 decades, I have noticed an alarming trend over the last 5 years, that school leavers seem to have completely unrealistic expectations. The common perception seems to be that it will be fairly easy to find a job, that job will be well paying, with very little effort or commitment involved. The difference between dreams and reality in South Africa are quite stark.

In the words of the wise Gogo "Qho" Mthethwa - young people don't want work they want jobs. As a country, we seem to be content to foster an attitude of dependence rather than an entrepreneurial mindset.

Realistically speaking, looking to technology to solve our problems, may well be fine in the long term, but we need solutions now. We need to feed people now. Science and technology alone can't give us that. So what can?

If you plant a food garden from seed, you can begin eating the food from your garden within a matter of weeks.
Growing food or plants doesn't need a huge injection of cash. Seeds can very often be harvested from existing crops, providing the next seasons crops for free.
Gardeners are almost to a fault, overly generous in offering their time, information or even seed/plants when they see enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
There are several amazing initiatives around the country with the sole aim of passing on the skills to grow food gardens in our particular climate.

I agree with guerilla gardener Ron Finley that as with many problems in life, the solution is inside the challenge.

With our ridiculously high unemployment rates, we have 1 out of every 4 people who have the capacity to tend a garden, which could if properly managed, feed themselves and even provide an income as they feed their community. As solutions go, its not sexy, and it may not have the mirage-like appeal that science and technology offers, but it is immediately attainable and realistic.

So how can YOU go about doing this? Here's some inspiration:

Ifu Lobuntu is an inspiring South African idea that is looking at ways to harness technology to connect small scale food growers directly with customers. By using simple cloud-based apps and economies of scale, they hope to make it possible for subsistence farmers to sell directly to the public. The idea is still in its formation stage, but hopefully it will grow into its full potential.

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA — in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where "the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys." Check out his Ted-Talk.

Sex, Politics, Religion and...Budget

Sex, Politics and Religion. Three topics guaranteed to cause awkward subject changes, but I'd have to add the topic of budget to those classics...

I loved designing this penthouse garden - but a clear budget is essential when preparing any design

I've written about this subject before in 'How much does landscaping cost', but it still amazes me how uncomfortable people are about providing a budget for their landscaping. I know very often the problem comes more from clients not knowing how much is a realistic figure to set aside, but without at least a rough budget to work within, there is so much place for time-wasting.

I recently had two clients with two completely different approaches to the subject. The first fidgeted when the subject came up, and wouldn't give any guidelines. I worked on some ideas and presented the concept along with an estimate only to find that it was not within their budget. I went back to the drawing board to try to find a way of adapting the design to the budget, before eventually having to come up with a completely different design that would fit within the parameters. It seemed to me that the issue wasn't that they didn't know how much they could spend, because it turned out that they had a very clear budget - it seemed that they felt that disclosing how much they could spend would somehow disadvantage them.

My second client gave relatively clear guidelines. Knowing what the budget was, gave me a clear overall picture of what we could work with. When I presented the concept, which they loved, I was able to keep the costs within their budget so that they had enough left over for some garden furniture and some additional accessories.

The first project was fraught with frustrations from the start, while the second was a pleasure from start to finish.

Seven Hats That The Best Landscape Designers Wear

If you came looking for fashionable garden clothing tips, I'm afraid I may have misled you slightly. Maybe that'll be a post for another day - although I doubt that anyone would want to take my fashion advice.
It struck me the other day as I drove past an (expletives deleted) attempt at creating a garden by a "landscaping company", that a good landscape designer must wear many hats when planning a beautiful and functional garden.

A sheet of water begins the rill in a formal garden

A good landscape designer needs to have at least a part-time interest and respectable understanding of many fields and professions, and is at least one reason why I'll feel like I'm a student till the day I die. These are some of the professions that landscape designers should understand:

• Architect - you should have at least a basic understanding of architecture. The buildings are typically the most dominant aspects of a site and are usually the media through which people relate to the environment. It follows that for a garden to be harmonious with the buildings you should have a basic understanding of architecture.
• Botanist/Horticulturist - this is an obvious and essential aspect of the profession. But not only should you know the common and latin names of 1000's of plants that are suited to your region, but you should at least have a good knowledge of their individual characteristics (to the point of knowing how their characteristics differ depending on their environment).
• Business-person - this was the least emphasised aspect during my studies, and the area I've since felt the most out of my depth. A healthy business means you can focus on being creative. A lack of good business sense probably accounts for the biggest reason why so few of my colleagues are still in the industry.
• Marketer/Communicator - it isn't good enough just being good at making beautiful gardens. If you can't market yourself well, it makes your job so much harder. Once you have a prospective client, you have to be able to communicate your vision clearly, either visually or verbally. Add to this the need to use on and offline business networks and web 2.0/social media.
• Psychologist - Our clients are almost entirely people. (Tell that to the hare I spotted munching on a client's Wild Iris) We need to understand people, what moves them, motivates them and stirs them. Creating something for our own tastes and preferences will leave your clients short changed.
• Scientist - to create sustainable gardens, a passable knowledge of what is happening on a chemical level is definitely an asset. Knowing the effects and inter-relationships between soil, water, minerals, light, flora and fauna can't be overlooked.

Those are some of the many hats worn by the best landscape designers. Not all of the above are absolutely essential, because specialists can help take up the slack in those areas where we're weak. But these should be the basic traits of a landscape designer to be able to create truly beautiful gardens. This final skill on the list is the most important:

• Designer - I think an intuitive design sense is the most important skill of a landscape designer. You could probably scrape by with little understanding of any of the previous professions, but if you lack in this area, you should pack your pencil and shovel away. There are several principles of design that can be learnt, but they need to built on a foundation of intuitive design. I'll be following this post up in the next few weeks with an outline of some of the less understood principles of design. Even though they may be the least understood, I believe they are the tools every good designer should understand and employ.

Advice on Dealing With Your Garden Designer

I've recently had some meetings with an architect where I presented some ideas for a project in the Umhlanga area.
I had initially presented an idea to him, where he gave good constructive feedback. He was very clear about what he liked, and what he didn't like about the concept. We agreed on the areas that needed re-thinking, and planned to meet the following week to review the changes.

When we met again, he was very pleased with the final concept, and I left feeling quite relieved.
He was quite apologetic for being so direct with his criticism, but I assured him that I appreciated his feedback.
It really highlighted for me again the value of good, clear, honest communication. Only when we can speak openly without fear of offending, is it possible to get a final result that everyone is happy with. It was only because of his comments that I was able to improve on what I had initially drawn up.

Another aspect that is important to understand in this process of design is that when you are dealing with your landscaper/designer, nothing is final. Almost anything can be altered in order to improve the overall design, and its best to make changes earlier rather than later - because once the design is finalised, changes result in delays, which almost always bring extra costs.

How Do You Classify A Garden?

Gardening in this new millennium, has become a very different creature to what it once was. In some ways this is an oddity - gardening as a craft being at its core, so basic and archaic, is so intrinsically separate from technology.

But technology has had its effect though - through the development and use of new materials and technologies but also through the spread of ideas via the internet and media.

A Plant Dominant Indigenous Garden

There is more discussion taking place today about gardening and about what defines a garden than has ever taken place before. This conversation is occurring between professionals and hobbyists, intellectuals and labourers.

Out of this conversation, a question I've been asking myself lately is -

'How do you classify a garden?'

Even as I write that, I can hear some people saying, "Why would you even want to classify a garden? A garden is something to be appreciated and felt, and admired."
That is all true, but I see so many types of gardens, from all over the world that it is becoming harder to fit them into the traditional definitions that I'm used to, and as a result, harder to understand.

I believe that people take comfort in our ability to divide and classify the world and put it into nice neat little boxes. In some ways it even makes us human - this ability to define something.

Gardening as an art-form, has not been spared this need to separate and define. Formal, Contemporary, English Country, Eastern, Natural, Wild, Indigenous, Zen...the list goes on and on.

A Structure Dominant Wild Garden

With this classification of gardens into types, and because of the continual segmentation, and the blurring of lines, I believe there exists a need to define gardens in more general terms.

To explain, I'll use an example that we as gardeners are familiar with - just as a particular plant has a Genus, and is then divided into its species, the Species of gardens (i.e. Tropical, Minimalist, Formal) need to be grouped together into Genera.

This is necessary, not for the sake of classifying for classifying's sake.
But rather as:

• a way to clear up miscommunication between client and designer.
• a tool for teaching and passing on knowledge in clear terms.
• a spur to push designers and gardeners to try something different, and venture into new territory.

The most obvious way of defining, would be to look for the defining dominance in the design of the garden.

• Plant dominant - Where the garden's essence is about the plants themselves (Tropical, Indigenous/native, English Country, Natural, Collector)
• Concept dominant - These gardens revolve around an idea or concept(Zen, Feng Shui, Modern)
• Structure dominant - These gardens have strong shape and/or geometry (Formal, Contemporary, Minimalist)
• Function dominant - Where the function of the garden takes precedence (Lawn for playing, Parking Area, Patio)

This defining dominance would be primarily visual - it would be the character of the garden that unifies it or makes it stand out. It could also be intellectual - a garden built around an idea or concept that may or may not be immediately obvious, but that was the guiding principle behind its design. (e.g. Jenck's - Garden of Cosmic Speculation)

A Structure Dominant Formal Garden

But gardens are not always so easily put into their respective boxes, and here is where the Linnaeus analogy becomes inadequate. The gardens themselves may fall into more than one of the above groups. For example, a typical tropical garden at its essence is built around particular types of plants (Plant Dominant), but if the structure of the garden dominates, it could also be Structure Dominant. As to which is truly dominant would become a more subjective matter.

To use a more specific example - many of Gertrude Jekyll's garden's would have been strongly Plant dominant, but with Sir Edwin Lutyens' architectural input, they also had a very strong Structure dominance.

I see the practicalities of this idea being in creating a concept that makes communication clearer and simpler between client and designer, student and teacher, and between various professions relating to the gardening industry.

Gardening has been an art that has been nurtured by the hands of amateurs through the ages, and has at times, and in various cultures been analysed by the mind as well as the heart, but as the world gets internet-smaller, and communication happens across the globe, the thought processes behind garden design will and should become more apparent and utilised by the lay-person and professional alike.
For this reason, I believe that it would help if we spoke in similar terms.

Behind The Scenes - Drakensburg Aloe Garden

The Drakensburg is a spectacular range of mountains that creates quite a scenic border to the South West of Kwazulu Natal. It has quite an extreme climate compared to what we're used to on the coast - with hot days and cold nights, sudden extreme thunderstorms which bring heavy rain and sometimes hail.

I was asked recently to come up with a basic sketch for a back garden in the Drakensburg that sloped away quite steeply. The concept was to use mainly Aloes and other indigenous plants that would add to their already beautiful scenery.

I felt that the garden didn't make good enough use of the views, so I suggested that we have an area of flagstone pavers just outside the back sliding doors, where you could have a table and chairs and sit and have meals while enjoying the view.

As you can see in the very misty photo's, the ground just disappears away, and leaves very little interest in this part of the garden. To remedy this, the plan would be to bring in some extra soil to create a couple of small berms to plant on, and these would create a bit of a replication of the distant hills and mountains. We would also bring up some of the large rocks from the bottom of the bank to plant around, and to make great features themselves.

The planting itself would be indigenous, and ideally endemic to the area. I created a couple of palettes of the plants that I would like to use, to give my clients an idea of what the garden would look like.

The sketch plan, shows the position of the house, with the new paved area, and the changes to the back garden area and bank. The idea is that the plants would slowly blend into the existing grassland below the house.

I have provided a plant list on the side with approximate positions of the plants.

Implementing the design would be quite a challenge, due to the fact that it is with it being so out of the way, and sourcing materials might not be that easy. But also because some of those rocks that I would like to use won't be easy to roll up hill - but they'll be essential in creating a beautiful garden.

How much does landscaping cost?

One of the most important elements in landscape design...is budget.

When I meet with clients in the initial stages of planning a garden to discuss their desires for the garden, they will often have a good idea of what plants they really don't like, what views they would like to improve on or hide, and what they hope to do with their new garden.

But very seldom do they seem to have a 'conscious' idea of what their budget for their dream garden would be.

I've used the word conscious, because I believe most people really do have a pretty good idea of what they can spend on the project.

But very often people only realise what their budget is, after hours of planning and designing have gone into a concept that may or may not be achievable with the available funds. This means that it is probably necessary to go back to the drawing board, quite literally in order to come up with a new design that suits the financial constraints.

When I ask for a budget, the answer is usually: "I have no idea how much landscaping costs, how much should I spend?" As a rough guide, for new houses and gardens, you should be setting aside 5-10% of your building costs for landscaping. This seems like a lot of money at first, but when you consider that when a garden is appropriate, and beautiful, it can add about 20% to the value of your home.

On the other side of the coin, what most people don't realise is that designing and building gardens can be one of the most variable costing exercises in any profession. That's not to say that you can't be exact. Its just that you can have a beautiful garden on almost any budget.

I know that sometimes, people are also reluctant to let on how much they can spend in case they are over-charged, but when you consider that designing is a time-based exercise, its best to give good clear guidelines (budgetary, aesthetic and practical) to keep the time and therefore costs down.

Obviously, when you reduce the budget there will always be some trade-offs though. The aspects of a garden that generally-speaking either cost more or have less room for negotiation are things like:

1. Instant gardens - the more mature a plant is, the more it costs.
   
2. Hard materials like paving, and edging have fixed costs that can't be negotiated unless buying in quantity.
3. Features, such as walls, structures, fountains, statues etc. often have fairly standard associated costs.
4. Specialist advice or consultation can be quite costly too.

A good design hinges on good information. In order to plan, and estimate correctly, you need to have as much information as possible. Try to collect pictures from books or magazines of gardens or designs that you enjoy. Look for gardens around your neighbourhood that you appreciate. All of this information will help to speed up the design process, and prevent mis-communication.

The truth is though, that most often, you'll find that any designer or landscaper with a good reputation sees what they do as an expression of art. They are often less concerned about money than they are about creating something that can be both enjoyed and admired.

More of my thoughts on budgets here...

Looking Over The Garden Wall

I once took a test to see whether I used the right or left side of my brain, as an added extra the test told me that I am more visual than auditory.
I'm not sure how scientific it was, but it did make a certain amount of sense.

When I pick up a gardening book, most times I very casually skim read the text, preferring to absorb the pictures instead. This has always seemed the right way to approach the honing of my landscaping skills. Gardens are after all primarily a visual experience.

I've also always believed, that like plants and their ability to absorb water and nutrients, my natural ability to learn relies quite heavily on osmosis.

The absorbing of ideas through my eyes has been how I have learned most of what I know. I quickly get impatient with words, preferring to get to the real thing as fast as possible.
I would often look at planting, texture or colour combinations, and decide whether I liked them or not, and why.

I do believe that this is the best way to begin the learning experience as a landscaper. I think its the ideal foundation to lay to make your understanding of gardens as real and honest as possible.

But lately I have found myself drawn to words far more than I ever have in the past. Maybe its the influence of reading so many interesting thoughts in gardening blogs from people all over the world. Maybe its the act of writing this blog, and the discipline of having to put my thoughts down on paper.

It might also be the realisation that while pictures express so much to me, they may not be enough to try to communicate concepts or needs or reasons behind. And it is dawning on me that gardening as an Art, Science, Hobby, Language or even Need, has so much further to go in being accessible to people in general.

We have such a rich heritage and history as gardeners, that it is easy to look at the art of gardening as complete or mature. If I look back at history, and the growth and development of gardens, I could quite naturally compare it to an old man - wise, experienced and learned, but with little space left for new ideas or experimentation. All the ideas are already thought of, with any freshness coming from re-hashing old concepts.

But I keep getting a flash of the truth: that if we choose to look past what we have learnt, and know already, and up over the garden wall, there is a whole world of new ideas beyond.

Psychotopia

While waiting for a table at Adam's Book Store's Coffee Shop I usually look for new landscaping books that will have something new or interesting in. Its not very often that I find a book that I can justify buying, but this last week I found a book that will definitely be on my list for Santa this year. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I knew I would love it when I saw it.

Avant Gardeners by Tim Richardson is a look at 50 designers/practices from around the world, and a look at the underlying principles behind their innovative approaches to garden design.

One of the chapters especially caught my eye. In it he coins the phrase Psychotopia. This is the understanding of place not only in terms of location, but also in terms of meaning. How we interact with gardens, their history, their use, ecology etc. all affect how we experience them.

Very basically put, how we look at an empty beach is different to how we would experience a beach with footsteps in the sand. The landscape has been changed by the viewer, and takes on a different feel (and effect on us) as a result.

Gardening can be/should be/is so much more than just placing pretty flowers in garden beds. Amanda Patton says "gardens, ..... must move you on a deeper level than just being visually pleasing..."

A lot has been spoken about the ability of the more traditional arts, movies, architecture etc. to effect change in the people or society that experience them. Gardens have the ability to change people in ways we haven't even begun to realise. They can be explored, moved through, discovered. They create a constantly changing scenery, opening up new vistas or creating new intimacies in a far more real way than traditional art has ever been able to.

It really is time that gardening begins to be understood as an art-form rather than just a past-time.

Fast Food or Indigenous Plants?

I think I've always cheered for the underdog, or the team thats losing. So I guess its no surprise that I carry this philosophy through to gardening...
In South Africa, indigenous (native) plants still seem to be the ugly ducklings that few people really want to have anything to do with. Few people seem to see their incredible beauty. Not to mention their environmental advantages.

The majority of gardeners tend to stick to the good old favourites without broadening their horizons. By history or heritage the favourites are the same old exotic plants that I guess my grandparents would have planted.

Don't get me wrong, things are changing... be it ever so slowly. Indigenous plants are talked about a lot, and there is a strong drive by a good portion of nurseries, landscapers and nature lovers to use them.

I suspect our reluctance to use indigenous plants is similar to a preference for coke and fast food over good wine or fine foods. The bright colours or abundant flowers of a lot of the imported plants, seem to hit you in the face with their beauty.
There is none of the looking for that something special thats not immediately obvious. There is no anticipation for the particular part of the year when a favourite shrub sneaks into flower for a few short weeks, or a tree that has blended into the brown winter landscape races into spring with a virile green.

I think this is the responsibility of the landscaper, horticulturist, and plant lover - to show these plants off to the general public. To talk about them, plant them, propagate them. To look for new ways to use them, maybe even alongside some of the plants we ourselves might be tired of.

Hopefully, one day I'll be cheering for the exotics as underdogs...

Four Dimensions

One of the many aspects of landscaping that I enjoy, is taking a thought or an idea, and turning it into a two dimensional drawing, and then into four dimensional reality.

The fourth dimension is time - watching a garden change and grow into the picture that you imagined years before. Seeing in the little seedlings and saplings what they will one day become, is really one of the most satisfying things.

This can also be a frustration. In the beginning stages while plants are still small, and the garden is nothing like what it will become, it is difficult for the client to see the potential inherent in the design. At this point, it comes down to 2 things:

1. Communication

I have really tried to make an extra effort to give realistic expectations of the various stages, but sometimes when everything looks chaotic, its still necessary to reassure the client that in time it will begin to take shape and it really will look as you described!

2. Trust

This is where previous work can help to allay fears. A portfolio can do wonders. Before and after photos do a good job of giving realistic expectations.

Work that comes from referrals is usually fairly pain free, as a certain level of trust has already been assumed.