Parts & Labour

Some of you may have heard of the new restaurant/bar/music venue called Parts & Labour. What you may not know is that the owner of the building is a landscape architect (hint see testimonials). We had many discussions this spring regarding plans for a rooftop garden using a container system pictured here. This rooftop garden provided veggies for the restaurant all summer, featuring heirloom veggies capably grown by Katie Mathieu. According to Katie "The radishes were nice and chubby in the spring". Our involvement was to facilitate the installation of access, supplying labour for installation of soil, container placement and winterizing at the end of the season. Apparently the engineers had a change of heart regarding large amounts of soil sitting on the middle of the roof over winter.

Community

This past spring Ecoman supplied the herbs and veggies for the Samba Kids rooftop garden at Drum Artz. We planted basil, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and much more. You can also see the Xeroflor green roof that we help maintain.

2011 Newsletter

Well it is late February and we have had warm and cold snaps, snow in abundance and now as I look out my window rain. Although the official opening day for Ecoman is April 1st, we may be starting earlier weather dependent of course. So be sure to book early for your spring cleanups. I am writing to update the changes for 2011 including personnel, pricing and technology.We are very happy to announce that Rohan, Rachel, Mike and John are all coming back this year. We are sad to announce that Tinka will be leaving to pursue a managerial position at an upscale flower shop.Last year we rolled out our new timekeeping technology on the gardening side and were very happy with the result. This year we plan to expand the use of electronic timekeeping on the landscaping side. Although the use of electronic timekeeping resulted in savings for our clients we are aware that in spring and fall the addition of a third crewmember did add substantially to the bottom line.That is why we are adopting a small change in our pricing on the gardening side to help alleviate this concern. The new pricing system will be $45 for the crew leader and $25 for each member of the crew. This will result in no change to your hourly cost (since we always work as a two person crew therefore the hourly rate stays the same at $70). The savings will accrue when a third crew member charged out at $25 is added for large jobs and fall cleanups. The savings amounts to $10/hr compared to last year pricing for every hour we charge at the 3 person crew level. If you are wondering about our services and would like to see pictures of our work please follow the link provided here: http://bit.ly/9HeceO. This site is updated often so feel free to visit again soon. You can also search on the right hand side by category for specific topics such as landscaping or green roofs. Look out for a new feature that will show video footage of exterior home and garden inspections showing what we look for and recommendations.So there you have it, our core crew has returned for another season, electronic timekeeping has helped to improve service, our new pricing system will ensure cost savings on larger gardening jobs and our blog will keep you up to date on new projects, pictures and stories. I am looking forward to spring and hope to hear from you soon.Cheers,Jonas

Badscape Stairs

We often get called into a project after a large component of the work has been completed. In this case a pressure treated wood walkout with steps has been installed. Our job was to supply and install the pathway to the garage. Typically steps are installed with a consistent height to facilitate safe and efficient pathways to and from the home. Having large differences in heights of stairs can be awkward and annoying at best and can cause serious injury at worst. At times your landscape contractor can cheat the height of the path without throwing off the rest of the grading of your property. In this case we have already cheated at least an inch and the steps are still off by at least three inches!

Wholesale Nursery

One of my favourite parts of working in this business is going to the wholesale nurseries. Pictured here are shots of the perennial greenhouse at Connon NVK. Working with Mark (head of perennials) and the rest of the team at Connon is great because they value our business and are setup to work with landscape contractors. Typically a list is sent ahead so the nursery can start picking your order, however, in spring we often are purchasing small quantities for multiple clients. Therefore it is not unusual to show up with a partial list and hand pick some special items for a last minute project.

Kingslea continued

Here is a great shot of how the crumbling steps were replaced and tied into the retaining wall.

kingslea coninued

This shot shows how we tied our patio into the curvy edge of the pool.

Kingslea

Here are a couple before and afters from kingslea. We used real clay brick for the patio and kingston hue for the wall.

Munro Residence

This project was completed just before the first big freeze in early December. We built a large temporary structure to keep snow off and increase nighttime temperatures. This is a cinder block wall on a concrete footing. We clad the exterior with tiger stripe coursing sawn top and bottom. We hand chiseled the stone and installed with no mortar joints to make it look like a dry stack wall (matching dry stack walls around the property installed last year).

Munro Continued

Here is a nice shot of the back garden.

Ellis Park

This was a tricky job involving multiple poured concrete retaining walls clad in tiger stripe natural stone. We even had to have a pump truck deliver the concrete as the walls are two flights of stairs above street level. In addition the planting and stepping stones are actually sitting on the garage roof! The middle shot shows how we finished the corners on the retaining wall. I actually shaped those corner pieces myself. Enjoy.

Warwick

Difficult space = our specialty

Cottingham

The cottingham project involved a geometric zig zag shaped walkway design by Victoria Taylor. We used Halton 'Autumn Brown' for the walkway and Northern Natural Split drywall for the retaining wall and step. The variation in colour is particularly striking when the flatwork is wet. You can also see the level of detail where we cut custom stones to fit around the existing drain (bottom right). We also planted large swathes of grasses and daylillies in the garden beds (of course we need to wait until next summer to show you).

Efficiency = Productivity

Strategic placement of materials ensures that we will have the materials we need where we need them. This reduces hours of moving heavy stones around the jobsite, saves time, money and reduces worker fatigue

Cottingham excavation

The excavation at cottingham illustrates the importance of having a design. We excavated precisely for the patio to ensure that we were not wasting time, energy and money on moving soil that did not need to be removed.

Yews of the world unite!

While working on the Cottingham installation we got involved with a very large mature yew (Taxus x media). The client agreed that we could prune it for shape, but ultimately decided to remove it entirely. Pictured here is the final plea for mercy, or is it defiance? Yew decide.

Stewart Residence

Sometimes you get a client who really lets you be creative. This project involved mixing different types of stone in leaf and berry shapes. The outline of the leaf and stem is actually coursing (twice the thickness of flagstone and installed first). The green leaf pieces were then custom fitted so that the cuts look like veins. Each piece was hand chiseled to give a more natural look. The Ecoman crew really stretched to bring this project in on time and budget. Special mention goes out to Mike who's attention to detail and commitment to quality were a critical component of the finished product.
P.S. I hope to get good pictures of this with plantings and other touches in spring

Greenroof Installation

This pictures shows the different components of a typical green roof. The product we are using for this install is xeroflor. This type of system can be installed on virtually any type of roofing membrane. On the bottom left you can see the root membrane being installed. This is followed by drain mat designed to allow moisture that percolates through the sedum mats to run off towards the scupper. On the top right you can see the moisture retention fleece. This acts as a water reservoir that will supply moisture to the plants during periods without rainfall. Finally the sedum mats are installed (see bottom left). Clients often ask me about the possibility of a green roof on their residential property. Here are some tips and guidelines for a typical residential project.
1) initial phone call and consultation
2) engineer report (requires hole in ceiling to examine roof joists)
3) working backward from engineer report decisions can now be made regarding system, accessible vs. inaccessible, depth of soil and type of plants.
4) architect may be required to submit drawing to city for permit
5) quote, contract and scope of work agreement
6) safety plan for installation (notice both Rachel and Rohan are tied off)
7) installation!
8) monitoring and maintenance
It has been my experience that a typical residential green roof project takes about 1 year to go from step 1 through 7! so patience is a virtue.

Brigid is better

A very dear client had asked us to do some garden work in the back garden. Upon our arrival we learned that Brigid had a stroke. We completed our work as best we could under the circumstances. I remember feeling sad that she would miss the beautiful fall colour of her Cercis canadensis tree. On a whim I selected a few nice ones and made a platter. Cheers Brigid to your health!
PS As usual inspiration provided by David Leeman

Badscapes

We often come across gardens where the previous work is incomplete, shoddy or carelessly finished. Here we have a garden with some yews that have been planted too high and backfilled with construction fill. The soil is compacted heavy clay. This is typical of new construction sites where heavy machinery has been used to construct the house. You can see the Yew (Taxus spp) needles starting to yellow already.