Paid to have yard Landscaped, NOW WHAT??

I paid to have a landscape designer do my yard, small yard about 650 sqft in SoCal and it was finish at the end of May. Now what??? He gave me a little advice about the plants he planted but I know nothing about gardening and I have so many questions and problems. Some of the plants are fine, but there's definitely problems with some of them. Have serious bug problems but not necessarily bugs that are harmful to plants. I have some insane weed issues, one particular creeping type is taking over a section of my yard but if you try to pull it out it just breaks. Like I said I know nothing about gardening so I'm not sure if my problems are light issues, water issues, bug issues, fungus issues, other issues, or all the above. Can't afford a regular gardener and I have no grass so I don't really have weekly maintenance anyway. Is there someone I can hire to come out and look at my plants and tell me what is wrong with them, fix my weed and bug issues, and perhaps teach me a little more about how to care for my plants? A one time service, but with someone who knows what they're talking about, not someone who just mows lawns. How would I even go about finding someone like this? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Michelle

Does the landscaper not do follow up care. Before I got my hands dirty, we looked into this. Ours gave a one year care plan.

I'd probably start with the landscaper who installed it, hopefully they're competent enough to give you advice about your plants.

If you need individual plants or weeds ID'd, you can post pictures of them in the Plant ID forum, and if you've got sick looking plants you could post pics of them here and people might have ideas on what's wrong with some of them.

There's really nothing like seeing the whole garden overall though, so I'd definitely give the landscaper a call (check the fine print on your contract too--most landscapers have some sort of guarantee on the things they plant, possibly you're past that point by now but maybe you're not. But at the very least you can pay to have them come back once and give you some tips on how to take care of things. Or if you weren't happy with them and want to find someone else, I'm sure Angie's List is probably in your area, check there for landscapers who have good ratings.

And if you're interested in some sort of regular service but don't need it weekly, most landscapers will come out monthly instead, maybe even quarterly. If you're interested in learning to maintain it yourself then I highly recommend hanging out around here, you'll learn a ton. But if you aren't really that interested in maintaining it yourself, having someone come out every month or two is probably a good way to go.

The nursery that landscaped and planted my yard gave me a year's guarantee.

Call them. Make sure they honor this agreement. If Anything is dying they have to replace it. Did they offer a care plan also? They usually do if they guarantee. Even if they don't cover maintenance, you could use them to do the one time repair. Make them give you a list of everything they used in the garden and how to care for it. Any professional landscaper should do this. Don't let them off the hook. Please let us know how it turns out.

Traci

The amount of time they'll guarantee the plants for varies--some offer a year guarantee like kyjoy's people did, but the company that did my landscaping last year guaranteed things like drainage, sprinkler system, etc for a year, but plantings were only guaranteed for 3-4 months. So read the fine print in the contract.

Michelle can you post pics of the results?

The weed thingies that break- Try watering before you weed, or do this
after a rain.(if you have rain) If you have sun-shade areas, your
landscaper should plant in those areas types of things that like that
environment.You might have a 'moist-shade' area, or a 'dry-sun' area,
and you water accordingly.
If your landscaper only guaranteed plantings for a few months-they
may have filled in with anything. Without concern for longevity, as a
lot of plants will survive for a short period of time until they figure out
they don't like where they've been planted, and die. Or, they could
have planted annuals, in which case those usually only survive
that season.
If you do not have time for routine care, look for perrenials designed
for your zone. These grow over the years, stick around, and many
are low maintenance.

Some landscapers may also only guarantee things for a few months because they're a small business and can't afford to be replacing plants for people who don't take appropriate care of them after planting. Larger companies can afford to take that chance, but smaller ones often can't, they can only afford to take responsibility for things that were actually their fault. This is the same reason why places like Home Depot offer long guarantees on their plants, but smaller specialty nurseries don't. Of course some landscapers may use a short guarantee period as an excuse to do shoddy work, that's why it's important to check references first.

If you don't get anywhere with the contractor who did your installation, look in your phone book and find a good reputable nursery in your area. Many times, the guys who work in them do side jobs and/or offer advice, and will come to your place for a fee and show you what needs done. You could jot down notes as they explain things to you and refer to them later.

Unfortunately, many So.Cal. gardeners are of the "mow, blow and go" variety and don't know much beyond cutting grass, edging, and shaping bushes into geometric shapes.

Posting a few pictures of your landscape on here would help readers give you some tips.

I think everyone here has given some great advice. Dave's really is the place with the most helpful, wonderful folks.

That said, you failed to mention whether you are interested in maintaining it yourself or having someone do it for you. And it would really be helpful like they said, if you could put some photos up of your garden. If you are interested in doing it yourself, Daver's will have you going right away. If not, if some of the landscaping companies are more the mow, blow and go types in your area, then maybe you could put an add in somewhere locally for someone to come every once in a while to maintain it. (That is if your contract doesn't include them coming back or guaranteeing anything.)

Despite talking extensively with my landscaper before he started the job (like 1 or 2 hours of just discussing what I was after, what plants I wanted, etc.), I found that he still did loads of things contrary to what we talked about and they're now causing problems. So now I'm scrambling to catch up. I guess what I'm trying to say is nip problems in the bud because they usually get harder to change or eradicate after they've had time to establish and multiply.

One tool that has been ENORMOUSLY helpful to me is my digital camera. Since you don't have to pay developing fees, you can take as many pictures as your memory card can hold. And I recommend that you do! It's not only a great way of documenting your "holdings" and any pests and diseases, it's the easiest way to journal that I've found. I have a terrible memory for dates. So if I just take pictures anytime I spot something interesting - a new bug, a diseased leaf, a blossom, a fruit - iPhoto and Flickr can keep track of the date the picture was taken. And that gives me data to learn from. It also gives me a way to ask for help IDing plants, fungus, animals and diseases. One time I just brought my laptop to the UC Botanical Garden Sick Plant Clinic instead of having to gather numerous samples from the garden and bring them (or bring the plants).

Is it just that you're overwhelmed or is it that you really want a garden to look at but don't want to be too involved hands-on yourself? If it's the latter, try finding a student from any local college with a horticulture or ag program and seeing if you can hire them for regular maintenance.

As for preventing weeds, sheet mulching is a pretty good technique, I think. There should be information here on DG and via Google on how that works. Most weeds (except field bindweed and other super-tough invaders) can be suppressed by sheet mulching).

The weed you're describing sounds like a grass that spreads by rhizomes (although since there's no pictures I could be wrong). If that's true, pulling it probably won't do much good since there's usually broken off bits in the ground that can regenerate. If you don't care about using chemicals in your garden, you can hit it with Roundup (glyphosate). Put gloves on, hold the weed in your hands, shield all the nearby plants you like, and spray the weed. Do this in the morning or evening, but don't spray any pesticides, organic or not, during the high heat of midday. If you're keeping organic or low-chemical, try a spray called Burnout II.