Now is a good time to prepare and design your vegetable garden for planting. But before you get too eager and start sowing seeds, do some preparation of the soil first. Here are some Sedona landscape design tips and guidelines any good designer would tell their clients:

 Sedona landcape design tip #1
Check the condition of the soil.

Did the plants perform as expected? Was the soil amended properly last year? Does it have good drainage? Is it still too clayey? You may want to take a soil sample and have it tested by the local County Extension office.

You can have the Ph of your soil tested for free by the local extension office in either Prescott or Camp Verde.

Turn over the soil after folding in some organic matter, mulch or compost. If you do get a soil analysis, add the proper nutrients and other amendments necessary before you turn over the soil or use a roto-tiller. This will help compost any mulch or leaves you added and improve the tilth of the soil.

Sedona landcape design tip #2
Check your irrigation system

If you have your garden set up with an automatic irrigation system, Depending on the type of irrigation system you are using, make any changes you need such as fixing leaks, adding a spray head, etc. If you have underground pipes, know where they are before you dig. You may want to make a diagram of the piping so you don’t forget from year to year.

If you use above the ground drip tubing or soaker hoses, pull that all away so you can properly amend the soil. Were all the planting beds getting adequate water from your system? You will need to make adjustments as you put the irrigation back in place.

I use an overhead spray system after starting out with soaker hose tubing. I found the soaker hoses were not releasing the same amounts of water from the beginning of the hose to the end resulting in patches of the garden getting over saturated. The overhead sprays provide complete coverage of the soil. Although this is not considered the best method for water conservation, it suits my needs for vegetable garden irrigation.

Sedona landcape design tip #3
Plan your garden

Sedona is at the 4500 foot elevation level more or less, so we are right between the two ranges that differentiate lower Arizona from the upper elevations of northern Arizona.

Cool-season vegetables include beet, lettuce, broccoli, spinach cabbage, carrot, onion, pea, potato, radish, and turnip. Cool season plants are frost tolerant and germinate in cold soil so they can be planted in winter or early spring depending on location. These crops need to mature during cooler periods rather than in the heat of the summer, so getting them out early in the garden or starting them in a mini greenhouse indoors is important.

Warm-season vegetables include sweet corn, sweet potato beans, cucumber, melons, pepper, pumpkin, eggplant, squash, and tomato. These are not frost tolerant and need warm temperatures to set their fruit. Temperatures too high will reduce quality such as sunburn, discoloration and less than ideal size.

Compensate for the mistakes and lessons learned from last year’s crop. Did you plant too many seeds of one type all at once and ended up with too much at one time? Be patient and stagger your seed plantings. Plan out a schedule of when to plant what and mark it on a calendar. It only takes a few minutes to sow some seeds.

Planting from seed is a lot cheaper than buying little 4” pots already leafed out. Consider planting early even before it may freeze again. Who knows when the last frost will occur and if you get lucky, you will have a head start, if not, you will not have lost much in your investment. But do wait till after the last frost or say mid April before you invest a lot in those 4” pots and risk losing them to a late frost.

Here is the last Sedona landscape design tip:

Sedona landcape design tip #4
Container plantings

In the practice of landscape design, the use of pots and containers adds an accessory element to the overall design. Pots are useful to feature individual plants and to decorate a patio area. Pots are suitable for many types of vegetable crops, especially vines types. I like to group pots and place a trellis behind them. If you have a lot of empty pots that you don’t otherwise need for perennial or annuals plants, you may want to use them for vegetables.

Be sure that the pot is big enough to handle the growth of the root system regardless of what type of plants you choose. Too many homeowners have collections of small pots and never invest in buying larger sizes to transplant their plants. Use these smaller pots as transitional containers as the plants grow just like nurseries do with 1 gallon, 2 gallon and 5 gallon containers.

Every Sedona landscape design should have a garden of vegetables, perhaps sprinkled with some ornamental flowers and herbs. Adding colorful pots in strategic spots will make your garden look like you put some thought into the design and aesthetics.

Landscape Design Tips for Sedona can also be a list of things to avoid. Sometimes by simply avoiding common mistakes, your landscape will end up appearing more professional and not appear like you did it yourself with questionable results.

Those who live here in Sedona, especially those fortunate to have property with great views or back up to National Forest lands, obviously appreciate the natural landscape that surrounds us.

Development in Sedona is guided by the Land Development Code which serves as an ordinance and a set of guidelines to insure that structures including landscape are sensitive to the natural environment by lessening the impact of development.

Apart from citing regulations and policies, I wanted to share some ideas and things to avoid that I feel are appropriate to consider when creating a new or remodeling an existing landscape or outdoor space.

1) Functional swales vs. decorative dry streams

Many homes have some kind of drainage that flows across their property or from the roof. The use of rock swales is often used to guide the water to the street or existing washes.  If you truly need to control erosion, the use of rip rap Sedona Red rock is much better than using the smooth and rounded river rock. Rip rap will lock into place and do a better job of slowing down the runoff.

Many people use river rock to create a swale from downspouts to the street. These can dominate the landscaped areas and is often not needed if underground drainpipes are used instead. On a relatively flat or gentle grade, using river rock for a swale usually gets filled up with sediment because there is not enough speed to wash the sediment downstream. If you want drainage swales for relatively flat areas, just create a swale and cover with the surrounding gravel. It will function better and not look cluttered or artificial as does river rock when used outside of a true riparian environment.

2) Use Sedona Red crushed native rock to cover disturbed areas

In Sedona, the soil is red and the rock varies from a dark red to light tan. Using decorative gravel that is different than these natural choices can only take away from the intent of blending in with the surrounding area. The use of ‘Madison Gold’ which is very prevalent in the Phoenix area since it does mimic the surrounding desert floor color is not appropriate in the Sedona area in my opinion.

3) Preserve the native trees by designing around them

As a landscape designer, I am frequently at odds with the interests of other professionals including the Sedona fire department, insurance agents, real estate agents who all seem to be more concerned about the threat of fire because the trees are too close to the home or that they block the red rock views. A native tree on your property is valuable. It is unfortunate that so many people do not revere trees but rather see it all as ‘overgrown brush’.  Trees are extremely valuable as elements in a landscape and that is why I view them as sacred.

4) Remove all the ‘green meatballs’ in your yard

When plants are placed in inappropriate locations or the wrong plant is selected without understanding its size at maturity, it becomes overgrown and either should be removed or pruned back. What happens is when a shrub is constantly pruned by giving it a hair cut with hedge trimmers, it ends up as a ‘green meatball.’  Although many people actually like this neat, controlled groomed look, most all landscape professionals abhor the practice.

Shrubs should be ‘selectively’ pruned whereby certain stems and branches are cut back to the trunk or main stem rather than uniformly cutting back everything as in trying to give the shrub some kind of unnatural ‘shape’.

Scrub Oak, Rhus, Barbery, Euyonomous, Cotoneaster and many other species planted around Sedona in a typical front yard are planted in the wrong locations, too close together and have not been replaced with appropriate species. Many people just don’t realize that poor design choices were made in the past and just don’t know what to do to make the garden look more natural.

Summary of Sedona Landscape Design Tips

As a landscape professional, I perhaps am much more sensitive to what I see people doing with their landscapes. Much of the criticisms I have are simply because the owners choose not to prioritize having a decent landscape. Money is also a big factor as many do it yourself gardener designers choose not to employ a professional to do it well. The use of the cheapest material also contributes to the unprofessional look.  The more expensive the home, the more likely the landscaping will be a high priority.