raptor-turf-landscaping

How to Design a Low Maintenance Landscape

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:57:01 GMT

Learn how to design a low maintenance landscape with decorative rocks, durable edging, and selective plant choices to reduce yard work and enjoy your outdoor space.

Are you ready to create a low maintenance landscape to save you time?

For those looking for less time in yard work, a low maintenance landscape is the way to go!

You don't need a complicated landscape design to stand out, a lot of times, a simple design is all you need. Here are a couple things to consider:

1. Decorative Rock: Rock is the best option for a low maintenance landscape, and with various color options, you can find an option for about any application. Our recommendation is to choose a rock color that contrasts well with the edging you use, such as the picture shown above. In the picture above, we installed a 4"x4" Limestone edging with a 2" Basin Blue decorative rock. NOTE: When installing decorative rock, make sure to install a durable weed fabric. Weed fabric does not eliminate weeds completely, but does give you a head start in keeping things well maintained. We always recommend to our clients, on a weekly basis to go along the edges of your rock beds with an organic vinegar weed killer as those are the most common areas where weeds grow. If any weeds pop up in the center of the beds, pull as soon as possible before they start growing into the weed fabric.

2. Use durable edging. The durability of your edging will be mainly on how you install it. Edging is know for sinking and shifting over time creating an unpleasing look. The way we install our edging is by creating a trench, installing a bi-directional geo-grid at the bottom of the trench. Then we will install a few inches of clean base material, compact that base material. Then we will install a layer of edge Crete that we will install the edging on. Done properly, will solve the shifting and sinking for a very long time.

3. Plants: Choosing plants will be a big factor in how much time you spend in your yard. The more compact you install the plants and the more you install, the more time will be required. It is also important to choose plants that are easy to take care of and are able to tolerate the areas conditions, such as the sunlight requirements and soil conditions. The following will help you:

First, identify what zone you are in. In Iowa, we are zone 5. The way you can find that is by looking up the following, "2023 usda plant hardiness zone map." It should be your first option.

Secondly, identify where you are going to plant and how much sunlight is in that area, shade(0-2 hours of sunlight), part shade(2-4 hours of sunlight), part sun (4-6 hours of sunlight) or full sun (6+ hours of sunlight).

Thirdly, identify your soil type. A good way to do this is with the jar test. Fill a jar 1/2 way with your soil sample. Fill the remainder of the jar with water, leaving at least 1" of space for an air gap. Put the lid back on and shake tell the clumps of the soil have broken up. Let the jar sit over night and observe the results.

Sand will flow to the bottom, then the middle layer will be silt and the top layer will be clay.

1. If you have 25% clay, 25% silt and 50% sand, the your soil is sandy

2. If you have 30% clay, 40% silt and 30% sand, then your soil is silt

3. If you have 50% clay, 25% silt and 25% sand, you have clay

Once you have identified your zone, sunlight and soil type, do a Google search to find your best options. Example: "What are some low maintenance plants in Zone 5, that can tolerate part shade in a clay soil" You should be given many options. A couple low maintenance plants we use commonly are decorative grasses, boxwoods, hostess.

4. You can take it a step further and test your soil for PH etc. and add soil additives to make the best atmosphere for your plants. Most often, though, if you follow the steps above, you will be just fine in finding the best plants for your application. If for some reason you have an area you're having difficulty growing plants, then the recommendation is to do soil tests etc. to find the reasoning.

If your in the Iowa City, North Liberty, Solon Area and want to make it as simple as possible, leave it up to the pros and give us a call at 563-241-8462

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How To Install Landscape Edging Made To Last

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:52:56 GMT

Discover how to install durable landscape edging with our step-by-step method. Avoid the common issue of shifting edges and achieve a professional finish.

Are you tired of the sinking and shifting of your landscape edging? If so, we got you covered

Landscape edging can look great at first, but over time can become an eye sore from shifting and sinking. Over the past few years, we have been perfecting how we install our edging in order for it to last as we were having the same problems like everyone else. A lot of the times, through different resources, it is taught to install edging on the bare ground (soil) or install the edging on a little bit of base, which is not the greatest way to do it. Even installing the edging on base is not enough in creating a durable installation. That is why we came up with our method.

1. First, we create a trench with our brown trench master. You can usually find one of these at your local rental store for about $100 for the day. Make sure that yo use the curbing rotor that creates a 9" wide trench. The above picture shows what the trench will look like after removing the soil. MAKE SURE TO DO AN 811 CALL before using the machine. It is a free service and the last thing you want to do is to strike any utility lines.

2. Secondly, install a bi-directional geo-grid at the bottom of the trench. This helps provide reinforcement. Make sure every piece is over lapped.

3. Thirdly, Install base material. We prefer 1" or 3/4" clean rock. Usually comes out to about 2-3" of rock you will put into the trench. It just depends if you want your edging slightly above ground or level to the ground. Compact the base material with a hand tamper or compactor. We use a compactor when we compact the base material. If you are hand tamping the base material, would highly recommend using clean stone as it is easier to compact vs 3/4" road stone base, which you find commonly at the big box stores in the bags.

4. Lastly, After compacting the base, we like to install a layer of Edge Crete. This can be more difficult to find if your a homeowner, but in most cases, big box stores have their own version that they sell. If you are in the Iowa area, Kings Material sells Edge Crete. you will then install the edging on top of the Edge Crete, pounding the edging into it. This will create a suction cup to the base material underneath the edging and edging next to each other. After drying, you should not be able to move the edging. If you are able to move the edging, install the Edge Crete on the outer edges to lock the edging in. Be careful to not go overboard with the Edge Crete up the sides of the edging as you need enough room for dirt and grass seed on the outer side of the edging. That was a problem we faced at the beginning when we first starting installing our edging this way. Take the time to do the Edge Crete as good as possible because once it drys, it make it a little difficult to make fixes. Picture down below shows the edging with the Edge Crete.

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How To Install A Paver Patio

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:50:10 GMT

Learn how to install a paver patio correctly, including excavation, base selection, and paver laying tips for a durable outdoor space.

How To Install Paver Patios the right way

This article is going to go over general information surrounding patios. We hope in the near future to have a "how to video" on how to build a patio step by step. Depending on when you read this article, we may have the video already up.

1. The first thing you need to do is determine how deep you need to excavate. This could change depending on the soil conditions, but this is where you want to start. For foot traffic, the thickness of your base needs to be at least 6" and if the paver patio is going to hold heavier loads, then you are going to want to thicken your base closer to 12". Let's say the paver patio you're going to build is for foot traffic. You will need to go down 6" for the base, 1" for a bedding layer and then down the thickness of the paver that you are using. For example: Paver is 2" thick, that means that you need to excavate a total of 9" to account for the 2" paver, 1" bedding layer and 6" base.

2. Next, you need to determine what base to use. We prefer to use what is a called an open graded base as it is great for our region in resisting the effects of freeze and thaw. The open graded base consists of using clean stone. For the base, you can use 3/4" clean or 1" clean and then for the bedding layer, we use a 3/8" chip. You can also install your pavers on what is known as a traditional base. That consist of 3/4" stone all the way down to fines with the bedding layer being sand. The downside to the traditional base is that you have to be more carful With the compaction process and it also holds moisture that can end up becoming a problem for your patio installation down the line. When using open graded base, when you put the stone in the excavated area, it is already over 90% compacted, making it easier to ensure you get proper compaction.

3. At this point you have identified how deep you need to excavate and what base material to use. Go ahead and excavate. After excavation, compact the soil and make sure there is no loose soil in the excavated area. This part is very important and the bigger the compactor in terms of the forces it produces, the better.

After compacting, before we can put the base in, we need to evaluate the site conditions. If the soil seems to be firm and sturdy, you can move on. If you are dealing with clay sponge soil, you can do a couple things. You can continue to dig down tell you get to firmer soil or do a soil correction. If the soil is very sponge, the recommendation is to excavate more, but if it is slightly sponge, soil additives (soil correction) could be your solution. If needing to do a soil correction, start off by putting down lime and rake the lime into the soil (give it some time to work) then compact the soil. Then if that is not working, put down some type s mortar and rake that in (give it some time to work) and compact the soil. If it is still not working, compact some stone into the soil. If that didn't work, you may have to excavate more. When we deal with sponge soil, we go ahead and do all the steps at once and let everything sit for a few hours to see if the ground is firming up. If doing all of that and you are sill questioning the strength of the soil, that is when you want to contact an engineer and what will likely be recommended is to do a proctor density test. This test is going to make sure the ground is properly compacted. You don't see this test very often on residential sites because of the cost, but we typically give this test as an option for our customers. The last time we did this test, it cost right around $600. If you do the test and it comes back that it is not properly compacted, the in field worker doing the test should be able to recommend what to do to achieve the proper compaction.

4. Once you have the ground or what we call the sub-grad ready to go, you can start putting in your base material and compacting in lifts. We like to take our installations a step further for extra protection. Before we put the base in, we like to use a separation fabric, this is strongly recommended if you are working with clay soil. This fabric makes sure that the base does not mix into the soil as best as possible. Then we like to install drive grid or bi-directional geo-grid in our bases for extra stability. When installing the base, you need to compact in lifts depending on the force produced by your compactor. A lot of walk behind homeowner grade compactors can only compact 2-3" of material at a time, which means you need to put 2" of base down, compact the base, add 2" more of base, compact the base and you do this tell all your base is in.

5. Then you want to install a 1" bedding layer making sure you have a slope of at least 1/8" drop every foot for water drainage.

6. Install your pavers, install a jointing sand and an edge restraint of your choosing. For the edge restraint, we use Edge Crete.

Above are some insights on things to consider when building your next paver patio! If your wanting assistance on your installation or just want to hire someone out, give us a call at 563-241-8462 or email us at raptorturflandscapingllc@gmail.com

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What to use for your jointing sand for your paver patio?

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:46:27 GMT

Learn why polymeric sand, especially PolySweep, is ideal for paver patios, along with pros and maintenance advice.

The product that we use the most for our patio installations for the joints is polymeric sand from PolySweep. It is a very dependable product that has produced great results for us over the years. We are exploring some other products that are able to be installed in wet conditions, but PolySweep has been used for a very long time in the hardscaping industry. The downside to using polymeric sand is that you need dry conditions, which can make it difficult at times. Polymeric sand will need to be replaced every 5-10 years. The polymeric sand helps stabilize your installation and PolySweep sand is permeable. You do need to be carful as some sand options out there on the market are not permeable, but with PolySweep, you don't have to worry about that, at least of the time of this article. There is a chance over time that they could change the formulation of their product.

You can also use straight up sand, but expect having to do regular maintenance. You will have wash out from time to time and with open graded base, it is not the greatest option. With the advancements in the industry, polymeric sand is the way to go if that is available to you. Big box stores like Menards sells polymeric sand or a lot of landscape supply stores like Kings Material sells polymeric sand. Each bag is going to run around $45 and will cover around 70 square feet depending on the joint gap. Polymeric sand is going to be a more expensive option, but you will save time in maintenance in the long run.