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Hi Jessie,

Well I have good news and bad news…the good news is SketchUP is REALLY easy to learn. You can Buy a copy of SketchUP Pro for $495.00. Can you by a seat of 3D Max for that? The neat thing about SketchUP is a lot of programs are writing plug-ins for SU to get stuff in or out of the program easily. For Quick and dirty concept stuff you…[Read more]

You are losing me Melanie. Is it the rounded “U-shaped” stakes that are posing the hazard or the right angle at the top end of the steel?

How low is the budget that you can’t take a few minutes to grind the corner down? If it is that low, you really do need to seek an alternative material because the safety issue has to come first.

You are right about the consolidation of firms. We are seeing that our industry is not strong enough to stand on its own merit. We need the architects and civil engineers. Let’s face it. They give us the work. Just ask EDAW. They were the foremost leader of landscape architecture in the world. Even they realized they could not survive without…[Read more]

The workshop is good because it forces you to draw for hours and hours on end. It takes a lot of discipline to do this on your own. Plus youre there with 50 people who can’t draw well (which kind of takes embarassment away). Its worth while, but you’ll never get to a professional level just from a 2 day course, you need to put in the hours…[Read more]

Thank you both for the helpful advice. Fortunately I received a call from CLARB indicating that I had failed the test by one question. After reviewing the test results one or a few (sorry cannot rembember the exact words) of the questions were thrown out and I had now passed Section D. I had heard rumors of this happening to people but it was…[Read more]

See, Craig, this kind of knowledge is why I should be working for someone else first…

…I think I take a bit of time this winter and go visit firms again, see if I can land a job…

I use trex or other composite bender board instead of steel on projects with animals….

+1 for Spade

or baring that…

+1 for Grind. Flesh will still lose to steel, even if it’s rounded, with enough force, such as kids playing, running, falling on it…

You got me thinking though (always a dangerous situation) and I may have something for you…

Andrew, the edges are currently being overlapped about 6 inches and then rounded U-shaped stakes are used to hold them in place. Welding is not an option as it is too cost prohibitive. Grinding would certainly work, but would also fall on the costly side for this type of application.

Hi Dennis,
yes that is my personal favorite on edging choices… but does not always work as a low maintenence/low cost choice for a separation barrier between sod/mulch, sod/rock, etc. Especially when dealing with slopes.

Thank you Nikolaos. I will have to do some investigating on the current methods of installation.

Someone mentioned retooling and restaffing in a down economy makes good business sense. I’m not sure how that relates in a big way to landscape architecture. We don’t make products or parts that we can invest in now and sell later.

The beauty and the beast in our lives is that most everything is done in real time. It is a beauty because as soon…[Read more]

I love that book – Italian Gardens of the renaissance! Beautiful watercolor renderings..Now THAT is an art I would like to master..

I like where you’re taking this thread. I’ve been thinking, for a while now, that landscape architecture really needs a new business model. This industry swoons whenever the housing industry catches a cold. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on business and economics and am considering going back to school for some courses. It would be an…[Read more]

I really don’t agree with you. Drawing, especially quick sketch, is the elegance of a designer. It is the characteristic designers distinguish from each other. I believe what Mike is teaching is not just drawing itself but how to design through drawing and the attitude of drawing. Seriously, I know most of the computer programs but somehow I feel…[Read more]

Thank you for checking on it, with the author no less. You’re great! 🙂

How are you connecting the steel? Are you overlapping it to allow for expansion and reduction for heat or are you solidly connecting?

If you are overlapping, you could cut a 2 or 3″ radius on the upper corners of both strips and grind the edges so that there is no point or cut edge when they move.

I either had them welded or used manufatured…[Read more]

A spade cut bed edge reduces your project cost and eliminates your problem all together.

On residential jobs I avoided getting those sharp edges by loosing up the soil with a pick along the path of the edger and putting a wood block on top of the edger to beat on with the hand sledge. This added some time to install it, but we avoided lawsuits due to a pet or kid cutting their feet/paws on it.

That is a good question to which I don’t have an answer. I am usually not on site during the installs. I’ll have to ask our construction lead.