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DIY Crossfit at Home

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Fall is officially upon us and you are no doubt getting your house ready for the holiday season. At least I know that’s the case here in the greater Sacramento area. This is an awesome time of year for getting your exercise regiment on as well.  Some of you may be aware of a relatively new type of work out known as “Crossfit”. If not, this video explains it.

Today’s post is an opportunity for you to understand Crossfit and create your own regiment at home using your surroundings, particularly your landscape and garden. You had to see that coming right? Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to incorporate Crossfit at home.

1. Watering Your Plants
If this sounds familiar it’s probably because I made a whole post on caring for indoor plants. We all know that plants need water to thrive. Well why not benefit from that watering yourself. Here’s how.

Find yourself 2 equal sized containers, fill with water, and get to watering all of those plants. Start indoors and keep your containers full as you scoot around the house. Then begin with things outside. Always remember proper body mechanics and to focus on exhaling (N’amaste y’all). The human body will always automatically inhale. I’m not saying that you have to get dressed up in your work out gear but, proper, comfortable shoes and being mindful of what’s comfortable physically will make your home grown workout more productive.

If you don’t have 2 matching watering cans, simply use 2 matching jars or cups. Remember the more cardio involved with your back and forth, the more of a work out you’ll receive.

 

Celebrity Lanscaper Ahmed Hassan - Two Watering Cans

Fill these up and carry both while watering your plants for a great cardio workout!

2. Spread Mulch?
Fall is always a great time of year to replace old mulch with new. Much does a couple of things for your landscape. It serves as a natural weed control through suppression. The less light that reaches the soil the less likely you are to have weeds. Mulch also keeps your plant roots warm during the winter. Your plants will fair better from impending frost damage, and your yard will look beautiful too. Makes sure you have an adequate amount of mulch put down this season. 3-4 inches is ideal, but be careful and use sparingly right close to the stems of your plants. Too much near the stems will cause an excessive amount of moisture there and rot the plants. Think of the roots and cover the plants shoulders, but don’t strangle the neck/stem.

A simple way to incorporate Crossfit is to use bags of mulch. This will cost you more than buying it bulk, but you will get a work out at the store, loading the bags in and out of your ride. Then, at your home, the workout continues as you walk and disperse it through out your garden.

A variation would be to use 5 gallon buckets with handles (you can also use recycled plant buckets). Any 2 of the same sized containers will work. They keep your weight of material balanced and assist you with not over working or straining yourself too much.
Finally, don’t forget about gravel. Gravel is considered to be an inorganic mulch. It’s generally a lot cheaper then paving stones or brick, and it bumps up the weight a bit for your Crossfit workout.

3. Windows and Wash Down
Clean windows speak volumes about your home. Make sure that the window cleaning products you use are the least toxic for both yourself and the environment. Find natural cleaning solutions online or simply use a mix of vinegar and water if you like. It is all natural and makes a great cleaning agent. Then use some recycled newspaper or some clean paper towels and your ready to get your Mr. Myagi on. Wax on and wax off!

Home improvement centers offer great environmentally friendly products that attach to your garden hose, making application easy and quick. This could even turn into washing the outside of your home. Removing spider webs, and getting things cleaned up before or after the holidays always sounds good to me. Of course this all depends on your available time for these household chores, er-I mean Crossfit! Remember, stay focused on what’s truly doable and save the rest for your next work out.

Celebrity Landscaper Ahmed Hassan - Fall Leaves

Raking leaves makes for great exercise!

4. Rake it out!
Raking leaves is not only a popular task for the month of November in California. I’ve been told that leaves fall from other trees around the country as well. Having a good flexible rake  is the perfect DIY Crossfit tool! The flex rake is a great dual purpose rake for everyday clean-up outside, and the Larger lightweight leaf rake from Fiskars is ideal for large leafed trees and The Celebrity Landscapers Crossfit get down.
When your’e done with your raking, I suggest you break out the blower and dust things off a bit.

Beyond these suggestions, there are probably an endless list of things you can do to create your own DIY crossfit routine. A couple of weekends of elbow grease will go a long way toward making your landscape and home look beautiful, while you reap the benefit of feeling better.

I’m Ahmed Hassan and I practice what I preach.

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Protecting Our Waterways During Construction and Development

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This post is stimulated from none other than fan and friend Patricia Herron!

Patricia: So they’re building a housing development near me. My daughter noticed that on the hills they have placed rolls of something that look like hay. They’re also spraying the hillside with some sort of greenish blue stuff. We couldn’t figure out why. I said to her it’s probably stuff to stop weeds or some kind of grass seeding system. Then I told her I’ll just ask my friend Celebrity Landscaper Ahmed Hassan. So… am I right?

 

Ahmed: You’re right, the greenish spray is what’s known as hydroseed. I would love to credit Ahmad Hassan Landscape Services as the inventor, but that simply is not the case. Yet I do know what the product is used for, and can give a little insight for you and your daughter to satisfy curiosities sake. Hydroseed is a slurry of grass seed that’s sprayed with a greenish paper pulp mulch, or sometimes, a finely ground wood of sorts. The mulch helps keep the seed moist until it germinates.

Celebrity Landscaper Ahemd Hassan - Erosion Control During New Construction

Hillside showing tiered layers of Hydroseed used for erosion prevention

The rolls of straw or hay are called “wattles” and they’re used for erosion control to keep run off, soil, and dirty water from going into gutters and storm drain systems; as well as protect clean water ways like streams, creeks, and brooks. Whenever there’s new development and we get into the rainy season, you’ll see these tools and practices used.

Celebrity Landscaper Ahmed Hassan- Straw Wattles

Straw Wattles placed in long rows on top of Hydroseed prevent drainage problems from silt

Construction and development requires excavation of soil. This bare, exposed soil doesn’t drain very fast. Instead, it washes away down hill. Both hydroseeding and straw wattles are used to limit this run off and keep it from contaminating drainage systems. The cleaner a drainage system is, the better it functions. The problem with run off is twofold. First, you have to deal with small landslides and/or erosion of a hillside sliding away and sloughing off which would cause a construction clean-up nightmare.

The second, and more severe problem runoff creates, is of primary concern though. If you’ve ever washed soil down your driveway and had it end up in the gutter, then you have met this unassuming beast. The last of the super fine remains of soil are heavy, and require a lot of time, water, and broom work to push. This thick sludge like stuff is known as silt. By definition Silt is literally the last remains of soil. It is the smallest, sand like, particulate matter and it’s extremely difficult to manage and wash away.

Because this material is difficult to move, municipalities do everything possible to avoid ever getting it in their drainage ways. I know my city of Sacramento is more than diligent about it. The reason? Silt collects more of itself. So not only is silt heavy and hard to move; it builds up on itself, and like a magnet, attracts more silt. This heavy silt begins clogging up pipes and drain lines with a type of sludge (bust out your smart phone and look up “silt trap”). Here in California we use the date of October 15th as the official rainy season date. Other states may have different different deadlines. This is the date you’d better have erosion and soil water runoff control measures in place, or pay fines upwards of $30k if a municipality shows up and your construction site isn’t properly managed.

One other thing I wanna mention is what’s known as a “silt sock”.
If you walk down to the storm drain that your gutters empty into, you’ll likely see what looks like landscape fabric underneath the gutter drain grate. This is the final means of control before dirty, silty water enters the main, piped underground system.

So to recap:

1. Hydroseed is a method of applying and starting grass from seed. This grass grows roots that are used to take up water and stabilize hillsides by aggregating soil and holding it together. The foliage intercepts rain water so that it doesn’t compact soil, but instead hits the grass blades and runs down slowly into the soil, preventing erosion during construction and development.

2. Straw wattles are a second line of defense to slow and dam up silty water that’s running down hill. The water passes through the straw and the silt is caught there. This lessens the impact and the momentum of erosion while allowing water to do what it does and travel downhill.

3.Silt socks and catch apparatuses are used directly under and around storm drains.
All of these practices are mandated and enforced by local governments to keep our waterways clean and our drain ways flowing. They help avoid avoid floods and back ups. It’s a group effort to prevent floods and keep our reservoirs clean. The more you know, the more you can help do your own part.

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The Truth About Sustainability

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Join Celebrity Landscaper – Ahmed Hassan, in Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday, October 4, 2014 to learn the truth about sustainability. Those who attend can expect to be both informed and entertained, but most importantly Ahmed will demystify the process for you.

If you aren’t in the local Fairfax region, you can tune into Merrifield’s weekly televised gardening program, Merrifield’s Gardening Advisor. This popular television program airs Saturday at 8 a.m. on NewsChannel 8 in District of Columbia, Maryland and Northern Virginia as well as  being seen on DIRECTV.

Would you like to ask Ahmed a question? Visit Merrifield’s Facebook page before 4:00 PM on Friday, October 3rd and post your questions on their wall and your question may be selected for Ahmed to answer on their live TV show!


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Organic Seeds for Your Garden

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Carolyn Kenyon not only sells heirloom and organic seeds, but last year she decided to personally hand write the names on most of her seed packs.  I personally think that the hand written seed packs also keeps within the whole “Organic” feel and flavor of things.  My 2014 Landscape and garden will boast 24 or more different varieties of her heirloom and interesting plant choices.

 

Kenyon Organics - Seeds - Salt Lake City Utah

Kenyon Organics, is an urban backyard gardening business located in Salt Lake City, Utah. They offer the area’s most extensive line of heirloom plants, seeds, and amendments to the home gardener as well as the very tastiest varieties of home grown, well nurtured produce to private buyers or farmer’s market shoppers.

They are firm believers in growing wholesome food which has not been genetically modified and founded this business on organic growing principles, with a commitment to offering our gardening friends with the most diverse and pure food supply around.  No GMOs here either. Kenyon Organics has a passion for growing and SHARING heirloom and open-pollinated food options with all people and it is what prompted them to start their  “home-grown” business back in 2008.  “We too were frustrated with the lack of food diversity, not to mention veggies that tasted good, in our local grocery stores. Growing our own food was not enough. We wanted to teach our family, friends, and neighbors that there are much better, more wholesome food options than what we have become used to in our food supply, especially when kids are involved, or people who say they don’t like tomatoes. I was once that person too and now I just tell them “You haven’t tried my tomatoes, I can change your opinion!”   We focus on flavor, freshness, and nutritional value and have a passion for teaching organic, small space, season extending gardening techniques and food preserving and offer many workshops throughout the year. 

A huge part of our business is giving back to the community which we do in ways such as: donating entire gardens, plants, or seeds to senior centers, transitional homeless housing, family programs, community gardens, schools, colleges, and rehabilitation programs. We also have our own network of low income seniors that we donate fresh produce and canned goods to during the growing months.” You can purchase Kenyon Seeds by visiting Carolyn’s shop Kenyon Organics on Etsy

 

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