- Today on Oklahoma Gardening, we look back as we follow the landscape of the new OSU Ag Hall from construction through installation and how it might not be that different from a new home construction.

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I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

We're back here at the Student Farm.

I wanna share with you a tropical plant that you might find in some Oklahoma landscapes.

It's important to know which plants we are dealing with so that we can continue to maintain them successfully for years to come.

As we've told you this season, we are following the new Frontiers Ag Hall Landscape Development and this is the beginning of several episodes that we're gonna do over this season.

As you can see, we're just starting out.

But joining me today is Nick Oulette, who is with OSU Landscape Services and you are responsible for turning this into a beautiful landscape, right?

So - Yes.

Yes, Casey, thank you.

Yes.

I'm our Landscape University Design manager and like you said, part of facilities management, landscape services and we have a design team of two.

- Okay.

That's a lot of work.

So the, we've got a lot of construction happening on OS U'S campus.

So you're not unfamiliar with this sort of palette to start with, right?

- No, not at all.

So we have about 700 acres that facilities management maintains on campus and our design team of two gets the pleasure to look at the big picture of everything on campus and be involved throughout the whole design process and manage the landscape master plan, which kind of sets some of our guidelines and how we follow things and that kind of sets the groundwork for everything we do.

- Right.

So obviously we're still kind of visiting a construction site today, so it hasn't necessarily been turned over to you guys yet, but you're not waiting for that, right?

You've been planning, you've got it all laid out.

What's gonna happen here?

Tell us a little bit about that.

- Yeah, I'm trying to think of when maybe we started, but I bet you it was back from like 2018, 2019 maybe when we first started kind of understanding some of the design developments that studio architecture kind of worked on.

Okay.

So we knew the layout, the kind of the plan of the building, say the architecture features and then that's when long range planning brought us aboard to kind of really understand then how we can design the landscape and make that accessible and kind of tie that into the existing parts of our landscape.

- Okay.

So there's a lot of big features that are gonna be added into the landscape around here and you've got some of those nailed down.

Of course, you know, things change right?

With construction and stuff, so there's gonna be some flux in everything.

But can you tell us a few of the stuff that you know is gonna happen here?

- Yeah, well it's like you said, so you know, we start off with dreaming big, right?

So we try to understand, you know, what makes you know the site very conducive for student interaction and engagement and learning possibilities.

Also looking at how that site safety and site access and how it flows.

So we kind of come up with some plans then of how it ties in and then start developing the planting beds, understanding utilities, looking at what kind of utilities we're working with, how the landscape beds and sidewalks work with those utilities.

Our grade is a big one.

Understanding drainage of water, how that kind of goes.

- And a lot of these are same things that homeowners of new homes would be thinking about too, right?

You - Gotta think about your, your site conditions, right?

So basically we develop a site analysis that really kind of is what all of that is and kind of helps direct, you know, a lot of our landscape choices based on the conditions of the site and what the plans are, the features of the building.

- Okay.

And we're on the backside here so we're, you know, it's gonna be a lot of shade between here and the Noble Research Center, right?

And so again, that exposure goes into plantings - Big, big time.

So, you know, we actually had to make quite a few changes in this area when it came to when landscape services kind of got their feet into the project because immediately we noticed that, you know, maybe drainage from the way the water goes across the sidewalk and how there's no sun to dry that up and kind of prepare the site - And you're thinking about students in the wintertime with ice and that sort of stuff too, right?

Yeah.

- Because not only are we maintaining it for just, you know, classes and then you got Yes.

All the winter activities that goes on - And Right.

- Understanding the whole flow of all seasons.

- Well I know one of the features that you guys like to do is also go vertical, right?

So I mean you've got a large building and so you don't want just this short landscape in front of it.

So what are some of the tree features that you might be adding around?

- Yes, that's a great question.

So we kind of have what I consider an institutional design on campus and we use a lot of architectural features to kind of extenuate our neo Georgian architecture that we have.

And we have tailored Junipers, which is a type of juniper that is only maybe two feet wide and maybe gets about 40, 65 feet tall.

So we have a lot of that to kind of balance some of this architecture.

And it's got that continuity then and it ties it into a, we already have existing on campus with some of those plant features, otherwise we have other types of trees that are maybe like shade trees and other types of upright ones too.

But that's probably the biggest one you'll see when you come here.

- And I know one of the things that I love about our campus is you guys are really good about finding little niches and niches to put in unique garden spaces and have those kind of private study areas and stuff like that.

So what might we be expecting as regard to that?

- That's probably the most fun in this whole type of design part, is looking for those spots to create the learning activities.

So we do have a small plaza area right now it's developed with our campus standard site furnishings that includes like bike loops, our standard trash cans, standard lighting, standard tables, standard benches.

And we're actually in a pretty close proximity to where there'll be a dairy bar inside this ag hall.

Okay.

And we have a special little outdoor seating area with some outdoor architectural elements that we're bringing that are reclaimed architectural elements to kind of help kind of tie everything together too.

So we're pretty excited about that and then insinuate the landscape around it using a lot of our natural stone rock mulches and different types of plant material to kind of make that space more inviting and create that sense of learning space.

- So it's hard for me to fathom that just in a few months this is gonna go from this into a beautiful landscape this fall.

When you actually get on this side, what's the first step that your crew's gonna actually do?

- Well we have our, we call them site meetings with the general contractor and that's flintco that is managing this project.

So we kind of get with them to start putting a schedule together.

We start reviewing our drawings, how our drawings tie into theirs.

Irrigation is the first thing - Okay.

- That we'll kind of go with kind of setting in the groundwork.

And then we start with some hardscape materials, so some of the more of the pathways garden features, things of that nature.

And then kind of tie in the landscape and soil reconstruction at that point.

I, - I would imagine soils, reconstruction's gonna be a big thing after seeing what it looks like right now and not having all this heavy equipment on it as well.

So - Yeah, to start a project like this, they have to get to a 99% con compaction rate on their soil.

So we're really taking, you know, compaction construction soil, right?

Which is not conducive for growing plants and things of that nature.

And our budget is not that large either.

So we have to work with what we got.

But you know, again, we've, this isn't our first building we've done on campus, so we kind of have got the process down and understand that scarification and which is basically the process of kind of breaking the top layer of the soil and leveling the water and oxygen to kind of percolate and mixing in then our types of soil that works best for, for those type of plants that we have.

So each, each garden bed kind of has its own soil modifications that are all tied into it.

- Well Nick, I know you and your team know what you're doing 'cause there's plenty of evidence around campus.

So we look forward to checking back in with you.

- Well thank you.

I look forward to sharing it with you.

- Thanks.

We're back inside the construction zone of the new Frontiers Ag Hall that will soon be open to students come this fall.

And we're following up again with Nicole Nicolette, with Landscape Services.

Thank you for joining us out here.

Pleasure.

And letting us in this construction area.

But we're at a critical point, right?

A lot of the construction's starting to wrap up.

Tell us what the next phase is.

- I really do feel this is probably the most crucial part of, you know, the most important obstacle that most people probably don't even realize how important it really is.

I mean, in order to have your soil have the right type of soil for the right type of plant material.

So it's the bed pet plan getting that is just leads to the success and and maintenance of overall of your plant health.

So that's where we're here getting started on today.

As you can kind of see behind me, we have different types of soil.

Again, it, this is our bed prep.

So basically every spot that you see that is a planting bed around the building has different types of soil and different types of amendments that are specified based on the plant material today.

- Okay.

So you, so we've got kind of some concrete edging that's going to differentiate the planting bed from, we're standing in what will be a turfgrass lawn area.

- That's exactly right.

So this area here, we've got down about three or so inches.

And we're gonna come in after we finish the bed prep of the, of the planting beds, which is gonna be up in this little area on the south side.

And we'll come in and then finally grade this as well and prepare it for some turf.

- All right.

So let's talk a little bit about what's going into your bed preparation.

You are wanting to cater it towards the plants you've selected, whether they're the pH or the organic matter, but let's talk about the components you're putting in some of that.

- That's right.

So we have a sandy loam, which is what we have kind of in this pile right over here.

- Okay.

- And that we is mixed in with some compost that is actually comes from our campus.

So it's the leaf matter organic matter that we are trimming, doing the trimmings on, or if we have an ice storm or wind storm or we gotta remove some trees, clean up those leaves and suber certain areas.

All of that comes back to our compost yard.

It is then broken down into good compost that we are able into a mix into our, our planting beds.

- Okay.

And is it a matter of just putting it straight onto the existing soil or what's the - That's, that's a great question.

So it depends on the plants about how deep we really want to go, but the deeper is, the deeper we can go the better.

- Okay.

- And it's really, you know, whenever we're on a site like this we have 100% or 99% construction, compacted construction soil.

- Yeah.

- And so there's not much aeration, my water flow drainage of any sort occurring on this here.

It's basically just running right off, - Which means plant roots can't really get into that either.

- No.

This is anaerobic conditions.

Yeah.

Not suitable for most plants I would say.

And so what we're trying to do is really get in there with these backhoes that you see behind me and scarify that, which is basically the process of breaking loose that up and getting in some good soil that is more beneficial with whatever we're trying to amend for those plants.

Okay.

Are you doing that both before and kind of as you're adding, incorporating it a little bit?

Or is there a, a gradient there aligned?

- Yep.

So we, we've had the general contractor that has gone through and prepped the, the initial grade based off of our civil plans.

And we have left certain planting beds to be at a depth of, oh maybe eight inches I'd say on the one behind us here.

- Okay.

- And so that's where we're starting our scarification and the breakin of the soil is at about eight inches below final grade where that mulch layer will be.

- Okay.

Well and obviously we haven't talked to irrigation that's gotta go in the soil somewhere.

So when is that going in?

- So we have exterior of the building's done.

We have a lot of the storm infrastructure or the utility infrastructure in place now.

We have our irrigation that is in process as we speak.

We're just getting ready to start that boring underneath critical sidewalks underneath certain areas to get into each planting bed.

So every bed, every turf space, every green space has got irrigation.

So we have to stub up our main line and laterals and that's occurring already.

- Okay.

So that's starting to happen as well.

Which obviously with heavy equipment you still gotta be careful with working around all of that.

I would imagine too.

- It makes it a little difficult over here.

Not only do we have our crews still working here, they've got furniture going in, so there's a lot of stuff interior going in and then we still have people on the outside still doing the final touches of the windows and the roof.

And so it, it makes it for a very challenging.

So we have to really work together.

We work with the project manager knowing which area we're gonna start in telling them the scope of how long it's gonna take and we transition then all the way around the building to kind of make sure we hit every spot that - We need to.

All right.

So you're kind of staging it so y'all can get your work done.

Well I know last time we were filming on the east side and there's still a little activity but there's also a few new additions back there.

Can you tell us a little bit about those?

The - East side is gonna be well used I think by the students.

We have a big plaza area there, a main pathway that's a corridor that kind of connects the areas through campus.

And on that plaza area we have what is called a living wall.

And it's a wall that's about 10 foot tall, 30 feet wide.

Wow.

And it's gonna have about 200 and some individual plants on it that make a special design that we change throughout the season.

And I think it'll just add to the, the atmosphere and kind of create the social ambiance that gets people engaged.

- Absolutely.

So you're going vertical with some of the plants - As well going vertical plants.

It's, you gotta have some fun, exciting things out there and I think this will be an opportunity to get your pictures taken next to it.

Absolutely.

And just kind of provide that grand entry into the Dairy Bar plaza.

It's another main entry in campus so I think it's gonna look and feel fantastic - For that's, that's awesome and exciting.

So next step is planting, we'll check back with you on that.

- Can't wait to see some plants go in the ground, but we got a lot of work here ahead of us - So Absolutely.

Well I'll let you get back to it.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Today we are back here at the, what was the new Frontiers Ag Hall and now is officially known as Ag Hall, if you're familiar with the old Ag Hall across the street that has been renamed to Legacy Hall.

Joining me again is Nick Oulette who is with landscape services and has been responsible for installing this design here.

And we're finally at the point that it's starting to get prettier out here.

- Yeah, we've reached that cursory point that we're finally getting a little lipstick, I would say, yeah, on the design.

Get it all kind of planted here so you can finally get to see some final touches starting to happen where we put the mulch in and get the plants in the little bit of rock mulch and wood mulch.

So you'll probably see a few of our crew here out here today kind of going through that process, laying out the plants per design and then planting those in the soil conditions that we talked about in the last segment.

- So let's talk first about the front of the building.

It's a little more formal 'cause that's the main entrance, right?

- Yes.

We have a very cohesive type of landscape that goes down the Monroe Street.

So we tried to mimic our landscape design that we have for Ag Hall to kind of balance the rest of the landscape down Monroe Street.

- And then back here though, it's kind of a little more detailed, I would say.

You got some interesting things back here.

- That's exactly right.

Our front entrance is very formal.

It's got spaces for events.

We've designed that to hold events, kind of be able to greet students the front entrance.

And then when you come to this east side, it got a little bit more on the design to where it's more inviting with the plant material.

It's kind of a little bit more native, a little bit more natural inviting atmosphere I would say, to kind of hang out, right?

So we have little plaza area, nice big pathways that just kind of create that.

And the microenvironment is perfect for us on that.

It creates, we have just enough sunlight, just enough shade to really kind of, I think, provide that hangout space.

- And I think it's interesting 'cause you know, as a homeowner a lot of times we, we do that with our own home.

We have that area where we can play soccer or have our activities with our lawn, which is what you have in the front.

But then you have that unique detail area also.

And one of the things that you're doing down below, let's talk a little bit about that green wall.

- Well the green wall is making progress.

We're definitely kind of putting the final touches around the design of the, the hardscape that would be there.

The plaza spaces.

We actually have site furnishings also scheduled to go in this week.

So that includes benches and tables, that's campus standards that we have.

And then the most exciting part is the actual living wall.

The plants that'll be vertical.

We have those scheduled to go in this week as well.

So everything is really coming together and we're excited that we only have three more days until the start of school.

So it's, it's here and we're, we're gonna have that looking just perfect form as they come in.

- So obviously a lot of planning has gone into this, but it really is crucial to get the plant in the ground correctly.

Let's talk a little bit about how you're laying out your plants and getting them in the ground.

- Well it starts off by following our landscape design.

So during that design process, we strategically placed plants that would grow the maturity.

So they would reach maturity.

So the spacings on the plants today look like maybe they're too far apart, but they're kind of small, they'll grow.

So the spacings for those are kind of intended maybe about three years.

I would say most landscapes it takes about three years to kind of start reaching that full maturity or close to it.

So that's what you're gonna see today.

- Okay.

So you've got some one gallons and different and some larger trees that will get larger next to this three story building.

But as we know, gardens take a little bit of time and if you'd gone the other way, I mean it would've been a nightmare as far as maintenance, right?

Like - No, that's exactly right.

So there are certain plants where we have them tighter together 'cause they're meant to be as act as a ground cover or filler.

And that out competes in the weeds.

- Okay.

- And we also have other ones where in the same type of plant where maybe they are spaced quite a bit further apart where it's providing more of an architectural form of the plant and design.

So there's a lot of reasons that we kind of space our plants out or kind of keep 'em tighter.

But it has to do with kind of the maintenance of it.

So it all depends on kind of how we intend that space to be for the maintenance.

Kinda helps depict how we tie to plant our - Plants.

And I, and I think that's good information for homeowners.

'cause a lot of times when they have a new install or something, it might not look like their finished product, but we all know that gardens take a little while.

And of course budget plays into that too, right?

A smaller plant is a cheaper plant - Too.

That's exactly right.

So we have to rule out all favors, take everything into accountability on that.

And unfortunately a lot of times budget does play a huge role in it.

But it's important for us to always look at, you know, the design intent to where it's gonna save us in the long run.

Not only just on the budget part, but on time to, so we, we have a certain ground cover as you'll see here too, that's a little bit different approach where we're using a lot of rock mulch and that's helping us in areas that it's not in conducive to get lawnmower equipment or staff in there.

Also makes it a little more easier maybe for pedestrians to cross through and a few things like that.

So this building's kind of got a little bit more of that.

I've seen all design the cities, Oklahoma's, Tulsa, a lot of our larger metropolitan areas kind of using a lot more of the rock mulches too.

So you'll notice a little bit of that here today as well.

- Okay.

Alright.

Well thank you so much for sharing this with us.

And I know as people start coming this way more with students and also football, that they're gonna see a fantastic landscape really take form here.

- Appreciate the opportunity - Over this season.

We've been following the construction and landscape installation around the new Ag Hall.

And you might be thinking, what does that have to do with me as a homeowner?

Well, today we are talking a little bit about that specifically.

And joining me is Dr. Moss.

Dr. Moss.

We are out here where there's a new homeowner's association being built.

Let's do a little bit of a side assessment of this location.

What do you think?

I - Think it's wonderful.

It's, it's the most exciting time of one's life.

You know, you get a new house, - Right?

- You're designing the kitchen, what tile are you gonna have?

And probably the last thing you think about is my landscape or my soil or what that's gonna be like, right?

- Right.

- And so when they, when they come into a site like this, they're gonna move the top soil away.

Right?

That gets all kind of scraped away because top soil does not make for a good foundation.

You can see some piles around here where they try to pile it up, they try to save it and they'll bring some in at at kind of, at the end of the process.

But really it's all being scraped away.

You gotta start with a soil - Test.

Soil test, right?

- Gotta start with a soil test.

But it's so important, right?

Because, you know, out here at this site, we, we did a few soil tests just to see what it was like and wouldn't, you know, like the organic matter is less than 1%.

Well what would we like that organic matter to be?

We'd like it to be high.

- Right?

Right, - Right.

Certainly more than a half a percent or more than 1%.

Right.

So and and if we were vegetable farmers or something right.

Maybe we would come and cover crop it and bring in some green manure and build up that organic now, which might be - A little stinky in - A new edition, right?

That's right.

Yeah.

So, so we really can't do that in the, in the landscape in a, in a homeowner association setting.

So what can we do?

What are some things we can do?

What should we look out for?

Well, well, let's pay attention to see what our organic matter is.

Our sole pH out here, it's, it's around eight for, for most plants that's gonna be okay.

But there's some plants as you get to the eight, 8.1, 8.2, 8.5, you're gonna start having some trouble and maybe have trouble like with some micronutrients like iron.

And you can, some plants can't take it up.

- And one thing I always mention when you're first doing a soil test is that's just a point on a line to be made.

So we really don't know whether that eight is going up or is it going down and how quickly it might be changing - Too.

Yeah.

So, so important to monitor that over time and, and maybe taking that soil test once a year until you get that landscape established and get those problems figured out.

- Absolutely.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So let's talk a little bit about what we're seeing here.

There are some weeds which will result in a weed seed bank to have to deal plenty weed out here to deal with later.

Yeah.

But a lot of these tend to be weeds that you find in disturbed and kind of low nutrition environments as well.

- Taking the soil test out here, guess what?

We're low on nutrients.

And so it is a low nitrogen environment out here.

And even, you know, we don't see this a lot.

Usually phosphorus in our soils is pretty okay, but even out here, the phosphorus is deficient.

And in some of the samples out here, the potassium was deficient as well.

So you, you don't see that a lot.

Low organic matter, low nitrogen, low phosphorus, low potassium, kind of a higher pH ah, spells trouble.

- Right?

Right.

And one of the things that we haven't talked about is the change in topography.

And so like you can see how backyards are gonna flow into other backyards.

That's right.

When we do have a rainfall and then the compaction issue.

- That's exactly right.

So another thing we can do with that soil test is do a soil texture analysis.

We can also look at soil infiltration rates, how fast the water can flow through based on that soil texture.

And if we have a slope, what are we gonna do or what do we want that builder to do?

Maybe to put in some french drains or whatever might be needed before those problems arise, before that neighbor calls you and says, Hey, your, your yard's flood my house.

Right?

- And maybe that's the ideal location for a rain garden.

I know those are getting popular, especially to help slow the flow of water.

- Absolutely.

That's a, that's a wonderful solution.

And even at a, if you're in a HOA that's more progressive, doing that at a neighborhood scale even better.

- Well this is just a reminder for homeowners who maybe are in a new housing addition and struggling with that landscape.

'cause I know it tends to be just a standard landscape, but a lot of times it will come in, but they might have issues with it.

County extension offices are always there to help.

And soil testing is a great first step.

- Remember, this is what it looked like before your house was there - Probably three months before you moved in, right?

That's right.

That's exactly - Right.

- Thank you Dr. Moss for joining me today.

- You bet.

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