Landscaping · Riverside South, ON
Landscaping in Riverside South
First garden beds, edging, mulch and river rock, gravel and stone areas and finishing work for Riverside South homes, in the newer phases and on the older streets near the river. Each bed is set to the lot’s grading plan before anything is planted.
- Landscape fabric
- Mulch
- River rock
- Decorative gravel
- Clear stone
- Concrete slabs
- Topsoil
The local picture
Landscaping in Riverside South
A newer lot comes with builder sod and a grade designed to carry water to a swale or a rear catch basin. The first beds along the house are shaped to fall away from the foundation and stop short of those features, so the drainage the lot was built with keeps working.
Marine clay under the yard holds water, and a bed that dips toward the wall turns into a wet strip by spring. River rock under the downspouts and a firm edge between bed and sod keep each surface where it belongs.
Riverside South landscaping for newer homes
From Honey Gables to the newest phases near Limebank
Korvex Construction does landscaping for Riverside South homes: first garden beds, edging, mulch and river rock, gravel and stone areas, stepping paths and yards finished after fence, patio or drainage work. Request the free on-site estimate online or at 613-880-7679, and the scope and price follow in writing.
The City puts the duty on the owner: property owners are responsible for keeping the lot grade elevations set by the original grading plan, and should make sure any contractor hired for landscaping respects the intended drainage design. Every bed we lay out here starts from that plan.
Street trees and planting on marine clay
The City’s 2017 guidelines for street trees in sensitive marine clay let small and medium trees be planted 4.5 m from a foundation, in place of the full mature height required before, where soil tests show low or medium potential for volume change and five other conditions are met. One of them is grading that sends water toward the tree’s root zone. In those areas a plan of subdivision provides at least one tree per lot and two per corner lot.
City Forestry staff prepare any direction to homeowners on tree watering or surface permeability near those trees. A bed beside a young street tree therefore keeps its surface open to water, with mulch over fabric, and leaves the soil around the tree at the level the City planted it.
Keeping soil out of the stormwater system
Riverside South’s yards drain to a chain of swales, catch basins and stormwater ponds. The Site Alteration By-law requires sediment and erosion control wherever it is needed to keep soil from reaching watercourses, neighbouring properties or City infrastructure, installed before work starts and kept until the ground is stable. On a landscaping job that means stockpiles kept off the swale, the street swept, and bare soil finished promptly in mulch, stone or sod.
At the site visit
What we check on a lot in Riverside South
- 01
The grading plan or builder paperwork, if you have it
- 02
Swales, the rear-yard catch basin and the downspout outlets
- 03
The street tree out front and the soil around it
- 04
What the builder left in the strip along the house
How we build it
How a garden bed is built to drain
A bed that keeps its shape and keeps water off the foundation is built from the bottom up. The Barrhaven front bed went in this order: soil reshaped, landscape fabric, fresh soil, mulch, finished to its edges.
- Grade first
The slope away from the house is set before fabric or mulch goes down. A bed that tilts toward the wall stays a drainage problem however good it looks.
- Keep the wall clear
Soil and mulch stop below the siding. Mulch piled against parging keeps the coating wet, and wet parging cracks.
- Edges that hold
Every bed meets a paver border, an edging or a cut lawn line, so the mulch stays in the bed and the grass stays out.
- Work around trees
Beds near mature trees are laid out around the roots, and the City’s tree rules are checked where a large tree is close.
- Locates before digging
Buried lines are marked before beds are dug out or a pad is set.
- Leave it tidy
Old soil, sod and debris leave the site with us, and the yard is cleaned up when the work is done.
- Mulch or river rockAn even layer that covers the soil, kept below the siding and the parging.Spread evenly
- Fresh soilBrought in over the fabric where the bed is planted.Raked to the slope
- Landscape fabricKeeps soil and stone apart and slows weeds; cut around trees and existing plants.Laid over the soil
- Reshaped soilWeeds and roots cleared, the surface shaped to fall away from the house.Falls away from the wall
“Vlad and his crew installed my patio in 2 days. Did excellent work and vlad answered any and all questions I asked. I highly recommend Korvex Development for any job you may require.”
Joe Ayoub · Patio installed
“Did awesome work! had them repair a leany fence and they were on time, cheap and super professional”
Josh Cohen-Collier · Leaning fence repaired
FAQ
Landscaping in Riverside South: common questions
Can I build a bed around the young street tree in front of my house?
Within limits. The tree is City property, and the City’s boulevard gardening guide keeps gardens 1.0 m from the trunk of a municipal tree and allows hand digging only. Beyond that ring, low planting and mulch are allowed within the guide’s height limits.
Do we need a permit to landscape a new Riverside South yard?
Ordinary landscaping is on the City’s list of projects that need no building permit. The grading rules still apply: the Site Alteration By-law forbids changing a lot grade or blocking a swale so that water deviates from the approved pattern and harms a neighbouring lot. We check what applies to your property before the beds are set.
Can you finish the strip along the house that the builder left bare?
Yes. Builder strips can hold stones and construction scraps, so we clear the strip first, shape it to fall away from the foundation and lay fabric. It is then finished with soil and mulch for planting, or river rock where a downspout lands, with a clean edge to the sod.
Do you work in Riverside South?
Yes. Korvex Construction builds fences, interlock, decks and backyards across Riverside South, on established streets and newer phases between the Rideau River and Bowesville Road. Most lots here follow a recent grading plan, and we set patio height and slope to keep it working. Request a free estimate or call 613-880-7679.
Book a free landscaping estimate in Riverside South
Tell us what you want built and send a few photos. We come out, look at what sits under the job, and give you the scope and the price in writing.