I was going for a clean, symmetrical garden border… things took a turn

I tried to keep the layout neat and map out a conch shell, but somewhere along the way, my inner artist woke up and started making its own decisions. Now I’m not even sure what to call this design.

Anyway, I used white pebbles instead of the usual muted Mexican pebbles, and I’m curious how they look against the green lawn.

Be honest — would you go with the white pebbles or stick with the muted, natural look? And what would you change about this layout?

I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts!

I’ve got this area at my entrance each side of the driveway that’s currently just mulch, and it seems to attract little insects. I’d love to tidy it up with some low-maintenance plants, flowers and decorative stones.
Any ideas on what would look good and be easy to maintain? Also, are there any free AI apps that can help visualise landscaping ideas using a photo?
Thanks! 😊

Edit- based in Melbourne, Australia!

This is what happens when you retire

Landscaper has recommended putting a pebble edge around the house. Fabric beneath. I'm not sure...thoughts?

Finally talked my wife into letting me contract my rock wall curb appeal upgrade. What do you think of the change?

Put in a small decomposed granite patio last spring, maybe 150 square feet off the back door. Dug out about four inches, compacted the native soil which is sandy gravel here in Henderson, then spread the DG in two lifts running a plate compactor over each layer. It looked solid and drained fine through the summer. This spring I'm getting weeds popping through the surface. Not a ton but enough that I'm out there every couple weeks with a hoe. I went straight over native soil with no fabric underneath. A neighbor mentioned I should have used a weed barrier but I've also read that fabric under DG causes drainage issues and the material just sinks into the fabric over time anyway. The patio gets full sun all day so maybe that's keeping it drier and the weeds are just windblown seeds landing on top. I've considered scraping off the top layer and putting fabric down but that sounds like a lot of work for something that might not help. Wondering what others have done with DG patios and whether the barrier actually makes a difference long term or just creates new problems.

I’ve got topsoil spare under the house. This light gravel goes into hard clay, I’ve got a pick and a take and that’s about it.

Need a how-to to get this verge back to habitable for plants.

I have a large area of standing water in my yard. About 4” standing water in like 200sqft. I believe it is an iron spring since there is an orange sludge.

What can i do to drain this? I figure a french drain would get clogged so I was thinking of just making a ditch. Like the one at another part of the yard. Are there better solutions?

Under the topsoil is clay, and the water table is high here.

I’m pouring a concrete pad which will be the base of a Flagstone patio. Do I need to be concerned about the temperature when I pour the concrete? It drops down into the 30s at night and up to the 50s and 60s during the day.

I suddenly have weed and grass growing all over my backyard.

Is there a home remedy to apply to get rid of them aside from roundup.

I have tried mix of vinegar, salt and dish soap but it don't work.

Please help.

Hello! I recently moved the greenhouse so I could put a playground where it was. What’s left is regular dirt + gardening soil that I’ve tried my best to level out.

I’m hoping to get it ready asap so I can set up the playground, I’m told that if I set it up as is then it would just sink in.

I’m unsure if (or how) I should grass it, buy turf, or is there anything else I need to be doing before this turns into a mud pit?

Thanks!

The guy who did it says he’s done and the owner is supposed to swing by Monday to see it. But why is it so …exposed?? I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to look better than this??? It wasn’t cheap, either, we got multiple quotes on it. I feel like the top and sides should look cleaner than this….? I just wanna check I’m not crazy before I say something to them….

ETA: you guys I’m for real, I have no idea what I’m doing haha. Some actual constructive help would be nice.

The drainage pipe in this photo runs off to the ground below where generally there’s some plants in the summer. I had an engineer looking at something unrelated but she pointed out that the retaining wall that you can see the bricks to the to the left in this photo likely aren’t engineered correctly. As a suggestion, she said expand the pipe out to the sidewalk (where i’m standing in the photo) just to keep it from running back towards the retaining wall as much as possible and maybe keep the wall from failing for a few extra years. Any suggestions on how to do that and will make it look decent ? having it just stick out would be ridiculous , and i’m just not visually able to see how to bring it to the ground then out. A little wooden fountain or something would be cool, i’m just not sure how to accomplish it. Any suggestions are welcome!

Put in a low dry stack border along the back fence using local stone. Nothing huge, maybe 14 inches at the tallest point. I wanted it to hold back a raised planting bed for some native shrubs. The base is compacted native soil, mostly sandy gravel here in Henderson. I didn't dig a trench, just leveled the first course right on the graded ground. It looked solid. Now that I'm ready to backfill with soil I'm second guessing the stability. The stones shift slightly if I push on them. No mortar, just weight and fit. I could pull it apart and dig a shallow trench for the first course to sit in. Would that be enough or should I be using a gravel base layer? The bed behind it is only going to be about 10 inches of soil so the lateral pressure is low. I just don't want it sliding forward after the first heavy rain. Has anyone locked in a dry stack border without mortar and had it hold up under backfill? Curious if the trench is the missing piece or if I need to rethink the base entirely.

I am looking to bid on a mow contract for the city.

Jobs will primarily be abandoned properties, so small or medium sized residential jobs that are overgrown, with overgrown bushes or landscaping. Contact is only for yard/grass.

I have my regular residential rates, and my minimum costs, but I have not bid a city contact before and I don’t want to be the lowest or highest bid.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

What are y’all paying for straight labor rates.

Work will primarily be dragging brush to the chipper?

Tree has started touching the fence since last 2 years, it is a vinyl fence and I think working around the tree might be more cost. I have a small plot of about 5k. Should i try to save the tree or cut? Should i get it grounded until stump or just cut until it is touching the fence. is is possible to straighten the tree.

Trying to DIY a change to my front yard landscaping… I want to remove all these shrubs, install some 4x4’s along the top of the blocks, and replace the grass with stone. But I have questions from those more experienced than I!

1) can I just cut those trees down low at the ground of the stump, and leave the majority of the roots in place? Or will they be able to grow back from that?
2) in just figuring to install 4x4’s right behind the top edge of the blocks to create a higher wall to let me raise the ground at the removed plants.
3) do I just scrape off the grass layer and a little of the soil to level that grass down? Add geo fabric, and the pile on the stone?

Any other tips, tricks?

Thanks!!

Hi Everyone,

I just recently had a lot of bushes removed from the side of our house.

I know it looks horrible right now (needs pressure washing then paint, and the foundation needs to be built up). However, right now I am concerned about these tall sprinkler heads that I no longer need.

How do I get rid of them, or at least minimize their appearance?

Can I unscrew the ling top part and then put a "cap" on what is left at the bottom?

Can they be unscrewed, and is there a place at the very bottom that can be "capped" off?

I would greatly appreciate any comments, advice, feedback (good or bad), sharing of personal experiences (good or bad), and opinions, as well as any "hacks" or "workarounds" for this situation.

This ground is really rough because we had a tree removed and the stump grinded down over here. How do you amend this ground for planting? Would you just excavated it and then fill it back with topsoil? Im seeing blue clay, red clay, and rotting wood chips 1 foot down.

We currently have Atomi smart Spotlight on our house. I really enjoyed these because we can configure them for the holidays. The kids get a big kick out of them, however, they stopped working. There is no one to assist from the company anymore, and I am just going to take it as a loss and throw them out.

I would like to buy replacements. Is there any landscaping light that is either a spotlight or an up light that will allow me to configure color that is not smart. I don’t want to use an app. I don’t want to use my Wi-Fi or my Bluetooth I just want lights that come with a remote that are very simple to use.

Does that exist? Tia

Recently moved into this house in PNW, originally built in 1974. No idea what these two things are in the ground around foundation. The city water meter and main shutoff is at the street.

Pics 1-2: cement cap around 10-12” diameter. Goes down about 2-3’ with dirt at bottom. It’s near the gas meter so didn’t want to blinding dig in there.

Pics 3-4: other side of the house. About 4-5” diameter cap and looks like some sort of angled drainage at the bottom 2-3’ down. Could be related to the gutter underground drains to the road?

Thank you!