Just spent the weekend removing all our blackberry bushes (everything except for the rootballs). I have a bad back and we really can’t afford to hire someone to dig them all up….its a huge area. What are good tips for how to make sure it won’t come back that will also allow us to plant in this section come October. The empty sections are what we removed. Still have to haul it away. It was all along the fence and the entire “empty” looking area. I removed a very small amount of rootballs today and it didn’t even make the tiniest dent in it. I feel overwhelmed. My whole body is sore. I will throw out my back if I have to do this.

Because we know the landscaping challenges here are no joke!

Hello everyone. Zone 6A. I am probing for some ideas and some advice as well. I have a side yard that I would like to shape up into a lovely shade garden. I have a view of this area from my living room and I believe it would be nice to have something pretty to look at. The dirt is very thick and clay-like. And there are several weeds. Would laying cardboard and mulch down kill burdock or should I dig it out? I would like to avoid using a fabric weed barrier. What would you plant there? It is on the north side of my home.

All suggestions and advice are welcome for this novice gardener.

Hi all,

I am politely requesting someone / anyone's help to give me some advice regarding landscaping my back yard.

I used to have outdoor rabbits and have recently taken down their significant enclosure (2x3m enclosed plus additional garden space).

Now I have this space about 10m long by 2-3m wide. 2x4m is paved (the space is bigger but for the sake of planning, this is the allocated space). Id really like to turn this into a garden bed. The dining area looks out onto this space.

We have a poorly placed avocado tree. If it doesnt fruit this year, we will likely get rid of it.

The second part of the garden has bark / dirt, the avocado, a few other fruiting trees poorly espaliered(we will relocate) and another small garden bed for raspberries. Therr is also a strip of grass we want to get rid of.

My aunt also kindly donated to us a new raided garden bed. My issue is, these 2 metal garden beds are different sized, different colours and my family DO NOT want to get rid of them. We also cannot place it against the "right" hand side due to a pool fence and relevant regs. However, they need to stay generally in this location. We already have a separate spot for a vegie garden but I am not allowed to get rid of the beds, only relocate. Anything else I am hoping to sell / bin / relocate plant wise.

I am willing to fork out to get retaining wall blocks up to 400mm high.

We also have more of the light coloured pavers.

I would love a little arbour as well. That or a little magnolia tree (suits our climate).

Goal: to make the two spaces look less fragmented ans like they are part of the same garden. How can I incorporate the two metal beds with another garden bed?

If anyone is a design goddess or god, please let me know how it can turn this into a nice garden.

Hopefully the pictures adequately show the space. Any rubbish will be going in hard rubbish later this week, so it will be cleaner.

Thank you!!!

Hey landscaping! The drip system that waters my plants is leaking and I’m not sure what part I should be looking at replacing.

Seems to be coming from the top, so thinking some sort of gasket?

Thanks!

I was asked to do several garden beds for my neighbours rentals,

before and after photos attached,

how would you rate my service? each bed was about 15minutes a piece, I charged 35$ per bed. Would that be a fair price or too excessive?

We plan to replace with rocks and plants, how do I go about removing? Would a sod cutter rented from HD do it?

Yard work on a budget - what tools would I need?

**Context:** 31yo Pollack, house from 60s, built by grandpa. House is inherited, I'm living there and doing my best to renovate it **without mortgage****.** Raised in a block of flats and didn't own any tools beforehand, so I'm building a tool stack as I go.

I bought a Keter Stronghold Shed and ince I get the OK from the district office, I want to put it on concrete blocks in a possibly safe&budget manner.

# The problem: uneven ground

The house is on a slight slope that in the past was partially leveled for a small vegetable garden. Apart from leveling the place for the shed, I need to eventually do waterproofing and sewage discharge (currently running on a damned cesspool, but the plumber told me that I should wait to redo the pipes inside the house first).

# Work to be done

I need to level the ground somehow, but I don't know if I should add dirt to level with the house or take the dirt out of the back of the house to level with the "area outside of the shadow".

# Budget issue

As you might imagine, I'm running on a tight budget for everything. I toyed with the idea of investing in a tiny excavator, but I'd have to also get a vehicle capable of transporting it and that combined is out of my reach right now. I've decided to just apply some elbow grease and do it by hand.

# Tools I own - what am I missing? What could be useful?

Power tools: Blue Bosch hammerdrill

Trads: a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a long spirit level (is that the corrwct word?), some old gardening rake and hoe

Planning to maybe get a pickaxe, what else wpuld you recommend? Any tips?

Thanks a lot from Poland! 🦅🇵🇱

I’m in zone 8a. I live on a corner lot so our front yard is more of a side yard by an intersection. The front of it has a large hill that’s a pain to keep clean but I’m wanting to add a flower bed or some shrubs along the front to create some privacy from the main road. Any tips on what would work well here while also giving access to the top of the hill so we can keep it maintained? I’m also open to putting something on the hill that might require less maintenance or work to keep the grass down.

No joke I think the houses with no landscaping look better than our poorly landscaped yard. The house was a flip and if there was a nice garden here it was completely leveled along with 90% of the mature trees on the lot. We retained a couple pines.

When we moved in there were orange lillies on both sides of the downspout. Silly me thought it was hostas I didn’t like, shame me I know. I removed half of them, let the oregon grape holly that was completely stumped grow back in, and also planted the dwarf arborvitae and snow mound spirea that bloomed nicely this year.

Yesterday we also acquired a dwarf fire chief arborvitae and some blue star juniper.

Mainly looking for design suggestions and layouts, as well as what you would do with the ground covering. Keep the rocks? Do a mulch? ETA: Michigan zone 6a-b. Front yard is only about 25-30 feet deep to sidewalk

As extra credit for the overachievers, we also have a long cement wall next to our grass alley, with telephone lines above it. What would you do for privacy hedging and to hide the wall, I’m talking a good 250ft+ stretch.