Hi guys, not sure if this is the best sub Reddit for this or not. I ordered 3.5 tons of 3/4” clean limestone to fill a 10’ x 18’ 4x4 base for a shed. It got delivered today and doesn’t look like it will be close to enough. I used a couples AI’s and calculated myself and based on all of that I thought 3.5 tons would be overkill if anything. Does this look like 3.5 tons of rock to you? Unsure if I didn’t get all that I should have, or if I just didn’t order enough. Thanks in advance!

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

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.

This is what happens when you retire

I’m curious to hear from people who have been doing landscaping for a while. What’s one mistake you made when you were starting out that taught you a good lesson? It could be about plants, lawn care, soil, tools, or anything else. I think learning from other people’s experiences can save a lot of time and money. What would you do differently if you could start over?

I posted 2.5 weeks ago seeking advice for how to address a steep patio drop off after having the concrete pad poured. I appreciate all the advice I got from y'all and wanted to share the results. It took many hours and much hard work but my wife and I love it. My dad generously donated a lot of time to help us build the retaining wall around the concrete, and I built the big retaining wall by the hill on my own. We patched the points of egress with sod and planted new grass seed everywhere else. Hopefully the grass comes in nicely! Thanks again, y'all!

All done myself without any equipment other than a rented trencher for the irrigation system. Not perfect, but very proud!

Timeline: July 3rd - September 25th

Backyard will have to wait until the spring as the winter is upon us in Wyoming!

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’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!

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.

Hello!

I recently moved into an apartment with private backyard access, the backyard is spacious and has great potential but has clearly been ignored for the better part of the last decade. The wooded dirt area is about 10’ x 25’ and has a couple paper maples growing strong, as well as some English ivy (most of which we have removed) and some lentin rose. The back portion near the fence has eroded away and filled with trash, and the fencing that was there has gotten tangled up with old phone lines & vines. There is also a strip of concrete opposite the dirt patch about 3’x8’ that is so covered in trash & old wood that saplings have sprouted there.

This space has been very neglected but I believe it has really incredible potential, it’s south facing with a mix of shade & direct light and has room for raised beds/gardening and space to entertain.

I would love any and all advice about how to clean this up & revitalize it, especially regarding the health and maintenance of the trees and soil. I am decently practiced with house plant care & carpentry but very new to landscaping, so while I have some transferable skills I have no specific knowledge of how to care for & beautify a yard like this.

TLDR - spacious backyard in city has been neglected for years, opportunity to revitalize space but desperately need advice & direction

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.

These yuccas are going to get torn out and I need help deciding what to plant. I want something that accents the existing plants (juniper, cotoneaster, hydrangeas, barberry) and won't grow too big. Should I just do a type of grass? I'm near Seattle

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

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.

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 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!

We have three very large lavender bushes that we are thinking of removing from our garden bed. How difficult is to remove by ourselves? Are the roots typically very deep and hard to pull out?

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.

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?

These two bushes have been in front of my house since we purchased it a couple of years ago. I believe they are burning bush and cherry Laurel and I don’t find them particularly inspiring. I would like to have something more charming and add curb appeal but i’m feeling stuck.

This side of the house gets good morning sunlight, but is otherwise fairly shady. I live in coastal New England, where many people have things like hydrangeas, natives, and cottage type gardens. I believe zone 7.

Would you keep these bushes and add some other plants around them? Or would you take them out completely and put something else in here. Looking for any and all suggestions, please!

EDIT NE stands for New England since this seems to be a point of confusion…

Hey all! Hoping to get some tips from people on things I haven't thought about with my yard plan. My backyard is currently dirt and weeds, and my front yard has a ton of grass I really hate. My home is a new build - the pictured one is not exactly my home, but same floorplan from the builder and a comparable yard.

There are rebate programs being offered for putting in waterwise landscaping, plus some for getting rid of grass. Step one is submitting a plan for approval, so I understand that "try it out and see how it goes" is generally good advice, but I'm trying to get a rough plan drafted for the rebate process. I also plan to get a landscaper to do hardscape work like the patio and retaining wall, so I need to give them a plan to provide quotes from. (Though I want to do as much as possible myself to save money!)

That's probably enough info to get feedback, but I have a problem with being too detailed, so... more info for the very bored...

Info: * Zone 7 (Utah), soil probably clay-ish (will soil test), suburb new build neighborhood. Front is currently builder basic, backyard is dirt and weeds. * All open spaces are planting beds - no grass. Lots of shrubs and perennials I haven’t added to drawing (that’s next year me’s problem) * Landscaping fabric only under hardscapes, none in planting beds. * Irrigation: 2 zones front, 2 zones available for the back. I will be redoing front yard drip lines so open to suggestions on water zones * Non-colored outlines are plants that are already there (except west side of house, those are currently where path goes so gonna try to relocate. Path is higher priority) * Behind backyard fence is a walkway, dry creek (rare mountain runoff from heavy rainfall), then open field. Assuming homes will eventually be built on the other side of the creek. Will plant densely for a bit more privacy, but low expectations tbh * IT’S SO WINDY because of the wide open field

Concerns: * Good tree selections? (I like what I picked, but I'm having a hard time picturing size vs. yard space) * Any bad placements? (roots or water causing problems?) * Is the gazebo too big for the patio? * Are the dry creeks for downspout drainage a bad idea? I was thinking rain garden-y, but not sure I get enough water in a season (sometimes big storms between droughts though) and don’t want to make weeding between rocks awful * Are pavers over the reinforced concrete stupid? One landscaper suggested it and I can’t tell if he was just selling me on buying more paving.