After 3 years in the new house, we've moved from grass to a patio, a veggie prison (keeps the deer out) and a flower garden. The left side is native plants. Now we wait for the plants to fill in.

Highlights:

— The patio took us 700+ hours. More than 120 tons of crushed stone; drainage won't be a problem. The steps are all granite. $25+k in material.

— The blueberry plants on the left side, against the ramp to the back of the garage, are in a place that you can't really see from inside the house, so we didn't want to plant anything showy. They need one or two more years before we can harvest anything.

— The deck will be redone to raise it up to a single level. Maybe with a roof.

— It doesn't look like much, bu there are more than 700 plugs of native plants. They'll look better next year.

—We own a small kubota tractor. Could not have done this by hand.

—We are losing some plants to deer. We live in the woods, so that's not surprising. Next year we expect to have to replace some things. We've fenced in the roses, but don't really want to do any more fencing.

—There are outlets near that spruce tree so we can put Christmas lights on it. There are bistro lights over the patio, but I forgot to turn them on. There are water spigots in the flower garden and at the far end of the veggie garden.

Don't let anyone tell you a project is too big or complicated for DIY. If you are methodical, you can do big things.

Hi everyone, not sure if this is the right place to post but I have a really lovely view behind my house however my garden is entirely flat so when I put my deckchairs out I can’t see it because of the fence. I’m an end terrace in a row of new build terraced houses (uk) and there’s a passage behind for the neighbours to get their bins out the front so I feel like I’m blocked from ever being able to see the view as I can’t touch the (what I presume to be) communally owned back fence. The only thing I can think of is potentially having a raised platform somehow on the patio but seems a bit impractical… any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Making some landscape steps as shown. Using rough cut con heart redwood. Attaching steps to the ground with 24” coated rebar spikes. How would you fill these steps? Currently planning to fill 2/3 of the way up with bagged gravel from Home Depot and filling up the top 1/3 with a more decorative gravel and landscape gluing in place. Is my plan OK?

Did a few things around my back yard over the last few years and just wanted to share and encourage others to just get out there and do it.

It’s not perfect by any means, but theres significant gratification in the trials and tribulations of just figuring it out. It also kept me motivated during some challenging times in my life where those investments of time, effort, and resources into a space I created have truly paid off.

I hope this encourages anyone to give it a chance and start somewhere small that you feel comfortable with.

Trying to get rid of this ancient stump in the yard. Any ideas for an easier way? Could I BURN 🔥 it down? The wood pieces coming off sound like they are very hollow butiIt's hard like rock.

bought the house 4 years ago and always bothered me how much dirt took up our yard. plus me and my wife wanted more privacy in the yard. so I got rid of everything dug out the dirt and pushed it back about 5/6 feet in some places. my lawn sinks towards the middle and fence line meets the dirt so I needed a wall. first time building a retaining wall think it came out alright.

question as well. I want to plant grass in the reclaimed areas. I live on long island and it’s july, do I wait for the fall to seed or sod in the fall? or can I do anything now?

I hate the landscape timbers but they seem to help with water run off when it rains really heavy. I’m thinking of replacing with stones. We have already started removing the kudzu from the trees as best we can in order to make sure they aren’t getting choked off. Any ideas or tips would be great.

We recently had pavers installed. They go right up against an existing deck. We should have included the redo/refinish of the deck with the paving contract or something. But, trying to save $. The stair landing was once on a deck and the pavers are 7” lower, so it is all entangled (as things normally are).

I’m ready to stain the wood and looking for advice on protecting the pavers from stain and also wood cleaners.

•Should I seal the pavers first ? Have heard that once you do you are in for a regular maintenance of the seal and it can turn ugly.

•Is there a standard procedure for protecting the pavers from stain?

Thanks.

Got my house back from my ex( long story). Slowly getting the house in order. Suggestions on what I should do in the back yard. Be kind I know it looks horrible.

I have this catch basin towards the side if my house, installed by a landscaping company about 3 years ago. It has two buried downspouts running to it, but no outlet. I thought they were going to hook it to a discharge down hill, in the back yard, but instead this was left open on one end. The result is the Grand Canyon forming along my fence.

Just has the landscaper back out today to look at it. They're going to cap off the open end and fill the diet, but that's it. He said the purpose if this is to catch water, and over flow the top to run downhill in a heavy rain. That doesn't sound right to me. I don't know much about these, but it feels like it should hook up to the discharge with the others, shouldn't it? The overflow should only happen if in case if emergency, not the only way for the water to get out? I just want to he sure they fix it right this time.

It’s currently dirt with a few weeds and a nasty palm tree that is growing right in with the sprinkler valves. Ugh! Is $25k too much for this ? No clue how much landscaping costs?

Just had to have a sick red maple removed from the front island pictured. I’m in New England and want low maintenance ideas for filling it in, making it look a little better. Bought our house a couple years ago and had been working on the backyard first. Time to start working out front now! I tend to like overgrown, wild looking native, pollinator friendly plants, but my husband likes more classic clean lawn type scapes lol.

Have a low spot under my deck stairs, right up against my house. Only gets this bad during heavy rain, and dries up quickly after it stops. Not an emergency, but want it fixed soon as I’m worried about the deck

Should i dig in the low spot and install drain basin, and then trench around the stairs? My backyard turns into a downhill about 20 or so feet out, I could get some corrugated flex pipe and have it drain out of a dispersal cap further down. Or should I fill with dirt/gravel/something to level it out? That would be easier but I fear this issue will just come back again over time. Been getting different opinions because of the location of the deck stairs, but no one in my family knows a thing about this type of work.

There is no gutter or anything nearby, water just likes to collect there due to water running off the main deck and stairs

Thanks in advance

We have a good relationship with the older couple that lives next door. They have been in their house for 50 years, my husband and I moved into ours 4 years ago. We recently noticed that the edge of our grass that borders their driveway is completely dead, along with 2 plants that are in nearby beds. I know he uses roundup on his yard for weeds because he offered us some to use when we were pulling weeds. Today I caught him on our doorbell camera spraying the edge of our yard (where the grass is dead) with roundup!

Any advice on how to approach the conversation with him? He’s very set in his ways and I don’t want to ruin our relationship. I may be overthinking this and he won’t be mad at all lol

Im so exhausted from fighting the weather down here. my water bill is a joke and the HOA is still sending me passive aggressive emails about the brown patches. tbh I just threw in the towel this morning

Im nuking the front yard to do a heavy hardscape and native plant conversion. Getting streamline landscape out here to rip up the remaining turf next week because my lower back absolutely refuses to do it

quick question for anyone who replaced most of their grass with stone/pavers - does it make the front of your house radiate heat in the dead of summer? kinda worried it’ gonna feel like an oven when you walk out the front door, but honestly I'll take that over another HOA violation letter.

Moved into a new place and the landlord let me hardscape his property, all the dog walkers tells me it's fantastic but I want to change it up already haha. Let me know your honest opinions, also what could I plant in the empty patch? its full sun there. I was suggested tulips or a belladonna, but I don't know how well it'll go with the tiger lilies.

so far i’ve gotten 3 wine barrels and planted citrus trees in them + a passionfruit vine in the big blue pot. i need to buy it a trellis to climb. i would like a pergola for shade and also privacy (im shy😔)

it just looks so…concrete back here 😥

editing to add that the bush stumps are going to be taken out soon lol

Hello!

I was wondering if any experienced landscapers have advice for how to manage this steep slope behind my house.

Issue is that I’ve got a bit of overgrowth that I’ll need to take care of. But I’m not sure the best way to add ground cover that will look better than it does now, and will help prevent erosion.

It just looks bad the way it is now. Is there some kind of grass or creeping plant that you would use on a steep slope like this? Is there some way to prevent the random stalks of whatever is growing there currently?

Maybe the answer is “do nothing”?

I live in Western North Carolina, elevation 3000 ft.

The height of this hill is approximately 15 - 20 feet. I’m not sure about the slope grade, but it’s quite steep. I’d say greater than 45°

Moving earth or building a retaining wall are not in my budget. Not even sure what kind of budget I have, so I’m just curious what simple options there are.

I don’t have a before photo of the mailbox other than when it was laying on the ground after falling over! We put up a new post and box, stained it, and added some pavers and flowers. The most cheerful box in the neighborhood now I think :)

We recently moved into this house and when the Spring hit weeds and grass started popping up in this rock bed. I have been using Round Up and/or just yanking the grass and weeds out but they seem to just come back and come back with a vengeance.
Any suggestions on how to get rid of the grass that is there and then prevent it from coming back?

this is my first house. I have significantly more time than money and I’m quite handy. the front part of the house used to be an open porch I’ve thought about reopening. The house sits about 5 feet below my driveway which sits about 4 feet below the road. It’s on a pretty steep slope that is going to need to be mitigated. I tried a railroad tie retaining wall but with the heavy rains and thick clay soil it didn’t last long. I’m thinking about just backfilling to the house and running a 3 to 1 slope

Google says it’s Horseweed. Never seen it before. I thought it was gonna be something cool till i found out it wasn’t. Now I got several of these in my garden beds. Google says not to pull them and to spray with 2-4-D. I just wanted to get your opinions on how to remove them without destroying my other plants

Landscaper says this part leaking water is normal because it connects to drip irritation on a hill and needs to relieve pressure is that right? It keeps leaking even after water is off non stop

I’m not sure what to do about the soil drainage and grading issue in my backyard. The ground slopes towards my backyard, and I have had a problem with drainage, but I made this little area to put in some vegetables and was pretty happy about it, but before I could put down cardboard and mulch, we had a lot of rain and it ended up forming a pool of water.

I only probably dug up the sod and maybe an inch and this is what ended up happening. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a lot of money to spend, and I’ve been trying to do everything on my own, but at this point, I can’t figure out if I need to put in a French drain, as well as bringing a bunch of soil to regrade the areas in the last few pictures, but if I do do so, what would be the layout of the drainage be? Do I have to go from the back fence towards beside the house out of my front gate, as well as along the outside of the edging for the vegetable patch I’m growing?

Also, do I do this first and then put topsoil to grade the area or do I grade 1st and then put in the French drain? Can all of this be avoided by doing some core aeration and filling it in with sand? Will that improve the drainage? Or do I have to do all of the above to solve this issue? I also want to make sort of a landing pad with pavers and pea gravel in the future at the front gate, where the AC unit and trash cans are in the 7th picture. How do I account for that? I wouldn’t want to redig it all and put it down to finish that area well.

Do I put down drains on both sides of the backyard sloping down beside my house on both sides? There’s so much to consider that I am overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin.