We have a dead tree in our yard we would like to remove so we had a company come out to give us a quote and for fun I asked about removing some yew bushes. They gave us a quote of $900 for the tree and $600 for the bushes.

A little info. We bought 3 months ago in Boston. Our long term plans include removing these bushes with a lot of sweat equity but was going to wait until we had more of a landscaping vision.

Thoughts on the quote? Has anyone dug these up themselves? How much work was it? Should we wait until we have more of a vision before taking them out?

I swear, you can spend money on good soil, fertilizer, and the best grass seed, and your lawn will still find a way to look terrible. Meanwhile, the weeds grow like they pay the mortgage. 😂 What’s the most ridiculous lawn or landscaping problem you’ve ever spent money trying to fix?

I work for a campus with a crew of 6 others, have been there 5 years. My background is nursery work and agriculture. I now do design, planting and upkeep of plants. We have a crew lead who does a mix of everything, an irrigation tech who mostly just turns on irrigation in spring and winterizes in fall (at least from what I’ve noticed), a couple mowers (although we all take turns), and a chemical guy. 95% of things that we plant seems to die within a month. We are constantly replacing plants from drought death. It’s a waste of money and makes me angry because the time/ labor spent planting. I am wondering if this is normal for every landscape company? Even drought tolerant plants will die quickly. The supervisor says that drip irrigation is useless because squirrels chew through it yet every single bed we plant in has older drip irrigation, it’s just not turned on, or possibly not on for long enough. The only thing the supervisor cares about is the grass, every single blade of grass has a sprinkler hitting it, yet we spend thousands replacing plants and they cannot seem to understand that shrubs also need irrigation. I’ve never seen such incompetence. When a sprinkler head breaks, if it’s for a bed, they will cap it, thus the entire bed of plants dies. I feel irrigation aspect needs to be contracted out although I’m not the boss. Is this an issue for all landscaping companies? The large costly projects sometimes I have started to wrap with soaker hose and buying a timer, my supervisor called me stupid behind my back because it looked bad. Yet I’m not paid to do irrigation, I just hate to see everything die.

Hired a licensed contractor to install 45 degree herringbone with all 6x9 pieces. This part is a side yard walkway against the stucco of the house. They mentioned the ripples in the stucco are preventing a straight from being flush. I get that. I know some people put a strip of rock for drainage against the house. Previously I had concrete but it was installed with the home in 1954 so it blended into the stucco.

My bigger concern is I feel like some of the cutting can be better. Or am I being picky? Again this is a licensed company that does good work that I’ve seen. They’re using a wet saw and I think for the smaller pieces, a handheld grinder.

I am a DYIer who just finished my stairs! They look great from the street but... when I walk out the front door, its obvious they are not parallel to the house. When I started the run of stairs, I made them parallel to the driveway. I read that I should make the correction on the landing so they maintain being parallel to the driveway and move them to the yellow string so they are parallel to the house. Does this make sense? Should I make the whole correction on the landing or should I cut a small amount of several pavers to make it less obvious. Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks, Ron

I’m going to pull up all the pea gravel and lay down a weed barrier, but does anyone have any thoughts on making the area around the AC a little nicer? What kind of barrier do I use to separate the grass from the gravel? I live in South Florida. Disregard the sandbags. I have a dog that was very determined to bust through the bottom of the PVC fence at one point.

What could be wrong eith my lime plant. It is about 10 ft high. I live in west of Phoenix.

My hibiscus plant also shows same pattern. Adding the photo of hibiscus ...

Im starting my first landscaping job in a week as a golf course groundskeeper. Its very rainy where I live. I generally prefer a poncho over a typical rain jacket (more comfortable, better circulation so I don't get sweaty underneath, etc) but I'm worried about the billowiness being a liability when doing tasks like using a blower, string trimmer, picking up balls, etc. Should I pick up a traditional rain jacket or is a poncho okay?

And I'm again thinking I might need drainage. Each section is 16.5" above grade. 3 tiers total. Im thinking maybe not do it on all tiers, but definitely the bottom? Thoughts? (No, the top layer is not complete and is more some timbers sitting there until I tie them in... But sitting there so I could decide if I put a smaller fourth level in... Probable with just 8" above grade).

Are there any issues planting a Tri-color European beech tree near a house (within 10 feet)? I don't want it to grow over 10 feet, so I would have to keep it pruned, but I'm wondering if this is bad for a home foundation. I'm getting mixed answers through my own research.

New homeowner looking to identify what kind of tree this is/how to trim it properly? It blooms white in the spring.

This thing was in the planter next to the wall with my neighbor. when I moved in. It keeps coming back in several places along the wall. What are the chances it's one giant plant instead of several small ones? If so, should I just dig it all out so I don't have to keep fighting it? Thank you!

My summer project has been clearing an overgrown area at the back of my yard. I'm hoping to put a fence in place next summer but the area itself is a slope. The property line also doesn't go all the way back so I wouldn't be able to clear to the "top" of the slope.

Would it be crazy to try and DIY a small retaining wall (70' x 20") before getting a fence installed to remove the slope? Or will a wooden privacy fence be able to handle anything that might start growing/shifting up next if i just level the area?

Hi, I want to add mulch along the side of the here to get grass off the wall and also to raise the earth (there's a dip where it slopes into the foundation). Does mulching make sense here? I got a chipdrop as I wanted it for other things but there's so much I think I want to add a mulch layer around the house. Does edging and adding a strip of mulch here make sense?

We paid some landscapers to dethatch, top soil, and seed our front lawn a couple weeks ago. After a closer look at their work a couple days later, I’m seeing a bunch of trash in it like pieces of plastic bag, hard plastic shards, glass shards, and metal pieces in it. The picture attached is just a small amount of what I was able to pick out but the soil is an inch thick on a small yard and there’s a bunch more in it. This just doesn’t seem right. What should I do at this point?

There used to be a pond here when I got this place, that’s why the dip down is there.

My goal is to put a rock patch around the house starting with this back side of the house. This part of the house is a bump out. My question/wondering is, how much space do I leave under that bump out section if I’m doing a rock walkway.

I am just a diy homeowner and have not done really any landscaping. Looking for help or guidance on how to do this rock walkway.

TIA.

Has anyone been successful with eliminating reed canary grass (i think?) in a wetland?

The attached photos are a spot of land at my new house. Underneath the grass, the ground is very very wet, you definitely want to enter this area with waterproof boots!

I’m only one person and don’t have access to much outside of my ride on mower, which I’m nervous to try in this area anyway as it is so wet.

I’m thinking maybe I could try smothering it under cardboard for a season? I’d like to plant some different native species here and one day have a path or small boardwalk throughout so I can enjoy the land.

Any advice is appreciated!

Kids' sand pit, made from pre-treated timber, sitting on a damp patio in soggy NW England.

Sand pit has no solid base, just a weed-supressant permeable membrane stapled into it.

TL;DR - What can I do to raise the frame of this open-based sand pit off the ground, improving drainage but keeping it safe for kids?

###########

In previous years (with a different sand pit) we've used shed base tiles (shown) to elevate the empty sandpit over winter, with a garden furniture cover over the top.

This is still an option, but I'd ideally like to keep the sand, rather than having to dispose of it.

If I place the whole thing on the shed base tiles with the sand still in, I suspect it will weigh down the fabric in the large holes, eventually causing it to tear.

I would ideally like a solution that I can leave in place all year round, so it will need to be safe and comfortable for the kids to play on.

I'm wondering if there's something solid I can lay on top of the shed base, with smaller drainage holes than the shed base, like some kind of sheet of plastic mesh perhaps?

I’m going to pull up all the pea gravel and lay down a weed barrier, but does anyone have any thoughts on making the area around the AC a little nicer? What kind of barrier do I use to separate the grass from the gravel? I live in South Florida. Disregard the sandbags. I have a dog that was very determined to bust through the bottom of the PVC fence at one point.

Can anyone help me figure out what’s going on with my Mugo Pine tree? I just planted several of them this spring and they’ve been doing well. They all had new growth over the summer. They are pretty close together so have the same type of soil and were watered the same but one of them has turned mostly golden/light brown in color. The others have a little brown but mostly green yet. They are in Minnesota and temps have recently started dropping into the 40’s as we gear up for winter. Any thoughts on what might be going on with this guy?