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BonoMan posted:Ha I was just coming in to say both "it's really more of a convenience thing" and " actually using it near the asphalt is probably just going to ruin it." So you have a weed problem too. Centepedegrass is very susceptible to 2,4-D in the spring, but it should still work this time of year.
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Jun 10, 2020 17:26
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Are you within range of an electric outlet, or are you looking for a gas/battery tool?Motronic posted:I totally agree with the reasoning behind this, I just don't need an edger at the beginning of the season or for periodic maintenance because once it's been edged I'm keeping the air gap with the string trimmer. Being able to do that so that you aren't bringing out an additional tool several times a year is really landscaper 101 type stuff. If at your home you don't mind having the extra tool so that you don't have to be as aggressive and timely with a string trimmer I get it - it's not a fun job. I agree with you. In my case I've got sidewalks at the bottom of a sloped lawn, so maintaining that gap can be a bit of a bear sometimes. Amusingly I've seen some lawn/landscape YouTubers argue the opposite, with one (GCI Turf) going so far as to say "if I catch a guy on one of my crews using a string on hardscape he is fired on the spot" because he says the edge quality is so much better which seems pretty ridiculous to me. I suspect that this is one of those things where if you ask any two landscapers what the best technique is you are going to get two answers no matter what. I actually prefer using the trimmer when I can both because it's faster and because I like walking along the hardscape side with the trimmer at like a 60' angle to kind of "taper" the edge -- make it cleanly defined where it meets the hardscape, but overhanging a little to make it look a bit more organic. E: also to what you were saying about using the string to trench, I think that's very true but only if you aren't rehabbing an area. Like my lawn was pretty hard and compacted in places and the trimmer was never going to carve a good gap. Now that I've maintained it for a while and the soil is a lot more workable a string can do a much more reasonable job of clearing it out. Again, it is probably a very situational thing. To that end, if you aren't looking at a very large area you might actually get better use out of a manual half-moon edger to chop it out instead. That will be useful in a lot of other places as well. Hubis fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Jun 10, 2020 |
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Jun 10, 2020 18:15
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Hubis posted:Amusingly I've seen some lawn/landscape YouTubers argue the opposite, with one (GCI Turf) going so far as to say "if I catch a guy on one of my crews using a string on hardscape he is fired on the spot" because he says the edge quality is so much better which seems pretty ridiculous to me. I suspect that this is one of those things where if you ask any two landscapers what the best technique is you are going to get two answers no matter what. Yikes. Unless this guy's entire job list are elaborately hardscaped literal mansions that's not really a reasonable business decision. Very few clients care, certainly not enough to pay for it. But I get how it might be a useful bluster for your youtube image.
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Jun 10, 2020 18:28
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Does anyone have experience/advice in managing/thinning aspens? My kitchen/dining area faces out ESE over a deck, which would be real nice for morning coffee with a bit more sun, though we have aspens just beyond that. I do like the aspens, but could do with fewer of them. If I had to do something without any further knowledge or input, I'd cut down a decent number of the smaller ones at the trunk, and prune the remaining trees, but given the colony nature of aspens not sure how cautious I need to be about this. 
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Jun 11, 2020 04:05
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Tree question: A couple years ago, I transplanted a baby maple tree of some variety (I thought it was a red maple as we have one in the backyard, but it's looking awfully green) that started growing through a gap in the weed barrier in the garden into the front yard. The root system was a bit odd, but I did the best I could with it, and it seems to be doing OK. The problem is it's starting to grow like a bush:   It's kind of hard to tell from the photo, but there's one V branch right next to the bottom that's kind of big, and a couple small ones as well. I believe the correct fix for this is just to cut those off as well as anything else too low, but I'm not sure on a couple things: 1.) When is the best time to do that? Now? After it loses its leaves? Beginning of spring? 2.) How far down should I cut branches off (assuming that's the correct fix?) Anything else? ssb fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Jun 11, 2020 |
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Jun 11, 2020 16:14
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shortspecialbus posted:Tree question: Don’t cut off more than a third at any one time. As far as timing, here in the PNW we prune maples in August or September so there’s enough time before winter for the cuts to heal over. So cut a few, wait for next year, cut a few more and so on. What general region are you in?
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Jun 12, 2020 08:54
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Solkanar512 posted:Don’t cut off more than a third at any one time. Wisconsin. So cut off that bottom V maybe in August since it's the worst offender?
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Jun 12, 2020 12:30
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shortspecialbus posted:Wisconsin. So cut off that bottom V maybe in August since it's the worst offender? Yeah, I think that’s reasonable.
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Jun 12, 2020 15:28
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Solkanar512 posted:Yeah, I think that’s reasonable. Thank you!
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Jun 12, 2020 15:58
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Motronic posted:So you have a weed problem too. Centepedegrass is very susceptible to 2,4-D in the spring, but it should still work this time of year. Wait, I may be saying the wrong thing here. Centipede grass makes up a lot of my lawn there. I don't want to kill it right? edit: Anyway i'm excited to finally get to fertilizing this weekend. We had tons of rain and then Cristobal the last few weeks so I had to hold off. Funnily enough my neighbor had a bunch of dirt to fix an issue in their backyard and he used the leftover to try to regrade and fix the area adjoining our two properties. The grass had gotten sparse so he wanted to put some new seed down. He threw a bunch of peat moss on it and 24 hours later a huge deluge washed it all into my yard. Thanks for the free poo poo! BonoMan fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 16:10
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BonoMan posted:Wait, I may be saying the wrong thing here. Centipede grass makes up a lot of my lawn there. I don't want to kill it right? If that's what your lawn is made of and what you want - then no, I suppose you don't want to kill it. That's a nuisance weed around here, which is what I thought you were describing it as.
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Jun 12, 2020 17:01
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Motronic posted:If that's what your lawn is made of and what you want - then no, I suppose you don't want to kill it. That's a nuisance weed around here, which is what I thought you were describing it as. Oh interesting. Granted I'm new to this but nothing I've seen has described it as weed or nuisance. It's not the prettiest, but does seem to be a legit lawn grass. edit: SA is not letting me make changes. Weird. BonoMan fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 17:05
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Do I have to backfill a retaining wall with gravel for drainage if the wall is only 18" high?
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Jun 12, 2020 19:42
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Oh great, there's a landscaping thread. I've decided to tackle my front garden - a mini project for some of the Americans here with your yards the size of my neighbourhood! So this is the front of my house now, with the mess the previous owners left. Blue lines are roughly the edge of the property.  Having been inspired by this:  I did a rough sketch of some ideas like this:   Where the flat bits under the bins and door are large paving stones, the planter bit is something like in the inspiration picture, and the fence is a fence. I'm thinking I can do this myself and save on the labour costs. The things I need to know more about before going down that path: - How complicated is laying paving slabs? I've watched a couple of videos and it looks doable, but I'm always wary of secret gotchas like "if you make this tiny mistake, it'll all fall apart" or "that's how you get ants!" - What's the deal with the planter things? I'm guessing it's soil with a layer of gravel on top for aesthetics? Weed control? I like it anyway. Anyone know of a guide on how to make something like that? - Anything else jump out that shouts "call in the pros!"?
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Jun 12, 2020 20:01
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Bobstar posted:- What's the deal with the planter things? I'm guessing it's soil with a layer of gravel on top for aesthetics? Weed control? I like it anyway. Anyone know of a guide on how to make something like that? I don't know what hardiness zone you're in but it's probably partially for aesthetics and partially because they're growing plants that want a lot of drainage—Festuca and Yucca and whatever that deflated Koosh ball is. You'll find lots of discussion of how to plant a gravel garden if you search for it. Wallet fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 20:34
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Nice house number
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Jun 12, 2020 21:55
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^^only reason we bought the place  Wallet posted:I don't know what hardiness zone you're in but it's probably partially for aesthetics and partially because they're growing plants that want a lot of drainage—Festuca and Yucca and whatever that deflated Koosh ball is. You'll find lots of discussion of how to plant a gravel garden if you search for it. Ok cool, thanks! I'm in the Netherlands, but I am a bad gardening dude so I don't know much about plants. One of my aims is low maintenance though, so that sounds good. I am slowly figuring out what all the elements are called in Dutch, and finding them on store websites, so that's progress. I think it's fairly doable, will need to hire a few bits, and the material costs alone are making me think that adding labour would be prohibitive. How did we cope before Youtube?
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Jun 13, 2020 16:54
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cakesmith handyman posted:Nice house number That was one of the first things I noticed too!
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Jun 13, 2020 18:27
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Bobstar posted:Ok cool, thanks! I'm in the Netherlands, but I am a bad gardening dude so I don't know much about plants. One of my aims is low maintenance though, so that sounds good. You can figure out your hardiness zone by googling it—here's a map for the Netherlands. It just gives you a general idea of how cold winters are which determines what plants will survive your winters. No idea what they call it in Dutch! Yucca is about as low maintenance as it gets as long as it has sufficient drainage. There are a number of forms of Festuca that are actually relatively high maintenance because while they don't need very much watering they tend to die out (either completely or just in the center) within a couple of years if you don't regularly divide them.
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Jun 14, 2020 00:30
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so just to put it out there, this is what I am planning on throwing down on my Fescue starting in September (at a rate of roughly 1lb Actual N/1000sqft) and I'm kind of unreasonable excited about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrephnUZ1Q0 Meanwhile I am doing applications of their StressX 4-0-25 in the heat of summer, along with a full dose of Hydretain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa9hQd-J_w8 Also as far as watering goes, this video shows a variation on what I'm using which might be useful for anyone without an in-ground sprinkler system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULXTVEyenuY I really like the rainbird rotary heads with the pressure-regulated body (PRS-45). They are super easy to adjust, cover really good area with very even flow, and because they have low precipitation rates they have low GPM demands meaning you can cover a larger area from a hose bib connection without pressure drops. I got all my parts from Sprinkler Warehouse, which sells the rainbird roatary heads + PRS bodies as a combo. I'd probably recommend either the 13-18ft heads (yellow) or the 17-24ft heads (purple) depending on your lawn. They also have some fantastic short-throw heads that will do a 3-5'x20-30' area (adjustable) for weird corners.
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Jun 17, 2020 02:53
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Hi thread, I was wondering if any of you could help me with some inspiration. I’ve got a typical British garden, wide borders some grass, a garage and a load of kids crap.   The garage is used for storage, as we can’t get a car down the side of the house to fit in it. It’s also made of asbestos, so expensive to remove. We did an extension a few years ago, and I have a plot plan with dimensions of the garden as we thought about opening it up to allow back access. (I don’t have an R8 it’s just the model the architect used for reference).  We know we want to keep the garage for storage, but will probably paint it black. We know we want a deck with a pergola and roof in the opposite corner as it gets the sun, and roof as we live in Northern Scotland so it rains a lot. We want to deck from the back of the house a bit so there’s somewhere else to sit. I’ve had a go with a couple of sketches, just for ideas.  Here I’d envisaged moving the trampoline in front of the garage and putting down wood chips.  Here is much the same but with a path all the way along the side. I’m just looking for ideas, if anyone has suggestions that would be great. But my wife and I are just unsure about what is possible. Everything’s obviously possible if you throw enough money at it.
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Jun 17, 2020 18:28
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Saturday, I decided to do something about the grass that kept cropping up in my tree's ring.  The weed cover I put down clearly did not do its job. I was having to use the string trimmer inside the ring to keep it down, and all the mulch had wandered off. Out come the stones:  Then I had to rip up the weed "cloth", which was actually plastic in this case. All the little holes in it to lt the water through completely failed to stop the grass:  Had to run a shovel under it to sever all the grass runners. After much raking and root-pulling:  New weed cloth. Since I had to slit it all the way to the edge to install it, I did two layers, with the slits 180 degrees apart.   And new mulch:  Much better. Question: I know I should trim lower branches from time to time to force it to grow up into a tree rather than resembling a bush. I did that last year. If anyone knows, how is it looking, and should I whack some more lower limbs off in the fall? This is a Cedar Elm tree, as I recall. Dang tag came off, and I can't find the emails I have regarding it - I got it free from Oncor and the Arbor Society as part of their joint program to promote trees to reduce energy use in the summer here in TX. They provided a web page that would help you position it for shade over your house and everything. Pretty neat. I've had it 2 or 3 years now.
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Jun 23, 2020 17:40
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Darchangel posted:Saturday, I decided to do something about the grass that kept cropping up in my tree's ring. Generally what you want to do is prune to encourage a dominant leader (one branch that is growing the strongest) by cutting back competitive "co-dominant leaders" and avoid having a trunk which forks too much and is this weakened by a lot of crotches carrying heavy weight (heh). However, you really don't want to completely remove branches if you can avoid it, as they will help feed, thicken, and strengthen the trunk from where they meet all the way down as long as they are there. While eventually you will want to prune back all the lower branches to your "final first branch height" the longer you can leave subordinate lower branches the better (so long as you have one clear leader at the top).
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Jun 24, 2020 02:45
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Alrighty, thanks. It seems healthy at this point. As I recall, these get pretty big, and are drought resistant, which is the reason this was one of the options. They were all Texas or Texas-adjacent native.
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Jun 24, 2020 19:29
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Yeah the main thing with those is avoiding co-dominant leaders.
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Jun 24, 2020 20:00
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Hubis posted:Yeah the main thing with those is avoiding co-dominant leaders. Is this for trees in general? I’m finding that a lot of my Japanese maples have been pruned at the nursery such that the main leader is cut off (likely for another graft) down to the next set of side branches, which then become co-dominate leaders. The shapes of the trees are just fine but it seems like a waste to just cut it off like that. Here’s an example of Acer palmatum “Seiryu”. 
Solkanar512 fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Jun 24, 2020 |
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Jun 24, 2020 20:21
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Solkanar512 posted:Is this for trees in general? I’m finding that a lot of my Japanese maples have been pruned at the nursery such that the main leader is cut off (likely for another graft) down to the next set of side branches, which then become co-dominate leaders. The shapes of the trees are just fine but it seems like a waste to just cut it off like that. My arborist expertise is all Internet Search wisdom, so please take this with a grain of salt; however, as I understand it the problem with co-dominant leaders is primarily that the crotch wood between them is structurally weak and will tend to fail as the tree ages and the two split trunks get larger. If you have a dominant stem and a branch then you tend to have a stronger union between them as one gets thicker than the other. If you are growing a tree that is smaller/ornamental/you are near the top of where you want it to be then it is less of a concern. Note that certain schools of pruning (i.e. hyper-stylized japanese gardens) involve pruning the entire tree to have single dominant leaders, including having leaders for each branch, etc. For a young maple like that you can pick one of the two top leaders if you want before they get too thick and just do a normal heading cut if you want to give more shape, or leave it and have it be more symmetric. e: http://tcimag.tcia.org/publication/?i=564008&article_id=3292929&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5
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Jun 25, 2020 02:31
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My wife and I bought a house and it's clear the landscaping hasn't been touched in at least 4-5 years, maybe more. This front area where the driveway curves around has a garden that until last week, with the help of a neighbor kid, was completely overgrown with 3 foot high thistle. I didn't even know the rocks were in there until we started digging. The grass itself isn't in great shape either but I feel like that can at least be touched up relatively easily once I get all the dandelion weeds out of here. We're also getting the driveway re-paved which will be its own blessing. Around the (really hurting) tree is some decent enough ground cover which prevented me from weed-whacking everything, but there's still plenty of weeds in there and frankly I'm wondering if this is just past the point of recovery and we're best off just ripping everything out and starting over, but I have no idea what to consider. My wife has allergies and I'd at least like something low maintenance here. I think to totally burn out everything and make it completely grass would be pretty boring (and lord knows where i'd put the rocks, they're dense as hell) so suggestions are welcome. We're in Northwest Ohio, so frigid winters and humid summers are the name of the game.    This tree doesn't seem beyond hope and if we can get it looking good again that'd be awesome. I'd like to hope getting the thistle and some of the weeds out will help it but yall will probably know a lot better than me.   My level of knowledge on most of this stuff is pretty low so any advice is welcome.
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Jun 27, 2020 12:55
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So I bought a house and genuinely do not give a poo poo about grass. I have a touch over a quarter acre in the city and would like to replace at least the back yard with some good pollenators. Preferably something that looks okay and pretty easy to walk through. I'm also contending with ivy and blackberry bushes at the edges of the property but they're not an issue yet. I live in the PNW and would like a rec for stuff I can plant that'll make bees as happy as possible.
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Jun 27, 2020 19:38
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Inzombiac posted:So I bought a house and genuinely do not give a poo poo about grass. I have a touch over a quarter acre in the city and would like to replace at least the back yard with some good pollenators. I’m in the PNW as well and frankly as long as it flowers you’re going to get tons of bees. Are you thinking perennials, annuals or what? Any sorts of plants you or any significant others of yours happen to like? As far as perennials go you have classics here are roses, rhododendrons/related species and dahlias. Annuals, well pretty much anything you want. And yeah, gently caress lawns!
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Jun 28, 2020 02:59
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Good to know. I've done a lot of landscaping as a grunt so the design side of it is still new.
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Jun 28, 2020 03:10
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DJExile posted:My wife and I bought a house and it's clear the landscaping hasn't been touched in at least 4-5 years, maybe more. This front area where the driveway curves around has a garden that until last week, with the help of a neighbor kid, was completely overgrown with 3 foot high thistle. I didn't even know the rocks were in there until we started digging. The grass itself isn't in great shape either but I feel like that can at least be touched up relatively easily once I get all the dandelion weeds out of here. We're also getting the driveway re-paved which will be its own blessing. Yeah, the grass looks pretty fine -- certainly salvageable, and not worth worrying about until after all the driveway work is done. Maybe some compaction next to the driveway? What's wrong with that tree? It doesn't look *too* bad to me. For low maintenance ground cover, some variety of juniper could work well. I threw in some Mountain Hydrangeas in my yard this year to fill some gaps and they look great and are extremely hearty as well.
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Jun 28, 2020 03:35
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Hubis posted:Yeah, the grass looks pretty fine -- certainly salvageable, and not worth worrying about until after all the driveway work is done. Maybe some compaction next to the driveway? No idea what's up with the tree, seems like it didn't get planted deep enough and it's just in rough shape. Couple people suggested it shouldn't be hard to get it fixed. I'd rather keep it if I can. I do really like hydrangeas and the idea of junipers is good, so yeah maybe i'll just burn out all this crap other than the tree and start fresh.
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Jun 29, 2020 14:00
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DJExile posted:No idea what's up with the tree, seems like it didn't get planted deep enough and it's just in rough shape. Couple people suggested it shouldn't be hard to get it fixed. I'd rather keep it if I can. The flare looks like it might be slightly high but it's hard to tell how much of a mound it might be sitting on in the pictures. Doesn't seem like it's enough to disturb the tree over to me.
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Jun 29, 2020 14:41
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Wallet posted:The flare looks like it might be slightly high but it's hard to tell how much of a mound it might be sitting on in the pictures. Doesn't seem like it's enough to disturb the tree over to me. Yeha I think ultimately it's planted well enough, I was more concerned about how thin and sickly it looked. I'm hoping getting all the thistle and overgrowth out of there will help it out.
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Jun 29, 2020 15:13
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Goons, help me kill this bastard once and for all. The stump in the middle is less of an issue than the stuff growing around it.
Irritated Goat fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Jul 5, 2020 |
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Jul 5, 2020 16:20
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Irritated Goat posted:Goons, help me kill this bastard once and for all. The stump in the middle is less of an issue than the stuff growing around it. Go to Lowesdepot and buy a bottle of stump killer. Drill holes in the stump and put it in them according to the label instructions.
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Jul 5, 2020 16:29
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Irritated Goat posted:Goons, help me kill this bastard once and for all. The stump in the middle is less of an issue than the stuff growing around it. Spray that new growth with a very strong roundup solution. When/if they come back, do it again. It probably won't take more than twice. Crepe myrtles are tough but not like wisteria tough.
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Jul 6, 2020 00:50
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Over the last month I have raked all the twigs and crap out of my yard and hand cultivated it with a garden weasel. Last week we brought in 14 yards of new topsoil and spread it out. We then planted grass seed, put some quick start stuff we got at Menards and started watering and holy poo poo today we have significant grass growth all over the yard. This mess might actually work out.
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Jul 6, 2020 14:56
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The driveway is replaced!  And yeah gently caress this, i'm getting all this poo poo other than the tree and grass ripped out. If I want to go ahead with Hubis's idea of hydrangeas and juniper, best to wait on that until we're into the fall? We're in total steambath weather right now.
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Jul 6, 2020 16:40
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