|
captkirk posted:This sounds cool. How bad is the first mow of the spring? Quick googling says to wait some number of weeks after the bulbs drop petals before mowing. Yeah, you want to let them get all the energy they can to shove back into the bulb for the next spring so its best to leave them as long as you can or until the leaves drop. Most of mine are tiny (like snowdrop) so when the grass or some weeds get too tall I just mowed them at like 4-5" which evens things out but left the bulb no-longer-flowers.
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 15:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 11:01 |
|
|
I'm so doing that one day
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 15:24
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Yeah, you want to let them get all the energy they can to shove back into the bulb for the next spring so its best to leave them as long as you can or until the leaves drop. This sounds cool as hell, where do you order bulbs from?
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 15:26
|
|
|
Yooper posted:This sounds cool as hell, where do you order bulbs from? Colorblends https://www.colorblends.com/ And I found it easiest to plant them with a hori hori https://www.amazon.com/Nisaku-NJP650-Hori-Hori-Authentic-Stainless/dp/B0007WFG2I
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 15:32
|
|
|
Wallet posted:Dig up your whole lawn and fill it with spring bulbs and then put the lawn back. It's amazing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 16:09
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Colorblends https://www.colorblends.com/ Hori Hori knives the are loving best gardening tools.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 16:55
|
|
|
Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Hori Hori knives the are loving best gardening tools. Seconding this, they're amazing. So is Color Blends, especially if you have a few hundred $ and a lot of room.
|
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2022 19:39
|
|
|
Motronic posted:I didn't dig up the lawn to do it but I did put in about 1000 various bulbs and its pretty amazing in the spring. Yeah I wouldn't actually dig the lawn up to do it, that part was a joke. Van Engelen had some nice stuff last time I looked.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2022 00:13
|
|
|
Wallet posted:Yeah I wouldn't actually dig the lawn up to do it, that part was a joke. If you needed serious lawn/property/grading correction it would be a hell of a lot easier to do it that way actually. Tear it all down 2-3", literally scatter the bulbs by throwing them out, add top soil and seed. I've done this multiple times for customers waaaaaaaayyyy back when I was doing landscaping for a living. It turns out great. In fact, the way we placed the bulbs at my house now was the throw them on the grass after I cut it super short last fall. Then we went out and dug each one in. It's a super easy way to make sure things aren't too artificial looking. Or you could go for spelling poo poo out......then don't do that and plant a crocus dickbutt in your yard. Motronic fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Oct 15, 2022 |
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2022 00:18
|
|
|
I am wondering WTF to do with this strip along the side of my house that died during a summer drought. I have no love for using water to keep this stupid strip alive, but am not sure what else to do with it. I had previously considered lining the foundation perimeter with e.g. river stones so I don’t have to trim the grass there, but not like as wide as the entire thing here. This is the main walkway to the gate leading to the backyard, and my property is only like 5 feet wide here. I also thought about a large stone or paver walkway, but it’s on a little grade so I’m not sure if that would be weird or require a bunch of regrading (and is is sloping away from the house already which is good). 
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2022 17:43
|
|
|
Missing important information: where do you live? Surely there are natives and drought tolerant options that may not even require mowing. I don't see why you would use pavers somewhere that doesn't look like gets any traffic. Or is this actually a walkway that gets used regularly?
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2022 17:51
|
|
|
Yeah, if it's a path you walk at least a few times a week, some sort of pavement seems like the best solution. If not, my preference would be to maybe remove the grass and then just see whatever grew. It possibly sprinkle some appropriate flower seeds. But yeah, a location would probably help.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2022 18:46
|
|
|
This is central TX/Austin. Yeah, it does get used a fair bit, it’s the only entry to the back yard from outside so needs to accommodate the odd barrow full of mulch, gravel, bags of leaves, gardening stuff, whatever. It gets full sun and not much rain which is why it all died, here in tx it will revert to high grass weeds that go up to 3-4 ft when it’s rainy and dead and yellow during drought, and that looks like poo poo in either case so it needs something than can be traversed that is less water hungry than grass.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2022 19:59
|
|
|
Infinotize posted:This is central TX/Austin. Yeah, it does get used a fair bit, it’s the only entry to the back yard from outside so needs to accommodate the odd barrow full of mulch, gravel, bags of leaves, gardening stuff, whatever. It gets full sun and not much rain which is why it all died, here in tx it will revert to high grass weeds that go up to 3-4 ft when it’s rainy and dead and yellow during drought, and that looks like poo poo in either case so it needs something than can be traversed that is less water hungry than grass. Pavers really would be great, but you got that angle. Rocks with stepping stones?
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2022 22:59
|
|
|
Right. What do you mean by rocks with stepping stones? Like gravel bed with large stones to walk on?
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2022 01:06
|
|
|
Infinotize posted:Right. What do you mean by rocks with stepping stones? Like gravel bed with large stones to walk on? Yeah, something like this: 
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2022 01:37
|
|
|
Oh that’s interesting, thanks. Also looks like I could roll a wheelbarrow over it. That is definitely more what I’m going for than a solid paved path.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2022 01:43
|
|
|
MrChrome posted:Yeah, something like this: My only recommendation if you do this style is to use big enough pavers that don't move when you step on them. They should be wide and thick enough that they'll stay in place. My PO made a patio out of small flag stone and its not very thick so it moves when you step on it and you can kick them up if you catch an edge. Its drives me nuts and I can't wait to replace it with something more functional. Placing pavers over river rock, depending on size, might prevent your pavers from settling well. It might be nice to use a compactor to get the rocks to settle flat where the pavers will be.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2022 01:50
|
|
|
I have a pretty big back yard, and it's gotten really lumpy, right now it's grass more or less and I threw some grass seed on it. This is the PNW and we had a bizzare summer that was 85+ degrees with no rain until mid october, so I don't know if the grass is going to set. I'm wondering if I can regrade it myself reasonably or if I need to just hire someone? Once I'm done I want to mostly replace the just grass with some raised beds to do some vegetables growing in.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2022 06:34
|
|
|
pseudanonymous posted:I have a pretty big back yard, and it's gotten really lumpy, right now it's grass more or less and I threw some grass seed on it. This is the PNW and we had a bizzare summer that was 85+ degrees with no rain until mid october, so I don't know if the grass is going to set. Wait till spring when its (hopefully) rained for a few days in a row and roll it a few times.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2022 11:29
|
|
|
wesleywillis posted:Wait till spring when its (hopefully) rained for a few days in a row and roll it a few times. I think it's lumpier than that would be effective? There are visible ridges and furrows and the whole yard sort of slants towards my house, which in my understanding is the opposite of what I want.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2022 16:51
|
|
|
So an update of sorts since I hate to ask questions and then bounce. Haven't put down any herbicide yet, weather and schedule have conspired against me for weeks. I've done other poo poo, though. My neighbor - the die-hard golfer who was living here when the lawn was resodded - says the grass is zoysia and not hybrid Bermuda like I thought. Based on pictures I think it might be Zorro (which would make sense, it was developed at TAMU which is only 2 hours away). I guess I could overseed some annual rye but I'm not sure there would be any benefit other than maybe reducing erosion a bit over the winter? It's not my yard so I'm not going to make any permanent changes to it, I'm just treating this as a learning lab for when I buy in a couple years. I've been mowing it shorter and whenever I need to take a few minutes away from my computer (I work from home 3x/week) I go outside and pull lespedeza. I've probably taken out a half dozen 5-gallon bucketfuls at this point. I've transplanted sprigs of grass to the newly opened up areas and thinned out the canopy in other areas. There's usually at least a little grass under the big mats and hopefully they'll grow in a little more before the weather gets too cold. I core aerated the worst 500sqft or so of the lawn by hand. That was a pain in the rear end but my 3 year old loved helping me pick up the "poopoos" in the yard. I'll probably do it again in the spring and de-thatch as well. Around the same time, I sent off a soil sample (e: results came back right after I posted this, phosphorus is OK but potassium is very low and nitrogen... well there isn't any). Lastly, I put down a light application of Sta-Green Texas Turf. The only real goal here is to give the grass a boost so that it's in better shape in the spring. The weeds loved it too and now I'm meeting lots of new friends in the newly opened voids, like creeping cinderella weed, chamberbitter, dichondra, and nutsedge. I was hoping for a month or so of warm weather after I put it down, but the forecast literally inverted itself two days later. It's 80 today and frost on Sunday isn't out of the question if the forecast keeps trending down. Such is life. I also hosed up the sprinkler programming and overwatered the lawn for a couple weeks before I caught it. $350 water bill and dollarweed EVERYWHERE. Other than fixing the issue and letting the lawn dry out, I'm not going to worry about it now, at this point I'll probably just do a post-emergent spray on anything green over the winter. Discussion Quorum fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Nov 12, 2022 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2022 17:23
|
|
|
What are the pros and cons of artificial turf vs grass? We are new to home ownership, and our property has no grass/lawn currently (it's entirely bark chips and trees/plants). We are currently getting quotes from landscapers to redo our side yard to be half pavers and half grass. The intent is an area for our kid to play (and a place to hang out on the paver side). It's not huge, and the grass part will be roughly 17' x 15' or so. We are in the PNW. We do not have any outdoor pets. While I had envisioned grass, both landscapers I have gotten quotes from so far have suggested artificial turf. I'm not sure how much that is them angling for the product that costs a bit more or if it really is superior for our use case. There is some concern about the area getting soggy during wet seasons, which I suppose could mean grass getting mud pits etc. At least one of the people suggested that artificial would be more likely to be usable to play in the winter. Overall I would rather living plants and natural surfaces to a bunch of green plastic. It's just not terribly appealing sounding to me and I'm leaning toward going with actual lawn. But I suppose there is value in not having to water during heatwaves that we're getting more often, and generally less upkeep work. On the other hand it's not a very large area to begin with. I've tried to search for pros and cons, but I swear every drat hit on Google is just from companies selling artificial turf or natural lawn installs and are clearly biased one way or another. So I figured asking this thread couldn't hurt. I have to emphasize (and apologize) that I am completely ignorant about lawn care, grass types, and anything else along those lines. Sorry also if this is asked often--I went back a handful of pages and didn't see a discussion about it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 05:57
|
|
|
Turf can get pretty nasty if you have a dog and let that MF poo poo on it and don't pick it up right away.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 12:24
|
|
|
Apparently it gets so hot in the summer that you won't want to touch it, and sometimes it melts. Did either landscaper mention a mixed lawn, like with clover?
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 13:48
|
|
|
A lawn made from multiple types of plants is often a sturdy lawn in my experience.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 13:58
|
|
|
A lot of that also depends on where you’re at, the amount of sun the lawn is going to get, your tolerance for weeds, and how much work you’re willing to put in with on going maintenance.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 15:42
|
|
|
But if the space is actually a kids play area, and it’s small, and there’s going to be swings or something in there, fake grass isn’t crazy, it’s just not what I would necessarily choose. Small patches of lawn that get walked on constantly look like they get walked on constantly.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 16:03
|
|
|
Not really a qualified opinion, but plastic grass would feel fake and cheap and off putting to me. I'd rather have some nice stone pavement if real grass (clover) wasn't an option. Go for plants if you want plants or stone if you want easy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 18:09
|
|
|
I lived in a small apartment complex with a small artificial grass “courtyard” and in the summer when the sun hit it, it reeked of piss from all the dogs using it. That’s my story
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 19:08
|
|
|
BonHair posted:Not really a qualified opinion, but plastic grass would feel fake and cheap and off putting to me. I'd rather have some nice stone pavement if real grass (clover) wasn't an option. Go for plants if you want plants or stone if you want easy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 19:26
|
|
|
Thanks for the replies about artificial turf, everyone. There won't be any play structures or the like on this. I think on balance we just prefer natural ground cover, so we'll go with lawn/clover. I'll have to research what exactly the options are. Main priorities are durability with moderately high traffic and lowish maintenance (PNW, but summers are getting warmer). Any suggestions off hand? Another contractor came over for an estimate today and recommended against artificial after seeing the rest of the yard. He said it'd feel out of place in a yard full of trees and natural plants, and I tend to agree.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 23:05
|
|
|
incogneato posted:Thanks for the replies about artificial turf, everyone. There won't be any play structures or the like on this. I think on balance we just prefer natural ground cover, so we'll go with lawn/clover. I'll have to research what exactly the options are. Main priorities are durability with moderately high traffic and lowish maintenance (PNW, but summers are getting warmer). Any suggestions off hand? I don't know your area, and even if I did I'd still suggest what I normally suggest for things like this: reach out to your local county ag extension. They know what's up for your area and can give you some great suggestions for free and without having a motive to try to sell you anything.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2022 23:30
|
|
|
Motronic posted:I don't know your area, and even if I did I'd still suggest what I normally suggest for things like this: reach out to your local county ag extension. They know what's up for your area and can give you some great suggestions for free and without having a motive to try to sell you anything. Thanks for the suggestion. I just went ahead and did that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2022 00:42
|
|
|
incogneato posted:Thanks for the suggestion. I just went ahead and did that. You probably just made some volunteer master gardener very happy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2022 00:45
|
|
|
Hello landscaping thread! I have come to adopt an irrigation system in a home we bought and am trying to figure out how it works along with what's wrong with it, mostly with regards to backflow prevention in the plumbing thread. I decided to get hands on and try to at least figure out which valve goes to where , but can't seem to figure out how to operate the anti-siphon valve, or they're broken. Here's what I have in my box: . I figured I would just manually turn on a valve, look around, then turn it off and move on to the next one, but it doesn't appear to work. Turning the solenoid a quarter turn does initially leak or spray some water from beneath the solenoid, but no zones actually start irrigating, so I'm wondering if I'm using it right. Admittedly, everything I found was specifically on rainbird, but I can't believe it'd be that different. I noticed that there's a "on/off" knob just below the solenoid; is that just a label to tell me which way to turn? or do I also need to use that or turn that, too? Additionally, is the cross handle there the flow control? When I turn on a zone on with the controller on the wall, if I turn the flow control all the way "off" (clockwise I think?) the irrigation still runs. I can't discount the possibility that the entire anti-siphon valve is just completely busted, and these apparently are kind of crap anyways, but wanted to also rule out me being a dummy here. Edit: I was a dummy and these are just different from the rainbirds. Looking at other brands, some have external bleed screws that'll manually turn the valve on (these don't seem to have those), and some have internal bleed screws, which is apparently what that knob below the solenoid is. Turning those a quarter turn opens the valve and I was able to check zones. PageMaster fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jan 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2023 01:38
|
|
|
In the spring my yard is gonna get reseeded after some late season landscaping last year. I'm currently torn between just seeding back normal turf grasses with some white clover thrown into the mix to provide nitrogen and some support for pollinators or doing some real hippie poo poo and doing prairie grasses and wild flowers for most of my yard with paths seeded with low mow grasses.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2023 01:26
|
|
|
captkirk posted:In the spring my yard is gonna get reseeded after some late season landscaping last year. I'm currently torn between just seeding back normal turf grasses with some white clover thrown into the mix to provide nitrogen and some support for pollinators or doing some real hippie poo poo and doing prairie grasses and wild flowers for most of my yard with paths seeded with low mow grasses. Prairie grass is always the answer
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2023 03:35
|
|
|
As long as you're aware that doing clover or wildflowers means you're giving up a lot of chemical control options for weeds, pick what you think looks best/works for your situation. Both from an upkeep and wear and tear tolerance. If you're going to have kids and a dog running around, for instance, I'd go turf grass with clover, if not then maybe prairie grasses for less maintenance.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2023 06:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 11:01 |
|
|
X-Posting from the Home thread I want to hang a gate here. I'm thinking of doing a horizontal cedar fence, but I'm pretty flexible on the post style.  This is complicated by the fact that the blockwork sticks out 2.5" and there's already a concrete walkway. I figure I have 3 options. 1. (Easiest) Bolt a 2x4, 4x4, or 5x5 to my house. If I do a 2x4 it would start where the brick starts and go up to like 60". My house is solid brick so this should be really secure. I could do the same with a 4x4, or I could cope the 4x4 so that it could fit over the blockwork, tho I think having only 1" of the 4x4 remaining over the blockwork section would probably look weird. If I did a 5x5 the coping would probably look better. I've read that ideally you shouldn't attach your fence to your house but it also seems like something lots of people do, especially with brick construction. 2. Bolt a fence post with a base to the concrete. Something like this - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Slipfen...PP376/316270768. I think it would have to be installed like 6"+ inches away from the house to avoid cracking the concrete, which means I would have to trim out the small section between the house and the post. On the plus side the concrete walkway is 5'2" so I have plenty of room to work with. 3. (Hardest) Use a core drill and dig a post hole near the house. This is probably the best option in terms of strength but it's also the most difficult and expensive. And I would still have a small gap between the house and the post that I would need to trim out. Any suggestions?
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2023 18:42
|
|
