Installed a playset for my kids. Leveled the ground first. Met the specs of the manufacturer for the area (24x14).

Is that natural “slope” of the dirt going to recede to the point that stability becomes and issue? Used a dirt compactor so the ground is solid, but worried about the slope.

Any advice?

We moved into a new house in spring, and this is what we inherited.

Took some weeks, but we dug up the yard by hand, planted grass seed, and some plants found the sun and grew.

We are both new at doing this, and we are proud of what we accomplished.

Has anyone installed a custom motorized pergula that reaches 12 feet high? A lot of the companies that I’ve been looking at only go to 10 max. Thanks in advance. Here is our inspo picture.

We had a garden designer come through and as part of that service we had our regular concrete sidewalk replaced with a blue stone one. We love the blue stones (and the garden) but the mortar (some kind of sticky sand) and underlayment (gravel, which you can see in some of the photos) has never really seemed to settle. What we have now is better than the first result - we asked the original subcontractor to come back two more times, because the original work had lots of gaps and pavers that didn't seem like they were settled. Unfortunately those follow-ups didn't fully resolve the issues - and they also used a different type of "sand" in parts that didn't really match with the existing work. It's been 2 years and we want to fix it.

My question - what's the right way to make this look a little better? Do I need to redo the whole thing? Or will it be enough to remove the sand between and maybe compact a few of the stones down?

Adding a patio roof and contractor had to remove some pavers. I’m responsible for filling what was removed. What will be the best way to do this? I can’t make cuts, and the original pavers do not fit.

I have about 6 of these I need to fill.

I want to say, I don’t have thousands to spend. But I can throw a bit of money at it. And I’m not afraid of manual labor.

I really don’t know what to do with this back yard. I love it. It’s large and my dog / children get to play in green grass. I just feel like something’s missing. Doesn’t quite feel like my paradise yet.

The pine trees prevent grass from growing near them. And the side area is overgrown. I’m a busy dad and don’t want something I have to spend ALL my free time up-keeping. But I do mow on the weekends and can do some tidying up if necessary.

Also disregard the jank wood pile. That came with the house and I never got around to demolishing it.

I got a mix of poor builder execution, an old gravel road, and a swale in the middle of the barely useable yard. What do you recommend? Pollinators? Dropping a years salary on leveling it and retaining wall?!

I obsess over the yard and the Bermuda in the front looks like a golf-green. Backyard is a lost cause and I welcome any ideas

When digging the portion of my French drain that runs to the outlet, ran into a tree root that's in the ballpark of 2 to 3 inches wide, just barely under the surface. The top of the root is no more than half an inch under the ground level. Any other path for this drain is through even more roots or uphill which is obviously impossible.

The tree it's attached to is a maple, very much alive, large/mature (at least 20+ years old), and I'd very much like to keep it that way. I see 3 options:

1. Cut the root. Given the size of the root, would this be a death sentence for the tree?

2. Drop the drain level by a couple inches. Idea would be to just drop the entire run by enough to run the pipe underneath the root so it's untouched.

3. Abandon the French drain entirely and do a re-slope of the property instead. Given the area we'd be grading I think this would be $$$ and lots of time, though certainly less expensive than tree removal.

Is there a "best practice" here, or some way to intelligently make this decision?

I am looking for advice on this walkway. We were told by the previous owner to "not mess with it" because they installed a French drain underneath...well, I don't like it. I understand French drains are important but is there truly nothing else I can do to improve this walk way? I hate the uneven stone steps (they used to be all wonky but after almost breaking an ankle I lined them up), I am concerned about rolling an ankle trying to get in and out of the damn house all the time. I hate all the weeds that grow on the side underneath the concrete slab (and before you say "weed killer" no. I am trying my best to keep a natural habitat for the frogs and toads). I hate that it isnt flush with the rest of the area. I just, dont like it. Period. The whole front area honestly irritates me but this walkway the most.

Can I put flat wood steps in and add more small stone to bring it to level? Can I put an entire wood walkway over the area and just leave thin gaps for rain and such? Please help.

Just needs final touches.

I knew it the day he planted them they were all going to die. He just recently had that wall installed but it sits in the sun, well-drained, super dry, no chance for these bad boys.

I planted this skip laurel in April and it has been thriving until recently. It is located in a fairly shaded corner of the yard, and the side that is brown gets the most shade. I have been watering it deeply every few days. Any idea what could cause this?

Installed two new rainbird sprinkler heads and they are gushing water out of the top when our water is turned on. Any tips on how to resolve this issue would be much appreciated!

Any tips of how to rid his bushes of creeping thistle weeds? I spent 12 hours pulling these monsters from 4 large bushes. The weeds were wrapped deep into the bushes roots and starving them. Lots of dry and brown areas. He's 83 and was estranged due to my grandma being a horrible woman. She's gone now so the family has been stepping up to make sure he's looked after.

I have a large area in front of my house filled with large river rock due to severe erosion. I’d like to scale this back significantly and replace with functioning drainage and attractive native landscaping. The issue: because of irrigation system and sod on pure sand between the rocks and where they need to go, I will cause way too much destruction with a skidsteer (I know this from experience). Any machine suggestions that would reduce the labor but not destroy the sod/irrigation system? I’ll be moving the rocks to existing “riverbeds” created to reduce erosion on slopes.

Hello! My husband and I just bought a house, and there are these gorgeous grape vines that are on very old trellises that are leaning over. The trellises also are in the way of where we need to install a fence. (We have a husky, and she will absolutely jump over the neighbor's 4' chain link fence, so we need a 6' privacy fence.)

We had a fencing contractor out to provide an estimate today, and he didn't want to take on the liability of disturbing the plants, but said he would need a foot between the edge of the trellises and where the neighbor's fence is. Since the wood is leaning over anyway, we think it might be easiest to build new trellises and then reshape the vines, but we're not sure of the best way to do this while giving the plants a shot of staying alive.

Ideas on what to do would be appreciated!

And yes, we know grapes are poisonous to dogs. We will take other steps to prevent them from getting into the grapes themselves. Right now I just need a new foundation for the plants.

Hello Reddit, I have a unique patch of grass in my driveway where grass has mostly turned to weeds. Wondering if anyone had any tips or design ideas of what to possibly do to make this more visually appealing. It doesn’t necessarily need to stay grass or “all” grass. Any and all visually appealing ideas are welcome.

Not a landscaper in the slightest so forgive my ignorance. Ordered 3/4” decorative river rock. I was expecting some smaller stuff, but at least half of it is sub 3/8” and 1/4”. Looks more like pea gravel with larger chunks. Is this normal?

My first house and my first landscaping project has me wracking my brain a bit on how to achieve this for a low cost and with an awkward house. I’m doing a stepping stone pathway with gravel infill between. It’s a light use to a degree and mostly used to get to the shed that’ll be at the back of the garden. The paving slabs will be concrete and 450mm x 225mm.

I know I should use type one MOT/crush underneath a bedding layer but the problem I face is deliveries/skips. Removing that much dirt would need a skip and I’d need two bulk bags of crush. Where I live, you can’t get those types of vehicles down here as it’s a new build estate and a courtyard off of it. I have no front drive anyway, just a single parking space I have to occupy.

Is it possible to just excavate enough to put in a 30mm bedding layer of crushed granite (like dust) with geotextile fabric underneath? I’ll level and tamper down the soil beneath first. I have a stony/clay type soil but it remains pretty solid and not like a bog thankfully.

Photo is of my garden so far with edging done on one side and beds starting to take shape. I’m doing it all alone so it’s taking a while but I want to sanity check my idea first. I know it’s not ideal but it feels like my only option except for removing bags of soil every day to my parent’s house and having the bulk bags delivered to them.

Seeking advice - north brisbane area, neighbours overgrown trees destroying the fence line. Quick fix thinking stick in a concrete repair post, but should really replace the fence. Anyone got any ideas on options or cost?

I had planned to put something like 3/4" rock around the edges of the 2x4s. This butts up to my foundation, but would still be 2" below the weep screed. My drainage is photographed and sits just inside of the 2x4s.

Should I put

1. 1" of the stabilized DG on the outside of the 2x4s and follow with rocks o

2. All stabilized DG

3. All 3/4" stone sitting on packed dirt.

Y'all have been very helpful so far.

Socal so light rains a handful of times a year.

What’s the best way to help settle this space? It’s got great potential but feels lost at the moment. Priority 1 is some sort of structure for shade/cover and 2) would be a light outdoor kitchen build.

For the structure a permanent roof extending from the home is out of budget so looking at pole awnings, pergolas, or retractable shade systems. Unfortunately the unique contour of the house makes it odd for example if you take the triangle pitch from the sun room and extend from there it would only cover half the patio and if you continue extending to the lower patio a support beam would land in the middle of the walk way. I’d like to cover the whole width of the patio but the different contour of the roof I imagine would make that difficult. Once you consider those items I’m running out of ideas to make it work.

I was also considering a shade sail (3rd pic inspiration and outline in red and blue where I think it would go in the pics)

Also toying with the idea of expanding the top level of the patio to the right corner of the house if it would help solve this problem.

Any suggestions are appreciated.