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if it is that (ie, that it's not surface water but groundwater), you're not really going to do anything to change it (certainly not anything that would be cost effective or that your local environmental agency would enjoy). the construction of dams won't affect that water because it is water that has percolated into that ground over a long period of time and is just following the path of least resistance out.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:24
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Yeah but it would turn poor ground into a nice lake to fish in. I miss catching stripers.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:07
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rdb posted:Batwing is still buried. Oh my I didn't see the wing when I responded. That sure does make everything more messy. I'll just be over here in the kiddie pool with my CUT that I pull out with the baby miniex.
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Jul 9, 2021 02:06
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How easy is it to get rid of fill dirt? Can I post a "free dirt" as on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace and it's pretty common someone will come and get it? I'm getting holes dug for 29 fence posts, I think about 3 feet deep, so I may end up with quite a bit I need to get rid of. If the holes are a foot in diameter and 3 feet deep, maybe ~65 cubic feet.
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Jul 14, 2021 22:55
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Thats not enough dirt for someone to come take. Rake it back into the lawn. I have put over 100 posts in with a 9” auger this year. Even using a 6” post and a sack of concrete in each hole the dirt thats left is barely anything. In the pictures below the posts haven’t been set yet.   
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Jul 14, 2021 23:31
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Smugworth posted:How easy is it to get rid of fill dirt? Can I post a "free dirt" as on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace and it's pretty common someone will come and get it? I'm getting holes dug for 29 fence posts, I think about 3 feet deep, so I may end up with quite a bit I need to get rid of. If the holes are a foot in diameter and 3 feet deep, maybe ~65 cubic feet. I kind of doubt they're actually going to fill 3 foot deep holes 1 foot in diameter with concrete/gravel, but you definitely wouldn't have a hard time getting someone to take two cubic yards of topsoil off your hands around here (at least if it was all together in a pile or whatever). Probably depends on how rural the area is.
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Jul 14, 2021 23:49
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Phew, ok. Hopefully I'm overestimating.
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Jul 15, 2021 01:46
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I redid my entire fence line myself and somehow needed dirt after backfilling all the post holes. YMMV
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Jul 15, 2021 01:50
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I put in roughly 30 fence posts last year, 3’ 12” holes, and all the leftover dirt filled in low spots underneath the panels. I wouldn’t sweat it too much
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Jul 15, 2021 03:35
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Good news everyone! The site boss explained that it would be like 10 wheel barrows full of dirt, but they could haul it for me for a fee, a service the sales guy conspicuously never mentioned. $650-750. But the great news is they waived the fee for me!...because they dug four holes, and there was a question about some mystery cables they found. No one came out to mark the cables, so they dug in, and knocked my internet out!  So they'll be back next week after someone marks the cable and electric. Still not sure about that other mystery wire.
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Jul 16, 2021 19:26
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You know, other than it being a bit of an eyesore, more and more I’m totally OK with my power and comma coming in from utility poles. Still gotta watch out fo that gas line and water main, though (and I know where they are.)
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Jul 16, 2021 19:46
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We should tip the crew planting us trees, ya? How much?
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Jul 16, 2021 20:41
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Epitope posted:We should tip the crew planting us trees, ya? How much? A six pack and a pizza? You're paying them for the work aren't you?
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Jul 16, 2021 20:59
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The gardening thread suggested I bring my question over here. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to diagnosing what's up with the basic plants in my garden and was wondering if anyone might have a clue as to what i'm looking at. We had new turf and cherry laurel hedging put in recently. The turf is just a month old and the laurels were planted about a week ago. The garden itself is north east facing so its been getting blasted with sun on the morning. For the turf, there's this brown patch that's started to appear after the laurel was planted and it looks to be spreading from the outer edge. It's been quite hot recently (21 odd degrees C on some days) but i've made sure to water the lawn a lot during that first month and then every couple of days since the laurel was planted to keep that hydrated on days where there's no rain due. In the pictures there used to be turf where the white chip stones were but the house created a lot of shade in that corner and grass struggled to grow there. I don't think the brown patch has that same issue. For the laurel, i noticed almost right away that one or two of the leaves were yellow/orange and now a few more leaves like that are appearing across the others (near the bottom mostly). There's a few holes in some of the leaves too where i'm guessing bugs have eaten them. The landscaper came round to finish the lawn while we were out so i didn't see how he put in the white chip stones (he did those at the same time as the laurel), so he might have been standing all over that patch of turf for all i know rather than the neighbours driveway. Basically i'm trying to understand if there's anything i should be worried about in terms of disease or whatnot. With the turf only being down for a month and the laurels a week, i was hoping not to see anything yellowing yet. Grass    Cherry Laurel Hedging   
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Jul 25, 2021 08:49
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Is the brown patch subject to runoff when it rains? I would suspect that or something that was in the soil before the new grass was laid. I am sure you can test the soil somehow, here there are labs that can tell you pH and nutrient levels. It won’t tell you if there was contamination however, and it sounds like the old grass was dead in that spot. It could also just be the heat. The turf looks like a fescue and they don’t do so well in the middle of summer. Hard to say. Sounds like your keeping it watered. I would lean towards something in the soil.
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Jul 25, 2021 12:54
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rdb posted:Is the brown patch subject to runoff when it rains? I would suspect that or something that was in the soil before the new grass was laid. I am sure you can test the soil somehow, here there are labs that can tell you pH and nutrient levels. It won’t tell you if there was contamination however, and it sounds like the old grass was dead in that spot. No runoff from what i've ever seen, though i've not checked to see if the landscaper put plastic sheeting or whatever under the white chips which would maybe cause the water to run when i've had the sprinkler on? I'll have a check the next time i water it. The soil was all newly put in along with the turf which is why i think something's changed along with the laurels getting put in . The grass that was in that spot before we had the landscaping done was actually growing fine, it was just the bit where the chipstone now are that struggled to grow. I've been a bit more lax with the watering over the last couple of days (i went from an hour a day for the first month when it wasn't raining to about a half hour every couple of days after the laurels were put in) mainly because i wasn't sure if overwatering is what's causing the laurels to go yellow at the bottom. When i've had the sprinkler running for a half hour or more, the soil where the laurels are does have large puddles though they disappear after 15 mins so i think that means the drainage is ok. That being said, i dunno how much water is too much water as i keep coming across folk saying different things for how long you should have the sprinkler on. Kin fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jul 25, 2021 |
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Jul 25, 2021 21:04
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I have a small backyard (in southern california) with very close neighbors, and I'd like to throw up some hedges for privacy. Any place I can find some ideas on this? Also if there's some sort of landscaping planning software that would be neat to play with.
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Jul 28, 2021 19:23
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Is it ok to lift a commercial zero-turn by the front lip of the deck? I’ve seen some youtubes do it, but it doesn’t seem great. I borrowed a homeowner-grade ZT wheel lift, but the jacking handle bent when I tried to lift my mower I can barely maneuver a floor jack under the front spindle arms, but my 24” Daytona jack doesn’t get the mower high enough to get an impact under the blade bolts. Separate question: will Gator-style mulching blades solve my clumping problems? I feel like I’m just pushing the same clumps and leaves back and forth every week. Nothings getting cut smaller with a second pass.
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Aug 2, 2021 18:27
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eddiewalker posted:Is it ok to lift a commercial zero-turn by the front lip of the deck? I’ve seen some youtubes do it, but it doesn’t seem great. Not really. I mean, you can get away with it probably, right up until you don't. If this is your mower that you intend to keep I suggest getting a proper jack for it. I have one of these which is an actual Kubota accessory but would work on anything and I'm sure you can get it without a kubota part number:  It's in the storage position there, obviously. You take it off and pin it into the silver bracket on the front wheel arm in right side of the picture. Then just crank it up. It's fast, easy and very stable. E: I thought I had a pic of it in use somewhere.....found one where I was testing it before I installed the storage bracket: 
Motronic fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 18:44
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Oh, when you only posted the first pic, I thought that was a tilt-down like Exmark does. I figured out an angle to come at the spindle arm with the floor jack that’s not as awkward as I thought. I looked at an appropriately-sized Oregon lift today and whoa, the big-box-grade lift I borrowed was woefully undersized. Not worth $300 to sharpen mower blades, though. The Husqy dealer didn’t seem to excited to sell me Gator blades. He didn’t think they would solve my clumping issues without a full set of $$ mulching baffles, and just told me to mow more often. I think once a week at 4” in the peak of July should be plenty, so I guess I’m living with it. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 23:00
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eddiewalker posted:Is it ok to lift a commercial zero-turn by the front lip of the deck? I’ve seen some youtubes do it, but it doesn’t seem great. I usually lift my scag in that manner but the deck is not rigidly fixed to the mower. It hasn’t been a problem but it will start to walk off the jack if I have a difficult blade. I should note that I take the blades off to sharpen them, I am only reaching under long enough to put a long breaker bar on the bottom or feed the long bolt/blade back through the spindle. The best blades I have found are the standard scag marbane. The mulching blades I have tried had more lift and made more dust and didn’t help with the clumping. The only thing that helped was bungee cording the discharge chute back but 1 center hinged french door and 3 car dents later I decided its not worth it. A couple weeks back I got pissed at it and lifted it up by the rops with pallet forks but I am *sure* that is the wrong way to do it. I have seen the dealer lift them from the bottom with pallet forks.
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Aug 3, 2021 00:23
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Jaxyon posted:I have a small backyard (in southern california) with very close neighbors, and I'd like to throw up some hedges for privacy. https://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=12434 wildflower.org posted:The place to start for a list of prospective drought tolerant, native California privacy hedge plants is with the Native Plant Database. Select California, full sun, shrub, perennial and 12-36 feet for your search.
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Aug 3, 2021 01:08
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Be aware that serviceberries are not good for pets. I was looking into getting some until I learned that.
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Aug 3, 2021 01:56
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Crossposting from the fix-it fast thread: I have holes in my yard. Probably from critters, but up until now we've ignored them and I've managed to not sprain my ankle on them. And then I sprained my ankle on one. What's the best way to fix them? There's one in particular that's like 6" diameter, which is the main target of my anger, but there are several smaller ones (plus a spot where PO removed a tree and isn't quite level that I'd like to smooth out). Not sure how deep the main offender is, or if the critter is still active, but we've Do we need some sort of sand fill topped with dirt? Can I just grab whatever bag of dirt/potting soil and throw it in there? Main concern here is a lasting fix that won't 1) wash away and 2) compact the instant it gets wet and require refilling a dozen times before it's done. What is NOT a concern is grass. We have bermuda. It WILL grow over, whether we want it to or not.
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Aug 10, 2021 14:13
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I used a lot of fill dirt to level out my yard at the previous house, lots of holes like you've described. It took about 3 weeks of watering on top of planting before it fully firmed up.
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Aug 10, 2021 14:49
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I just use sand when I pull out rocks. Bermuda grows right over it
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Aug 10, 2021 16:17
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DaveSauce posted:Do we need some sort of sand fill topped with dirt? Can I just grab whatever bag of dirt/potting soil and throw it in there? Main concern here is a lasting fix that won't 1) wash away and 2) compact the instant it gets wet and require refilling a dozen times before it's done. Any time you have soil that's not covered it's going to compact some with rain and things walking on it and so on but what you're filling with will make a big difference. At least around here what Home Depot sells as topsoil is basically unfinished compost which will compact a fuckload while a good loamy soil will compact a lot less. If you have a decent amount of area to cover (you mentioned flattening some stuff out) it's probably worth calling a landscaping supplier and having them dump off a yard (or whatever). Whether sand is fine or awful probably depends on what the natural soil is like where you are. If you have clay-heavy soil and you add sand to it you're not going to have a great time.
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Aug 10, 2021 19:44
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As I’ve had extra material/sod left over from other yard projects, I have been working on smoothing out the drainage swale easement that is the last 20ft of our property in the rear. I am making appropriate adjustments as heavy storms occur but I can already tell a difference in how fast it drains and dries out instead of it staying a swamp like it used to.  I have some additional drainage plans especially with the other major downspout in the rear but I’d rather wait until it is a bit cooler before digging that trench in clay. devmd01 fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Aug 10, 2021 |
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Aug 10, 2021 19:59
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Rhyno posted:I used a lot of fill dirt to level out my yard at the previous house, lots of holes like you've described. It took about 3 weeks of watering on top of planting before it fully firmed up. blugu64 posted:I just use sand when I pull out rocks. Bermuda grows right over it Wallet posted:Any time you have soil that's not covered it's going to compact some with rain and things walking on it and so on but what you're filling with will make a big difference. At least around here what Home Depot sells as topsoil is basically unfinished compost which will compact a fuckload while a good loamy soil will compact a lot less. If you have a decent amount of area to cover (you mentioned flattening some stuff out) it's probably worth calling a landscaping supplier and having them dump off a yard (or whatever). OK, thanks all. I think I was hoping that that there was some secret way to do it that would be a one-and-done thing, but sounds like I just need to throw some soil in there and keep at it until it's flat. And yeah, we have lots of clay, so I'll probably just grab whatever soil is handy and just keep topping it off until it's flat.
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Aug 10, 2021 20:31
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My soil is super dense clay and I’ve had zero problems with sand. Probably going to level it all out with a truck full of sand at some point, but (financial) priorities and all that.
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Aug 10, 2021 22:22
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blugu64 posted:My soil is super dense clay and I’ve had zero problems with sand. Probably going to level it all out with a truck full of sand at some point, but (financial) priorities and all that. The fundamental issue with clay soil is that it doesn't drain well and is easily compacted. Adding sand will generally make it worse, not better.
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Aug 10, 2021 22:42
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Got clay soil under a layer of good soil, it's a good water buffer, the grass on our back lawn didn't turn brown like the one on the front where there is no clay. Even though we had over a month of no rain and high temps.
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Aug 11, 2021 04:44
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What the hell is wrong with my grass? I think it must be some kind of fungus or disease but I can't get a good match with various searches on Google. A decently sized piece of my lawn is like this, it's either really grey/clear, or getting there. There's also small areas that are not largely affected that have some minor touches of it too. The majority of it is under the part of my lawn that gets the most sunlight. These pictures were all taken after I put some water on it, but it's been very dry and hasn't been watered much recently.    
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Aug 12, 2021 00:11
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SpartanIvy posted:What the hell is wrong with my grass? I think it must be some kind of fungus or disease but I can't get a good match with various searches on Google. You have "Gray Leaf Spot", probably partially due to the stress of not having enough water. https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/diseases-in-turf/gray-leaf-spot-in-turf/
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Aug 12, 2021 00:46
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Motronic posted:You have "Gray Leaf Spot", probably partially due to the stress of not having enough water. That was what I was leaning to, so thanks for the confirmation. I put down some granules with Propiconazole earlier and I set up my lawn sprinkler, so hopefully I can get it under control soon.
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Aug 12, 2021 01:31
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SpartanIvy posted:That was what I was leaning to, so thanks for the confirmation. I put down some granules with Propiconazole earlier and I set up my lawn sprinkler, so hopefully I can get it under control soon. That should totally do it to knock back the problem. Just keep watering to get it as healthy as possible until it's cool enough to fertilize again. You've got to get it all built back up and healthy so you aren't chasing crap around with fungicides and herbicides. So much less impact/chemicals if you can keep it healthy in the first place. But things like this happen, and it should bounce back.
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Aug 12, 2021 01:34
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Quick question for the lawn-havers. I'm throwing an event at a friend's rural property in a few weeks and installing a 40' radius tent w/ dance floor, tables, and chairs. How many days before the grass under the floor and under tent shade begins to show damage? Die off?
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Aug 13, 2021 14:13
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Leon Sumbitches posted:Quick question for the lawn-havers. Some kinds of grass are a lot more resilient than others but anything that's sitting right on top of it (the dance floor, the floor of the tent if it has one, etc) is going to kill most things pretty quickly in the summer heat.
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Aug 13, 2021 15:49
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It'll die/get damaged pretty quick... Probably in just a day. But if there are no other outstanding issues it should grow back fine.
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Aug 13, 2021 18:07
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Leon Sumbitches posted:Quick question for the lawn-havers. The grass under the tent will be fine for a long time. A week, at least. The grass under the dance floor is like, a day tops. Make sure the tent is up and shading things before you put the floor down. Covered grass in sun can be killed in hours down here. Depending on the soil, all the foot traffic may make a mess of the grass but it should recover fairly quickly.
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Aug 13, 2021 18:10
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