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This is an eastern hemlock right on the corner of my house.  They are currently threatened on the east coast due to an aphid infestation. Mine is aphid free, but he is 4 feet from my foundation and split fairly early in his growth, which weakens them overall.  Plus, not sure you can see it very well, but he's very near the power lines that run to the house. He also takes out the sun for pretty much the entire west side of my house. This is all a terraced hill that was severely overgrown that I've slowly been cutting down and clearing out. You can kinda get an idea for it, but right now all that can grow are ferns (and loving spruce) because this dude is just gigantic. I have big plans for this area if I can get some more light in there.   I hate cutting down trees in principle that are healthy, and this one appears to be healthy. Plus, it's a threatened species in the region and it's very healthy all things considered. On the other hand, it's stopping me from growing pretty much anything else, it's very close to my foundation, it's susceptible to high winds (I've already had one tree fall towards the edge of my property) and a couple of arborist friends when it splits early like that they're weaker than they appear. He'd be about a thousand bucks to cut down. I've got a couple other trees that are going to get cut down on my property and I've been wrestling with whether or not to just bite the bullet and cut him down too. Obviously trees are not in short supply around my house but he's a unique one. Bonus: Zennias 
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Jul 28, 2023 05:03
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 20:11 |
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Thank you guys that’s very helpful.
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Jul 30, 2023 16:03
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cut down and wow....I've got some growing space now.    
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Aug 19, 2023 19:44
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FAT32 SHAMER posted:It would be stunningly beautiful if you terraced that entire hill in 6ft steps How do you mean? Wide or high….or both? that top part is already terraced. It’s just overgrown.
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Aug 19, 2023 23:01
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whiskas posted:My legs hurt just looking at that yard. You must have some rear end clapping thunder thighs working on that hill. I moved in last may and we didn’t have a bad ice or snow storm this year. Ive told all my employers I will be physically incapable of making it to work if it snows.
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Aug 20, 2023 13:26
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I would like to talk about my mountain house on a hill and ask for your advice/suggestions/ideas Here is the driveway up. I'm at the top of a private drive. Private not in the sense that it's gated, but that in the trash doesn't pick up here. all three sides are very dense woods. To the north is a bird sanctuary, east and north are just woods. there's a road like 800 yards east i think. House was completely overgrown when I bought it.  To the right is terraced garden beds about 20x50 feet, overgrown completely. I cleared out the lowest one and turned it into gourdlandia. All the shrubbery is getting torn out soon. it gets good light. Thinking cattle panel trellis arches?   To the left is what was just free'd from an eastern hemlock hogging all the light. this butts up to my neighbors property which is a rental house full of 25 year old anarchist environmentalists. Bottom of the hill is a little patch of yard I turned into a garden patch this year. Gets full sun, was thinking of building a path and raised garden beds on both sides for next season. Soil isn't very good.   That blue fir is going nowhere (and will be decorated at christmas) but the little tree growing besides it is not long for this world. The part directly west of the house was just cleared out and you can see it's terraced, just overgrown. That too will be ripped out soon. This now has full light. I definitely want to plant some flowers here next year, and was even thinking of doing a "local to western nc" style design. Depending on how many planters i grow below I might grow some veggies too. Could also build more boxes south of the path, or terrace it like was suggested. also thinking of doubling the size of this little side garden with crushed tomatoes, turning it into a small fire site for friends when we come over post BBQ/relax/whatever    Front yard gets terrible light. Built some flower boxes that didn't do great. Buts up to a hill covered in trees that are VERY fun to look at while on shrooms. You can tell where the dog loves to run up and chase balls. Eventually some of those will have to come down but the arborist doesn't think that's necessary for a while. The trees are pretty healthy. Just sucks about the light. Also there's a random porch up in the woods too. It rains...a lot here. I would like to build a path around the edge against the hill there looping around to the backyard. But since water comes down that would I need to dig in some irrigation stuff? Or just do a stone path? And what about grass here? I'm going to take these boxes apart in the fall and would like to plant some kind of grass. Nothing fancy (my dog would destroy it) but definitely need something that can survive a poo poo ton of water and shade. i gets more light now that the hemlock is gone but still not ideal.  
FizFashizzle fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Aug 22, 2023 |
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Aug 22, 2023 01:10
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ohhyeah posted:Nice house, you’re going to have tons of fun. It would be helpful if you could tell us: usda plant hardiness zone, state if you feel comfortable or general east coast/west coast, general orientation (the driveway is facing south yes?), and what the soil is like (clay, sand, rocky). Any invasives in there? I am in Asheville, North Carolina. Planting zone is 7a. It is a deciduous rainforest Downward slope of my house is west facing. Sorry I might have been unclear on that. Right now I don’t really get sun until about 11am, no morning light unfortunately. The soil is not great. I dug out garden beds that didn’t do great and part of that reason I think is that underneath the soil I bought is just clay. In the lower part where the garden bed was is just a collection of random grasses and weeds. It gets a lot more sun now that I’ve cut down the two trees that were hogging all the light. Also side note I never stopped to think about what to think getting face owned on the side of a mountain directly by the sun for 6 hours every day would do. The answer: my energy bill will be higher. Either way the vegetable garden next spring will likely be raised beds. Invasives are about all that came with it. Lots of English Ivey, Virginia snakeroot (unkillable), and Hostas. My gif the Hostas. I see people selling lovely hostas for like 50 dollars and I just want to tell them to come to my house with a spade. Those things are cute for about a day. No real drainage issues up top. It’s just damp all the time. Obviously doesn’t get a lot of sun but it definitely does now. Hopefully that little Japanese maple i planted starts doing something. FizFashizzle fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Aug 24, 2023 |
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Aug 24, 2023 13:10
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Drainage chat?!?! Here is the side view of my terraced (front?) yard. I've been digging out a lot of english ivy which is why you kinda can't see the bottom terrace  This is the view facing the front. You can see the retaining wall on the right is leaning: that's getting fixed soon. What I'm interested in is that space in the middle. Theres a ton of stones here, all covered in dirt and underbrush. No idea if this was originally a decorative stream or just rocks or whatever. This house was designed in the 1980s for two things: cocaine and swinger parties   I want to build a path straight across the top to the deck. Unfortunately I've got that downspout and that extension. Right now it just kinda points into my driveway that goes down. It's....steep.  Not sure what to do with this. A. Bury it so I can build a path over it? Where does it go? Figure I need to avoid the rest of the terrace levels because they'd flood B. Blow my budget to pieces and build a koi pond in the middle level and set up some irrigation system? C. Embrace Asheville and install a rainwater catch right there and use it to water all the various things I'm going to grow in those terraces actually as I'm writing this down that's probably what I'm going to do but I'm still open to suggestions.
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Jan 14, 2024 22:15
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Behold, the hideous overgrown juniper patch and snake habitat on the side of my driveway has been removed and will no longer curse the appearance of my house.   Now I have a big patch of nothing that's going to get very good sun. I've wanted to terrace it since I moved in and dagnabbit that's what I'm going to do. By my calculations (geometry!) I'm going to have three levels approximately five feet deep, and each wall will need to be approximately 30 inches high. I am planning to use retaining wall blocks and someday (lol) apply a facade of some kind. I plan on putting some planter boxes on the levels and do cow trellis vertical growing. My question is do I need to worry about drainage on this? I'm building this wall around existing (lovely) structures that will have to be replaced some day. You can't see it but there are draining pipes built into that thing already. I'm finding mixed information about this online. Thanks!
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Feb 16, 2024 23:18
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Suggestions please for some plants. Zone 7. The reliefs I've dug out and walled off look good, and I just need some stuff at the top here against the car park. Was thinking flowering bush or maybe even some kind of privacy tree. It gets medium sun at least. I just tore out a poo poo ton of juniper.  This little area at the front of the house is....pitiful. Good suggestions for flowering bush? Medium sun.  These two little skinny dudes sit at the top of my driveway. Gonna take them out, build out that space a little bit, and I want to put something eye catching there.   bobua posted:You are preaching to the choir my friend. I absolutely don't want one. Wife wants one Looks like you're about to compromise and get a pool.
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Mar 19, 2024 19:02
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Hutla posted:Have you considered some native azaleas? There are several height/ flower options, though the natives aren’t evergreen like the Japanese azaleas There will be some azaleas, yes. I’m also thinking of some Muhly grass on the hill above the terraces. Also just bought this bad boy for the “marquee” spot I guess. Gonna have to build it out a bit but that fine. https://www.fast-growing-trees.com/products/ruby-falls-redbud-tree?variant=39435584667710
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Mar 22, 2024 17:43
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cut a path from my driveway to the top of my lower deck now I just need to find a poo poo load o gravel and i'll be good to go. going with landscaping timber to match paths that are already here. Gonna do some pebbles with big stepping stones. broke two pickaxes clearing out roots! spaces in the right side are roots i'd need to whip out a chainsaw for and honestly they're probably just a strong.    
FizFashizzle fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Apr 3, 2024 |
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Apr 2, 2024 23:56
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Cow Panel Trellis boxes are set up. I was planning on having a cute little tunnel down to that bottom terrace, where I was gonna have some chairs and a nice little relax area. However, I don't think the view will be very good there, especially once the foliage is full send. Can't decide if I want to make it anyway or make another part of the tunnel. TUNNELS!  
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Apr 6, 2024 00:15
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i decided this looked like poo poo and tore it out and redug the path.  ahh, much better. That just has the foundation timbers in, and obviously not the landscaping fabric. Now I have to figured out what I want it to look like. I went with the timbers because there's some preexisting stuff on my property and I wanted to match it. They did just the gravel with stepping stones and it looks....fine. Now that I'm here tho...kinda wanna do something fancier but I don't know what.
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Apr 9, 2024 23:40
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I love it when projects come together.    
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May 6, 2024 11:56
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 20:11 |
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Motronic posted:Think about where a truck could dump these and what it would take to move them from there to where you want to build this. Why I went wood chips lol
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May 7, 2024 11:47
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