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Added some drainage/erosion mitigation along one of my fence lines. Put some treated 2x4 scrap across, and cut out slots on the bottom half for the water to flow through the rocks. This particular drain handles a lot of flow off the roof. 
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Nov 10, 2019 18:40
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I really need to get better about watering the sod I put down in the front yard this spring, I covered up a bed that was previously small rocks. I dug out as much of them as I could but after years of the bed being there the rocks were pretty well embedded into the dirt. The sod took okay at first but it’s definitely stressed in the heat compared to the rest of the established lawn.
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Jul 14, 2020 16:52
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This kind of hardscape: The tiny rocks just embed themselves in the dirt over the years and you get a nice inch thick+ layer of compacted dirt and rock. I would have had to dig it all out and bring in topsoil and I already spent way too much time cleaning up the rocks in the bed already. The sod is well established, I haven’t been able to lift it up for a while now.
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Jul 15, 2020 21:48
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Putting this drainage pipe in from the downspout down to the drainage easement is gonna suuuuuuck. 
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Jul 17, 2020 21:58
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Standing in it to take the picture, it’s the final ~15ft of the rear of the property. I’m gonna route the pipe slightly to the right of the tree to hopefully not flood it more than it already is in the spring. I know 811 is advisable but I am 100% certain that there isn’t anything where I will be digging. All of the utilities come in either through the front of the house or in the other rear corner wrapping around to the front. I’ll definitely be calling them when I do drainage pipes in that corner though.
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Jul 17, 2020 23:08
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Gave up after the sun peeked over the house, I picked the wrong weekend to do this. Gonna have to go pick up a mattock, our clay is really dense about 8 inches down.
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Jul 18, 2020 16:29
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My initial work assessment was correct, that suuuuuucked. Nothing but dense clay the whole way down; thankfully the mattock made relatively short work of it. Even managed to give myself heat exhaustion right as I was finishing up for the day so that was fun. Just need to throw the dirt back in and put the sod back into place. ...and then seriously consider spending the money on a trencher for the other corner I want to do drainage piping as there is over twice the length of this one to deal with. 
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Jul 19, 2020 17:31
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It’s taken some work but the yard is pretty clear of weeds. It looks pretty good all trimmed up!
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Aug 8, 2020 02:06
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Fuuuck this bush. I’m tempted to pay the neighbor kid to dig out the rest of it. I also need to dig a hole in the other corner of the patio for a birch tree that’s getting delivered on Friday, so I might just spend extra and have him do both.
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Sep 15, 2020 13:19
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Sadly there isn’t enough room to get a truck in the back yard at a good angle without a lot of messing up the grass. I just kept plugging away at it this week and finally got it loose...then immediately realized that the root ball was way too heavy for me to even lift out of the hole. Crappy old axe to the rescue! 
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Sep 16, 2020 21:25
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Birch tree was delivered yesterday afternoon and I got it in the ground after dinner. Should give us some nice shade once it matures.
devmd01 fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Sep 19, 2020 |
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Sep 19, 2020 13:43
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My wife liked the birch tree so much that she wanted another one on the corner of the house.  I put some pavers in next to the drainage pipe while I did it to protect it from the roots.  It’s gonna be 10+ years before we can afford to do this but we want to eventually completely re-do the patio, expand it, and put in a screened in porch in one side. I did a basic sketch of what the plan would look like. 
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Sep 22, 2020 12:23
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rdb posted:That doesn’t look like a birch to me? No, but I definitely see one right here!  Poor phrasing aside, a birch tree next to the foundation would be bad news.
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Sep 22, 2020 15:19
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I love my neighbor’s maple this time of year. I also appreciate that the leaves pretty much land/stay on the outside of the fence.
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Oct 23, 2020 19:22
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So the back 15-20ft of my property is a drainage easement. For the first two springs we owned the house it turned into a total swamp so that seems to be normal. Fun for the kids to stomp through though! As I’ve been doing yard projects any excess dirt gets sprinkled into the low spots.   Once I can fill in the south side of the ditch, I’ll start spreading grass seed into the mud. Ultimately, I want to turn the entire easement into a native plant/flower/tree extravaganza.
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Oct 23, 2020 23:44
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Man, I just pay someone. I don’t give two shits about what nutrients, etc need to go on as well as keeping track of when it does. gently caress a tru-green tho, I’m with a local company that does organic only.
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Mar 14, 2021 18:01
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smdh if you don’t edge every single time
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Apr 13, 2021 14:53
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Somewhat proud of this sod install. Previously, this entire area was a small rock bed on top of our wonderful central Indiana clay. Dug all the embedded rock and clay down 4+”, put topsoil down, then laid in sod once it arrived at the garden center. Managed to get it done in almost exactly 3 rolls with a tiny bit of excess. Now to move on to the other 7 rolls and where I need to repeat the process...
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Apr 16, 2021 23:49
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That was a hell of a lot of work for a little bit of extra grass but the rock bed was way too big. At least I put a border in while I was at it.  
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Apr 18, 2021 10:59
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Between my neighbor and I, the space between our houses is absolutely beautiful every spring.
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Apr 20, 2021 15:01
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Something with a Honda engine. Next question!
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May 12, 2021 01:48
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The sod I put in has come in nicely. Now that the weather is nice my wife planted a few more things in the front. This pretty much concludes the re-work of the front that we’ve been doing since we moved in two and a half years ago. Now that everything is planted and I put in a low profile downspout I picked up 22 bags of river rock from Lowe’s to fill in everything. I also touched up the left side of the garage with the low profile downspout I put there.   The back needs a little bit more work before it’s done, but the work is slowly in progress. E: allllll this poo poo got ripped out for grass. 
devmd01 fucked around with this message at 19:27 on May 16, 2021 |
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May 16, 2021 19:17
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Are you already invested in a battery ecosystem I.e. Milwaukee, ryobi, etc? Just get the best available one that works with your batteries, it should be adequate.
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May 19, 2021 15:36
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Went ham on the bushes on the side of my garage last night. They get sun all day and this isn’t the first time I’ve cut them back, but never this drastically. Limb pickup scheduled with the town for Monday! 
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May 21, 2021 14:50
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I was tired of mowing/trimming around the utility boxes in my yard up by the neighbors and it looking like poo poo. I pulled out all of the grass to trim up the edges, planted some low-profile ground cover, and covered it all with several bags of river rock.
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May 28, 2021 17:00
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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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Just get the edger, it will look 100x better and be a lot easier to use. There’s probably one available in whatever battery system you use.
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Aug 22, 2021 15:06
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DaveSauce posted:We have a corded edger that I only use maybe 2-3x a year. devmd01 posted:smdh if you don’t edge every single time
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Aug 23, 2021 21:08
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drat, a good demonstration of why yucca is a hardy plant. We ripped out a somewhat large one in this spot last year and replaced it with iris bulbs. Apparently I didn’t get as much of the root as I should have because it grew back in during the summer. thankfully it all pulled out easily but that was cool to see.
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Sep 14, 2021 16:35
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First, buy a few million in liability insurance…
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Jul 20, 2022 18:35
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The trees from the town fall sale need to get here, I’m ready. Carefully excavated the sod and used it to fill in dead spots throughout the yard. Hopefully the swale will no longer be a muddy mess in the spring!  
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Sep 29, 2022 15:32
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Swamp Oak, Red Maple, and an Eastern Red Cedar, all native. Placed them to help out with privacy from the neighbors, though it will take quite a while before they are useful. There is a row of lovely pines along the swale so I am starting to plant more trees along the back as they die off and I cut them down.
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Sep 29, 2022 18:09
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Hell yeah we got trees  
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Oct 4, 2022 18:53
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Yeah I just pay someone too. I really don’t want to learn about lawn fertilization/weed control or keep track of what to apply when, etc etc. Your company sucks.
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Oct 5, 2022 15:35
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lite_sleepr posted:It's lawns that are the scams. 
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Oct 5, 2022 16:14
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Soul Dentist posted:Grass lawns suck major dick so do literally anything to get rid of it. That is my long term vision for a good portion of it. My fenced in suburban back yard is stupid huge and we don’t need that much grass for the kids and dog to run around in. I plan to basically take the rear 20’ of swale and re-wild it with native prairie grass, wildflowers, add more trees to fill in the gaps to the neighbors from the existing trees, etc. Aerating and overseeing with micro clover is also in the cards for the rest of it. Green existing trees Blue additional trees Red existing strawberry patch / move the garden there. Yellow do not mow or spray  Since we bought the place I’ve been working on grading and getting the drainage to flow smoothly to the southern end where the storm drain is just outside the fence. It’s all going to be a very long term project but I look forward to what it will look like in five years or so. In fifteen years I do not want to be able to see a single one of my neighbors when I sit on the back patio. devmd01 fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Oct 13, 2022 |
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Oct 13, 2022 03:08
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Next spring, I want to turn the entire drainage swale easement into a wildflower/prarie grass area. It’s about 160’x20’, basically the fence to the tree line. Found some seed mixes from an in-state supplier that are appropriate for my zone and dealing with standing water for a couple of days in spots. I also have some appropriately sized native trees picked out to plant on the upslope by the fence for more privacy, so I need to get those in place this fall.  From what I’m reading, you really want to clear the area of all vegetation for the best chance of everything taking, either chemically (hard no especially being the drainage swale), mechanically, or baking it dead with plastic. All of those options are not ideal as I really don’t want a complete mud pit back there, so come late summer when everything is dry and hot I plan to to mow the area on the lowest setting to scalp the grass and hopefully get it overly stressed. Next spring, rent a slice seeder and go to town on the area. Whatever happens, happens; I know establishing an area like this will take 2-3 years. For anyone who has done something like this, any suggestions?
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Mar 22, 2023 23:42
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Ugh, we need to find places for all of the landscaping around the back patio to go except for the tree. It all needs to be cleared out by the end of September so they can start on the patio remodel. Hopefully too many don’t die with the transplants!
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Aug 2, 2023 18:34
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I am going to finally get started on re-doing the swale from turf to native wildflower/prairie grass, about 1300 sq ft. Decided that getting it done now for that cold moist stratification should get it off on the right foot. I plan on throwing various bulbs out there too, whatever Costco has in bulk this fall. Glyphosate and dye are on-hand and a local rental place has a high brush mower to cut down the existing grass growth, i haven’t cut it all year. Debating whether to also rent a slit seeder when it’s time or just hand broadcast. And since prescribed burns are part of managing it every few years, I left a voicemail to talk with the fire marshal about it since I’m in the middle of a neighborhood. From how I read state law I am in the clear, but I suspect they would appreciate a heads up with a burn plan at minimum. devmd01 fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Aug 23, 2023 |
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Aug 23, 2023 16:46
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 05:05 |
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So my spidey sense is tingling about the prairie grass conversion, just because I’m surrounded by houses. Specifically, the necessary prescribed burns every few years. I don’t want to start the process of conversion if I can’t manage it well, so I emailed a land management consultant to help give me the green light on whether it can be done safely given that there is only a 3ft gap from the fence.
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Aug 28, 2023 19:35
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