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I've got two "spring is coming" questions for you folks today. Is there a more economical/smarter way to buy grass seed than just walking into Lowe's and grabbing a few bags of something appropriate to my climate? I'm covering maybe 1000 sq ft. I planted Thuja Green Giant saplings last spring, and this winter the deer got into them, ranging from small nibbles to picking them nearly clean. This is about the worst of them. Are these salvageable, or do I need to just rip them up and start over? https://imgur.com/a/S2mXH7i The Wonder Weapon fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Mar 27, 2022 |
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Mar 27, 2022 22:22
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Is there a more economical/smarter way to buy grass seed than just walking into Lowe's and grabbing a few bags of something appropriate to my climate? I'm covering maybe 1000 sq ft. YES! But our versions of "economical" may not be the same. I'm using the "works the first time and lasts" version, which may cost more than that bag o' weed seed you get at lowesdepot. Google "<my state> ag extension". Looks for what they recommend for your area. They may even have local seed vendors listed. If that's not enough or just for a double check find your county ag extension office on there. Email or call them - they have paid and volunteer master gardeners who love to talk about this poo poo and will give you all the info you need for your specific area. This advice is going to come with "you need to spend money on soil tests first, and probably more money on correcting your soil before you seed". All of this is good money spent for long term successful turfgrass.
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Mar 27, 2022 23:03
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Agree 100% with Moronic on that one. Works even better when your mother in law is one of those master gardeners, lives nearby, and is happy to come help sort your poo poo out. But that might just be me.
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Mar 27, 2022 23:06
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Tyro posted:Moronic Thanks I guess 
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Mar 27, 2022 23:08
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Motronic posted:Thanks I guess Fuckin autocorrect But I'm gonna leave it 
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Mar 27, 2022 23:24
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The Wonder Weapon posted:I've got two "spring is coming" questions for you folks today. There's a ton of online stores like outsidepride.com where you can buy better mixes. "lawn care reddit" suggests you get better quality from online places (or if you can find a local non-chain store) quote:I planted Thuja Green Giant saplings last spring, and this winter the deer got into them, ranging from small nibbles to picking them nearly clean. This is about the worst of them. Are these salvageable, or do I need to just rip them up and start over? If the bark is intact, I'd expect you'd be fine. They're pretty hard to kill, the deer here tried and really weren't successful. When they get up to around 5 ft tall, you will want to start wrapping them in burlap if they're not fenced. Not to protect them against the cold, but to protect them against the deer rubbing their antlers on them and killing the top half of the plant.
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Mar 27, 2022 23:43
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Speaking of spring yardwork, how do you all recommend going about aggressively trimming back some shrubs/small conifers that have gotten out of hand? One of them is literally half dead so if I kill it I don’t think it’d be a huge loss, but I need to get these things back to a reasonable size and preferably without too much damage. Any guides that you recommend? These things were probably planted quite a while ago at this point and benign neglect and a lil bit of a trim can only get them so far.
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Mar 28, 2022 02:01
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BadSamaritan posted:Speaking of spring yardwork, how do you all recommend going about aggressively trimming back some shrubs/small conifers that have gotten out of hand? One of them is literally half dead so if I kill it I don’t think it’d be a huge loss, but I need to get these things back to a reasonable size and preferably without too much damage. Any guides that you recommend? You'll need to be more specific about what you're dealing with for actual recommendations. But in general landscape plants are poo poo if they were bought as such. You can keep them "small" for a while, but they aren't meant to be small so eventually if you keep trimming them back you have sparse woody stumps or you've killed them. They just need to be torn out and replace with another sacrificial thing that you're trying to keep smaller than it should be. So be specific. Not only in what you are talking about but your goals. I'm all about replacing lovely bulk nursery stock with natives. But I choose them based on not how they look in a 4 gallon pot, but how they will grow when planted somewhere that is a happy place for them and what I can reasonably do to trim them the way I'd want. But if you're not interested in any of that the standard landscaper answer is to rip them out and replace them. This is the normal solution and will work for many years.
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Mar 28, 2022 02:11
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Motronic posted:But if you're not interested in any of that the standard landscaper answer is to rip them out and replace them. This is the normal solution and will work for many years. This is kind of what I figured. I’m in agreement about natives- that is what we’ve done slowly with our front garden. The side garden just has a big row of boring stuff that has gotten big (an azalea, the half dead spruce(?), a wintercreeper that I hate). We’re spending enough on home stuff this year that I was hoping to kick this can down the road but ehhh…
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Mar 28, 2022 02:29
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If you're having to do major pruning I'd say you have the wrong thing planted in the wrong place and all you're doing is delaying the inevitable. You can generally get away (in my experience) with moving shrubs and even small trees as long as you aren't an idiot about it. That aside, Purdue has a decent guide on pruning ornamental trees/shrubs.
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Mar 28, 2022 14:11
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Motronic posted:Google "<my state> ag extension". Looks for what they recommend for your area. We rent, but maintaining the yard is our responsibility; we're not deeply invested but we'd like to not have the worst yard on the street. Sod was put down right before we moved in. It's starting to turn green, finally. It's the correct grass for the area according to my local ag extension, which says that for that grass I should be watering to a depth of 6 inches. What does that mean? How do I know I've watered that deeply? The water's all running off down into the street anyway.
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Mar 28, 2022 15:24
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zonohedron posted:We rent, but maintaining the yard is our responsibility; we're not deeply invested but we'd like to not have the worst yard on the street. Sod was put down right before we moved in. It's starting to turn green, finally. It's the correct grass for the area according to my local ag extension, which says that for that grass I should be watering to a depth of 6 inches. What does that mean? How do I know I've watered that deeply? The water's all running off down into the street anyway. It means that after you water you should be able to dig a hole 6" deep and the soil will still be wet. If the top soil has dried out a lot this could take a bit to accomplish - several light waterings and soak time between before the soil will take the amount of water needed to make this happen without running off and into the street.
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Mar 28, 2022 16:46
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Motronic posted:YES! But our versions of "economical" may not be the same. I'm using the "works the first time and lasts" version, which may cost more than that bag o' weed seed you get at lowesdepot. As for soil ph, if all the rest of my lawn is in fine condition, is there any reason to believe the ph is completely inhospitable? I'd expect that if the ph were in dire need of correction, the existing lawn would be suffering. devicenull posted:There's a ton of online stores like outsidepride.com where you can buy better mixes. "lawn care reddit" suggests you get better quality from online places (or if you can find a local non-chain store)
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Mar 28, 2022 17:07
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The Wonder Weapon posted:As for soil ph, if all the rest of my lawn is in fine condition, is there any reason to believe the ph is completely inhospitable? I'd expect that if the ph were in dire need of correction, the existing lawn would be suffering. A soil test is about more than pH and will tell you what needs to be added (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) . New turf requires a lot more to establish than already established grass. You may get away without testing and a pretty standard "starting fertilizer" mix depending on the average soils in your area. The extension will know.
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Mar 28, 2022 17:47
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Speaking of yards - My back yard is totally torn up, just dirt when its dry and mud when its wet, due to the previous owners installing a new septic just before I bought the house in December. The yard is covered in straw. I guess that means the septic company seeded it with grass? 1) Do I need to do anything to it before spring to help the new grass grow, and 2) should I eventually rake up the straw or just let it decompose?
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Mar 28, 2022 18:13
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Probably varies by region but if it's just loose straw I'd leave it and it will disappear as you mow. If it's some roll out sheet with a wire mesh you may want to pull it up as confusingly it won't decompose.
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Mar 28, 2022 18:46
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BadSamaritan posted:This is kind of what I figured. I’m in agreement about natives- that is what we’ve done slowly with our front garden. The side garden just has a big row of boring stuff that has gotten big (an azalea, the half dead spruce(?), a wintercreeper that I hate).
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Mar 28, 2022 18:57
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Where are you, and what's your soil like? I'm guessing by the azalea you're somewhere in the South. Spruces won't regrow branches in dead areas, so if it's weird-looking now, it's never going to be unweird. Furthermore, spruces grow big; depending on variety we're talking 50 feet tall or more. IMHO a non-dwarf spruce doesn't belong in a suburban lot. I would argue for taking that puppy out and replacing with a dogwood or redbud, but that's me. Massachusetts, decently balanced soil but could probably use some tlc. To be honest I don’t really know what the weird lovely evergreen tree is, but it’s getting too big and dead for its urban lot spot. That side of the house is full shade all day, so I don’t really know what I’d eventually throw in to replace it. I’ve put a lot of thought into our full sun front garden and the side has kind of taken the back burner until now. The POs (and PPOs) didn’t really do any gardening aside from plonking in a pot of mums once a year so it’s been a process.
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Mar 28, 2022 19:24
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BadSamaritan posted:Massachusetts, decently balanced soil but could probably use some tlc. To be honest I don’t really know what the weird lovely evergreen tree is, but it’s getting too big and dead for its urban lot spot. That side of the house is full shade all day, so I don’t really know what I’d eventually throw in to replace it. I’ve put a lot of thought into our full sun front garden and the side has kind of taken the back burner until now. If it's truly full shade all day there's not a lot of shrubs or trees that are going to be exciting and want to grow there. There's a lot of cool native ferns that might dig it, though.
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Mar 28, 2022 22:12
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BadSamaritan posted:Massachusetts, decently balanced soil but could probably use some tlc. To be honest I don’t really know what the weird lovely evergreen tree is, but it’s getting too big and dead for its urban lot spot. If it shares characteristics with this tree:  It might be an old coastal cedar & you might consider keeping it, They can be super-ugly & look mostly dead, but they're a cool local fauna.
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Mar 29, 2022 01:29
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I'm in the process of getting a three-bid for replacing my 16x38 driveway with either new concrete or pavers. Anyone have an idea of what this would/should run, and or any things to watch out for? Edit: Concrete quote was $5500 Deviant fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Mar 29, 2022 |
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Mar 29, 2022 15:56
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That seems a bit high @ $9/sqft, but it depends on your locale and any specific site conditions.
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Mar 30, 2022 12:41
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Planting grass in the spring is usually a losing battle unless you can irrigate all summer long. Fall is when you should do grass projects and spring is when you throw down Pre-emeregnt to prevent the weeds.
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Mar 30, 2022 12:58
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Seem to have hit the radon lottery, last summer/fall my meter was reading 1.85 and now it's like 4 with daily readings of like anywhere from 4 up to 7. This is a slab house and my worst readings are in a back bedroom, and the least-worst place to install a mitigation system would be the garage which is the opposite end of the house, assuming I don't want a giant pvc pipe installed in my bedroom. Is a system in one end of the house gonna effectively remediate the whole house?
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Mar 30, 2022 17:44
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Infinotize posted:Is a system in one end of the house gonna effectively remediate the whole house? If it's properly installed. This typically means that you have pipes under the slab all over the place, which is the real issue here, not where you end up putting the vent stack.
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Mar 30, 2022 17:46
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Motronic posted:If it's properly installed. This typically means that you have pipes under the slab all over the place, which is the real issue here, not where you end up putting the vent stack. I see, thanks. Is that something a pro can do from one entry point, or am I gonna end up with half a dozen holes all over my house? I guess my next step in any case is to start Getting At Least Five Bids (sigh)
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Mar 30, 2022 17:52
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Infinotize posted:I see, thanks. Is that something a pro can do from one entry point, or am I gonna end up with half a dozen holes all over my house? I guess my next step in any case is to start Getting At Least Five Bids (sigh) I've never seen one done in a slab home, only one with a basement. In those cases they jackhammer concrete and put in the collection pipes, just like the would for any plumbing below the slab. Since you're dealing with a finished floor of a home I'd think that there are better (and overall less expensive when considering having to replace floor finishes) methods for doing this but I really don't know as I've not run into that. Good luck - I hope someone has come up with some manner of maybe side drilling/boring these things in from the outside.
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Mar 30, 2022 18:20
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I'm renovating my kitchen soon and am trying to find a quiet and effective range hood. (I understand there are limits to how quiet you can get with a bunch of airflow happening). Right now I've identified a reasonably quiet model with good reviews, https://www.hauslane.com/products/ps18?variant=12409615450186 I recall reading somewhere (maybe this thread?) about remote fan options, but the ones I've found from random googling don't seem to be any quieter than decent quality integral fan units. Does anyone have suggestions for good models of either? 30" wide, ideally >8" deep under cabinet mount.
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Mar 31, 2022 01:13
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Motronic posted:If it's properly installed. This typically means that you have pipes under the slab all over the place, which is the real issue here, not where you end up putting the vent stack. At least based on the several quotes I got and then the actually installed and measured system, everyone around me just has a single port in a corner of the basement that evacuates all the air underneath the foundation. They drilled a couple of test ports in the opposite corners to verify the vacuum pull. I think local foundation construction and soil conditions play a big role. If you have a decent amount of gravel under your slab/basement, there's plenty of airflow they can draw with a single fan.
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Mar 31, 2022 03:23
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Aren't pavers supposed to be more expensive than concrete? I've got two estimates: Concrete: $5200 Pavers: 4100 For a 28*16 driveway. I'm thinking the concrete guy just doesn't want the job?
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Mar 31, 2022 03:31
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Pavers are more than concrete generally yes. honesltyy that seems cheap for the pavers estimate.
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Mar 31, 2022 13:31
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Yeah, for a basic backyard patio, my paver estimate was around that much. Unless your driveway is tiny or these are the cheapest, most generic pavers, that quote looks too cheap.
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Mar 31, 2022 13:38
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brugroffil posted:At least based on the several quotes I got and then the actually installed and measured system, everyone around me just has a single port in a corner of the basement that evacuates all the air underneath the foundation. They drilled a couple of test ports in the opposite corners to verify the vacuum pull. I think local foundation construction and soil conditions play a big role. If you have a decent amount of gravel under your slab/basement, there's plenty of airflow they can draw with a single fan. Huh, that's a whole lot easier. I'm guessing it's done differently here/in unfinished basements due to concentration or soil type. And you're probably right about gravel.....I'm talking about mostly 50+ year old houses and lol they didn't really do that poo poo then.
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Mar 31, 2022 15:00
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couldcareless posted:Yeah, for a basic backyard patio, my paver estimate was around that much. Unless your driveway is tiny or these are the cheapest, most generic pavers, that quote looks too cheap. it's not a huge driveway? 28' long x 16' wide, rectangular. basic two car. He said 3800 for pavers, 300 for sealing. I've gotten two concrete quotes and they've both been $5000+
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Mar 31, 2022 16:15
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No idea about the cost comparison but pavers will also be more maintenance to keep them looking nice. Sealer is good for maybe 2-3 years depending on what they use and then you need to resand the joints as needed
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Mar 31, 2022 16:36
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I vastly prefer the look of pavers, particularly when concrete starts to crack (which is why i'm replacing it, my currently driveway is badly cracked), I'm just surprised they're turning out cheaper. I need to talk with the paver company today anyway to get a catalog of color options.
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Mar 31, 2022 16:43
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Deviant posted:I vastly prefer the look of pavers, particularly when concrete starts to crack (which is why i'm replacing it, my currently driveway is badly cracked), I'm just surprised they're turning out cheaper. I need to talk with the paver company today anyway to get a catalog of color options. Part of the price of pavers, in fact a big part, is installation. And the quality/requirements of that installation. If you're someplace that freezes it requires more base materials and more site prep. Do both of these quote install removal of your existing concrete driveway? Because that's not cheap either.
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Mar 31, 2022 16:57
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If you get a second quote for pavers you'll probably know the answer.
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Mar 31, 2022 17:09
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Motronic posted:Part of the price of pavers, in fact a big part, is installation. And the quality/requirements of that installation. If you're someplace that freezes it requires more base materials and more site prep. It does not freeze here, I am the florida man. All quotes are turnkey start to finish with removal. This guy is also really highly reviewed on the yelps/googles/etc. The 5200 concrete quote was from the paver guy, and the 5500 quote was from a totally seperate concrete group Wallet posted:If you get a second quote for pavers you'll probably know the answer. I'm waiting for another pavers quote as well. Need to call today.
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Mar 31, 2022 17:12
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Deviant posted:It does not freeze here, I am the florida man. That can certainly invert the price of concrete vs. pavers compared to what I'd expect to see here in the frozen north. Also your soil type, etc which may make site prep even easier. So with that information......yeah, I do believe this could make sense that you're seeing similar to lower pricing on pavers. Just make sure it's for pavers you actually like/want.
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Mar 31, 2022 17:26
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