Sue once we had a good look at things with the landscapers it was pointed out to us that they could build the soil up to the boundary with the neighbors because our neighbors side was a few feet higher than the lowest dipâ¦.the dip show in the pic is not in the middle but maybe two thirds in towards the neighbors sideâ¦this was hard to know when I posted this because of the overgrown rhododendrons partly hiding that side - we did not need a retaining wall because the landscapers built up the neighbors side slightly more then filled in the dip with probably 4 truckloads of loamâ¦.they also built up the front of the property on the right to even it out - built it up by about 2 feet which made a big difference and meant that a retaining wall was not required where the ugly green bush is in front of the house on the right sideâ¦hard to see that in the before photo because the bush was hiding the detail - we initially thought we would need a retaining wall but once the bushes were removed we could see that we could fill in that area (in retrospect I wish I had taken many more 'before' and 'during' shots but once the excavator moved in they worked fast)â¦the yard is not completely flat - it slopes down slightly away from the house for drainage etc â¦our basement is extremely dry My advice is to get a few different people in and ask if they can 're-grade' your yard to make it more usable⦠I had no idea about this until I had landscapers out for quotes (mainly about re-doing the front path initially) and they all suggested the same thing for the side of the house - removing trees etc and putting in sod after made a huge difference and to be honest things turned out way better than I had expected PS The driveway next door was dug out so there is a wall there holding up their side of the garden along the boundary

ginny, really, not to worry.you're o.k. if you had a shattered piece, it would be awful but i think with cmeent and a clean break there's no huge worry. and yes, mark's solution is for outdoors cement. also, i think the treflers person you spoke to probly was just giving the 'lawsuit safe' answer. they could definitely fix it if you don't want to try it yourself. they've done a number of things for me over the years. you might also want to talk to your local masonry yard; they do sell concrete/cement sealants. we used such on an outdoor slate fntn because of flaking potential but we have never treated our outdoor cement sculptures. best, mindy

My problem with the garden is every flower seems white. Need some color. The foliage looks nice. Flowers though to me are secondary to texture and foliage color, which in this garden is pretty good! I myself would not move the grass or sedge whatever it is. It makes the texture change. My garden is wild with overgrowth. It seems with perennials I'm always thinning them. Another suggestion is flower type, I don't see anything with spikes. You want different flower forms. Maybe a daisy form flower too. Irises etc. If you like the white look fine, but I myself would add silvers or silver foliage, or pastels would look great! Another consideration is early, mid, and late flowering plants. So it looks good all season. I myself am still experimenting, I doubt I will ever actually ever finish but keep changes things. Plus the fun of growing new plants. I have a flair for the unusual. My porch is full of tropical's, trees and plants like Pony Tail palm, Yucca tree, night blooming jasmine, etc. I have bamboo and cacti in the ground too. Some forms are winter hardy. It doesn't look typical! It looks eccentric, but I'm very much so! Mostly though I grow edibles and I'm into edible landscapes. I want to grow as many ornamental edibles as possible besides your normal garden. So edible dogwoods, June berries like Autumn Brilliance. Red leafed peach trees Weeping plum trees. A currant cordon on the fence, I like edible vines like Eastern Magnolia. Edible wild flowers are in the garden too. Strawberry and raspberry ground covers are next to be put in. Yes some raspberries are ground covers. I also grow regular raspberries too, I have 15 plants. I get 25-50 berries daily for 4 months. I have Pluots, and a Spice Zee Nectaplum. Indian Free peach that Thomas Jefferson grew. It is pretty much a jungle here! Many plants are small give me a few years, and I will show photos. It's still under construction. This post was edited by Drew51 on Thu, Oct 10, 13 at 10:09

The TV show Fixer Upper did a house that looked similar to yours. The episode referred to the house as the "Prickly Pear" house. Link: https://magnolia.com/our-show/episode-11-the-prickly-pear-house/ They removed the bushes and trees blocking the house (& the prickly pear cactus near the street) and created dormers & a pergola in front -where your red trees are touching the roof)-Also- they installed 2sets of French doors to the front of the house and removed wall in the kitchen.