advice about back yard
Julie B
9 years ago
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jewelisfabulous
9 years agoncrealestateguy
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Need advice about my backyard trees...(pics)
Comments (9)Thank you for your inputs! It is really useful to get some new points of view. I thougt about pruning lower branches and filling in for privacy. These branches are thick, so I am afraid that it will be too harmful for the tree. My next door neighbour pruned several lower branches of her pine. Pine died over 1 year. I am not sure what was the reason: drastic pruning, infection or something else. On the other hand, these are too low and too long now. They cover the area of at least 20' in diameter each. And I can not use the shade everyone is talking about! This shade is too deep to plant anything under these trees. Probably, it is not clear from the pictures, but this space is completely wasted for me. These two trees consumes about one third of all available area in my backyard. Columnar trees like Hollies would be much more compact. Anyway, if I will go with pruning lower branches and interplanting something evergreen between these two trees, can you please recommend something that will tolerate dappled to full shade? I was thinking about Camellias, will they work? A couple of things: 1. 6' fences are not allowed here. 2. I do need privacy in winter time also. It is not about using the yard. The neighbours' houses are too close, they all are 2 story homes. All our living areas including bedrooms will be exposed. The good thing is that these houses are higher than ours, so we do not need very tall evergreens to screen them. 3. 2 out of 4 surrounded us yards are cluttered, full with dead and overgrown ugly plants. I would love to get this obscured also. 4. Sorry for my English! I try to do my best, but with long posts like this one... :-)...See MoreNeed some advice about my yard in Tempe
Comments (2)I removed my Bermuda about 5 years ago and converted to desert with minus granite (love that stuff). I scrapped about 2-4" of soil with a shovel and piled it all to make a raised area in the yard, and dug deeper in other area to add more interest than a flat yard. People say Bermuda has roots 14' deep and it grows back from the roots. It doesn't...it grows from rhizomes which are just under the soil surface. People also told me the pile of sod would sprout at the next rain, it didn't. Bermuda is tough but with a little thinking and work you can win. You have to remove the rhizomes. I saw a class advertised by a permaculture guy where they dug like 12" down and shift thru the soil with mesh to find all the rhizomes. That's crazy. I dig down a bit, 4-6", and remove whatever green/rhizomes/root I find. Shake out the dirt and toss the plant into the compost or trash. Next rain or after watering I check for new growth, and that's the great thing about Bermuda, it sends up a flag to tell you exactly where the rhizome is located. Dig that out. For my lawn I had maybe 10 or so spots that sprouted after the scraping. And after that a couple where the rhizome was deep, like 12" down, looked like where it hit edging and had gone deeper to get under it. In the pile of sod there were a few sprouts which I just turned over. If there's a big area I'd scrape the entire area and pile the dirt/sod next to the area. Now I have a high berm and a low spot and I tamp down the high spot, smooth it all and it looks natural. Wait for any new sprouts, you can water to see that, remove any survivors. Then later cover with minus granite. You can of course just use RoundUp on Bermuda. For a large area you really need a serious sprayer and the concentrate. Using the spray bottle is expensive and to me a real pain to use for a large area. Pre-emergent would not effect rhizomes, it stops seeds from germinating. But I don't know much about pre-emergent chemicals, I'm OK with weeding. I enjoy it, time to think. Most weeds don't have to be pulled. I use a shovel and push it into the soil a bit and back out so the surface granite isn't disturbed too much, that loosens the root enough, and/or cuts the tap root, that touching it with the shovel removes it. I leave them in place normally to dry up and disappear. There are a few weeds with thick roots the plant can grow back from. I dig a bit deeper to cut that and same deal, comes out easy. Some do come back, but not many. I don't try to get every weed. Faster I get to it after a rain the easier. Being so dry here works to weed killing advantage. With Bermuda and weeds the real trick is to stay after it...as you already know....See MoreWhat to do about behemoth solar panel in back yard.
Comments (1)Looking at the picture, removal is your best option....See MoreAdvice - back yard landscape project Northern California
Comments (14)people incapable of sorting through nuances = HOA boards Looks like your soil is very sandy, so that it could turn out to be murder trying to establish and maintain lawn grasses on the small section of level ground involved with this project - let alone on the sloping part. And since you have a Mediterranean climate July is just about the worst possible time to install a new lawn - wait until later in the season if at all possible. Better yet seriously reconsider having any lawn on that site at all. As for your specific climate area (California has a large number of different climates) and what specific plants might work for your purposes a latter day copy (various editions have come out for decades) of the Sunset Western Garden Book will have such information....See MoreJulie B
9 years agojewelisfabulous
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9 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
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9 years agoOttawaGardener
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9 years agoJulie B
9 years agoncrealestateguy
9 years agoianna
9 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
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9 years agoOttawaGardener
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