I'm sorry, I thought that was on topic. I have no way of knowing if you had also recently acquired the horses, but having done the "horse thing" pretty much all my life, I couldn't tell you how many places I've seen ruined from the owners trying to keep them on too small of an acerage. No matter how lush and green everything was when they moved in, within a year they would end up with a swept bare, scorched earth look that had all the charm and ambience of a feedlot at the sale barn. Nobody *wants* that, but people tend to overlook that the horses have created an eyesore because they're crazy about the horses. I can understand that. I keep an old pony around simply because I'm a sentimental fool, though he's on twenty acres, not five. Anyway, my own specific, non professional landscaping advice (drawn from decades of horse ownership experience) would be that if there isn't already a woody, brushy barrier between the horses and the house, you might want to plant one. (min 20 ft wide, more is better) Start with small flowering trees, and stagger medium sized, flowering shrubs in front. Natives preferred, and in keeping for your idea of a woodsy feeling, something that has berries for birds would be best. I'm thinking this could be the "wild" area other posters have mentioned. That way, when a couple of weeks of rain in the spring turn it into muddy slop, or a drought leaves it a dust bowl, it won't dominate the view from the yard you do want to landscape. Stagger the plantings into small groups, and use a number of different species for year round interest. Not sure what would have fall color in zone 8, but an extension agent or the state wildlife department could give you a list of native plants that would be attractive to birds and such. After that, if you're going to DIY, I'd say to wait a year before you start making permanent (and costly) changes just to get familiar with the property. The best place to sit in the early spring might be too hot in July; you'll only know that after you've been there a while. You might want to turn the swing to face another direction, or decide you don't like looking at the neighbors' outbuildings. The point is, give your place (and yourself) time to settle in.

I am a confirmed, dyed in the wool DIY'er and with budget limitations that further require this approach. I feel as if I am smart, I know how to research, and so I should be able to learn how to do almost anything well enough to suit me needs. My previous homes landscaping was my first foray into the field and I attacked it- I read, I went on garden tours, I went to plant shows, seminars, and everything else under the sun to learn the basics. As a result I had a yard full of plants that had each been moved ten times in order to try and obtain the look I wanted. It was exhausting and this method continued for nearly six years. We joked about my plants having frequent flyer miles- my husband is a saint because he dug, moved things, and did everything I asked over and over and over in my attempts to capture a look. The money we spent on plants! Only to remove them and give them away when they did not work- it is sickening how much time and money we wasted. When we decided to redo all of our fencing I took the plunge and hired a landscape designer to make me a plan that we could implement as funds allowed. I was on a totally tight budget and did everything I could to make it easy for her to do my job- I had a survey ready for her, I had measurements, I had a list of every plant I owned that I wanted to incorporate and a list of those species I did not want, and I had clear ideas of the function of each space within my yard. She came up with a plan that totally did it for me. This was in 1996 and I think it cost me something like $350. The only items I had her company install were three larger shade trees. Everything else we did on our own over the next few years and it turned out beautifully. I know for a fact that is what sold the house in a very poor real estate market in '07- the house itself had problems but the curb and garden appeal were off the charts and the rear garden was a wonderland. Which is my long winded way of telling you that IMO spending money on a solid design up front is far cheaper in the long run that trying to do it yourself, especially if you don't have a demonstrated knack for it. You can spend that much money on plants at Home Depot in one weekend only to have half of them fail from being repeatedly moved or be inappropriate to your needs once you get them home. It would be FAR cheaper and more efficient, IMO, to work off of a sound design from the beginning. If you like you can substitute various plants within the design but the solid bones of the plan- the balance, the scale, working with textures- some things just go more smoothly and successfully when you bring an expert into the process. Of course you can do what you like- but IMO planting a plant one time and having it be the right plant for the specific spot that serves the intended purpose and renders you a gorgeous, easily maintained, well functioning yard- well that's worth the price of a professional design. I don't have any idea what they are charging nowadays but I do know that this yard will be with you for decades, or at least as long as you remain in the home. It is your daily environment, it influences your life constantly, it is the space our kids grow up in and remember all their lives. Even if I had to skip this years vacation or put off that bigger TV I would try and find a way to insure that my design was sound and the best way to accomplish that, IMO, is to have a pro do it.

You can't tie a preemergent weed controller to a date on the calendar. There has been a LOT of discussion about this topic over the years. For awhile, recognizing that timing was critically important to the success of the product, there was not much more than lamenting the inability to predict the time. Then one of the gurus suggested using one of Mother Nature's "whispers" to tell. The blooming of the forsythia plant was the time. Well, not everyone has forsythia. My personal refinement on timing is to apply it after the soil temps hit 50 degrees AND a spring rainstorm hits. The soil has to be warm enough and there has to be sufficient, sustained moisture for crabgrass to germinate. I strongly suspect these conditions precede the blooming of the forsythia, but I'm one who does not have that plant to go by. I do have a cherry tree down the road that always blooms in Feb, so I go by that. Then again I don't have a crabgrass problem so I don't use preemergents. If you use the shampoo two times separated by two weeks, you won't need the aerator. Normal soil is soft when wet and hard when dry. But it should soften again when it gets wet. So called, compacted soil, does not soften when wet. The problem that prevents the soil from softening is the lack of an adequate population of beneficial fungi in the soil. Deep watering with a little soap will create the environmental conditions to foster the rapid growth of these microbe helpers. Use only clear shampoo. The cloudy stuff has oils in it that do not help. My personal opinion is that spraying insecticide because you think you might have a problem is not helpful. There is an organic solution to grubs. It is called beneficial nematodes. These little guys bring an insect disease to the grubs and paralyze them. Then they feed on the insects and procreate. I get BN locally but the original source is this place in Colorado. Apply them with a hose-end sprayer. But first, apply about 3/4-inch of water (or a couple days of rainfall). The BN must have a film of water to move on. They cannot move in dry soil. So first get the soil wet, then apply the BN, then finish with another 1/4-inch of water. Milorganite is fine. I never use it because it has more heavy metals in it than alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) and alfalfa is lower cost. Probably the reason you did not see any greening effect is you were starting with virgin soil. By next June the soil will be depleted enough to see a greening effect as well as the turf becoming more dense. Here is a demonstration photo showing the effect of alfalfa pellets on a zoysia lawn. This apparently is a very effective photo. I have had clerks at the local feed store tell me about more and more people coming in to get alfalfa pellets for their lawn. The alfalfa was applied in May 2011 and the photo taken in June. Organic fertilizers typically don't show results for 3 full weeks. If you are really indifferent about the soil test, then I would go to Logan Labs. You will get a better read on that test. If you search Google for "logan labs, andy, morpheuspa" you will find a place where you can get guru level help for free. They have been reading LL soil tests for many years. Do not add more topsoil unless you need to change the way your yard drains...because topsoil WILL change the way your yard drains. If you don't start with it right up against the house, then water will drain toward the house. If you do not have 4 full inches of foundation visible below the sill plate on your house, then you should be removing topsoil instead of bringing new soil in. The sill plate is the top of your foundation where the ground floor starts. As you can tell, I am not a fan of topsoil. Oh, and it always has weeds in it. When I need "topsoil" to fill a low spot, I get a local product that is 50/50 sand and "compost." What it really is is half sand and half fresh horse dung. That stuff is hotter than a pistol when it's delivered. Weed seeds cook off in such hot conditions for any amount of time. Plus the sand is very easy to deal with, spreads easily with no clods, and takes roots well. Compost is nice if you can get it for free. Use no more than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet of lawn. For gardens you can pile it deep, but lawns will smother underneath compost. I see it in my neighborhood every year. There is one lawn that has not recovered in several years. Another keeps repeating the mistake every other year. Their lawn almost completely recovered from an app last spring before the grass stopped growing last week or so. It is sad to see the huge emphasis on compost by the radio show garden experts. They seem to recommend 2 cubic yards per thousand. That will smother even a bermuda lawn. In my neighborhood compost costs about $75 per yard to have it delivered. That means $75 per 1,000 square feet. Or I can apply alfalfa for about $5 per 1,000 square feet. I get a huge bang for the buck applying the alfalfa and almost nothing from compost. Add that to the agony of spreading compost and the possibility of smothering the lawn, and I just keep away from it. I can apply 15 apps of alfalfa for the cost of compost.

Another thing to think about is whether that is just a line to the house or a main telecom line. From the pictures, it looks like it is just a line to the house, which at most, if you even do cut it, it is only you who needs to worry. Plus, if a new line needs run, they can go around your trees. I had 811 locate my utilities and the woman acted like the to-house telecom lines were an act of god that were set in stone. Nothing is ever set in stone. There is usually always a solution.