new house with enormous yard troubles!
John Kuhn
4 years ago
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Yardvaark
4 years agoJohn Kuhn
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Options for troubled front yard?
Comments (9)Tiemco makes some good suggestions. I've used perennial rye successfully in the past to control erosion and found in mild summers it survives very well. One point I would like to add is regarding the soil conditions. Working in the Atlanta area myself, I've battled our red clay for years. You also mentioned some oaks nearby and moss. Under and near the canopy of large oaks, compacted soil conditions tend to be exaggerated by a few factors. The main factor being that the increased draw on the water from the tree roots creates meniscus pull on the soil particles and draws them together more tightly. That combined with the reduction of water being filtered in due to the canopy of the tree, leaves soil that is much harder to grow grass in. I point this out to emphasize the importance of preparing the soil for growing grass. Fescue turf often gets a bad rap because it is used as a shade grass, and thrown in to conditions like those described above, without the proper soil preparation. Mixing in a few yards of quality compost prior to planting will improve your results for years to come, as it will help prevent the clay from binding up and reducing root function. For some simple tips and helpful photos, I have added the link below, which had an area similar to the one you described. Just click on the pictures for additional information. Also, feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. Here is a link that might be useful: Serenity Lawn Service Facebook tips...See MoreNew House....Muddy, Mossy Yard
Comments (2)It sounds like you know what the problem is. You have a shady yard in a northern climate during mud season. You can try a shade mix consisting of grasses that tolerate more shade but the fact is there probably isn't enough sun to support even that. What I would do in this situation -in maine, with deep shade, maples, moss, mud and the world's largest rhododendron, is I would contact the town and see where to get free mulch or wood chips and I would cover the ground with that. One day you can put in some brick pavers and make a nice outdoor patio space. Sadly an actual lawn is probably not in the cards....See Moremy 2 new 36' trees in serious trouble
Comments (7)hey steve... i have no clue what to advise you in SoCA ... its a foreign land as far as i am concerned in z5 MI ... lol but i hoped you learned one thing.. buying bug IS NEVER advised ... if budget is a concern ... buy the biggest thing you can get in the car/truck .. and in 5 years time.. it will be bigger than buying big.. and waiting for them to get re-established ... you will pay 1/3 the cost.. and avoid the crane .. and it will be much easier to take care of all the variables .... smaller root ball... smaller hole... etc .... and as noted way back when ... TIMING is everything in transplanting ... do it at the right time ... and you avoid a lot of problems with leaf burn.. etc ... the leaves fell off every single tree in my yard in the last two weeks.. up here its called winter ... cant help you with leaf trouble down in nirvana in winter.. lol .. good luck ken...See MoreIs my new Autumn Blaze maple in trouble? (Getting orange leaves)
Comments (6)I agree the tree looks fine. Normally any transplant problem will result in severe wilting, not some color change. Should you pull the tree out to add more dirt to make it higher? At this point I would say no--doing that will really stress the tree and maybe kill it. But what you should do is make sure the tree is not planted too deep. To do that, push some of the soil away from the base of the tree until you get down to where the roots flare out from the base of the tree. There should never be any soil above the point where the trunk begins to flare out to the roots. The main risk associated with this is the development of extra roots above the root flare which can eventually strangle the trunk of the tree, killing it. These are called "girdling roots." It is possible that some girdling roots have already formed in the pot you got the tree in. What you should do when you remove the soil from above the root flare of the trunk is to take some kind of tool and scrape away from the trunk in all directions to make sure there are not any roots near the surface above the main roots that go out from the root flare that could circle the trunk of this tree. These roots can already have developed if the tree was planted too deep in the pot by the nursery. Sometimes roots that will eventually strangle a tree are not real close to the trunk when the tree is planted, but as the tree grows in diameter, and as the potentially girdling roots grow, the strangling can occur much later. If you find that you have planted your tree a bit too deep, I think you should not pull out the tree to replant it, but just remove the extra soil from the base of the tree for a distance of about two feet. But you should not remove so much soil that the main roots that come out from the root flare are actually on the surface of the soil. If the tree as a result of this soil removal sits in a small depression, this should not be a problem for the tree. In fact, a small depression like this could make watering easier--the water will not run away from the tree as soon as you water it. --Spruce...See MoreRevolutionary Gardens
4 years agoMuhammad Rizwan
4 years agoJohn Kuhn
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agomad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
4 years ago
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