How do I make my Brooklyn backyard into a beautiful part of my home?
jack826
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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Comments (31)
jack826
4 years agojck910
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Mulching over part of my backyard -- thoughts?
Comments (13)I am a big fan of mulching. It is easier to maintain than grass, especially in shady areas or in your case where you would have several edges to mow/trim around. It is probably more expensive since you have to refresh the mulch (depends somewhat on your supply of mulch and lawn care practices). Looking at your mockup I have a few comments...The size of your raised beds seem very small. Is your drawing to scale? There looks to be a lot of wasted space in that area? What size do you plan to make the beds? Also, I am of the camp that thinks that in a situation where the lawn in the dominant feature of the landscape, that the lawn should be given a defined shape. The shape on the left (near the shed) looks natural but then the right side looks a bit odd to me. If you are going to keep the bushes then I would include them in the mulched area (and likely underplant with perennials). - Brent...See Morewill a frog survive in my brooklyn backyard?
Comments (13)AAAAHHHHHHH! Native tadpoles! I never thought of that! What a great idea. To go find them in the wild is even better because their chances of survival there is slim. I have thousands in my pond each year but only a few survive, lots of things eat them including my fish and other frogs. To take a few of them would not harm anything. I have an even better idea and that would be to go find the eggs and bring them home in a large bucket of the water they came from.(eggs are easy to identify, they look like little dots floating in ribbons of snot like substance, lol sorry) That would be much better than uprooting a frog, thats still not a good idea and I think maybe even illegal. I agree with Rita, I think you could creat a habitat sutible for them however you need (for frogs) a pond, bucket,basin deep enough that it will not freeze solid, there must be space under the ice and there must be a hole in the ice to let the gasses out all winter. A fishtank air pump keeps my 600 gal pond open enough for that (in W.Michigan). I fill plant pots with batting and sink them for the frogs to burrow in for the winter. You could learn a lot from the ponding forum, but be warned....they can be brutal, I am sure if you tell them you plan on taking anything from the wild to bring to the city they will bash the heck out of you. Ask for a pics of frog and toad eggs and frogs and toads native to your area....See MoreHow do I clear large vine and roots from my back yard?
Comments (9)A machete? Scythe? This thing: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ames-Double-Blade-Weed-Cutter-2915300/204476217 Okay, maybe not a machete ... but there's probably a similar tool that garden centers do carry. And Home Depot also carries this scythe: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Razor-Back-12-in-Grass-Hook-with-Wood-Handle-62220/303209945 You'll also want a heavy duty shovel for getting invasive roots out, though some vines are actually easier to yank than dig. We picked the double blade weed cutter when we were dealing with an overgrown area. Stand clear when someone's swinging ... its vicious. Whack the mess to a manageable height (to the ground), dig out as much as you can, and cover with heavy black plastic to sun bake what's left. You'll still have some come back that you'll have to keep after, but it should help with a lot of it. Watch out for poison ivy, and good luck!...See MoreHow much money should I use for the backyard of my rental house?
Comments (19)I would not spend one cent on putting in grass or an irrigation system or any live landscaping whatsoever. It makes no sense whatsoever for you to spend your hard-earned money making improvements to a property that you do not own, and the money you spend can never be deducted from your taxes or re-couped in any way. Furthermore, the cost of water is prohibitive where you live, and watering a yard costs a lot of money. Once you put in a yard, you will have to maintain it, or it will look even worse. In the summer in southern California many places prohibit the watering of lawns for weeks on end because of water shortages and what you put in now will die. Right now, you were given a wasteland. That's what you need to give it back to the landlord as, unless your lease says otherwise. Please carefully read your lease and make sure he didn't slip something in about your putting in grass. If not, take multiple photos of the front and back and side yards that have the date on them, and and have the landlord sign them on the back, and you sign them too, and you keep a couple of copies and give a set to the landlord. I would add a codicil to the lease that both of you sign saying something like photographs are given to the landlord showing the current condition of the front, back and side yards with no living vegetation whatsoever and piles of dead vegetation. The lessee (that is you) bears no responsibility for planting these areas. As the dead vegetation is present at move-in of the lessee deemed a fire hazard it is the responsibility of the lessor (that is the landlord) to mitigate the hazard as soon as possible but in any event no later than 10 working days of notification of such hazard if it exists. And then you should contact the local fire house and have someone come out and see if the conditions constitute a fire hazard. If they do consider it a fire hazard, get it in writing on official fire department letterhead. Because if they do consider it a fire hazard, your renters insurance (do you have that by the way?) may not even cover your damages because they may consider it negligence. And do you really want to try to sue your landlord for the value of your posessions? And why should you have to pay someone to clean up the mess that previous tenants made? Did you clean up their dirty kitchen? NO So don't clean up their dirty and unsafe yard. For the Houzzers that are unaware, California is a tinderbox....See MorePatricia Colwell Consulting
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
4 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
4 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoSherry8aNorthAL
4 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
4 years agoChristopher CNC
4 years agoapple_pie_order
4 years agodecoenthusiaste
4 years agonjmomma
4 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agofrankielynnsie
4 years agoYardvaark
4 years agokitasei
4 years agoAnna (6B/7A in MD)
4 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoVan Zelst Inc
4 years agojack826
4 years agoSherry8aNorthAL
4 years agoKendrah
4 years agojack826
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoUser
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
4 years agoCelery. Visualization, Rendering images
4 years agojack826
4 years ago
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