Front & Backyard size altered by builder
Achala
3 years ago
Featured Answer
Comments (16)
zthar
3 years agonickel_kg
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Backyard Nightmare suggestions needed
Comments (7)We may have our wires crossed due to my post not being clear. I didn't sod, I seeded. The sand I used was a washed clean medium coarse sand. If you take my suggestion and go with sod, a half inch of sand/compost mix for a 5000 sq ft area will cost about $300 (should be enough to level the yard and cover the stone and clay). 5000sq ft of high quality KBG sod will cost about $950. Landscapers commonly charge double the cost of material for labor. So, for about $3000 you'll have a beautiful lawn and all you had to do is write a check. (get some estimates) I ended up seeding myself and although cheaper than hiring someone to sod, it is a "back breaking' route. Not sure if this is what you want, but if you want to read it, here goes: After 2 prior dismal attempts and a lot of fruitless trial and error, I decided I needed to get serious about the process and read everything I could find about yard renovation and started from scratch. Mid August I sprayed the lawn with Ortho, then: I waited until the last week of August. 2. I scalped the lawn, killing off what little was there. 3. I removed all of the large rocks and filled the holes with bags of top soil. I didn't do much about the smaller stones as that just didn't seem very feasable. 4. I watered heavily (to soften the ground up)and the next day I aerated with the goal of having the holes no more than 3-4" apart. (took about 4 hours) 5. In approximately equal parts, I mixed sand, (was looking for a clean washed medium sand and settled on mortar sand -- some places label it as play sand) sphagnum, and compost in a pull cart and hand spread it with a shovel. (it didn't take long to realize this was going to be a heck of a lot of work and material) Fortunately, I had started with the front lawn (about 3500 sq ft) and although my goal was to get at least an 1" cover down, it was probaly closer to 1/4". The backyard (about 4500 sq ft), I gave up on the sand and just used some compost and peat mix and put it on very thin (cost and my back were killing me by this time) Took 2 days to do. 6. I made a drag out of chain link fence and pulled it over and over until the hard clay pugs broke up pretty well and the yard looked pretty smooth. (most of a day to do) 7. Next day I sowed 50 lbs of KBG seed. (25# Midnite and 25# of a mix of 6 improved cultivars) Rented a spot seeder/verticutter/slit seeder (whatever people want to call it) and set it to cut about 1/4 in. deep. Went over the yard twice in two directions 45 degreees to one another. (started in the morning about 10 a.m. after picking up the slitter and finished at dusk) 8. Next day. Put down a starter fertilizer 15-24-10. covered the whole lawn with a thin dusting of very dry sphagnum. (I've never gotten dirtier--tricky stuff but really helped hold moisture during the watering process) 9. Used tripod sprinklers to water 3 times a day until yard was moist. Soon discovered it was a pain to keep moving the sprinlers so I bought six of the spike type and 300 foot of hose with turn off attachments and daisy chained to I could water in zones. (plus, wife was doing the noon watering and she had trouble moving and readjusting the tripod ones) Took almost 4 weeks of watering before most of the seed germinated. (water bill that month paid for most of the cost of the municipality's water system) 10.By the beginning of October, the front yard looked pretty good and the back yard was so-so but better than what it was. Aerated the next spring and overseeded (3# of KBG impoved mix per 1k sq ft), did reseeding of the larger bare patches in back yard, ran the slitter over it again (bought one) in just one direction, and put down starter fertilizer. Aerated and overseeded with a pound of KBG per 1k sq ft again last fall. I left out some of the fertilization and other amendments I've done since the grass germinated that first fall. Most people would be happy with the back yard and the front yard looks very good. BUT it cost over $1k in materials, rentals and water plus a week of vacation and a lot of back breaking work. Although I can say "I did it myself" and that there is a lot of satisfaction in that, considering all the work and money, if I had it to do over, I would pay someone to level it with a clean medium sand/compost mix and lay KBG sod. I'll try to post some pics if I can. I'd be interested in knowing what you do and how it works out....See MoreShade tree advice for backyard
Comments (19)contact your COUNTY extension office.. or soil conservation office.. and ask them about your soil .... either those.. or your Ag office.. should have a forester on call ... and i bet offhand.. he can tell you what grows like weeds in your area ... besides blueberry in SW MI ... i think of SW MI as one of the breadbaskets of MI .. crop-wise.. and i am finding it hard to believe.. you would be much restricted in tree selection.. due to soil ... you cant really be thinking.. there are limited selections of oak due to soil types out there .. that would confuse me.. so i am attacking your original premise.. that your soil is really an issue ... it may well be so ... but it might not.. but what ever you do.. do NOT assume... [you know the rest of assuming.. i am sure] ... ken...See Morehome faces backyard fence of neighbor
Comments (30)Eh... it is what it is, when you buy in a cul-de-sac subdivision. We had a cul-de-sac and we had great views... in the front.. if you did not mind looking down the road at the cars piled up in front of one house that worked on custom cars all day long... Or if you did not mind having police block the road once or twice a year due to someone having their rental raided. If you like the neighborhood and the house, pick your evils. Cul-de-sacs are hard to find, harder if you weed out the good vs bad neighborhoods, and the school districts that do not qualify. Me, I would wait and find something else, even if it is not a cul-de-sac... it would be too claustrophobic, but if you stay.. just make it your own.. make your view what you want, as others have said, and cover up the things with trees and such.. (I used Crape (or however you spell it) myrtles.. fast growing). I went in the back yard, with my coffee, and stood on the porch I built and everywhere I saw a window, I added a tree to block it. Took 14 trees, but when people walked back there, they were like, "wow!".. You can do that with the front, if you love everything else. Or, just walk ;) GL!...See MoreCreative ideas for backyard area
Comments (31)Sorry about the confusion. The "+" sign is a symbol representing the center of a plant. The circle represents its perimeter. In this case, it represents a small tree. The "." symbol is the same thing. In this case it represents a shrub form. The shapes in between the patio and house are generic plants ... there only to give the plan a vague sense that plants in that space are possible. When looking down from above (as in a PLAN) all individual plants are going to look like a circle with a center. The scalloped edge thing is a plant MASS .... where smaller plants are amassed together such that you do not see the individual, but only the perimeter of the group. Here, it's all generic and doesn't yet matter about the plants. I'm only showing them to say that "some plants can fit in this space." At this point, all you need to care about is the patio. The hardscape (patio) comes first. The plantings are subordinate and will comply with whatever way the patio ends up being. Since you don't want a deck, whatever steps you have will come fairly near the door. You'll still need a landing at the door (rather than immediately stepping down as that would be cheap looking and feeling, such as what one would expect to see in a mobile home situation) which is why I suggest make it and steps full width of the wall face. It will work and look much better than if you try to make it only one door width, as it is now. You only need 4 risers for the set of steps. You want a small patio. There is no need or reason to make a contrived or convoluted set of steps with this small, simple need. Keep them spacious and simple and you will have a nice finished package. Get cute or clever and you might like it for a while, but others will wonder why you bothered or the next owner may dislike it. Simple, well functioning steps will work best. You can glamourize them in the construction details, if that suits your taste. If you want something other than straightforward, it would be best if you sketch it out in plan view, and then I'd be happy to react to what you've proposed, giving the pros and cons. I think I mentioned before but did not see your answer .... you'll need to figure out the total square footage that you want for patio space. It doesn't need to be to the square inch. You just need to get into the ballpark on it. While I'm not working to scale -- just proportion -- I estimate the patio in the sketch to be about 170 s.f., which does not count the pure walking space in front of the steps. Including that, it might be around 200 s.f. Keep in mind that in order to do the same functions (cook and eat) requires a little more room outdoors than it does indoors. Outdoors, people move about faster and flail their arms more :-)....See MoreL.D. Johnson
3 years agoMarie J.
3 years agoRevolutionary Gardens
3 years agoAchala
3 years agomillworkman
3 years agoworthy
3 years agoKW PNW Z8
3 years agoKW PNW Z8
3 years agoDenita
3 years agotozmo1
3 years agoAchala
3 years ago
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