Back Yard -- Complete Overhaul (Before & After)
Bryan
last year
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jck910
last yearPatricia Colwell Consulting
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Preparing for Back Yard Overhaul Next Year
Comments (15)great suggestions, thank you! So it sounds like a lasagna back yard over the winter might be our best bet, since we don't plan to start work till next spring. (It definitely would force us not to put it off another year...). I'm not sure if the city has any restrictions on stuff like that, I know you can get ticketed for letting your grass grow too long without cutting it, but being a back yard and the fact that we ARE doing it as improvement might make a difference. It's a fairly urban area, and while we do compost, it's a small amount in a bin behind the garage, and I'm not sure about composting fresh scraps all over the back yard - I have never seen rats around here, but a friend less than a mile away had them under her deck, and I don't want to encourage a problem, here. Actually, I'm trying to figure out what materials besides newspaper we can get cheaply or free - I'm not a fan of wood chips as mulch, since they don't break down very well. I've used both hardwood and cedar mulch as an overlay, but even that I'm afraid to turn it into the soil too much because there are still big chunkc and I've heard that sucks the nitrogen out. I think you can get compost from the city, but not sure what will be available in Fall. I won't have much in the way of garden clean-up debris, it's a small lot, and my planting areas are fairly small. Plus a lot of that stuff with the tall grasses, lavendar, etc. I leave in place for winter interest and prune back in the spring (unless I'm doing that wrong). So, the idea is - in the Spring there shouldn't be anything left to "peel back" and have to get rid of, it's all decomposed and can get turned in to the soil? And the grass and weeds underneath - they will be dead and we just turn it all in, or pull it out? Maybe that's where the rototiller comes in in the spring?...See MoreLawn in Need of Complete Overhaul
Comments (8)The best time to start for grass was 5 months ago in August. At this point, though, all you can do is run with what you have. I suspect most of what you have is either dormant for winter or not growing much. Spring is a terrible time to seed, but if you can afford sod, it is fine to do in spring. As to your hard soil, I wonder if you have construction rubble out there? The worst part of construction rubble is when they dump concrete. If you have a metal pole you can go around the yard looking for that. Whack it into the ground listening for the sound of metal hitting rock. When you hear that, dig around and see if it is concrete, rock, or just a little rock. Dig out all the big stuff. When you have all the real rock out of the yard, then spray it with baby shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Spray the shampoo and water it a full inch. Then two weeks later repeat. You can measure an inch using tuna or cat food cans. Time how long it takes your sprinkler to fill the cans. It takes my sprinkler 8 hours, so this is not something you can hand hold. Get a hose and turbo oscillator sprinkler if you don't have anything else. Don't get a mechanical linkage oscillator, because the linkage is prone to failure. Turbos work great and last many seasons. When spring comes and the very first plants start to green up, start watering a full inch once a month unless Mother Nature gives you some help. When the temps warm into the 70s, bump up the frequency to once every 3 weeks. With temps in the 80s, water every other week. Temps in the 90s go to weekly watering. Don't fall into the trap of watering 1/7-inch every day to get a full inch per week. That method is guaranteed to give you a crabgrass lawn by July. The surface of the soil should be completely dry for days before you water again. And remember to skip a period when the rain gives you the full inch. Let the yard green up before you attempt to kill the weeds. Set your mower to the highest setting and see what survives 4 weeks of weekly mowing. Many plants will die immediately after the first mowing, but many will not. There's a pretty good chance that many of your weeds will choke out others leaving you a very limited variety of stuff. While you are mowing and working around in the yard, find all the holes and hills you might want to fill or scrape off. Keep track of those or fill them with sand/topsoil at your earliest convenience. If you fill holes with sand you can fill them to grade. If you use topsoil, fill, water to let the soil settle, and repeat until you have it filled to grade. Then heap it up just a little more (1/2 inch?). Trust me, it will eventually settle down to be level. Hills you can just cut off the top with a shovel. Also do not be tempted to rototill this yard if you ultimately want grass. Rototilled soil takes years to settle back to a normal structure. When it does it will be bumpy. Right now......See MoreBefore and After: back yard
Comments (2)Oh man, Connie--I am so sorry that you have had to have such devastation in your yard!! But---I just bet you will have it looking great before long---it will be incentive to bounce back even quicker--if you have any 'say' about it, that is! :o(...See MorePaver Deck Install - Before or after pool is completed?
Comments (1)I would recommend waiting until the grading is done and the decking is in before you install the pool finish and fill it up. The main reason is if you finish and fill the pool and then do a bunch of grading work, you're going to have a miserable time trying to keep the pool clean and the chemicals balanced and you may even end up with a damaged finish. Get all the heavy work done and then they can do a proper cleaning of the pool before installing the finish and you'll have a lot less to worry about!...See MoreJilly
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