That means landscaping new areas, brambles and hedges to manage, paths to mow, 3000sqm lawn to mow, woodland to manage and prune, lake to keep clean, property maintenance, production of compost, firewood,... it never ends. A full time job, hard at times and doesn't pay and yet I am happy and wouldn't dare complain.

I recently had a paver patio installed with a permanent wood-burning stone fire pit built directly on top. The fire pit uses proper fire-pit blocks, has no metal insert, and the bottom is currently just the regular patio pavers.

I’m in Massachusetts, so we get plenty of rain, snow and freeze/thaw cycles. I’d like to protect the patio pavers from direct heat/coals without creating drainage or moisture issues.

I’ve seen recommendations ranging from leaving the pavers exposed, to stone dust, lava rock, or 2–3" of coarse sand topped with dry-laid firebrick. I’m leaning toward sand + firebrick, but wondering if that’s overkill.

For anyone with a similar setup, especially masons/hardscape installers, what would you use for the floor and why?

I’m looking for some insight on my retaining wall that’s cracked, and seems to be growing over time. Anyone with experience know what to do/if it’s repairable or the whole thing needs to go?

I just wanted to thank this community for taking the time and thoughtfully responding to a post I made a week ago asking for help.

We added a Sandcheery tree, a sky rocket juniper and a limelight hydrangea tree.

Soon to be followed by some native shrubs to fill in some of the spaces and add visual interest during all 4 seasons.

Thanks again.

Just edged my lawn with a weed eater for the first time and got absolutely obliterated by debris. Tried a few different angles, but nothing seemed to help. What am I doing wrong, or is getting pelted just part of the experience?
Eye protection was definitely necessary. But damn, my lawn looks amazing.

Had promised my girlfriend a garden in her dead patio. Did most of things, helped her deciding some stuff! We are very happy with the results! Still missing a bench on the back of the path close to the fence!

Hey there,

Last summer I spent a good weekend removing most of the spreading roots from that tree (my neighbor's). This summer rained more than usual, so these new trees are growing like crazy in my backyard now. I tried removing them but they keep growing and now the roots seem to be even thicker (can't be pulled by hand anymore)

How can I permanently (if possible at all) stop these little trees from growing all over my lawn? I want to avoid applying chemicals that would also kill the grass, but that might be the only way.

I don't know much about landscaping (or trees), but I'm very hands-on to try anything suggested.

Thanks in Advance!

Any ideas what to do under the stairs to make it more aesthetic?

Edit: To the right is also covered by my deck and I will make a patio hang out area there. The space under the stairs doesnt necessarily need to be functional I just want it to look more intentional. Looking for creative ideas vs functional/cheap

The pavers and concrete elevation is above the bottom of siding. I removed about 5 buckets of mulch that was going above and behind the siding. It seems like I have to remove at least the pavers but I don’t see how I can drain this area without removing concrete.

The previous owners did a lot of wacky landscaping and there are many other drainage issues but bugs are getting into the house from this one. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Planning a pretty big patio and retaining wall project this season, and the prices at the big-box stores are insane once you scale up to multiple pallets and tons of rock.

I’d much rather buy where the pros go either direct from commercial landscape yards or aggregate suppliers that sell by the ton/cubic yard and deliver by the dump truck or flatbed.

Looking for recommendations on the best supplier yards across the state (or around the metro/outstate hubs) for natural stone, river rock/trap rock, and brand-name pavers like Borgert, Willow Creek, or Belgard.

Any favorite yards that are easy to work with for homeowners, have solid delivery pricing, and don't charge an arm and a leg?

Hey everyone,

We recently moved into our home and are still learning about the property as we go. With all the heavy rain lately, we’ve discovered that a large section of our backyard floods pretty badly. The water can sit for a couple of days, and it’s gotten bad enough that it has started killing the grass.

I originally started researching French drains and other DIY drainage options, but while inspecting the yard I discovered this large pipe/drain opening in the lowest part of the backyard (photo attached). I also found what looks like a pipe outlet near the front of the property, so I’m wondering if there may already be an existing drainage system that is clogged, blocked, or no longer functioning properly.

Does anyone recognize what this is? Could it be a catch basin, dry well, French-drain access point, or something similar?

If it is part of an existing drainage system, what would be the best way to troubleshoot or clean it out? Is this something a reasonably handy homeowner could tackle, or would I need a plumber/drainage contractor to inspect it?

I’m definitely willing to do the work myself and learn as I go if it can save me some money. Any advice on what I should check first would be greatly appreciated!

We our adding fill to our front yard, replacing our old concrete walkway, and adding a french drain. Ive had a few contractors quote us out for this project. Here is one of the more competitive estimates. What do you all think? Does this seem reasonable?

Location: Northern Virginia

Trying to finish this driveway paver add on, any other ideas outside of using an angle grinder and making some smaller sliver cuts to wedge one last stone between or would polymeric sand fill in some of these gaps well enough

We have owned our 3-tier outdoor water fountain (which is heavy concrete and holds about 7 gals of water) for about 10 years and have never had this issue before. The bowl of the fountain has orange staining in it. I tried all types of products to clean it (some I probably should NOT have tried, but I was desperate), including bleach, vinegar, CLR, an algaecide straight from the bottle, and even a pressure washer. It's slightly better than it was, but it's still VERY orange. I'm wondering if it might be rust, as our plumbing pipes are all quite old. (If it is--what next?) Not sure if it's relevant, but we were away for 2 weeks during VERY hot weather, and the water level got low in the fountain. Any ideas? (If there is somewhere else I should post this, please let me know.)

Wondering if any decent estimates for what I’m looking at here to redo this retaining wall. Pretty sure it’s original to the 1979 house. It hasn’t really gotten any worse and we have lived here for two years. But I’m thinking of redoing the patio pavers and at the same time get the wall taken care of.

Maybe 10ish feet long and 3.5 ft tall.

Does it really require any sort of immediate addressing? It doesn’t really seem to be holding up a ton of earth and as I said it hasn’t degraded since we have been here.

Thanks!

Hello, I want to build a retaining wall but neighbor has huge trees. What type of retaining wall would yall recommend??

What needs to be added or changed in this rock area?the pyramid on the left is a fountain and can be moved around as well. I live in PNW.

Im planning on adding some gravel around my fireplace -pic 1 inspired by pic 2.

Ive looked into some youtube videos suggesting different things. So far the steps ive got is
1. ⁠Dig 2-4 inch based on you requirement
2. ⁠Lay Weed barrier
3. ⁠Lay base layer and compact it
4. ⁠Lay gravel

But Ive also come across videos where people just dig the area, clear and level it, lay weed barrier and lay the gravel on top.

Any suggestions for an amateur DIYer on the correct approach?

Thinking about redoing my back yard. I want to have a cover on the current patio and pergola with fireplace area in a garden bed area. How we am I overdoing it with the pergolas? the AI images get close to what I want, minus a few edits.

I also think a water feature would be nice between the garden pergola and greenhouse.

Note: the sketchup pictures do not show final details on pavers etc. Def not color scheme I would go with.

Patio pergola would extend length of patio and garden pergola would be 16’x11’ using the post as reference.

Is this too much?
Open to ideas/suggestions.

A painter placed a ladder in two spots and things look pretty bad. I know nothing about care or rehabilitation. Will something like this remain or will it eventually look healthy again? Is there anything that I should be doing?

So far it looks good to me, but I’m no expert here. While I do trust the crew that’s doing the work and I think they’re very good, it doesn’t hurt to verify. I don’t want to be redoing these walls down the road! Any thoughts or major issues anyone spots? The total wall height of each wall will be <4’.