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 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.

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

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’.

I’ve been trying to think of what to plant in the front of my house for 3 years and I can’t figure out what to do.

Garden: zone 7b and In mostly shade, gets some morning sunlight maybe an hour or two

-In the photos I have marked out the beds. In the large left bed I have a Japanese holly(left) and a camellia(right) they were here before us and I would like to keep them. I just don’t know what would look good between them.

-I also would like to fill the smaller bed on the right, but again I don’t know what.

Any and all suggestions or photos are welcome! Thank you!

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!

Can’t wait to see the transformation

Hey everyone, looking for a quick sanity check on a quote I just got for a rental property.
The beds around the house are about 378 sq ft total. Right now it's old 1-2" river rock that's full of dirt and weeds from years of poor maintenance.
A local contractor quoted me $2,000 to clean it up. Here’s his plan:
Leave the old, dirty rock right where it is and dump new river rock directly on top.
Cut a natural trench edge around the lawn.
No tear-out of the old stuff, no weed fabric.
He originally said it would take 15 tons of stone, but when I questioned him on it, he changed it to 10 tons.
A few things aren't adding up to me:
1. Isn't 10 tons of rock for under 400 sq ft completely insane? By my math, 10 tons is like 7 cubic yards, which would put the stone over 6 inches deep.
2. If he doesn't dig out the old dirt/rock mix or lay heavy fabric down, won't weeds just shoot right back up through the new rock in a couple of months?
3. Is $2,000 way too high for a job with zero actual prep or haul-away work?
Appreciate any advice from landscapers or other landlords on how you'd handle this!

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!

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.

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.

Looking to pull the trigger on this but having a hard time getting first hand reviews

Why is my reel mower leaving theses lines/ridges? Is it reel speed related? Bent bed knife? The shop mechanic who used to have my job refuses to care about it, so I'm coming here for answers.​

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?

Hello,

Not sure if this is a good subreddit for this, but recently we noticed a spot in our yard that has stayed consistently wet even through the dry period that we have had the past few weeks. There is no grass and a green moss/mold substance on the surface. We are located in Central IL.

We do live at the top of a good slope for IL and face all sorts of erosion issues. Not sure if I am dealing with just groundwater or what. Is this something to be concerned about and who would I contact about such an issue? My main concern is that the grass has died in this area over the course of the past year. It does not have a smell or anything and is quite a distance from the actual septic tank, as that was my first thought. I am also not positive as to where the septic actually runs. We just had it serviced last summer.

TIA

Carmex for scale

Is there a way to rectify this without cutting the root? I’ve been assured that a root this small will not be incredibly detrimental to the tree, but I still would rather find another way!

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

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