2018 Lawn and Landscape Thread

[deadshank 24652]

On 6/27/2021 at 2:49 PM, Post Oak said:

Doing a bulk load delivery is the way to go.  I put out 40 yards of fill dirt and compost last year to fill in a pool and other things last summer. 

It's hot and miserable. Let someone else bring it to you and dump it in your driveway.  Check the forecast.

Wait till the fall when it's cooler or take a couple of days off work.  

Depending on how much you get your body is beat.

Just you, a shovel and a wheel narrow?

[Gourmand 7774]

5 hours ago, Post Oak said:

I don't. I mean 40.  3 truck loads of fill dirt just to level out the pool hole.  Then another load of compost for raised beds, flower beds and spots on the lawn.

It would take me about 3 days to do one load.  Just working in the AM before it got too hot.  Then it would take me about 2 weeks to summon up the courage to call them again and tell them to bring me some more.

I thought it was only going to take 2 loads.  I knew it would settle so I tried to water it in and thought ok.  Good.  Then one day we got 3 inches of rain in an afternoon and I walked out there and saw how much it settled and nearly cried because I knew I was gonna need more.

My yard was a mess when we bought. It's still has some slope and unevenness.  But it's a lot better.  

 

Damn sir, you should post some pics of that project. Also too late now but that could have been a great youtube video as well. 

[Post Oak 20208]

2 hours ago, deadshank said:

Just you, a shovel and a wheel narrow?

Double wheeled wheelbarrow.  Never going back to that single wheel.

It's not a part of this discussion but I have a tree guy that brings me wood chips and I've put out about maybe 15 yards of those. (Love using wood chips for just about everything but they can be a pain in the ass because the moisture in them)

 

I'll try to get some pics up.  The pool was above ground with a deck around it.  Ripping the deck up was a tedious pain in the ass.  I kept a ton of wood for random stuff and for the garden beds.  Gave a bunch to my dad and gave away the rest.

All the unusable wood scraps went into the hole along with the concrete foundations I had to jack up and out of the hole with a hi-jack.

[Post Oak 20208]

Shit. Let me keep working on getting these off of Google photos. 

The previous pic is our garden from last week.

[deadshank 24652]

1 minute ago, Post Oak said:

Double wheeled wheelbarrow.  Never going back to that single wheel.

It's not a part of this discussion but I have a tree guy that brings me wood chips and I've put out about maybe 15 yards of those. (Love using wood chips for just about everything but they can be a pain in the ass because the moisture in them)

 

I'll try to get some pics up.  The pool was above ground with a deck around it.  Ripping the deck up was a tedious pain in the ass.  I kept a ton of wood for random stuff and for the garden beds.  Gave a bunch to my dad and gave away the rest.

All the unusable wood scraps went into the hole along with the concrete foundations I had to jack up and out of the hole with a hi-jack.

You’re a madman.  
 

I do some crazy chores by myself but 40 yards of topsoil? No thanks. 

[Gourmand 7774]

Damn I feel proud of myself for digging a hole in the ground in my yard and filling it with some topsoil

[Post Oak 20208]

I don't know if this will work but here's some pics.  The tin was screwed in around the deck.  What a mess.  The whole was about 3 feet deep in the middle and 18 inches around the edge.

https://imgur.com/a/GWXjPbT

http://imgur.com/gallery/N684NIE

Some redundant pics .

Edited June 29, 2021 by Post Oak

[Updawg 2266]

That’s pretty awesome. And yeah 2 wheel is the way to go but shit that’s a lot of work

Was the pool just completely fucked so that’s why you filled it in?

[Updawg 2266]

I don't know if this will work but here's some pics.  The tin was screwed in around the deck.  What a mess.  The whole was about 3 feet deep in the middle and 18 inches around the edge.
https://imgur.com/a/GWXjPbT
http://imgur.com/gallery/N684NIE
Some redundant pics .

Just saw the pics so was that just some shitty half sunk pool?

[Post Oak 20208]

2 minutes ago, Updawg said:

That’s pretty awesome. And yeah 2 wheel is the way to go but shit that’s a lot of work

Was the pool just completely fucked so that’s why you filled it in?

Yeah, it was.  It would've been nice to keep it for the kids. But it was on it's last legs.

[Post Oak 20208]

5 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Just saw the pics so was that just some shitty half sunk pool?

Yep.  

[Post Oak 20208]

5 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Just saw the pics so was that just some shitty half sunk pool?

Yep.  

[chikin23 384]

Bermuda lawn?

I've read contradictory information about what's best wrt sand vs soil. I have heavy clay beneath my grass...is sand compatible with clay or will it further compact that layer beneath the grass?

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Yes, Bermuda. My soil is not very good at all but I’ve noticed no negative side effects from applying the sand.

[Gourmand 7774]

I bought a bag of caladium bulbs early this spring from Costco and planted them all around the shadier areas of our front and back yards. They're finally all coming in and they're going crazy. Some of these varieties are stunning. Would plant again....

 

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Gourmand

[Updawg 2266]

I bought a bag of caladium bulbs early this spring from Costco and planted them all around the shadier areas of our front and back yards. They're finally all coming in and they're going crazy. Some of these varieties are stunning. Would plant again....
 


 

How long will they last? Just annuals?

[Gourmand 7774]

They're perennials but I don't know how well they survive a hard winter like Feb 2021.

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[Updawg 2266]

I need to revamp my front flower beds. Need to get rid of some weeds and lay down some mulch. Would also like to put some different stuff in there since it gets more shade than I expected

What is a good spray to kill small weeds. Rather not too toxic

[Gourmand 7774]

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/rbogren/articles/page1525441799873

Good info on caladiums here

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[Gourmand 7774]

I need to revamp my front flower beds. Need to get rid of some weeds and lay down some mulch. Would also like to put some different stuff in there since it gets more shade than I expected

What is a good spray to kill small weeds. Rather not too toxic

Depends on the weeds, but honestly I'd pull them by hand and then get good compost/soil mix for your new plants and then put down a good layer of mulch.

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[Updawg 2266]

Depends on the weeds, but honestly I'd pull them by hand and then get good compost/soil mix for your new plants and then put down a good layer of mulch.

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Yeah that’s what I do. Just feeling lazy. I’ve been pretty much all organic in the yard and it works great. Just this front bed. I need to do some work on it

[Gourmand 7774]

If it's really bad and not worth the effort, you could hit it with roundup to kill everything and then wait a few days, add new compost/soil and pre emergent and then plant your new plants.

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[Ravishing Rick 1129]

 

On 6/20/2021 at 8:53 PM, Ravishing Rick said:

My front yard's grass looks like shit.  It's St Augustine, and the dead spots are where winter grass is (dies in the hot summer).  I've got a quote for $7,000 to rip it all up (1,000 sq ft total) and put in zoysia.  Don't really feel like paying all that money.  It's fairly shaded, but does get some sun.  Any suggestions?  Perhaps scrape out the winter grass/dead spots and put in St Augustine sod? Or plugs?  Please help!

 

 

Update:  After rejecting my landscaping company's $7,000 quote for 1,000 sq ft of zoysia sod, I took the board's advice and did it myself. A week and a half later, below is the pic of half the yard.  I decided to go with St Augustine (Palmetto).  Unfortunately some of the sod squares are browning out.  I think it's because I got a pretty shitty pallet of sod and some of the undersides were dry AF and coming apart.  I've been watering like a MF, but they just aren't coming back.  Any advice to bring these back to green??  Worst case I go get a few more sod squares...easy enough.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Ravishing Rick

[Gourmand 7774]

Hell yeah @Ravishing Rick good job! You saved yourself a shit ton of money and your yard looks a lot better. I'd give it a little time and see how it progresses. 

What time of day are you watering? Treated with fungicide? 

[Gourmand 7774]

This might be helpful as well

http://www.realgreenlawns.com/austin_tx_texas/newsodwater.htm

[freyguy 4262]

You can overwater St. Augustine.  I'd recommend spreading out a light layer of dillo dirt over the whole yard.  It'll do wonders for you

[NoName 16350]

On 7/6/2021 at 8:02 PM, Ravishing Rick said:

 

Update:  After rejecting my landscaping company's $7,000 quote for 1,000 sq ft of zoysia sod, I took the board's advice and did it myself. A week and a half later, below is the pic of half the yard.  I decided to go with St Augustine (Palmetto).  Unfortunately some of the sod squares are browning out.  I think it's because I got a pretty shitty pallet of sod and some of the undersides were dry AF and coming apart.  I've been watering like a MF, but they just aren't coming back.  Any advice to bring these back to green??  Worst case I go get a few more sod squares...easy enough.

 

 

 

 

100% reach out to whoever you bought them from and see if they will make it right. they may not, but i know folks who have had good luck getting some additional grass from their distributor based on that kind of stuff

[Post Oak 20208]

i bought some St. Aug sod in may and had some bad squares.  Not 100% dead but maybe 50/50.  I just kept it wet and the runners eventually filled in. 

It wouldnt hurt to contact the supplier but in my situation it worked out.  

Im sure the fert I used helped.  

good luck 

[NoName 16350]

Wife and I just purchased a house with a St. Aug front and back yard. Back yard has other issues including the fact that there is way too much Bahia mixed in but after reading the thread a good bit, there are options for that and the rest of the issues I think I can figure out.

Front yard on the other hand has some problem areas/issues.

Spot 1: has some dead spots but is slowly getting better. There is another spot where this is going on. From looking at Google Maps from years ago, they had a large bed here if that matters, there is also another spot on the other side of the driveway with the same kind of issues.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spot 2: kind of the middle of the yard, there are some of these MUCH darker spots on the yard in different spots (across entire front yard) - at first i thought this was low spots holding water but looks like they are mostly flat in those spots? any ideas?

Spoiler

 

 

going through some of the basic stuff I know I need fixed, have to get irrigation system up to snuff (have some broken heads and messed up drip lines in the back yard) and getting soil tested but what else can I do/what else should I do next?

(grass is too long at the moment, of course after all this rain my mower has decided that it is having carburetor issues so getting that worked on)

happy to continue to read up, just need to be pointed in the right direction I think...

 

[Ravishing Rick 1129]

On 7/7/2021 at 3:52 PM, Gourmand said:

Hell yeah @Ravishing Rick good job! You saved yourself a shit ton of money and your yard looks a lot better. I'd give it a little time and see how it progresses. 

What time of day are you watering? Treated with fungicide? 

I'm pretty sure I screwed up the watering.  I watered for 7 minutes at 7:30am, and then 14 minutes at 9:30pm.  Most of the "brown squares" were waterlogged and the soil had washed away.  Today I replaced those with new sod squares, and switched my watering to 5 minutes at 7:30am and 5 minutes at 1:30pm.  I read where watering at night wasn't ideal, nor was having a soggy yard (which I definitely had).

Thanks @freyguy for the dillo dirt suggestion.  I live in Dallas so I'm not sure we have that here, but I did spread some Black Kow (manure) over some of the trouble spots.  Hopefully that has a similar effect.

All in it took 3 pallets of St Aug (I guess my yard is more like 1,250 sq ft) and maybe $150 in top soil/Black Kow, so I saved over $6,000 doing this.  Additionally, since I did this myself, I burned a shit ton of calories.  I tracked them, and over a 4 day period I burned 2100, 1500, 1800 and 1500 calories.  Almost 7,000 calories total over the 4 days.  Pretty sure that equals out to about 2 lbs.  It was hot as hell throughout.  Definitely a lot of work, but the board's inspiration kept me going.  Thanks!!

[Gourmand 7774]

Question about lights for my landscaping... Do you all have any opinions about the ubiquitous solar ones vs a low voltage lighting system? Is the difference in the lighting effect worth the cost and installation? Any recommendations? I'd like to upgrade the night time curb appeal of our front yard and probably jmneed at most three or four uplights and a couple path lights as well....

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[McFly 606]

I've never seen the solar ones last very long.  Neighbor has them on his walkway and only one still actually lights up at night.  YMMV

[Anastasis 23459]

I need to resod my front yard with Zoysia.  Would have been nice if I had my shit together and got it down before this wet spell.  Is it a terrible idea to sod it now as we creep into August, or should I just wait until late Sept?

[pops 6980]

5 hours ago, Anastasis said:

I need to resod my front yard with Zoysia.  Would have been nice if I had my shit together and got it down before this wet spell.  Is it a terrible idea to sod it now as we creep into August, or should I just wait until late Sept?

Wait

[Horn of Gabriel 1614]

@cactusflinthead once I murder the nutsedge with Certainty and it goes to brown, is it safe to pull at that point?  Or will that still re-seed it?

[cactusflinthead 27598]

3 hours ago, Horn of Gabriel said:

@cactusflinthead once I murder the nutsedge with Certainty and it goes to brown, is it safe to pull at that point?  Or will that still re-seed it?

No seeds to worry about. Latent nutlets are another question, but cleaning up the dead stuff is fine.

[hookemATL 11701]

My lacebark elm took it on the fucking chin during the winter storm. Real shame as it is/was a really cool tree. Is there any chance that it “survives” or am I just delaying the inevitable? Most of the bark shell has shedded off but there are some green sprouts out of a few spots on the branches. 

[kmac30 416]

What the shit is this. It’s super invasive and weaves through my St Augustine. How do I get rid of it?

[cactusflinthead 27598]

On 7/10/2021 at 9:27 AM, hookemATL said:

My lacebark elm took it on the fucking chin during the winter storm. Real shame as it is/was a really cool tree. Is there any chance that it “survives” or am I just delaying the inevitable? Most of the bark shell has shedded off but there are some green sprouts out of a few spots on the branches. 

If you want to hack it back to the green sprouts you won't be the only one. It's restart from there or plant something new.

4 hours ago, kmac30 said:

What the shit is this. It’s super invasive and weaves through my St Augustine. How do I get rid of it?

Virginia buttonweed. I have had the most success with Celsius.

[kmac30 416]

Is Celsius one of those “a little goes a long way”? Seems pricey. If it’ll work I’ll get it. I hate this stuff.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

2 minutes ago, kmac30 said:

Is Celsius one of those “a little goes a long way”? Seems pricey. If it’ll work I’ll get it. I hate this stuff.

Yes, it is very low rate. Ask for the spoon and cheat chart. 

.113 oz/1000 sq. ft. at the highest rate. 

[El Diablo 4232]

House I moved to has a few neglected rose bushes out front. They've put on some pretty raggedy blooms and I think they are worth saving. Being that it's roses I'm certain the intertrons are full of instructions on how to raise 'mazing roses but I like to ask Surly these things so... Can someone give me the 4 or 5 things I need to know? I'm guessing leave them alone until winter and just let them do their thing? Does removing the blooms affect the plant generating more blooms? Is that a good thing? Pruning? Food? Transplanting to a new location to be avoided? Learn me on roses in a few words. Gracias!

[Gourmand 7774]

Yes, deadhead them, give em rose food and water, plenty of sun and they will bloom like crazy.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

19 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

House I moved to has a few neglected rose bushes out front. They've put on some pretty raggedy blooms and I think they are worth saving. Being that it's roses I'm certain the intertrons are full of instructions on how to raise 'mazing roses but I like to ask Surly these things so... Can someone give me the 4 or 5 things I need to know? I'm guessing leave them alone until winter and just let them do their thing? Does removing the blooms affect the plant generating more blooms? Is that a good thing? Pruning? Food? Transplanting to a new location to be avoided? Learn me on roses in a few words. Gracias!

Big hybrid tea roses don't like our summers. The roses are often smaller than normal. Feed and water them, trim out dead wood, maybe some mulch and/or compost. Fall and football weather usually produces some of the year's best blooms.

 

[El Diablo 4232]

1 hour ago, cactusflinthead said:

Big hybrid tea roses don't like our summers. The roses are often smaller than normal. Feed and water them, trim out dead wood, maybe some mulch and/or compost. Fall and football weather usually produces some of the year's best blooms.

 

Thanks. What I've seen so far are not particularly large. Former home owner left the tags on the bushes, I'll pull them off and see exactly what varieties I have. 

[El Diablo 4232]

New place also has this smoker in the backyard. Iron insides are shot/rusted to nothing, much of the mortar would need to be replaced if anyone wanted to use it for its designed purpose and since I have no need to have the ability to smoke 60+ lbs of meat  I'm thinking of just making it into a feature of some sort. Not sure just what though. It sits under a mature pecan tree and only gets direct light for maybe 2 hours a day. Like you see here in the morning and then again on the opposite side late in the day. And that's here during the height of the summer. One of the ideas I'm mulling over is making a giant planter of some sort out of it. Maybe take the cap off the chimney and grow an ivy there and let it spill down the smoker. Or use the large flat surface of the firebox to hold a bird bath bowl. Not interested in going to the expense of doing any wiring or plumbing for a running water feature. I don't know and that's why I'm here. Look at this beast and give me some ideas.

[drt 638]

I need to do my yearly top dress and I also wanted to try to minimally level out some spots in the turf of my yard.  St. Augustine.  @cactusflinthead should I wait until end of August/early September?  Seems like we have a good bit of growing season left to help with turf development.  

 

I'm in SW Austin and thought to have several yards of Austin Soil Amendment delivered, I did straight Dillo Dirt last Fall as the yard had been neglected for a while and needed a good bit of nitrogen, but the sales guy tried to talk me into the Professional Mix to help with the leveling.  Whittlesey also have Lightning Mix, which looks to be granite sand + screened compost.  Not sure which to go with.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

Lightning mix imo. 

[freyguy 4262]

Rent an aerator, do your thing, then put dillo dirt everywhere.  St.Augustine will eat it up.

[NoName 16350]

not in Austin and not close enough to get Dillo Dirt - any reason why a 50/50 mix of black kow + sand mixed in a wheelbarrow wouldn't work? no issue with me top dressing now, right?

[cactusflinthead 27598]

1 minute ago, NoName said:

not in Austin and not close enough to get Dillo Dirt - any reason why a 50/50 mix of black kow + sand mixed in a wheelbarrow wouldn't work? no issue with me top dressing now, right?

Now is fine. Plenty of growing season left. That mix sounds good. I'm not particular about top dressing mix. I am mostly concerned with the particle size. Too chunky and it has trouble getting down through  the turf. Roll your own is muy bueno.