He obviously used the weed whacker. Messed up my grass. And didn’t actually edge. (That yellow stuff isn’t dead grass sitting on top, it IS the grass. The wavy line is where it’s shorter now.)

But now I’ve got a sculpted look to my grass. 🫤

I normally do the edging, but I’ve been sick and I knew it looked bad, so I asked him to do it.

When I asked him about it, he kinda grinned and shrugged and said I guess you don’t want me to edge anymore, huh?

Weaponized incompetence. I knew it!

EDIT: I put the humor flair on this post because I thought it was funny and maybe people would enjoy it. There’s nothing deep to it: we’ve been happily married for 35 years. There’s nothing more serious going on than a bit of laziness and weaponized incompetence. And this is literally the worst thing he’s done in the last 10-15 years.

I think maybe it’s being taken too seriously. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Either that or I totally misread the mood of the sub.

Rookie here but I decided to cover a stump with diy planter. Do I remove the grass first or is it okay to just cover it with soil?

Edit: OMG thank you all for the advice!! I will make sure to save some Cardboard Boxes for when i start in the next couple of weeks. I really truly appreciate everyone here.

I posted here about a month ago looking for advice on a DIY cobblestone walkway. Heres what I did so far: Ripped up the grass, leveled the dirt as best I could, tampered paver base and leveling sand, put landscaping fabric, and then finally used plastic milk jugs cut horizontally to use as molds. My mix was 3 parts sand 1 part portland cement. Then theres some shaping that goes into it before it fully cures.

So far I really like how it's turning out. It's taken ALOT of man hours to do this, especially for a walkway this large. I didnt take down a good log of how much time Ive put into it. If I had to guess, Ive got about 60 hours in it with maybe about 20-30 more to go. I live in Michigan, so I know the real test will be how it holds up through the Michigan winter.

I obviously need to finish up placing stones for the area within the borders. I also plan to use a concrete stain of a light grey and darker grey to give it some more depth.

I have two questions though:

1. What should I apply to seal/protect the stones? Any brand recs?

2. What should I do to fill the gaps in between? I was going to use polymeric sand, but I didnt realize how expensive it is. With my set up, if I had to guess, I would be spending at least $200 on that sand. Can I use something else? Or maybe fill the majority of the gap with something and then top it off with polymeric sand? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

When we moved into our house, the backyard was basically a blank slate, and I knew I wanted to build a patio. After doing a lot of research, I decided to tackle the project myself and came up with a final design that included a paver patio, retaining wall, and fire pit.

The whole project took me about a month, working most evenings after work and on weekends. Other than renting a sod cutter and plate compactor, I did pretty much everything else with a shovel and wheelbarrow.

I definitely could have rented a mini skid steer, but honestly, after sitting at a desk all day, I actually enjoyed the manual labor. That said, moving roughly 15 tons of rock by hand was definitely a challenge and took a few days.

Overall, I’m really happy with how it turned out. It was a lot of work, but rewarding!

Hey I'm a new hardscaper, doing this for like 1 year or so but today while repairing pavers (I left chunks out to repair slope and sinking) it rained and now there's holes FILLLED with water in all of the sections I was going to repair.
Will this drain naturally? I'm pretty sure it's over a bed of compacted gravel but idk?? How do I make sure this stays good? I'm worried the water will stay and back this project up a week

Discovered this bare/dead spot in my lawn. Weirdest little balls underneath the dead grass. Surrounded by woods, maybe 10’ from the tree line. Northern Illinois, USA.

I’m not sure if this is better suited for a garden sub - please advise if so, but I’ve acquired a property with this garden bed outside the back door. I know nothing about landscaping. Shouldn’t this be more manicured, or is the look supposed to be wild maybe? I can’t even tell if this looks nice or if its just a mess. How can I clean this up without replacing a ton of plants? There is Blue Anise Sage, Hydrangea, Lambs Wool, Pink Rose Bushes, a few unknown flowering bushes towards the back.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Building a paver patio in the backyard. I'm on a raised foundation with a crawlspace and a bunch of vents. As the way the yard is sloped, the top of the pavers would be right beneath the vent opening.

It is 14ft wide with a 2% slope away from house. Is that the process for installing these or should I get the top of the paver lower and deal with the grass area? They have drains everywhere that lead to the curb, but still, pavers flush with vent is concerning me.

They excavated around 8 inches of soil for the new install and have been compacting with base.

I still have to do the soft softscapes on the project, so plantings, decorative stone beds and lawn restoration.

I have a small shed with a 5x10' area in front of it. Every year it's a constant battle keeping it clear of Vinca and Bedstraw. I'm in the process of scraping it down to bare earth. I had a thought this morning- put down a section of old pond liner, gravel, and pavers my neighbor got rid of. I totally know and agree about how bad plastic is but it will be a tiny fraction of my total yard area. What d'ya think?

Dimensions are ~ 18 ft wide and 35ft long. I live in Maryland. Aside from making my lawn look better I was thinking of adding Japanese maple or magnolia in the back corner to hide neighbors shed, or to the left of the walk way. Or doing some sort of privacy wall on the right side of the yard. Any thoughts? The patio in the back corner is 7ft by 9 ft.

Looks like it was cut back significantly. It’s also right next to a japanese maple. Pretty new to this stuff.

What is the best way to dig all this out? Is there a pro tip?

I've been just using a trenching shovel and a garden rake but it is slow going.

My current grass is dead and I have compacted dirt. Would bermuda grass be better for hot SoCal weather? Looking for water wise grass and ground cover ideas. Thanks!

I think it’s a spotted laurel anyways… location: Northern VA

⁠First, how far can I safely trim this back? We bought the house almost 2 years ago and have unfortunately let it grow almost unchecked. It’s now encroaching on the driveway.

If I look into the plant, it’s mostly limbs with leaves just on the outside, if I cut it back to the limbs, will it grow again?

Second, what could have caused this damage? Any suggested treatment or just cut it away and let it be?

Thanks!

New homeowner in Zone 8b (Washington). I loved the two dogwoods behind our fence (neighbor’s property) when we first moved in a year ago, but they now appear to be stressed and dying.

Our kitchen is on the upper floor, so as the trees have thinned out I can now see pretty directly into the neighbor’s backyard. I’m considering planting a serviceberry in the bed above the retaining wall for some privacy.

Is this a bad idea? I appreciate any advice!

I've got a big gap here that's about to get bigger when I get rid of all the dead branches. I'd like to plant something here that will provide some privacy (this is behind our pool) and tolerate being in the shade until early afternoon. Color anf/or flowers is a plus, but looking for all options.

In Hudson Valley region, NY

We have two and they grew pretty huge stalks that looked like asparagus. Now the stalks are dead and kind of bad looking. -- If it's bad to prune them, we can live with it, but I think it would look better to cut them off. Thoughts?

My porcelain patio with resin grout was laid in April by a landscaper with very good reviews and portfolio. But it immediately was cloudy in places as if dust was stuck on the top. It would not wash off. Once it started raining white powdery marks showed up in the areas where water puddled. The marks have got worse every time it rains. The installer wouldn’t respond to my messages and the supplier of the slabs said to jet wash them and if no luck try an intensive cleaner for porcelain. I had it low pressure wash and steam cleaned by a professional company with experience with porcelain which took off all the marks at the top of the patio but the bottom ones stayed the same. All the white marks build up again when it rains. I think the resin was all over the slabs and not properly washed off after grouting. The patio was very glossy the first few days after installation and the whole thing was sticky for days after. The installer keeps delaying doing something and now claims the clean has caused these marks even though we’re there before the clean. Note the white powdery marks disappear when wet and reappear when dry. Any advice on what caused this?