Landscaping/Gardening Thread.

[BigNumbers]

Anyone got a contractor to recommend for a small, 6ftx6ft paver patio extension?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Since I've been stuck at home I've been working on a little landscaping project. Nothing too major, just clearing some brush out of the way and pulling out a few trees. Coming along pretty nice I'd say.

[Lubicon]

If that is your yard I am jealous. It looks fantastic.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

If you look on the right side of the last picture, you can see the driveway, and then follow the excavator tracks to the left to see where it goes, this side of the water line. On the far side of the driveway is a build site I'm in the process of prepping. I now need to get that lump of rock you see in the middle left of the last photo broken up and down to grade (it's where I am standing to take the second to last photo).

[Fuzz]

I presume explosives of some sort are in order. Always a required item in back yard maintenance.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Anyone got a contractor to recommend for a small, 6ftx6ft paver patio extension?

If you get a per square foot estimate, can you share ?

I have a 25 x 14 area I am interested in doing as well.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I presume explosives of some sort are in order. Always a required item in back yard maintenance.

See, I thought so too, but apparently getting one of these suckers to it is cheaper.

[Fuzz]

A gang of slaves with hammers is also cheaper, but when an opportunity presents itself for explosives, you always explosives.

[Canadianman]

Anyone have one of those 'combo' apple trees with several types grafted onto a hardy root stock?

I'm considering something like that for my front (south-facing) yard..

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Canadianman

Anyone have one of those 'combo' apple trees with several types grafted onto a hardy root stock?

I'm considering something like that for my front (south-facing) yard..

Only recently moved in and it's still a twig, but my house has one in the front yard (also south facing).

At least, I assume that's what it is because there's three different types of apple labels on each branch.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Canadianman

Anyone have one of those 'combo' apple trees with several types grafted onto a hardy root stock?

I'm considering something like that for my front (south-facing) yard..

I know someone who has had one for a while (5-10 years?). They think it's kinda stupid. One of the other types of apple branches died so he's left with the 2 types. The other type of apple is also just the one singular branch that was grafted on while the rest of the tree is the base apple tree that was grafted to. The other type of apple was so different, the branch constantly sticks out like a sore thumb vs the rest of the tree. The bark, leaves, flowers and fruit are completely different to the main tree. The guy was saying he was thinking about pruning off that branch.

That being said, I don't know if the modern versions of these have addressed this issue. But IMO, I'd just buy the one type of fruit unless I had the only tree around and needed some type of cross pollination. I guess it'd be kinda cool if I didn't know the other types were there until I randomly had a few fruits that were a different type of color? But I don't think this is necessarily the case with the ones that are out there.

[mrkajz44]

We are trying to figure out what trees to plant in our backyard and the information I'm finding online doesn't seem sufficient enough to make a decision on my own. Does anyone know if there are companies that recommend what to get based on your needs and constraints? Basically I was thinking of taking several pictures of the area throughout the day to show how sunny/shady the area is and then saying what we wanted the trees to do (privacy while taking up not a lot of space).

Any suggestions/recommendations?

EDIT: I do know I don't want the sweedish ash

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

We are trying to figure out what trees to plant in our backyard and the information I'm finding online doesn't seem sufficient enough to make a decision on my own. Does anyone know if there are companies that recommend what to get based on your needs and constraints? Basically I was thinking of taking several pictures of the area throughout the day to show how sunny/shady the area is and then saying what we wanted the trees to do (privacy while taking up not a lot of space).

Any suggestions/recommendations?

EDIT: I do know I don't want the sweedish ash

^
Did you mean the columnar Aspens?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

^
Did you mean the columnar Aspens?

Googling Swedish Ash brought me to a website comparing Swedish Aspen (columnar) and Tower popular.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Googling Swedish Ash brought me to a website comparing Swedish Aspen (columnar) and Tower popular.

Right. Based on his description, I could suggest them as they are good for privacy, but if he meant to say Aspen and not ash, I’ve got nothing

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Right. Based on his description, I could suggest them as they are good for privacy, but if he meant to say Aspen and not ash, I’ve got nothing

Agreed. There's skybound Cedar or vertical Juniper as well, but I feel like this is a situation where the request is not well defined to know whether it's just a typical max privacy columnar tree solution.

[InglewoodFan]

I'm completely rehabbing some beds in the middle of my front lawn. Shrubs, perennials, that sort of things. New weed barrier, mulch, etc. Does anyone have any good/bad experience with the flexible plastic edging? Looking for something low profile - doing a stone border seems overkill. Walking around the neighborhood I see mixed results, I am guessing as a result of how much effort you put into installation.

[mrkajz44]

Yes - I meant to say Aspen. Just tried to quickly add to the end of the post since I knew that would be the default suggestion. We already tried doing that and the trees all died and honestly I don't like the trees themselves that much.

Agreed that I didn't clearly define my needs, which was why I was hoping I could get recommendations on a professional to figure out my needs. Privacy is the key, but I want to avoid anything too large so its easier to maintain. I also want to take up as little space as I can since the backyard is not big to begin with.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

A gang of slaves with hammers is also cheaper, but when an opportunity presents itself for explosives, you always explosives.

Update: I am going to use explosives.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Update: I am going to use explosives.

#### yes you are. You will also be recording this for us.