Landscaping/Gardening Thread.

[rohara66]

Also what about planting trees or shrubs over utilities? Either the utilities running from the street to my house or on the registered URW along the street?

[robbie111]

Beaver Dam has the best prices that I've seen for trees. If you are looking for really mature trees and have the money to spend Countryside in Dewinton is a good bet too.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by rohara66

Also what about planting trees or shrubs over utilities? Either the utilities running from the street to my house or on the registered URW along the street?

I think you can plant what you wanted on the City ROW or URW...

But you have no recourse if they decide to rip it all out to make repairs / improvements.

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Can you take a section of fence out?



Honest question, how are you going to save money if you are paying different contractors to do the work? You say "remove the sod and setting the base yourself" but are asking for someone to remove the sod, so you are not doing it yourself? And you will have to pay for baserock delivery as well, right? So what are you doing yourself? Just spreading the rock and compacting?

I ended up saving $1200 when it was all said and done. Yes, I was just paying for someone to rip up the sod/top soil and haul away. Hauling sod away is the costly part because the landfills charge more for disposing of sod.

Project is finished:


About as much mowing the new lawn will need!

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah moving the rocks is going to be such a pita that's why I'm thinking of doing it just once.

At work they say that the chemicals aren't on the ban list anymore, so chemicals might be a good option actually, especially since I don't need to worry about wanted flowers.

And one guy said a guy on his street burns them off, just takes a propane tank with one of those big torches and burns them off. I really want to try this option lol.

Just spray the whole area with Roundup. Buy the concentrate and mix with water yourself, and go to town. Nothing will grow. I sprayed the areas without shrubs and no weeds in 2 years (Odd one I pick out as I walk by) The area 10 feet away with shrubs? Weeding every 2nd week.

[rohara66]

What are some other options for loam (for laying sod) and for decorative rock (like rundlerock) other then Burnco, which seems expensive.

[Fuzz]

Blue Grass has better prices.

[me_dennis]

Cochrane Land Supply, ask for Mason

I ordered 20mm rundle rock from them a couple of years ago. $150/yard plus $95 for shipping. It a bit cheaper than Burnco.

http://www.clslandscapesupply.com/

[Shazam]

I know Mason! When he just started out the business.

[Two Fivenagame]

Looking for suggestions on dealing with maggots in my cherries.

Bought a new house that came with a nice cherry tree and it produced a staggering amount of cherries this year.

Each cherry seems to have a maggot. Research tells me it's from a cherry fruit fly or something?

Stupid maggots robbed me of some damn fine cherry pie!!

[8 Ball]

I am looking for a carpenter/deck builder who can build me a wood gate. I also need to rip out an existing small balcony and rebuild it.

[81MC]

Hey collective brain trust,
I have a 18”x50’ section between my fence and the sidewalk, currently a mix of grass, weeds, earth and neighbourhood dog pee. I’d like to have that strip be a super low maintenance mulch area with ground cover plants/wildflowers, but I’m unsure of the best way to go about it.
I’ve heard to weed it all, remove the top layer of soil, lay fabric then mulch, but that doesn’t seem like it would actually allow for plants to grow.

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

Looking for suggestions on dealing with maggots in my cherries.

Bought a new house that came with a nice cherry tree and it produced a staggering amount of cherries this year.

Each cherry seems to have a maggot. Research tells me it's from a cherry fruit fly or something?

Stupid maggots robbed me of some damn fine cherry pie!!

Most fruit trees benefit from spraying. Should be pretty easy to google 'cherry fruit fly control' or 'management' to find out what and when to spray. Usual there is some kind of sticky trap for monitoring the pest in question.

Also nurseries that sell fruit trees are usually a good resource.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Hey collective brain trust,
I have a 18”x50’ section between my fence and the sidewalk, currently a mix of grass, weeds, earth and neighbourhood dog pee. I’d like to have that strip be a super low maintenance mulch area with ground cover plants/wildflowers, but I’m unsure of the best way to go about it.
I’ve heard to weed it all, remove the top layer of soil, lay fabric then mulch, but that doesn’t seem like it would actually allow for plants to grow.

Assuming nothing there is anything you want to currently save, I would:

- Weed/remove unwanted plants/sod
- Assuming the dirt is currently at the "finished" grade you want, remove enough soil to allow for ~2" of mulch.
- spray any remaining weeds or weed roots with roundup.
- Do not lay weed fabric
- Dig holes for new plants
- Plant new plants
- Do not lay weed fabric here either
- Mulch

A nice uncolored cedar mulch looks good, smells good, and is naturally weed resistant. The fabrics do nothing but cause issues and weeds can still grow through and on top of it. Mulch is nutrient rich and you just top up every year or two to keep it looking good.

[rohara66]

Need some advice on laying sod....

New house that we had graded from the builder with decent loam a month or so ago. Had that crazy hail/rain storm week immediately after which washed away all the good dirt leaving a rock hard clay mess with lots of rocks behind.

- Should I roto till it all (does it work good with clay and little rocks)?
- Then rake it smooth.
- Then add an inch or two on fresh loam.
- Then sod it immediately after within a day or 2 (to avoid loosing all the nice soil again).

Any advice would be great. Yard is massive or else I'd just manually rake it by hand.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by rohara66

Need some advice on laying sod....

New house that we had graded from the builder with decent loam a month or so ago. Had that crazy hail/rain storm week immediately after which washed away all the good dirt leaving a rock hard clay mess with lots of rocks behind.

- Should I roto till it all (does it work good with clay and little rocks)?
- Then rake it smooth.
- Then add an inch or two on fresh loam.
- Then sod it immediately after within a day or 2 (to avoid loosing all the nice soil again).

Any advice would be great. Yard is massive or else I'd just manually rake it by hand.

If you're adding some loam and then sodding, not sure you'll get much value from rototilling. I'd pick out the obvious large rocks before you loam when you even out the clay soil.

[Ace]

^ I rototilled my backyard before seeding, it was great i had a nice broken up top soil to work with, shape and reform....

If I were to do it again i wouldn't rototill, i might add a little soil if i needed to, but i think all i did was stir up a bunch of weed seed. (can't say for sure though)

[Swayze11]

I am building a fence right now. I have the posts in. My neighbour wants to only do the posts this summer and then complete the fence portion next summer due to budget reasons.

Pretty standard fence, 4X4 posts, got a bobcat to dig the holes (3 feet down) using post haste concrete.

My concern is once the freeze comes in that the posts may twist. My question is do you think I am good or should I just eat the cost now and get him to pay me next summer to avoid this? If he says no, do I at least just brace them with 2X4s? Or should I be okay?

[DoubleK]

They will twist. I used 4x6 posts and they twisted.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

I am building a fence right now. I have the posts in. My neighbour wants to only do the posts this summer and then complete the fence portion next summer due to budget reasons.

Pretty standard fence, 4X4 posts, got a bobcat to dig the holes (3 feet down) using post haste concrete.

My concern is once the freeze comes in that the posts may twist. My question is do you think I am good or should I just eat the cost now and get him to pay me next summer to avoid this? If he says no, do I at least just brace them with 2X4s? Or should I be okay?

Tough call. Personally, I'd see if you can get him to agree to reimburse you in the summer (writing preferably) and do it now.

Worst case, I'd brace each post at the top/bottom on alternating sides of the 4x4. Problem there is you're effectively building a temporary fence anyways