Landscaping/Gardening Thread.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by J pold

Does anyone have a landscaping company they'd recommend?

Looking to get some mature Aspen's planted in my backyard. Thanks!

Why aspens? Those things are downright awful. Roots everywhere, choking out other nearby trees (my neighbour's aspens killed some of our trees) and don't even look that nice.

[PepsiFree]

Any tips on what available chemical I can use to destroy bellflower and burdock? I pull and I pull, and every year there they are. I’m ready to go nuclear. Happy to kill anything in the immediate vicinity.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Any tips on what available chemical I can use to destroy bellflower and burdock? I pull and I pull, and every year there they are. I’m ready to go nuclear. Happy to kill anything in the immediate vicinity.

I think Round-Up is the only thing that will touch it. And the stuff in the stores is pretty watered down...might need a couple of applications.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Why aspens? Those things are downright awful. Roots everywhere, choking out other nearby trees (my neighbour's aspens killed some of our trees) and don't even look that nice.

We have swedish aspens, and hate them as well.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Why aspens? Those things are downright awful. Roots everywhere, choking out other nearby trees (my neighbour's aspens killed some of our trees) and don't even look that nice.

I actually don't have a strong preference. They were just what I've had in the past.

Is there another tree you'd recommend? I really don't know much about this stuff.

My main goal is for privacy along my fence line.

[BlackArcher101]

Don't get the hate for the aspen's, there's a reason they are so popular. With the narrow backyards we have these days, they are really the only true choice for a privacy tree. Especially if you want privacy within 2-3 years of planting. I don't have any issues with roots, just a few sucklings here and there, but I think the root's being bad thing is a carry over from the very bad poplar trees.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Why aspens? Those things are downright awful. Roots everywhere, choking out other nearby trees (my neighbour's aspens killed some of our trees) and don't even look that nice.

All trees root everywhere. They don't choke out other trees. Are they too close together?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by redforever

I think Round-Up is the only thing that will touch it. And the stuff in the stores is pretty watered down...might need a couple of applications.

RU does nothing to creeping bellflower.

The only solution to CB:

Dig up the soil.
Burn soil.
Put new soil in.

And if your neighbours have it, then you're SOL.

CB is endemic in the "inner city".

[TorqueDog]

My yard clean-up dude suggested a combination of white vinegar, sea salt, and Dawn dish liquid. Mix it up and pour some onto your most hated weeds. He has warned me it is definitely a scorched earth type approach, so I haven't used it on my weeds and am sticking to a weed puller for the lawn, and bare hands for the flower bed. But we have a low maintenance backyard so we might use it against some of the weeds that pop out between the paving stones.

[Shazam]

Salt kills everything. Everything. You will cause an environmental disaster. I'm not even kidding. It doesn't leave either, so all you've done is created useless soil.

And for ####'s sake STOP USING DISH SOAP. It is both an insecticide and more worryingly, a piscicide, and a VERY POWERFUL one.

Goddamned city is run by numbskulls. Pissing their pants over 2,4-D while everybody goes nuts with dish soap.

[Iggy_12]

Any actual landscapers in this thread? looking to rip up some dead sod and replace with new! small yard

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Know a few people who've been happy with Blue Grass Nursery. They're the ones that do the growing and they'll also come in and deliver/plant the trees for you.

Landscaping guys will just be getting the trees from them anyways. This way you can go out to the yard, pick the tree (if you care that much) and have them deliver/plant it for you.

Out by Balsack mall

I am having work done right now by Canadian Landscape Services Inc.
They are fast, doing excellent work, and the quote was actually about 65% of what we expected. Full yard gut, irrigation added in, re-sod, built a garden area, added about 20 plants, bordered the planting areas, limestone in the planter beds, trimmed existing trees, dug out 30 years of spruce needles...

I HIGHLY recommend them and Tony, who is the owner, is great.

[Bill Bumface]

Aspens are a decent choice as they are pretty well suited to the windy/dry/cold local climate. What I worry about is the inevitable aspen disease that will wipe out the whole city at some point because everyone plants the same thing.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Any tips on what available chemical I can use to destroy bellflower and burdock? I pull and I pull, and every year there they are. I’m ready to go nuclear. Happy to kill anything in the immediate vicinity.

This has been a multi-year project for me.

Are you pulling, or digging?

Need to meticulously follow the little tubers until you find the carrot that is way deep down somewhere. An oddly satisfying, massive, massive pain in the ass.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Aspens are a decent choice as they are pretty well suited to the windy/dry/cold local climate. What I worry about is the inevitable aspen disease that will wipe out the whole city at some point because everyone plants the same thing.

Bronze Leaf Disease. I had trees that got it. I pruned off affected branches. Last year nothing really.

There's lots of diseases. Here's some common ones that will wipe out the whole city at some point because everyone plants the same thing.

Fireblight.
Oystershell scale.
Black knot.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

This has been a multi-year project for me.

Are you pulling, or digging?

Need to meticulously follow the little tubers until you find the carrot that is way deep down somewhere. An oddly satisfying, massive, massive pain in the ass.

Any broken pieces of root will all turn into new plants.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

This has been a multi-year project for me.

Are you pulling, or digging?

Need to meticulously follow the little tubers until you find the carrot that is way deep down somewhere. An oddly satisfying, massive, massive pain in the ass.

There is a bunch of stuff in the way so some of it I can dig out, others I can only pull, and as mentioned under the “SOL” category my neighbour has it and it creeps over to my lawn (how it showed up in the first place I think).

Honestly, destroying the soil with salt is incredibly appealing.

[Ducay]

I had great success with roundup on creeping bellflower. If its in an area around grass, just paint onto the leaves. Killed the rhizome too

[Shazam]

You sure it was creeping bellflower? Because first off you'd be painting for days because that #### spreads like mad, and second there are no herbicides that kill it 100%.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Don't get the hate for the aspen's, there's a reason they are so popular. With the narrow backyards we have these days, they are really the only true choice for a privacy tree. Especially if you want privacy within 2-3 years of planting. I don't have any issues with roots, just a few sucklings here and there, but I think the root's being bad thing is a carry over from the very bad poplar trees.

And their roots sucker all over, like into my perennial flower beds.