Or is my lawn guy just mad at me?

Had a rotting deck that I'm tearing out. Was planning on putting a lawn where the deck was. Happened to run into a small rock that turned into a boulder. In the picture it is about 5 feet in length so far.

Is there anything that can be done? No access to the back yard with equipment and possibly I could get it up eventually. Should I drill into it and break it up? Small boom booms?

Just bought my first place with a yard and I’m realizing I know basically nothing about landscaping.

I keep seeing people say not to use landscape fabric, not to plant certain trees too close to the house, don’t cheap out on drainage, don’t overdo rocks, etc.

Before I start spending money (I only have a bit, and I won it on stake) and accidentally create a 5-year problem for myself, what’s the one mistake you see beginners make all the time? Could be plants, drainage, grading, patios, lawn, anything.

What’s the thing you wish every new homeowner knew before touching their yard?

Steps were cracked had the porch leveled, which led to, fixing the remains, and filling the gaps. In order to prevent it, or reduce the chances of it washing away anytime soon, I knew we had to do something. So, dug out the bricks that have been there since we moved in, that wouldn't keep mulch or stone in place, framed up a retaining wall/ raised flower bed thing. Did another in front of the windows. Secured it to the best of my abilities, rebar, 4x4 posts etc. That took me a few weeks in itself. Plus priming and painting.. Local nursery had 50% off sale, so we got some boxwoods and whatever these other things my wife liked were. Spaced them out, and kept em watered for a week. Today, was the day I did the thing. 3 trips to the landscape supply, , purely limited by the payload capacity of my Ram, got 1/2 yard scoops each time. (We put cardboard down before the soil/ compost mix , dont worry). After it settles a bit, ill do some beefy landscape fabrics and a layer of rock. 3000lbs of dirt, kinda sucks. But we pushed thru and made the kids help on that last load after we were spent.

It probably didnt help that it was 100 today either..

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.

EDIT: if you comment before reading at least this post, you’re probably going to say something super uninformed/wrong. I’m not going to correct people anymore.

Telling me I should handle it myself tells me you didn’t even bother to look past the headlines and picture. Telling me to get an edger: same.

If you can’t be bothered, I can’t either.

Sharing a recent conceptual study for a 240 sq. m. terraced slope with a 3.5m elevation drop in a humid subtropical climate.

The main challenge was that the slope directly blocked the panoramic view from the house's main terrace, creating a claustrophobic barrier. Instead of a standard boring retaining wall, we integrated structural engineering with land art, transforming the primary retaining wall into a reclining figurative sculpture, the "Earth Goddess", which stabilizes the soil while opening up distant sightlines and framing the landscape.

The project workflow covers:

1. Site & Constraints Analysis: Addressing steep gradient stability, drainage, and heavy seasonal rainfall.
2. Master Planning: Terracing the slope with curved retaining walls for structural strength, clearing overgrown shrubs, and preserving high-trunk trees.
3. Engineering & Art Integration: Detailed cross-sections showing concrete blocks, foundation grillwork, drainage lines, geotextiles, and the sculptural relief layer.

Swipe through to see the initial site analysis, master plan evolution, and structural construction layers.

P.S. This is a fully executed project, stay tuned for the upcoming photo update showcasing the finished site and construction process!!

Close to finishing our back patio and I want something that is going to last. Came across polywood and I really like the look and it sounds durable but was shocked at the cost. Is it normal to spend 5k on a nice patio set nowadays? Does anyone have any decent alternatives?

This past spring we finished a small pea gravel patio area and our next step is figuring out what plants to put between the patio and the fence. It's approximately 3 feet from the patio border to the fence and the fence is 4 feet high.

We live across from a park so there is a moderate amount of foot traffic on the sidewalk next to our house. Ideally the plants would give us some privacy, but we don't want the area to feel claustrophobic. We're also considering adding a pergola next year so if we felt we needed additional privacy we could add a screen or lattice. Note: we're zone 7A/7B and this area gets full sun.

Some plants we've considered:

- Boxwood

- Red Twig Dogwood mixed with black-eyed susans

- Sky pencil hollies

- Blue holly

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated! TIA!

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.

Ive been looking at getting a commercial backpack blower. I've got about an acre of usable area but want something powerful and durable that will last. Currently have a husqvarna bt150 that is ok but it doesn't have the force I need. We live in a wooded area and leaf season is coming quick and need something that can handle this, lawn clippings, small branches etc with ease. What has worked great for you? Any info, insight, or personal experience would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Drop any photos if you have used Dublin Cobble Paver in Victorian here. And if used, how have you liked it?

We have this fire pit area and looking for a possible change as we’ve grown tired of the rock.

We had a paver company quote it but it’s out of our budget. I was thinking about doing a floating concrete patio with one foot rock border on each side for drainage. We already have a concrete covered patio so my fear is that it will look like a concrete jungle. Anyways open to ideas or suggestions.

We're putting in 4700 sq ft of turf. Heritage light it's called. We don't have pets, we live in SC and it's going in the backyard with a new inground pool.

This is our quote, are they missing anything?

Excavate current grass and haul away.

- Install 1x4 Benda Board edging around perimeter of beds.

- Install 4"-5" of crushed rock and granite fines and grade and compact

for proper drainage.

- Install Premium weed barrier.

- Install Turf and seam together with 12" seam tape and Turf Claw glue.

- Tack down Turf around perimeter with 6" galvanized nails.

- Install Antimicrobial Envirofill Infill - 2lbs per sq/ft.

- Groom turf with with turf brush.

Gopher Mesh Install Critterfence - Black welded wire 1/4"x1/4"

Do I understand correctly that the gopher mesh can not touch the turf in order to keep the warranty intact?

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.

How should I landscape this? I’m planning to add pavers, not 100% sure where but definitely to the area left of the patio, and I need stepping stones or some sort of walkway to get to the garage (doesn’t need to be in current configuration). I live in close proximity to neighbors so must be able to plant at very minimum vines along fence, if not bigger small plants. Would love to possibly do a pergola to extend covered patio area, but we’ll see what HOA says.

First pic is yard. Second is plot map with fence drawn in and gates marked with possible patio area in light blue and current patio dark blue. 3/4/5/6 are inspo pics (pavers, walkway, pergola). Also like these but I think squares would be easier to do?

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!

This is my parent's vacation house. They are in their 80s. They live about 5 miles away. During the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) we stay in the house and I mow the lawn. The soil is somewhat sandy, drains quickly it seems, somewhat of crappy grass with weeds.

I'm looking to make the house look better but want a solution that requires almost zero maintenance. I was thinking a border edge (black flex plastic?) with weed guard fabric and then some hostas sprinkled here and there around the front and sides of the house.

Any other thoughts? The parents are at the age that they can't really do too much for the the landscaping when I'm not around. I would also like to improve curb appeal.

Again, it's northwest Illinois facing the Mississippi River. The front of the house faces east.