what to do with my back yard??

[IMP]

problem: i can not decide what to do. prior owner really let it go. ivy covers about half the ground. dirt, weeds, broken dead branches and crap that my dog chip has dragged outside and scattered around cover the other half. the trees are in need of pruning as there is literally no sunlight that hits almost 2/3 of the yard. and it's terribly uneven.

what i want: an open, clear yard for the dogs to run and play in and won't allow for the dogs to get dirty and muddy and track that in to the house. i'm suck of the dirt that comes in the house from those dogs. i've had dog doors before at other houses i've lived in, but i've never had the dirt accumulate inside like it does here.

ideas i've thought of:
getting the yard cleared out is a must...i'm talking the dead and overgrown stuff, the mess of trash the dogs made (bringing stuff from inside to the yard and scattering it all over), most or all of the ivy. after that, i've considered...

getting the yard leveled and having synthetic grass put in.
getting the yard leveled and have a layer of pea gravel and then a layer of mulch and/or pine straw put in
pruning trees and allowing sunlight to get in, and lay sod down.


i just can't decide. please help. thanks!

[Enough Exams Already]

My brother bought a house with a similarly problematic back yard. His solution was 1.) clear the whole thing out; 2.) take down a few trees to let light in; 3.) seed the major dead areas; 4.) let the new grass grow long enough to seed new growth by itself. After a couple of years, his back yard was the best in the neighborhood.

[FormLetter]

step 1: train your dogs not to drag stuff from the inside to the outside

What do they drag? clothes? food? trash? appliances?

[hardinda]

grass doesn't grow in everlasting drought conditions, k thx

[E. Blackadder]

set one of these (http://www.croquetamerica.com/croquet/rules/american/synopsis/) up.

[Salzmann]

If you use gravel, put some sort of cloth on the ground first (they make a covering for this purpose). We have stones in the areas of our garden that weren't planted- typical developer shortcut. That way they could throw topsoil only where there were plantings. Unfortunately, weeds eventually grow up through the stones if you don't put something under the stones and now they're harder to pull. You're stuck with spray the weeds with poison, adding more stones, or removing the stones and adding topsoil. I'm slowly doing the latter and it's a pain.

If you decide not to remove the trees, you may want to encourage the ivy to grow. My philosophy is to plant things that need little maintenance and clearly it's done fine while being neglected. It also doesn't need mowing.

[QMO]

Pave and drill, baby. Pave and drill.

No mowing, no weeding, no pruning, no moles, and, if you're lucky, some extra income.

Be sure to check your zoning restrictions and mineral rights.

[Maine-iac]

Get a landscaper out to evaluate the area, make suggestions and give an estimate. If actually hiring the landscaper will cost too much, at least you will have some ideas of what to do yourself. A lot depends on your climate and the particulars of your lot (soil type, sunlight, drainage, slope, etc.) and a landscaper could evaluate those far better than we can.

[QMO]

Get a landscaper out to evaluate the area, make suggestions and give an estimate. If actually hiring the landscaper will cost too much, at least you will have some ideas of what to do yourself. A lot depends on your climate and the particulars of your lot (soil type, sunlight, drainage, slope, etc.) and a landscaper could evaluate those far better than we can.I actually think this is very good advice.

[GadgetGeek]

Get a landscaper out to evaluate the area, make suggestions and give an estimate. If actually hiring the landscaper will cost too much, at least you will have some ideas of what to do yourself. A lot depends on your climate and the particulars of your lot (soil type, sunlight, drainage, slope, etc.) and a landscaper could evaluate those far better than we can.

I actually think this is very good advice.

I agree as well. Just for fun, you can invite a lawn service to give you an estimate too. That should be good to get their reaction to seeing the back yard.

[GadgetGeek]

What general geographic area do you reside? Do you see all 4 seasons?

[DeepPurple]

Get a landscaper out to evaluate the area, make suggestions and give an estimate. If actually hiring the landscaper will cost too much, at least you will have some ideas of what to do yourself. A lot depends on your climate and the particulars of your lot (soil type, sunlight, drainage, slope, etc.) and a landscaper could evaluate those far better than we can.


This is full of decent ideas, but I'll point out something in addition.


Around my area, the "suggestions" portion is called a landscaping plan, and they usually run about $250 from a reputable landscaper. If you hire them to actually carry out the plan, they normally apply that amount to the total bill, but expect that bill to be many-to-several-to-a boatload of thousands.

[DW Simpson]

Plant bamboo? Kidding, yes.

[tommie frazier]

bamboo is always popular with the neighbors!

[BallaActuary]

Consider looking into getting artificial grass if your rainy seasons are teh sux

[GadgetGeek]

Artificial grass + dog poop = a mess?

[E. Blackadder]

bamboo is always popular with the neighbors!

She already has kudzu, Bamboo would be a definite improvement, and Pandas find it edible.

[Jables]

problem: i can not decide what to do. prior owner really let it go. ivy covers about half the ground. dirt, weeds, broken dead branches and crap that my dog chip has dragged outside and scattered around cover the other half. the trees are in need of pruning as there is literally no sunlight that hits almost 2/3 of the yard. and it's terribly uneven.
Sounds like all the obstacles you need for a backyard mini golf course!

[lipman]

What general geographic area do you reside? Do you see all 4 seasons?

She lives in the dirty south. I am not certain, but I doubt winter is very harsh for her, and the summers bring the heat.

[BallaActuary]

Artificial grass + dog poop = a mess?

Nothing a little hosing off can't fix

[ShakeNBakes]

Nothing a little hosing off can't fix
TWSS!!!

[hardinda]

Water restrictions will not let her legally use the hose for that.

[IMP]

i've been swamped and havent had time to respond. i still don't but i need a mental break for a couple minutes.

thanks for the input thus far. i'm very appreciative.

i like the idea of having the high limbs trimmed/cut to allow for sunlight so i can have real grass back there. it's a matter of cost. tree work isn't cheap. although, none of this yardwork will be cheap.

i'm almost tempted to just through a crap load of stuff all over the yard...mulch, leaves, hay, pine straw, etc and be done with it. i wouldnt do that of course. =/

it's gonna be close to $1,000 to have the yard cleaned up and leveled and trimming up the lower level of trees...maybe up to 15 feet high.

it's gonna be close to another $1,000 to have pea gravel and mulch laid down on the newly leveled land.

$2k...not happy with that, but as a new homeowner, i don't know the costs of these types of things. the main concern i have tho is that it's gonna be extremely tough to pick up the poop since the color will blend right in with the ground. also, i wonder how well it will do when it rains.

i really want grass, but it's so freakin expensive to have the tree work done, i mean the high up there work like 50 feet up or whatever.

so then i come back to getting synthetic grass. the cheap stuff alone will cost almost $2k...and that doesnt include clearing and leveling the ground and prepping it with the proper material before laying it. and it doesnt include the cost of installing it. so i'm looking at a small fortune. grrrr.

to start, i am having 2 guys come out and clear all the debris and cut back the overgrown ivy and remove all the overgrown pretend mini-trees. dont know what to call em. then we can take a look at a clean yard and figure out the best course of action.

as happy as i am to own, i probably would have been better off renting and to have stuck to my plan of not buying until i am with someone longterm. saylaveeeeee

[IMP]

oh yeah, regarding watering...i can make a water reserve thing. forget what it's called. but just have rain water go from the gutters into a barrel or bucket or whatever and use that. a friend of mine did that, but looks so redneck b/c he went overkill...he's collecting not only rain water, but shower water...he's got a system going that cyphens the water from the tub drain to a hose that goes out of the bathroom window and into the reserve tank. pretty funny tho when the water police guy came around to ticket him for using water...even started writing him up without asking him...dude was pretty caught off gaurd that he was legal as well as quite impressed with the contraption.

[douglan]

when is the kegger planned to christen the new back yard? :toast:

[Barbara]

to start, i am having 2 guys come out and clear all the debris and cut back the overgrown ivy and remove all the overgrown pretend mini-trees. dont know what to call em. then we can take a look at a clean yard and figure out the best course of action.


This seems like a really good idea. Once it's emptied out a bit, you'll be able to see what you have and get a better idea of what you want and how much work it will take to get there.

[twig93]

i've been swamped and havent had time to respond. i still don't but i need a mental break for a couple minutes.

thanks for the input thus far. i'm very appreciative.

i like the idea of having the high limbs trimmed/cut to allow for sunlight so i can have real grass back there. it's a matter of cost. tree work isn't cheap. although, none of this yardwork will be cheap.

i'm almost tempted to just through a crap load of stuff all over the yard...mulch, leaves, hay, pine straw, etc and be done with it. i wouldnt do that of course. =/

it's gonna be close to $1,000 to have the yard cleaned up and leveled and trimming up the lower level of trees...maybe up to 15 feet high.

it's gonna be close to another $1,000 to have pea gravel and mulch laid down on the newly leveled land.

$2k...not happy with that, but as a new homeowner, i don't know the costs of these types of things. the main concern i have tho is that it's gonna be extremely tough to pick up the poop since the color will blend right in with the ground. also, i wonder how well it will do when it rains.

i really want grass, but it's so freakin expensive to have the tree work done, i mean the high up there work like 50 feet up or whatever.

so then i come back to getting synthetic grass. the cheap stuff alone will cost almost $2k...and that doesnt include clearing and leveling the ground and prepping it with the proper material before laying it. and it doesnt include the cost of installing it. so i'm looking at a small fortune. grrrr.

to start, i am having 2 guys come out and clear all the debris and cut back the overgrown ivy and remove all the overgrown pretend mini-trees. dont know what to call em. then we can take a look at a clean yard and figure out the best course of action.

as happy as i am to own, i probably would have been better off renting and to have stuck to my plan of not buying until i am with someone longterm. saylaveeeeee

It doesn't sound like you like artificial grass, and I don't blame you one bit. If you don't like it, don't get it. You will always wish you had real grass and it isn't worth spending one dime on something that you don't actually want.

If you can possibly afford it, I'd spend the money to "do it right". Get the trees trimmed to allow some light in - you might even decide to have one or two removed. If they're valuable for wood, that might cut way down on the expense. (I had 20 trees removed and stumps ground out for free at my first house - the wood from 18 of the trees that were valuable was the payment.)

Keep in mind that any money you do spend is going into the equity in your house. Landscaping definitely makes a difference in purchase price. It might not quite be a one-to-one effect, but it will increase the value of your house.

You might end up spending $5K on landscaping which improves the value of your house by $3K. So you're really only out $2K in that case. Keep that in mind. I seriously doubt that artificial grass will improve the value of your house at all.

[FormLetter]

Yeah when are you having a house-warming party so we can trash your place?

[IMP]

that is it. i've had it with this disgusting backyard and all the freaking dirt brought in to my house!!

i am biting the bullet and going to get the synthetic grass. will probably cost almost $7k including installation but, i'll get a roommate for a year and that will pay for it! :D

[the BS method]

so you're spending 7k on an outdoor rug for your dogs to shit on?

sounds like you should have just bought a condo.

[General Apathy]

I thought this was a euphemism for something else

[Jack]

Where the hell do you live that there are water cops? Do you live in the desert?

Here I just throw grass seed down and do nothing. In a few weeks there's grass. I've lived in my house for 12 years and have never watered the lawn.


Assuming you don't live in the desert just trim the trees yourself, clean up the yard, and throw down grass seed. In a few weeks there won't be any more exposed dirt.

[The Drunken Actuary]

Astro-turf.

[General Apathy]

no way, that's a torn ACL waiting to happen

[Gary Wright]

bamboo is always popular with the neighbors!

Best way to lift the neighbor's sidewalk without getting caught on camera!