Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I remember the yard once had a few azalea bushes. While lovely, they outgrew their location and they tend to attract some painful pest (wasp and yellow jackets). Those were some of the buses that were removed. We’re leery of planting in the front yard as this is the location of the water supply and sewage drain lines as well as the natural gas line. We’re considering a rock gardenin some areas of the front with a sturdy border wall that will stand up to occasional bumps from the push mower, riding mower, and grass trimmer. What we like about a rock garden is it allows for redecorating with statues as well as movable pot plants.
-I agree with the poster who said you sound overwhelmed. If they have given you the house with the neat/organized and well done garden, it may not be the same feeling as facing a bigger yard with a lot of backlogs (accumulated work over years). It makes it feel like a burden on u.
-The description you give to the garden makes it will become awesome/paradise when it gets caring and finishing its maintenance.
-I noticed that you just mentioned the yard, does it mean that the house is in a good condition or also needs renovating/fixing? If the house is in a good condition, that will be great, because you will only have 1 thing to focus on which related to just yard.
-You said your mother mad it publicly known that this is what she wanted. I wonder if she had written this in her will as well or not.
You know your mother better than anybody else. What it seems to me (as a stranger) that your mother doesn't want her house to be sold to a stranger. She chose you to buy it, (I mean u are gonna buy your sister's half as I understood of your comment) in order to own the whole house.
Do you think that your mother would be OK/satisfied if your sister took the house and bought your half of the house?
Why I'm asking this?
Because it's not clear if you are frustrated because the yard of the house needs a lot of work, or because this is not what you wanted.
-All these stuff that you mentioned can be solved, just needs a little time. It's not really an issue unless this is not what you wanted.
- Waiting to pay for your sister her half is not a problem, it may be a problem if this delays you from doing fixing that needs to be done for the house & its yard. I don't know a lot about these stuff but as much as I know, you have to take a permission of your sister before doing anything in the house
as long as she owns/shares the half of the house and didn't get its payment yet, so legally you're still not own the house completely. If she is OK, don't waste time, and START repairing the yard.
- In relation to the yard itself; I completely agree with the poster Rickcin. You don't have to do this alone especially with heat & humidity weather, it's death! In addition, I'll add, try to be there to supervise on them in order to make the yard look like what you want not like what they want.
- About later, regarding regular checking or maintenance for the yard, if you are extremely busy, u can hire the person your mother had to do her yard.
- I think the feeling you have is normal overall since it's moving/changing from a place/spot to another one. It just needs a little time and you will get used and cope with the new situation.
She made it clear with us and the lawyer handling the paper work. The home was built around the mid70s. Some door frames aren’t perfectly square but Overall it’s in good condition. The gas water heater is new. We’re getting ready to replace the kitchen faucet and ceiling kitchen light. Another project is to run the water line to the refrigerator for the ice/water dispenser. The central air unit needs some work or replacing depending on what the beudget will allow. There’s a broken one foot long section of the driveway we need to look into repairing or replacing. A corner of the square broke off. We’ve also had new insulation blown in because there was maybe 3 inches of insulation and the central air ran for hours. I’ve gotten half the driveway edged. Will be working on the second half today. Have a manual star point edger. It’ll come in handy when I get off work at 11pm allowing me to do edging without bothering the neighbors. I used this as a kid and know full well that once it’s been fully edged with the star edger it’ll be easy to keep up,...plus I need the exercise. Once I get the push mower repaired I may give up on the riding mower. The dips and holes in some places cause the 42 inch deck to chop one side deep leaving an ugly and uneven cut. While a push mower will take longer, I can do a bit each day for a smoother cleaner cut. Thankfully this yard isn’t filled with fire ants like our previous yard. For the flowerbeds we’re just trying to stay ahead of the weeds and grass for now. This fall and winter will be the heavy work of digging out and cleaning up the garden for what we want to keep.
One of the benefits of moving here is my wife has become more mentally and physically active. She’s placing, decorating, dusting, light moping, and planning. She also likes sitting outside without being eaten by swarms of mosquitoes and a legion of fire ants. I put up screen material on the patio grated doors to keep the dog in. This resulted in two yellow jacket stings, one on both legs. One of them also got the dog on her leg and side, a little 8 lb Chihuahua. They had a nest hidden under the patio coffee table.
Long story short. Mom passed away and she wanted my wife and I to move into her home. She had someone doing the yard for her. We’ve also inherited her riding mower and push mower. Learned the hard way she had some decorative stones placed in the yard. The grass was overgrown when my own push mower hit one of those hidden stones. Need to order parts to repair my mower. Her push mower is in very bad condition. The yard is made more difficult to cut because of holes where shrubs and trees once were as well as a mystery hole near a manhole cover between the yard and the road. Edging the drive and patio isn’t going to be easy. This is made harder because of my rotating shifts at the hospital as well as the heat and humidity in south Louisiana. Most of the work that needs to be done will get done when the fall weather finally arrives. Pruning flowering trees, trimming overgrown hedges, solving the mystery of the hole near the manhole cover, and clearing out the overgrown flower garden. My biggest worry was two oak trees beginning to grow, one next to the home and one next to the patio. The largest of the two was four inches thick. Sawed off the trees, drilled a hole at the top of the cut, and poured strong poison on the stump to hopefully kill it down to the roots. As for the flower garden I may end up destroying most of the flower bed. The worst of weeds have taken over including very thorny vining weeds.
I almost miss my previous yard. Previous yard was 5,000 square feet and this one is 3 times bigger. Worst part of previous yard was extremely poor drainage causing the yard to be a marsh for weeks after rains. It was so bad some of the neighborhood kids would ask if they could catch crawfish in our yard along with the turtles and frogs. Only good thing about that was the beautiful egrets.
My suggestion is for you to step back and think about what they yard will look like in time. Nothing worth having magically appears over night. If I were you, I would get my equipment running good first. Then I would walk every inch of that property and locate every hole, rock, or anything else that could damage your equipment before mowing it again. Give it time, relax.
My suggestion is for you to step back and think about what they yard will look like in time. Nothing worth having magically appears over night. If I were you, I would get my equipment running good first. Then I would walk every inch of that property and locate every hole, rock, or anything else that could damage your equipment before mowing it again. Give it time, relax.
Yesterday I finished trimming around the house, shed, and edging the driveway. Once done I used the leaf blower to blow the grass back on the lawn instead of on the road. Discovered a hidden treasure. The $10,000 backyard makeover my parents won included a stone patio extension from the existing patio, manual Sunsetter awning, plants on each side of the patio, patio furniture, and wrought iron arbor with matching plates on the ground under the arbor. One of my mom and dad’s complaints was the patio makers had left behind piles of sand and stone in the yard. Mom and dad took the spare stone and placed it in various places around the house and in the yard. They’ve long since been overgrown. Found them with the grass trimmer. If I make a front yard rock garden I could use these stones as accent stones. Having the drive properly edge gives the yard a nice and neat look. One easy decorative feature I added is an LED flame bulb for the front porch swag light. Really looks good from the road at night.
All the people I know, that side discharge cover is usually taken off before the mower is used the first time. Causes more of a hassle than a help.
This mower deck’s side discharge opening extends to the top of the deck. When mowing it flings debris out and up. I have to mow while wearing safety glasses. Debris have hit my face and the plastic lenses. What’s missing is the metal pin and spring that not only holds the side discharge in place, it also holds the mulching side discharge cover in place.
Sawed off the trees, drilled a hole at the top of the cut, and poured strong poison on the stump to hopefully kill it down to the roots. As for the flower garden I may end up destroying most of the flower bed. The worst of weeds have taken over including very thorny vining weeds.
You sound like a plant murderer. Do you enjoy killing and destroying things?
You sound like a plant murderer. Do you enjoy killing and destroying things?
Sometimes it's the only way -- especially if the garden has either been neglected or the prior owner(s) planted undesirable/invasive plants.
You tell me any easier way to get rid of a tangle of wild blackberry, bittersweet, solanum, multiflora rose and poison ivy .... and I'll be all ears. But in the meantime I will be hiring somebody to rip everything out and then will spend the next two seasons nuking the area with 40% Triclopyr spiked with about 5% Diquat to zap all the stuff that comes up from the root sections that were left. Maybe then it'll be ready for planting up with something nice.
And to have a stump removed professionally will cost hundreds. Even to have a single tree removed by a pro hereabouts will be more than $1K and that won't include any stump removal. Some of us ain't exactly Paul Bunyan, LOL
Sometimes it's the only way -- especially if the garden has either been neglected or the prior owner(s) planted undesirable/invasive plants.
You tell me any easier way to get rid of a tangle of wild blackberry, bittersweet, solanum, multiflora rose and poison ivy .... and I'll be all ears. But in the meantime I will be hiring somebody to rip everything out and then will spend the next two seasons nuking the area with 40% Triclopyr spiked with about 5% Diquat to zap all the stuff that comes up from the root sections that were left. Maybe then it'll be ready for planting up with something nice.
Anything "Nice" might not grow on the soil that you have abused with all these chemicals...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
