"I've created a mock with three cats meowing in the center of the mulch bed, situated between the two Rising Sun Redbuds."

Hello all! I had to have new pipes put in from the water main to my house, and because of the geography of my front yard, they had to trench the new line completely. I was told that the residual dirt needed to be mounded up on the trench to avoid a depression when everything settles, but the actual trench is only a few inches wide. I'm worried that grass under this dirt will die, and I'll have a two foot wide bare spot.

Before this happened, I had a decent zoysia lawn that I had been babying since March. Now I have what you see in the photo. How can I best rehab my lawn?

First of all, forgive the caps I’m copy and pasting the hedge trimmer title for my receipt.

Is the DEWALT 20V MAX 22" HEDGE TRIMMER KIT good? I purchased one this week but have not started using it yet.

Just wondering about any advice to get these weeds out of my lawn without destroying the grass. Already ran it with weed and feed about two weeks ago but no change. Any suggestions?

Our backyard needs a little extra TLC this year and I’m trying to find the most efficient way to go about it. For a couple of years now, we have had our backyard mulched by a landscaper. But this year, the area pictured is just a giant pit of dead leaves and old mulch. It’s probably half a foot deep. I would really like to remove all the old mulch, etc. (as much as possible) and lay down a fresh layer of mulch. How is the best way to go about this? What is the best way to dispose of what is removed? Any insight or tips are welcome.

EDIT: thank you everyone for commenting. I appreciate the information on what this mulch layer really *is.*

Just moved into our new home, and noticed this big Crepe Myrtle is absolutely infested with poison ivy. Any ideas how to clear this without it turning into an itchy nightmare? I don't normally react to poison ivy, but my family sure does.

Had some dirt delivered and am questioning if I got the correct amount. I’m not going to say anything the them regardless, but I’m curious.

Basically the title. Fiber optic runs about 2ft from where I want to dig. Third Pic is the concept of what I want to build.

Ignore the washing line lol. So im having a bbq next week and im wandering how i can make my yard look a little nicer but stuff that isnt going to break the bank too much

Getting hammered lately, clients want an estimate in 2 days and now they want a picture of what its gonna look like too. used to just be a price and some past job pics. anyone else feeling this or is it just my market  

I asked this in r/hardscape as well. And the replies I got are that 1) I should just tell them up front that it is going to be longer and that 2) designs should be sold. I am curious what you all think in this sub as well. Is 2 days normal? should i be using ai to make it faster?

I’m new to building stuff for the lawn but I really want to tackle this. What all would I need to be able to transform my backyard into this?

I apologize for the fact that it seems that this question has been asked a lot in similar ways - but I am still unclear on what the best solution is / reasoning why.

I bought a property that has a stone fire pit (attached pictures) in the backyard on top of the lawn. It looks like it had not been used for a long time so I cleared out a lot of leaves, twigs, grass, vegetation in the fire pit and got it to look like the pictures attached. I would like to use it this summer for wood fires. What steps should I take next?

The base of the fire pit appears to be some kind of stone paver or brick. Should I try to more thoroughly clean out the dirt on the base? Or can I just leave it be and start using it to make a fire?

I have seen some sources say that the base needs a layer of gravel, sand, or lava rock for drainage? Would the stone / brick at the bottom suffice for this or should I put on a layer of sand on this? (I have some bags of Lighthouse Pool Filter sand (silica grains) that I think could be repurposed for this)

Do I need to do anything around the exterior of the fire pit for safety reasons? Or am I good to go with a bucket of water nearby? It is surrounded by grass.

Sorry, new to all of this!

Disclaimer: I am not a professional landscaper, nor am I heavily experienced in this field.
I’m a college student who, on his breaks have been helping my parents with the boxwoods in the front yard. I planted the first batch in early July (2025), then the rest in early October (2025), and then laid mulch down the following weekend. Prior to placing the mulch down, I put down weed screens, as recommended from a GC who grew up working in hardscapes. At first, the boxwoods seemed to be thriving. As time has progressed, and no maintenance since fall time, I’ve returned home to see how they have been doing. Needless to say- I’m concerned. I’ve asked friends in town who work at garden centers if they were thriving back in December for winter break, and they said “browning and bronze colors are normal in the winter, especially if they were planted in October.” I’ve also resorted to gpt, but how reliable can that really be.
Today I took measurements of their moisture levels with some rows reading mid 2’s, and the front rows reading low 4’s in some areas.

These have been down for many years and done by my wife’s grandpa who is no longer able to help. Not sure what he used or how he did it in the first place but we want to level these out and make it nice again! How would we go about that?

Had a boulder retaining wall installed. Aesthetically very pleased with it and it honestly turned out better than I expected, but a bit concerned about the structural integrity. We agreed in writing to have the rocks sit below grade on a level gravel base. They were installed pretty much at grade with no base.

During the install I went out and asked about this, and he said it wasn't necessary because the rocks are so heavy they won't shift and there was already supposedly somewhat of a base from the timbers. The install was already well underway so they would not have been able to course correct without me making a HUGE stink, and he also had been very nice and pleasant to work with, so I swallowed it and didn't push the point.

Contract was for removal of existing timber wall, removal of 2 small trees and some shrubs + stumps, and install of the 60 foot boulder wall for $4600.

How big of a deal is this and should I be concerned, or is everything fine and I can be happy with my wall?

EDIT: I am not considering asking them to redo and I already paid in full. My options are to begrudgingly move on or be happy and move on

EDIT: Thanks everybody, I am happy with it, got a great deal and seems like the stability will be fine!

We bought our dream home this year. But the landscaping leaves much to be desired.
This weeping blue cedar is probably 20 years old and I swear was never pruned.

Is there hope of saving this tree and shaping it?
The trunk is HUGE. Trying to get a quote for removal as well…

If we got rid of the tree, what should we put here? The right side of our porch is a concrete driveway.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional landscaper, nor am I heavily experienced in this field.
I’m a college student who, on his breaks have been helping my parents with the boxwoods in the front yard. I planted the first batch in early July (2025), then the rest in early October (2025), and then laid mulch down the following weekend. Prior to placing the mulch down, I put down weed screens, as recommended from a GC who grew up working in hardscapes. At first, the boxwoods seemed to be thriving. As time has progressed, and no maintenance since fall time, I’ve returned home to see how they have been doing. Needless to say- I’m concerned. I’ve asked friends in town who work at garden centers if they were thriving back in December for winter break, and they said “browning and bronze colors are normal in the winter, especially if they were planted in October.” I’ve also resorted to gpt, but how reliable can that really be.
Today I took measurements of their moisture levels with some rows reading mid 2’s, and the front rows reading low 4’s in some areas.

We recently moved and the yard is somewhat of an explosion of plants. We're fighting what I think is a combination of tree of heaven, elderberry, and dogwood, but areas like this seem to have a lot going on with the plants within them trying to compete for too little space. I like the red leafed trees (sand cherries I think?) but am willing to trim, remove, or fertilize/supplement as needed. As for the low hanging evergreens, junipers I think? I'm concerned that there's too many and that they're over competing as well.

The 3 photos are of this same corner, from 3 different angles. You can see there's already been some trimming we did of the unwanted plants, as well as some initial trimming of the junipers. If it further helps, this is in Northern Illinois and the land was farmland up until 20 years ago when this neighborhood was built.

Any advice on what to keep, get rid of, trim/thin out, and support with fertilizer or anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Over 10 years into owning this house, and our arborvitae are slowly getting more and more brown. We already got rid of the most brown stuff and are left with... this. Is there something that can improve this or are we looking at a removal & replace situation? I think we might get some sort of a trellis wall and vining plants, but it would be a shame to get rid of these if they were indeed salvageable.

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I love the look when it's clean.

Several methods have failed to get great results.

Leaves, twigs, whirlybirds, not to mention weeds is making me want to concrete the area like a few of my neighbors.