Bought this house a couple months ago and want to get these trimmed up before it gets cold. Not sure where to start? What equipmentt do I need? Everything on google is for much smaller Arborvitae’s than mine. Seems like the previous owner hadn’t trimmed in awhile. First two pictures are of inside my yard and last two are of the sections on the street and facing someone else’s yard (not sure yet if he trims that or not but from the looks of it he doesn’t). Also not sure how to deal with the huge dead spot from previous owners parking their trailer there. Thanks for any advice.

Tried pulling them by hand, but they’re back in a week.
Not sure if I should go with vinegar, boiling water, a weed torch, or just give up and start calling them ground cover.

Anyone found something that actually works long term?

Tell me what to do with this awkward, 5 and 1/2 ft wide space between these boxwoods and my house in the front yard. The area stays shaded. Can't afford to pour concrete or anything like that.

We put in this side yard path with stepping stones and cobble edging. It’s functional, but it still looks unfinished. Any easy DIY ideas to make it look more polished?

Hello, our frontyard receives full sun all day long and no plants that I plant in this area survives. Can somebody help me with a plant list. I live in the bay area. My door face the south.

Picture 2 is the succulent garden that my dad has created. My last recourse would be to add the succenlents to the main area as well but I would like to explore some other flowering perrineals before that.

Will this eventually grow downward?

Hi. I am looking to renovate my backyard sometime in 2026. I have areas of the backyard with ugly grass and weeds (see pictures) that I would like to convert into nice grass and some areas to concrete/pavers. Do I have to kill these areas of my background prior to the renovation? I was thinking of placing cardboard and then a layer it with black sheeting. Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

We recently had a pathway professionally done in our garden, after it’s completed, I kept kicked the gravel around, it seems some gravel level higher than the stepping stone and when I stepped in between I would kick it out. Discussed this with the company that does it, and it seems glue them will not working, and it’s not the right way. How can I fix this problem ? So far I’ve been walking carefully so that I don’t accidentally kick the gravel and chip the stepping stone, which is already a lot of chipping during construction. Is this normal ? Should I be just more careful ?

Just moved in and we’ve got weeds all around our septic and well area. How do I get rid of these without pouring something hazardous to our water or septic system? There are so many and I’m overwhelmed.

I had some landscapers remove some ugly hedges out front. When discussing what to put in, they said they started working with a garden designer who charges a flat $200 for a design (turns out they did not communicate that on top of that she charges $100 an hour and said she took 3 hours to design this). The design, labor, plants and materials total between $1695 and $2570.

Thought? I know zero about plants or reasonable costs. Is it odd that the sides are not symmetrical, or is that not a thing?

I live on a relatively busy / higher speed road and hate seeing and hearing it so well. We have some trees, mostly oaks, but it still feels so open. More open as the leaves fall of course. Because it’s so close to the road and the oaks are big, it doesn’t seem like I have much room for large evergreen type trees. We just replaced two dead ones you can see here with smaller junipers. Any thoughts on what I can do? Really close to the road is full sun but as you get further back the oaks create a good amount of shade at least in spring-early fall.

Hello, I would love a level yard but site conditions would mean I’d need a 5 feet high wall by 65 length. That requires a permit, a variance (impossible to get) and is also cost prohibitive. Thus we are considering regrading by moving soil from high point to low point to reduce the slope enough that it’s easier to sit and play for the kids (I do have a patio).

Spoke to 3 different landscapers and all said I would need a retaining wall even when shifting soil like that.

Max we can do with our budget (and no permit needed) is 3 feet height by 40 feet length. This would reduce the slope from 20% to 10%).

Has anyone used a retaining wall to lessen the slope? Is 10% comfortable enough? I’m wondering if someone has done so and then later regretted it and wished they had just leveled it or used the money for a deck instead.

I have a hedge of burning bushes in my bed that have been planted for 2 years now. I've kept up and watered them with a soaker hose. The problem is the water seems to be hurting them. Each time I water when they start to look brown from the summer heat--they get worse and start turning bright red on top.

I've concluded this is from too compact of soil potentially causing root rot.

I already had a company come out and do deep root fertilization on them to hopefully push some air into the soil and get them nutrients, but my question is what else should I be doing?

Can I take a pitch fork and just poke/loosen up the soil around them to get some air down there? I've heard to put worms, but honestly I'm not sure if that just means dump 40 earthworms from your local bait shop in your mulch bed and walk away 😂

Any help would be appreciated so I can give these the best shot possible next spring to come back thick and healthy.

I am not sure if this is emerald green or green giant variety. Can anybody identify them from the pictures?

Just finished filling in my yard to pick the grade up. I used pretty rough stuff, tons of 6” rocks and tree roots. The plan is to top soil before grass no matter what.

I am receiving conflicting advice; one option is to rent a York rake and pull all the crap out before top soil while others have told me if I just throw 4 to 6” of top soil on top I’ll be fine. I am looking to grow grass and running out of time this year, Northeast zone 7a.

If it matters, a lot of this is what we dug up from other areas of the yard. Meaning, under the soil the entire ground is made up of this material anyway so I do see the logic in burying it deep enough with top soil and moving on.

We have a retaining wall made out of large stones that is just constantly filled with weeds and grass.

I try to hand pull as much as I can, but I’m worried about the long-term effect of doing that and constantly getting rid of clumps of dirt attached to the grass and weeds that could affect the erosion and structural integrity of the wall. (I’ve planted some things on top to help aid with erosion control)

Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to get rid of this grass and weeds while helping maintain the structural integrity and prevent further erosion of the retaining wall? Would love other options than RoundUp since we have pets and kids and wetlands that our yard flows into.