# Landscape/Garden Projects Thread!



## lewis (Aug 4, 2017)

Figured this could be an amazing place to share landscaping projects big or small we all participate in. Here is my first one:

I moved into my first proper family home January this year and since then Ive been spending all spare money and time on doing the house up and making it into a home. It was literally a shell when we moved in. Other than mine and my partners bedroom now, the house is effectively finished inside save for some extra finishing touches. Every wall in every room was badly painted dark grey (some rooms had red crayon all over the walls too - Who the hell likes dark grey that much  ? ) and there was no flooring down in any room and some doors were missing. The Central heating wasnt working and there was some damp issues not only in the walls mainly upstairs (due to lack of damproofing) but also the kitchen cupboards were all ruined due to water damage. So there was ALOT to do inside. The neighbors were telling me about the previous family, and deary me...how can people live in such a way?.
Anyway being done now inside it means I can get outside.........so

That has brought me to the garden. The previous tenants (I presume it was them) had just laid patio slabs straight down onto mud (handy as Ive acquired plenty of paving slabs for free but a poor way to do the job, weeds and uneven slabs were rife), they had thrown about 30,000 cigarette ends into the gravel under the windows (which is appalling) and the entire garden was filled with random stuff all hidden in the lawn, in the mud and about anywhere. Broken toy parts, USB cable, a shoe. Ive lost track of the stuff Ive found and dug up. They had also created a concrete shed base (and done a shoddy job of it).

So here is basically what I started with once I had started to take up the patio slabs and neaten as I went (there were slabs between the grass and the concrete base originally \/ ) - 











as you can see I have a nice enclosed rectangle space to work with. The fence panels are lovely and tall so no one can see into the garden and sun light is very very good in the space so thats a bonus.
The "lawn" is utterly dreadful. It looks ok in this pic because its long, but the ground is ridiculously uneven. Trying to mow it is so tough despite it being such a small strip. So the plan for this is to dig it all up, and replace it with artificial lawn so I would not have to worry about cutting the grass again. That way I can get it lovely and even too. But Im doing 1/3rd of the garden at a time.

You can see the Shed base on the top right there. It had to go for what I have planned, so out came the sledge hammer and a long day of hulk smash. Led to this - 










So the entire area was cleared. Earlier today I re dug the whole thing up and raked as level as I could see by eye at this stage and down went some weed membrane - 










The right half is proper stapled into the ground to hold it down, the left side has yet to be done because I ran out of staples.
Put in a large order earlier for much more stuff. Arriving Thursday the 10th I have a jumbo bag of sharp sound suitable for 11mx11m sized area with 5cm thickness. Plenty of concrete powder, more staples, and some extra tools. This area is 3.45M x 7.25m.

The plan is, this entire area will be patio'd properly using mortar over a compacted sand base.
At the very top near the fence opposite this back door, will be a Hot tub with large gazebo over the top. On the right before it will be some sun loungers and I need to order some tree bark chippings for a small area not shown immediately on the right as you step out into the garden.
Will post more updates as they happen from next Thursday!.


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## lewis (Aug 11, 2017)

update:

My Ballast and sharp sand arrived yesterday morning and Ive cracked on since;
Got the Ballast down and compacted it to act as a nice bedding for mortar/paving slabs






1 tonne of Ballast (bedding) and 1 tonne of sharp sand (cement)






Dry run laying the slabs to work out layout etc






Next up is wait for a nice few days and start cementing them down. Whoever done my garden fence did not make it square so the slabs do not meet up nicely with the fence at the end. So Im going to have an angled gap that I need to do something with. I might just put gravel down there and hope the Hottub (when its in) hides whats back there haha.


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## Unleash The Fury (Aug 11, 2017)

Good luck!


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2017)

Maybe it's just me but those pavers ( slabs?) look huge. That's a good deal of work by hand. Can't wait to see it. 

I bought a new area-rug for our living-room and went crazy trying to get it perfectly centered.. Came to discover that our house is out of whack with no perfectly squared walls lol. Bugged me at first but I got over it lol.


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## lewis (Aug 12, 2017)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Maybe it's just me but *those pavers ( slabs?) look huge. That's a good deal of work by hand*. Can't wait to see it.
> 
> I bought a new area-rug for our living-room and went crazy trying to get it perfectly centered.. Came to discover that our house is out of whack with no perfectly squared walls lol. Bugged me at first but I got over it lol.



just me doing the work too haha so I will take that as a compliment.

but yes they are massive.
the line of small square ones going the length of the area along the left are the normal 450 x 450mm slabs I believe and do not weight much, but the large ones making up the rest of the area are 600 x 600mm with a depth of about 50mm with the light grey slabs of that size being pure concrete weighing *110lbs!!!!... (50kg) they are damn heavy haha* I dont even have a wheel barrow or any kind of wheels to help move things around in the garden. Just good old, pick them up and carry them to where I need them lol

Yeah it would bug me too. Im abit OCD with angles not tallying up. Im going to do some gravel or something at the top where the slabs will finish to try and hide the garden fence not being square with the patio/house haha.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2017)

Man That's crazy. Just from working with 24" ( approx 609mm) pavers I know how back-breaking that work is. Watch those fingers lol! 

Really neat little area to make your own. I look forward to seeing things as they progress. Cheers!


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## Hollowway (Aug 13, 2017)

Want me to ruin your weekend? Consider that the guy who built this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/...1-august-2015-pondmans-universe-multi.300745/
and this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/ngd-fanned-8-quilt-flamingo.307959/
designs water features and landscapes for a living. I have never seen one, but if he can put full time luthiers to shame with his hobby, I can't imagine how awesome his landscaping is.


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## lewis (Aug 13, 2017)

Hollowway said:


> Want me to ruin your weekend? Consider that the guy who built this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/...1-august-2015-pondmans-universe-multi.300745/
> and this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/ngd-fanned-8-quilt-flamingo.307959/
> designs water features and landscapes for a living. I have never seen one, but if he can put full time luthiers to shame with his hobby, I can't imagine how awesome his landscaping is.


We are both in the UK. I will have to get him round mine and to do it for me then haha


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## Hollowway (Aug 13, 2017)

We should tag him here. I think that's possible now, no? Let's see.... @pondman


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## lewis (Aug 14, 2017)

Going to start cementing today.


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## lewis (Aug 14, 2017)

got 15 slabs cemented down today then ran out of cement powder (50 kg) so yeah I badly underestimated how many bags I would need but understandable as Ive never done garden work before etc. Especially large jobs like this.

going to pop into the city tomorrow and grab 7 more bags. Ive nearly used half a tonne of sharp sand too just laying these. Will likely need another tonne getting delivered at some point soon too. Ive allowed slight slope to help with water drainage too.


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## lewis (Aug 18, 2017)

got this far before I ran out of sand/
Ordered more and its arriving Thursday!

Im JUST under half way haha. 30 odd slabs left to lay. I think probably close to 40 actually














Still need to do something around the edges. Longer and thinner pavers maybe. These ones have had 2 days of complete drying and are totally solid to walk on. Do not move whatsoever!. Pleased with the job so far!. Going to look amazing. Especially when they are all down and the pointing between the slabs gets done.


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## lewis (Aug 28, 2017)

Got another 5 down Friday and going to be doing some more shortly.
This is what its at. Going out slightly in places due to some having a bevel (I was using what I have to save money) so I will need to adjust others as I go slightly to align them back up again. Pointing cement between them will make it way less obvious anyway. Starting to really come together though -


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## lewis (Aug 28, 2017)

Got another 6 laid today then had to stop. Its 6pm here and still 27degrees. Been a hot one (for the normal UK temps). Will carry on tomorrow.














And the Table and chairs I got for free!. Someone wanted rid of them. Need some new screws and a sand down and re-treatment but brilliant for a freebie.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 28, 2017)

Starting to really take shape now! Fantastic that you were able to give the patio set a new lease on life... can't beat that price lol. I also like that there appears to be plenty of room to walk around/ behind the chairs... certainly not cramped. So 80 degrees? We'd kill to have summertime temps that low here in the south/ southwestern United States lol. Working outdoors in the hotter months can be miserable and even dangerous here. Project looks great so far!


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## lewis (Aug 28, 2017)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Starting to really take shape now! Fantastic that you were able to give the patio set a new lease on life... can't beat that price lol. I also like that there appears to be plenty of room to walk around/ behind the chairs... certainly not cramped. So 80 degrees? We'd kill to have summertime temps that low here in the south/ southwestern United States lol. Working outdoors in the hotter months can be miserable and even dangerous here. Project looks great so far!


thanks bud!!

The table set will be down the bottom once the Patio is finished. And Im trying to find same length but half the width pavers (300mmx600mm) to do along the edges between the fence panels and the patio at the top and on the right. So there will be even more space around the table and chairs in that case.

Yeah we just are not used to weather that hot regularly in this country. I dont know how you guys do it honestly!. It must be really tough. I went on holiday to Tenerife few years back and we had one day that was about 102F whilst I was out there. It was absolutely unreal and a complete eye opener. Ive never experienced such temps before. This British weather makes you soft haha.

I just cannot wait to get this bloody patio done so I can move on to the grass section next haha. (Artificial lawn will be happening)


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## man jerk (Aug 29, 2017)

I've got something to contribute here. 
When we bought our home it had a non functional pond that was built out of tons of really cool stone. As I was tearing it down I found out that some of the slabs of stone were huge. I just piled it up and figured that I would build something out of it someday. 

This summer I decided to build a patio / firepit. I started this in May I think, then the first weekend of June I broke my elbow so I was pretty much out of commission for 8 weeks. 

I dug a 14' diameter circle out and dug it down to about 8-10". The soil is really rocky here so digging it out by hand was a lot of work. I had 2 tons of gravel delivered last weekend and have been filling up the hole I dug out with it to a depth of 5". 

The stones I have to work with are of various heights. Between 5" and 2". So my plan is to level and tamp the gravel, cover with landscaping fabric then lay the 5" stones. Then fill in another inch of gravel, tamp and level and lay the 4" stones. Etc etc until I get to the 2" stones

It's been a lot of work but I'm getting close to start laying the stones. I'm already out of gravel so I need to get probably another ton.


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## lewis (Aug 30, 2017)

man jerk said:


> I've got something to contribute here.
> When we bought our home it had a non functional pond that was built out of tons of really cool stone. As I was tearing it down I found out that some of the slabs of stone were huge. I just piled it up and figured that I would build something out of it someday.
> 
> This summer I decided to build a patio / firepit. I started this in May I think, then the first weekend of June I broke my elbow so I was pretty much out of commission for 8 weeks.
> ...


You can tell thats going to look awesome  ive always loved fire pits and such. Nice work.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Aug 30, 2017)

that is looking great...


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## man jerk (Aug 30, 2017)

Thanks! I intended on having this done months ago so I'm really anxious to just get it done. The wife and I are painting our kitchen cabinets this weekend so my project will be on hold until that is done. Hopefully I will have it done just in time for some nice fall evenings around the fire!


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## man jerk (Sep 5, 2017)

Progress! I'm getting there but I'm out of gravel again. I've consistently under-estimated the amount of materials I need on this project. So I'm hoping I have enough stone. So I'm on hold again until I get more gravel. The gravel is cheap, but delivery is not. I had gotten another ton on Sunday and rented a UHaul pickup to do it with, but with all of the effort and time and such I only saved $20 compared to having it delivered. In retrospect I would have gladly paid and extra $20 to have it delivered. Such is life.


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## lewis (Sep 5, 2017)

man jerk said:


> Progress! I'm getting there but I'm out of gravel again. I've consistently under-estimated the amount of materials I need on this project. So I'm hoping I have enough stone. So I'm on hold again until I get more gravel. The gravel is cheap, but delivery is not. I had gotten another ton on Sunday and rented a UHaul pickup to do it with, but with all of the effort and time and such I only saved $20 compared to having it delivered. In retrospect I would have gladly paid and extra $20 to have it delivered. Such is life.
> View attachment 56056
> 
> View attachment 56057
> ...


I did the same thing with my sand/Sharp sand/ballast.

Constantly underestimated it haha. Thought 1 tonne would be enough first. Then ordered 2 tonnes after that.


This is going to look great.


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## lewis (Sep 8, 2017)

lack of progress completely down to the rain  its been terrible here now for quite some time.
so close but yet so far.


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## lewis (Apr 19, 2018)

FINALLY!

The UK has nice weather again after literally nearly 6 months straight of rain/snow/rain. Been a nightmare and we are now only seeing "Spring".

Either way, todays the hottest day of the year and to make sure I capitalised I ordered some materials to get my garden further along.
Patio border time!

todays progress - 








in my order was a tonne bag of Gravel for around the edges (building up the height and helping to nip the border tighter all the way around)

and some patio grout you just sweep in the joins. 
So next week if our weather continues, I will get the gravel down and the grout done and this area is done finally.
(aside from pots/plants/accessories)

as mentioned earlier, all these slabs were in my garden already when I moved in. But jumbled around the place. There were a few different sizes and bevelled/non bevelled ones so considering I spent nothing on the pavers, them going slightly out in places is not that big of a deal once the grout goes down and with the border to help.

Not bad for free slabs and more than good enough of a job for me and my family.
Screw paying a landscape company to come in and do it. I dont have that sort of money.
Anyway Im proud of how this is coming together. Especially for my first ever garden undertaking.


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## man jerk (Apr 23, 2018)

Hilarious, my project from last summer is basically going to be done tonight. I had to buy one more bag of small stones. I'll try to take some pics tonight.


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## lewis (Apr 28, 2018)

man jerk said:


> Hilarious, my project from last summer is basically going to be done tonight. I had to buy one more bag of small stones. I'll try to take some pics tonight.


haha we are like the slowest gardeners ever hahaha

mind you, my excuse has been the weather tbf. The UK has been an utter joke


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## man jerk (Apr 30, 2018)

My excuse is just laziness..... But it's finished so I beat you!


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## lewis (May 5, 2018)

man jerk said:


> My excuse is just laziness..... But it's finished so I beat you!
> View attachment 60765


oooh nice!!

Fire pit marshmellow toasting for the win?
I presume you are planning some cool seating for around that?


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## p0ke (May 7, 2018)

My yard's not that fancy looking, but it's pretty big (about 1000^m3, around 11 square foot), so there's plenty that could be done there... I've been focusing on getting rid of all the leaves from last year, oh and I did get rid of one tree as well. It was a juniper, which should be great for smoking foods, so I kept the biggest branches and the main tree to make some sort of pellets/slices of  Took one whole trailerload of leaves and branches to the garbage dump, that's how much shit I had there 

Not exactly the best possible pic, it's taken through a dirty window, but you get the point. You also can't see the patio properly, as I didn't want my mom's ugly trailer in the picture. But anyways, if you'd pan left, you would see a bunch of more patio furniture and my BBQ there, and the patio ends against the garage wall. The pic's also taken before I got rid of the leaves and branches, so it already looks a bit better now.







The next projects are to wash and oil the patio and the furniture, dig up a little bit of ground and make a path of concrete blocks leading to the patio, so you don't have to step on the grass at all when going to the patio (it gets pretty damned muddy), and then make a little extension to the patio for our inflatable jacuzzi. The previous owner used to keep that on the patio, but I don't want to as it takes up nearly half of it, which I need for all the furniture (we have 8 chairs, 3 benches and 2 tables that we've collected throughout the years  )

Oh and another project is to make a new floor for the play area that's in the tree at the back of the yard. It's pretty well built otherwise, but the flooring is so rotten, the kids have stepped right through it at a few points. So my grandpa had like hundreds of these aluminum covered garage doors that I figured I'd use for that. Should make for a pretty durable floor, once I get to it  Then there's also the trampoline that I'd need to assemble, the frame is there but the springs and rug of whatever that you jump on are in the garage, also waiting to be oiled and assembled... And yes, my yard is basically every kids dream 

I'll post some better pics of the aforementioned things once I get to it... Plus everything will be looking nicer in a while, once the leaves and all that grow back. It's been looking basically like the cover of Blackwater Park for the last 6 months


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## man jerk (May 7, 2018)

lewis said:


> oooh nice!!
> 
> Fire pit marshmellow toasting for the win?
> I presume you are planning some cool seating for around that?



I think I'm going to buy some plans and make some Adirondack chairs. That's probably about it. 

Unfortunately it's been really really dry on the Front Range in Colorado, so no fires in the pit till we get some moisture. Trying to be a thoughtful neighbor.


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## lewis (May 7, 2018)

man jerk said:


> I think I'm going to buy some plans and make some Adirondack chairs. That's probably about it.
> 
> Unfortunately it's been really really dry on the Front Range in Colorado, so no fires in the pit till we get some moisture. Trying to be a thoughtful neighbor.


oh nice. Home made furniture is sweet.

And yeah, forgive my complete ignorance on that. Causing field fires etc is simply never a thing you have to worry about in the UK with the average garden, so I completely overlooked that.

Brownie points for being a thoughtful neighbor for sure haha.


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## man jerk (May 7, 2018)

lewis said:


> oh nice. Home made furniture is sweet.
> 
> And yeah, forgive my complete ignorance on that. Causing field fires etc is simply never a thing you have to worry about in the UK with the average garden, so I completely overlooked that.
> 
> Brownie points for being a thoughtful neighbor for sure haha.



Yea unfortunately the year I finish my fire pit is a high fire danger year. Such is life.


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## p0ke (May 8, 2018)

Hmm, didn't think of that either, no fire danger here either, usually. I've just got a movable fireplace-thing in the garden, basically looks like a bbq but with a higher fence kind of thing around it. Great for summer nights in the garden and you don't have to worry about burning logs falling out


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## p0ke (May 8, 2018)

On a side note, I beat the crap out of what was left of the juniper (you can see it in the middle of the pic above) using an iron bar, and now there's just a few twigs left... Will have to continue a bit though, as I want to completely flatten that part. It's goddamned stiff stuff, it just wouldn't break even though I had pierced it completely with the bar, I just had to keep beating and ripping of small parts of it  I also tried to saw it, but the saw just kept getting stuck because of all the resin coming out


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## man jerk (May 8, 2018)

p0ke said:


> On a side note, I beat the crap out of what was left of the juniper (you can see it in the middle of the pic above) using an iron bar, and now there's just a few twigs left... Will have to continue a bit though, as I want to completely flatten that part. It's goddamned stiff stuff, it just wouldn't break even though I had pierced it completely with the bar, I just had to keep beating and ripping of small parts of it  I also tried to saw it, but the saw just kept getting stuck because of all the resin coming out



I've gotten rid of like 6 juniper bushes in my yard. I despise them. They are horrid things. A Sawzall (demolition saw) took care of them quick, then I used a High LIft Jack (farm jack) to rip them out of the ground. Cutting them and and pulling the stumps was the easy part. I had to rent a trailer and make like 3 trips to the dump to get rid of them all.


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## p0ke (May 9, 2018)

man jerk said:


> I've gotten rid of like 6 juniper bushes in my yard. I despise them. They are horrid things. A Sawzall (demolition saw) took care of them quick, then I used a High LIft Jack (farm jack) to rip them out of the ground. Cutting them and and pulling the stumps was the easy part. I had to rent a trailer and make like 3 trips to the dump to get rid of them all.



Whew, I'm relieved I only had one  Well, there are two more, but they're out of the way, so I don't mind. I don't have proper power tools for this, so I just used a woodsplitting axe to basically peel the tree (if I hit it straight, the axe just bounced back even though it's really really sharp) until it was thin enough to push over using the iron bar. In the end it looked pretty much as if a beaver had been eating the tree 
I gave it a few more whacks yesterday and now there isn't much of the tree above the ground left, but I don't know what to do with the roots / the rest of the stump since I don't have proper tools to pull it out. I guess all I can do is just keep giving it the axe until there's so little of it left that I can cover it in the ground...


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## lewis (May 10, 2018)

I would defo be saving that wood too myself. Smoky food is awesome. That huge garden does look awesome though I have to say!.

This is where Im at with mine and I just had another tonne of Gravel turn up today too to complete that path way - 









Got to screw everything together so its all held together nice and square/straight, and then I can fill it with gravel!

I have also ordered some Poly Rattan Hottub furniture for my patio -


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## p0ke (May 11, 2018)

That furniture looks neat!

I started oiling the patio yesterday... Lidl (German grocery store chain) had a batch of really cheap but nice oil for sale, so I bought a 3L can of it. Figured that would be enough for the patio. I had previously bought a different oil, but after talking with a friend who's more experienced with these things I realized that was no good, and then I also had some leftovers that my mom gave me... My wife decided that the leftovers are too old and since the other one was no good, she oiled all of our furniture with the Lidl-oil... And you can guess what happened yesterday when I was oiling the patio... So yeah, after that oil ran out, I continued with the leftovers. That was slightly more red, but after drying I don't see the difference. Then that ran out as well  Then I grabbed the shitty oil and tried it, and it looked like putting muddy water on the patio compared to the other oils. So I quit there, half way through the patio, and this morning I drove to the local Lidl to see if they still had oil in stock. They didn't  Then I went home to have a look at the patio, and realized that the shitty oil didn't look that different after drying, after all, so now I'm gonna oil the rest with that. Will probably have to do it twice with that because it's a lot thinner, but still, it'll be better than nothing. And next summer I'll buy 2x3L straight away 
My friend whom I consulted about the oils specifically said that oils that come in plastic packages are no good, and now I can definitely say that's true (the other two were in tin cans).


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## lewis (May 11, 2018)

p0ke said:


> That furniture looks neat!
> 
> I started oiling the patio yesterday... Lidl (German grocery store chain) had a batch of really cheap but nice oil for sale, so I bought a 3L can of it. Figured that would be enough for the patio. I had previously bought a different oil, but after talking with a friend who's more experienced with these things I realized that was no good, and then I also had some leftovers that my mom gave me... My wife decided that the leftovers are too old and since the other one was no good, she oiled all of our furniture with the Lidl-oil... And you can guess what happened yesterday when I was oiling the patio... So yeah, after that oil ran out, I continued with the leftovers. That was slightly more red, but after drying I don't see the difference. Then that ran out as well  Then I grabbed the shitty oil and tried it, and it looked like putting muddy water on the patio compared to the other oils. So I quit there, half way through the patio, and this morning I drove to the local Lidl to see if they still had oil in stock. They didn't  Then I went home to have a look at the patio, and realized that the shitty oil didn't look that different after drying, after all, so now I'm gonna oil the rest with that. Will probably have to do it twice with that because it's a lot thinner, but still, it'll be better than nothing. And next summer I'll buy 2x3L straight away
> My friend whom I consulted about the oils specifically said that oils that come in plastic packages are no good, and now I can definitely say that's true (the other two were in tin cans).



haha man I love Lidl for food.
Never really thought to try their Garden/DIY stuff.

But extra points for showing patience and trying haha.

Thanks man btw. It was quite pricey and the Hottub we are getting for now is one of those cool square inflatable ones. Its not in until end of June but I thought I would get the surround for it first because 1) it can get built and allow me to work layout out on my patio for when we do get the Hottub in and 2) because we kept talking about getting one and it never happened until now so I thought if we had the surround for one, it would MAKE us have to buy one as it would look stupid having Hottub furniture with no Hottub haha.

Also I done some long term planning because this surround is specifically made for the inflatable hottub Im getting BUT its internal measurements also fit a proper 4 seater plastic hottub I found so when I upgrade the tub, the furniture will still work (plus its poly so wont rot away like wood)


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## lewis (May 11, 2018)

got my patio area and gravel border/path finished finally. Been about a year in total but half that time was weather so bad nothing could get done.

Very pleased -

Before





after


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## lewis (May 13, 2018)

Rattan Hot tub furniture came in and took 3 days to build haha. Was crazy but Im glad its done.

Hottub is coming in end of June and before then I need to wire in an outdoor socket to power it etc.

Im eyeing up some matching Rattan garden seating too. (like a corner shaped sofa type thing) and of course I want one of those fire pit/bowl things.
And of course, loads of Ikea stuff haha


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## p0ke (May 14, 2018)

Looks great  That'll probably make the inflatable hot tub seem more like a proper one. 
I'm just gonna have mine as is. The previous owner of our house left it since they moved to an apartment and just didn't need it anymore, and since the water heater on it is a bit broken, they wouldn't have gotten much for it if they sold it. But it's definitely still usable, I just don't plan on investing any money into it. I think the thermostat's just broken, as the heating turns itself off automatically and you have to turn it on manually every once in a while. So it's either that, or heat the water somewhere else. And I have a spare wood heater in the garage, so I think I'll put that next to the tub, boil some water in that and then mix that with cold water from the tap. Saves electricity too 
The only thing I'm gonna do with it, is to lay a few tiles on the grass so it isn't directly on the ground. Got some Ikea wood tiles from my sister that'll do the job nicely, and my wife's going to Ikea the day after tomorrow to buy another packet of those, since one isn't quite enough. Then I'll just put some trash bags or other insulating things under those and the tub on top of that.

And blah, I still didn't take any pictures... Gotta try to take some now when the weather's nice, it'll probably rain the rest of the summer anyway


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## lewis (May 14, 2018)

p0ke said:


> Looks great  That'll probably make the inflatable hot tub seem more like a proper one.
> I'm just gonna have mine as is. The previous owner of our house left it since they moved to an apartment and just didn't need it anymore, and since the water heater on it is a bit broken, they wouldn't have gotten much for it if they sold it. But it's definitely still usable, I just don't plan on investing any money into it. I think the thermostat's just broken, as the heating turns itself off automatically and you have to turn it on manually every once in a while. So it's either that, or heat the water somewhere else. And I have a spare wood heater in the garage, so I think I'll put that next to the tub, boil some water in that and then mix that with cold water from the tap. Saves electricity too
> The only thing I'm gonna do with it, is to lay a few tiles on the grass so it isn't directly on the ground. Got some Ikea wood tiles from my sister that'll do the job nicely, and my wife's going to Ikea the day after tomorrow to buy another packet of those, since one isn't quite enough. Then I'll just put some trash bags or other insulating things under those and the tub on top of that.
> 
> And blah, I still didn't take any pictures... Gotta try to take some now when the weather's nice, it'll probably rain the rest of the summer anyway


thats a great idea regards to heating the water 
ive seen tubs that are like wood fire heated and there is a chimney built into the tub.
So its kinda like a hybrid version of that haha.
Nice.

yeah its better to have proper flooring underneath.
Ikea is honestly my favourite thing haha.


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## p0ke (May 15, 2018)

lewis said:


> Ikea is honestly my favourite thing haha.



Yep, Ikea rules  They sell basically the same products as other furniture companies for a lot less and they're usually surprisingly high quality too. Unless you assemble them wrong. People seem to complain a lot about assembling Ikea furniture, but to me it's basically like building Lego's, definitely not difficult at all as long as you follow the manual. Otherwise you're screwed, of course  

And yeah, here in Finland "palju"'s are fairly popular. A palju is a wooden hot tub that usually has a wood heater integrated and therefore a chimney at the side of it. They're also usually shaped more like a big bucket rather than low and wide like typical hot tubs - they're intended to be used in winter also, so the idea is that you can sit there with only your head above the water, so you don't get cold even when it's -20C or something.


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## p0ke (May 16, 2018)

My wife took a pretty nice pic of the hammock area. Looking pretty idyllic, I'd say


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## lewis (May 18, 2018)

p0ke said:


> My wife took a pretty nice pic of the hammock area. Looking pretty idyllic, I'd say


picture isnt working sadly


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## p0ke (May 18, 2018)

lewis said:


> picture isnt working sadly



Check it now, I had somehow managed not to enabled link sharing on the file in google drive


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## lewis (May 18, 2018)

p0ke said:


> Check it now, I had somehow managed not to enabled link sharing on the file in google drive


ah that looks great!.
Like you say, really scenic!!


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## p0ke (May 22, 2018)

Not really a garden/landscape thing, but anyway: I'm looking for a thing that holds a door or window open, kinda like a strut but without the hydraulics and that can be locked into a certain position. I can find those in Finnish hardware stores by the name "door brake (ovijarru)", but I wanna order cheap ones from eBay, so I need to know what they're called in English  
I've found plenty of struts intended for kitchen cabinets and such for pretty much nothing, but they don't really suit my needs, as I need something that would be able to hold my main door open without it banging against the wall. So if anyone can help me with that translation, I'd be really grateful!


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## lewis (May 23, 2018)

p0ke said:


> Not really a garden/landscape thing, but anyway: I'm looking for a thing that holds a door or window open, kinda like a strut but without the hydraulics and that can be locked into a certain position. I can find those in Finnish hardware stores by the name "door brake (ovijarru)", but I wanna order cheap ones from eBay, so I need to know what they're called in English
> I've found plenty of struts intended for kitchen cabinets and such for pretty much nothing, but they don't really suit my needs, as I need something that would be able to hold my main door open without it banging against the wall. So if anyone can help me with that translation, I'd be really grateful!


do you mean something like what I have installed on my rear doors/wall? - 




If so, these are called
"Cabin Hooks"
and mine came from ebay.


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## p0ke (May 23, 2018)

lewis said:


> do you mean something like what I have installed on my rear doors/wall?



Not quite what I had in mind, but that'd do the trick too. I ordered a cabinet door strut from eBay yesterday, just one to see if it's any good. They looked basically like what I was looking for, except I don't want it to spring open, I also don't know if those stay open / are lockable...
I have one on my kitchen window, it basically looks like the hydraulic things that hold the boot of a car open, except it has a little screw that can be tightened to lock it in position.

Finally got around to taking some pics 











So as you can see, it's basically one big gardening project  And the stump of the tree I took down is still there, looking ugly in the middle of the back yard. I guess you can also tell that I don't have a lawnmower yet. Looks like yesterday evening wasn't the best time to take photos, looks pretty grey and dark even though the sun had been shining basically all day...


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## lewis (May 23, 2018)

hope it helped in someway.

thats a great area there. Plenty big enough for the seating.
Im really limited with my garden given its kind of in a small housing estate and we have always wanted a hottub so that took priority over seating haha.

Im going to try and find a smallish outside rattan sofa to cover seating.

That tree behind the hottub in picture 1 looks really nice. Scenic.


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## p0ke (May 23, 2018)

lewis said:


> hope it helped in someway.
> 
> thats a great area there. Plenty big enough for the seating.
> Im really limited with my garden given its kind of in a small housing estate and we have always wanted a hottub so that took priority over seating haha.
> ...



Yep, apple trees look really nice when they're blooming  Unfortunately they don't bloom that long, as you can see on the separate picture of the patio some of the flowers have already fallen. Soon it'll just be all green. 

And yeah, the patio is basically big enough for all that stuff, but once we've had our housewarming party (in about three weeks) I'll put the smaller table and the least comfortable chairs in the garage to get some more space. I've really come to like minimalism lately, it's really nice inside the house as well now that we don't have a lot of clutter everywhere. We've probably got like 5x more stuff than we actually need, but most of it is in storage in the basement and the actually living areas have just what we need out


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## lewis (May 28, 2018)

today is a bank holiday and has been beautiful weather in the UK.
Therefore, cracked on outside.

This is going to be a kids play area with soft mat flooring. I just need more sand


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## p0ke (Jun 11, 2018)

Hmm, looks like my post disappeared... Anyway, I was just saying that my next project is to get some planting frames/boxes and plant herbs that keep mosquitoes away in them. Apparently mint, basil, rosemary etc. should do it, and since those are all stuff that I'd use in food (and mojitos ) that'll be extra convenient.
Planting boxes are surprisingly expensive though, but luckily my wife found some used ones for 5€/each. Apart from those, I'm gonna build a bigger one myself - I was thinking about something like this:


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## MikeH (Jun 18, 2018)

Not a homeowner as of now. Just renting, so no major projects. We have made a solid effort to get the lawn looking healthy, and reworked the front yard flower and tree beds. Despite the back yard not taking to the weed treatment I’ve done twice, the front yard looks exponentially better than it did when we first moved in. It looked like a patch of weeds and dirt, and now, aside from one problem area that’s about 3’x3’, the lawn is actually very green and full. Probably won’t have any major projects to do until we own our own house.


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## p0ke (Jun 19, 2018)

MikeH said:


> the front yard looks exponentially better than it did when we first moved in.



Yep, it takes surprisingly little to make a lawn look nice. Over here, the summer has been super dry so far, so I've only had to mow the lawn once. Which is good, because I don't have an actual mower yet  I have a trimmer that's intended for cutting longer weeds and stuff like that, and I've used that mow the whole lawn (in several small pieces) while waiting for my actual mower. I should be getting one in a few weeks though.

Oh and the strut I talked about a few posts back arrived yesterday. It seems otherwise like what I wanted, except it doesn't have a locking mechanism, so I don't know if I'll be able to use it for what I wanted. It's basically open all the time and the gas spring thing is really heavy, so if I put that on the door the kids won't be able to close it  It's also a bit short, since it's intended for vertically opening kitchen cabinets, so we'll see...


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## lewis (Sep 1, 2018)

Seriously late update.
The UK had a 3 month long heatwave which for us, was too hot to work in. Therefore funds went on other things. (Namely guitars and an Ax8 haha).

But did manage to finish my daughters play area. Filled with playground Bark in the end as it was £4.50 for one 90l bag. I needed about 8 so it came to like £42 or something all in. Does the job and is soft under foot. Plus it also helps stop weeds apparently.

I decided rather than level the ground up and rent in a compactor to make a base for artificial turf, im going to build a wooden frame up, complete with slats for these thick, rubber playground tiles to sit on. Easier to get level and way cheaper. (Got 17 of these meter squared tiles for free......)
Then roll out and nail artificial turf down into them. Solid enough to provide a great base but soft enough to be comfy with falls etc.
Thats the plan anyhow.

I do have the money for a proper gazebo over the hottub which will be drilled into the patio and anchored to my fence. Will take pics and update when thats sorted.

So yeah, next step other than gazebo is to order in plenty of decking wood for the grass "frame", and level and fill it with the playground tiles.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 1, 2018)

got sick of having my fire pit on my patio, so I bought some paver bricks and made a little spot for it out in the yard. I'll add more later on.




Also built an enclosed garden out of 2'x6" boards and chickenwire. I planted squash/bell peppers/banana peppers and jalapenos. The squash are a nightmare to deal with since they keep trying to choke everything else out. Don't mind the composter bin in front.




Planted a bunch of tomato plants as well, they're doing really well and it's nice to get fresh tomatoes here and there.


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## lewis (Sep 1, 2018)

KnightBrolaire said:


> got sick of having my fire pit on my patio, so I bought some paver bricks and made a little spot for it out in the yard. I'll add more later on.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah this is looking great man!.


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## KnightBrolaire (Sep 1, 2018)

lewis said:


> Ah this is looking great man!.


thanks.


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## p0ke (Sep 3, 2018)

My garden hasn't progressed in any way since I last wrote something  We've got 9 apple trees, so right now all my energy basically goes into collecting apples and making juice/jam etc. out of those. It's surprisingly much work... I'm thinking about taking the rest of our apples to some professional juice place, that way you'd get much more juice out of the same apples and don't have to do the work yourself. I still have to pick the apples though.
Oh and I finally bought a lawn mower. I've never had a brand new one before, so it's really awesome not to have to worry about whether it'll start or not etc.


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## lewis (Sep 7, 2018)

bought a 2x2 meter Gazebo to better protect my Hottub from rain etc. (there is curtains on it now too)


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## lewis (Aug 8, 2019)

Jesus i need to update this haha.
Done so much since my last update last September.

Stay tuned for pics of updates


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## lewis (Aug 8, 2019)

So here it goes






























Got to finish the center frame off. Add more gravel around the edges. Finish painting the fence panels.
Apply and compact the sub base to raise the level inside the center. The thick rubber playground tiles (i got for free) will be working as a firm but soft base for the artificial lawn. Its a 3 x 3 meter square with the little cut out for the drain.

And when i started


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## p0ke (Aug 9, 2019)

Cool  I guess I need to take some new pics too, I haven't done much but even the small additions do a lot. We've got a shitload of berries and stuff, but it had all grown into a jungle, which we removed. Also got rid of a huge dead tree in the front yard. 

Right now I'm seriously considering getting rid of the gravel in my driveway and paving it with tiles, because the goddamned gravel always comes into the house with the kids' shoes.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 9, 2019)

@ lewis- The fence looks fantastic painted in that particular grey/ black. Really cool watching this come together. 

and @ p0ke- I guess I skipped over the 3rd page of this thread but I really dig that back yard/ porch area. Very cool looking house too... siding/ trim/ roof colors all tie together quite nicely. 

So I figure that I won't jinx myself as long as I insert a disclaimer that this is not our home yet lol... but since we're still steadily moving towards closing, I'll go ahead and post some pics of what I'll have to work with. Right now I'm not planning to do much to the front yard/ landscape but I do have some ideas about the back yard area. A lot of the landscape plants would be thinned out and cleaned up, the beds mulched, and the fountain area cleaned up. I'd also want to bring in some more rock/ boulders although not sure how feasible that will be depending on size/ quantity. Regardless, the backyard has a good deal of potential imo and I'm already coming up with ideas. 

Front yard: 





Back yard: 













Btw my wife hates that big concrete frog by the fountain so I guess he'll be relocated right away lol.


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## lewis (Aug 9, 2019)

High Plains Drifter said:


> @ lewis- The fence looks fantastic painted in that particular grey/ black. Really cool watching this come together.
> 
> and @ p0ke- I guess I skipped over the 3rd page of this thread but I really dig that back yard/ porch area. Very cool looking house too... siding/ trim/ roof colors all tie together quite nicely.
> 
> ...



That house and front/back yard is beatiful!!
Congrats dude. Going to be a lovely home by the looks of things.

And yeah im loving this grey fence. Its darker that i expected (i wanted dark anyway) so was pleasantly surprised. Like a moody storm cloud grey. Works very well with the other bits and pieces that are that colour in the garden so bonus haha.


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## p0ke (Aug 9, 2019)

High Plains Drifter said:


> So I figure that I won't jinx myself as long as I insert a disclaimer that this is not our home yet lol... but since we're still steadily moving towards closing, I'll go ahead and post some pics of what I'll have to work with. Right now I'm not planning to do much to the front yard/ landscape but I do have some ideas about the back yard area. A lot of the landscape plants would be thinned out and cleaned up, the beds mulched, and the fountain area cleaned up. I'd also want to bring in some more rock/ boulders although not sure how feasible that will be depending on size/ quantity. Regardless, the backyard has a good deal of potential imo and I'm already coming up with ideas.
> <pics removed ... >
> Btw my wife hates that big concrete frog by the fountain so I guess he'll be relocated right away lol.



That looks really nice! I bet the house is really nice inside too. And it doesn't look like I'd do much other than mow the lawn there, it's already very nice.



High Plains Drifter said:


> @ p0ke- I guess I skipped over the 3rd page of this thread but I really dig that back yard/ porch area. Very cool looking house too... siding/ trim/ roof colors all tie together quite nicely.



Yeah, that patio is awesome, perfect for having a bbq with friends and stuff like that  We don't have the pool there anymore, because turns out the heating elements may have short circuited and because of that none of the other functions work either. And having a pool without water circulation / filtration is just not a good idea, the water gets dirty super quickly and the bottom of the pool starts growing some slippery algae-stuff. So for now, we just have a slightly bigger children's pool that only takes 600L of water. We are considering getting a jacuzzi or similar at some point to replace it though.

As for the color, on Google Street View our house is still green  Luckily the previous owner painted it white, it looks a hundred times better. And the garage used to be yellow, I really don't get why it wasn't the same color. It's also white now. I'm planning on painting the kids' playhouse white as well at some point, right now it's the same color our house used to be. It also has some kind of tarp (that's growing moss  ) on the roof, that needs to be replaced with the same red sheets that the house and garage are covered with. I'm also considering moving the playhouse.

As you can see in the pics, we also have a smaller patio in the front yard - it's been painted with some paint that doesn't let moisture out at all, so it's quite rotten in a few places and needs some repair... I'm also considering just removing it and extending the porch to cover the whole front of the house, but that'd be a pretty expensive thing to do.

So yeah, nothing going on but a shitload being planned all the time


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 9, 2019)

@ p0ke- Ah! I had to look at the pics again. I had thought that the exterior siding was a light grey and that the window trim, railing, etc was done in white. Must've been the lighting along with my poor eyesight lol. Regardless... neat-looking home with a good deal of charm. I really like that crimson roof! Would've never guessed that the front porch on the corner has any rot... looks quite nice tbh. My limited experience with pools makes me feel as if I would never really want one... the maintenance along with other potential problems makes them unappealing to me. I guess some people are able to justify having one... especially with large families/ kids but for my wife and I, I just couldn't see it... nor would I ever want the neighbors to see my bloated alabaster body in full sunlight haha. 

Thanks for the kind words. For us it's a nice home... nothing fancy and certainly not " lifestyles of the rich and famous" lol but out of all the homes that I've lived in throughout my life, this one would definitely be the nicest. Never had a place that I could actually do whatever I want so that prospect is very appealing to me. Assuming that we get it, I can't wait to finally be able to have a wall of guitars! All of mine are either in cases or on stands so the thought of hanging them along one or more walls is extremely exciting! My wife is most excited to have indoor laundry facilities lol. Where we live now, the laundry facilities are out back in a dilapidated old shed so... no more snakes or rats coming up out of the washing machine as she's loading clothes into it lol.


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## p0ke (Aug 9, 2019)

High Plains Drifter said:


> @ p0ke- Ah! I had to look at the pics again. I had thought that the exterior siding was a light grey and that the window trim, railing, etc was done in white. Must've been the lighting along with my poor eyesight lol.



Yeah, now that you mention it, it does look light grey in the pics! IRL it's more like cream colored, slightly yellow-ish white and when the sun shines, the green shows through a little.



High Plains Drifter said:


> Would've never guessed that the front porch on the corner has any rot... looks quite nice tbh.



It LOOKED pretty nice, yeah, but then my wife accidentally scraped a little paint off and it came off almost as if it was some tape or something... Then we started taking it all off and noticed a few parts being rotten because the paint hadn't let the moisture through - luckily on most parts the wood is just a bit wet and should dry up with some time, but a few parts (mostly the rail-things and the seats) need to be replaced. Luckily I have a bunch of spare timber in storage that I can use for it, and for the rails I'm just planning on turning them upside down and filling in the rotten parts. 
And then I'll paint it with more appropriate paint 



High Plains Drifter said:


> My limited experience with pools makes me feel as if I would never really want one... the maintenance along with other potential problems makes them unappealing to me. I guess some people are able to justify having one... especially with large families/ kids but for my wife and I, I just couldn't see it...



Yeah, I have the same thoughts. It is nice to bathe in every once in a while, but I can't really justify having one. My wife loves it though, so ... We'll see. And of course the kids love it, but they have their own pool (they like to dive and that kinda stuff, which a jacuzzi isn't exactly good for  ).

And yeah, the best part of owning a house is that you get to do almost whatever you want with it


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 10, 2019)

p0ke said:


> It LOOKED pretty nice, yeah, but then my wife accidentally scraped a little paint off and it came off almost as if it was some tape or something... Then we started taking it all off and noticed a few parts being rotten because the paint hadn't let the moisture through - luckily on most parts the wood is just a bit wet and should dry up with some time, but a few parts (mostly the rail-things and the seats) need to be replaced. Luckily I have a bunch of spare timber in storage that I can use for it, and for the rails I'm just planning on turning them upside down and filling in the rotten parts.
> And then I'll paint it with more appropriate paint



Speaking of rotted decks... The first house that we were looking at buying had a gorgeous 800 sq ft ( 74+ sq m) multi-level deck on the back. In retrospect it was much bigger than what we really would've ever needed or used but it was beautiful... IN PICTURES anyway lol! When we looked at the house and stepped onto that deck, reality quickly set in lol. The first level is about 10' ( approx 3 m) above the ground and was sketchy af! We could hear, feel, and see the rotted wood ( now dry) crumbling under our feet. There were some areas that we couldn't even walk on due to the deteriorated condition. Not sure if you can see it, but the paint has weathered severely allowing moisture to penetrate the decking and railings. Our inspector told us that we wouldn't be able to get [required] home insurance until it was addressed and it would've been into the thousands of dollars. Pic is below. Property was gorgeous, house was certainly awesome when it was newer but it just had too many serious issues due to neglect. I'm very thankful that we pulled out of this one.


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## p0ke (Aug 12, 2019)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Speaking of rotted decks... The first house that we were looking at buying had a gorgeous 800 sq ft ( 74+ sq m) multi-level deck on the back. In retrospect it was much bigger than what we really would've ever needed or used but it was beautiful... IN PICTURES anyway lol! When we looked at the house and stepped onto that deck, reality quickly set in lol. The first level is about 10' ( approx 3 m) above the ground and was sketchy af! We could hear, feel, and see the rotted wood ( now dry) crumbling under our feet. There were some areas that we couldn't even walk on due to the deteriorated condition. Not sure if you can see it, but the paint has weathered severely allowing moisture to penetrate the decking and railings. Our inspector told us that we wouldn't be able to get [required] home insurance until it was addressed and it would've been into the thousands of dollars. Pic is below. Property was gorgeous, house was certainly awesome when it was newer but it just had too many serious issues due to neglect. I'm very thankful that we pulled out of this one.



Yeah looks like the railings have been replaced and the actual floor would need to be redone. It would need to have a roof over it or bigger gaps between the planks so the rain water gets out. That would be a really nice bbq area once it's fixed though!


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## p0ke (Mar 29, 2020)

Thanks to this quarantine stuff we've had time to do some garden stuff. I really should've taken before and after pics yesterday as the difference is pretty massive - we have a huge pile of branches and stuff at the back of the garden, and I basically sorted all that out, and now I can leave it to decompose there, and all the actual wood is covered so it'll dry and I'll be able to use it as firewood after the summer. I also took down a low but super wide pine tree, even removed the stump after hacking its roots into bits with an iron bar and axe.


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## jaxadam (Mar 29, 2020)

This is kind of cool, we transplanted these amaryllis bulbs years ago and they come back every spring.


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## High Plains Drifter (Mar 29, 2020)

I can't see images ^^^. May be an issue on my end idk. 

With my wife's reduced hours and me taking time off thru April, we've been outside gardening quite a bit. The translation of that would be that I'm out there cutting tree limbs, mowing, raking, pruning, etc and my wife is randomly pulling on weeds then asking "what kind of bug is this?". It's not that bad... she def helps but damn she gets bored quick. Anyway... here's a few pics of the front yard. As some of you know, we purchased the home in Sept last year so this is our first spring season here. Kinda interesting seeing what all comes up, blooms, is actually dead, etc... as well as the other stuff that autumn didn't reveal.


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## jaxadam (Mar 29, 2020)

High Plains Drifter said:


> I can't see images ^^^. May be an issue on my end idk.
> 
> With my wife's reduced hours and me taking time off thru April, we've been outside gardening quite a bit. The translation of that would be that I'm out there cutting tree limbs, mowing, raking, pruning, etc and my wife is randomly pulling on weeds then asking "what kind of bug is this?". It's not that bad... she def helps but damn she gets bored quick. Anyway... here's a few pics of the front yard. As some of you know, we purchased the home in Sept last year so this is our first spring season here. Kinda interesting seeing what all comes up, blooms, is actually dead, etc... as well as the other stuff that autumn didn't reveal.



Looking good man. Looks like it’ll be a pretty good amount of maintenance, though. 

Sometimes if it’s just a weird IMG blurb if I quote the post the image shows up. Who knows.


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## High Plains Drifter (Mar 29, 2020)

Thanks and dude... SO much more maintenance than whatever in the hell I was thinking when we bought this place lol! Between the front, back and both sides... there's trees, bushes, flowers, weeds, and grass everywhere! Oh... and fire-ants, pill-bugs, and snails... holy shit the snails! I could literally be outside trying to keep up with everything every single day. Luckily I'll probably die soon and most of the stuff in the yard will be dead by summer so... I got that goin for me!


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## p0ke (Mar 30, 2020)

jaxadam said:


> Looking good man. Looks like it’ll be a pretty good amount of maintenance, though.
> 
> Sometimes if it’s just a weird IMG blurb if I quote the post the image shows up. Who knows.



That's imgur+sso, those images just don't work here. The solution is to right-click the "broken image" icon and choose "open image in new tab" or copy the url and paste that into a new tab. Looks pretty nice by the way 

I'm just glad I didn't do any more gardening shit, as last night we got a bunch of snow


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## p0ke (Jul 26, 2020)

Finally got around to harvesting some stuff from the garden  Raspberries are absolutely amazing, almost like picking candy from a bush!


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## DudeManBrother (Jul 26, 2020)

Raspberries are my favorite. I can’t even get a harvest off my bushes because I devour them every time I see a hint of red 




I put this fireplace together from loose slate I found around my property. I have a little rock bluff that sits about 15’ above the ground, which slopes down another 100’ or so to the valley below. It is a cool spot to chill out and enjoy the mountain side.


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## jaxadam (Jul 26, 2020)

That’s amazing


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## jaxadam (Mar 23, 2021)

It's that time of year again for the amaryllis to pop back up. See if you can see which ones are real and which ones are fake.


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## p0ke (Mar 24, 2021)

Still waiting for the last bits of snow to melt here...  So no hope for flowers yet.


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## p0ke (Apr 20, 2021)

The snow finally decided to GTFO and now it feels like it's finally actually spring... So now I'm in a hurry to cut the apple trees before they start blooming. Goddamned pain in the ass  Every time I decide to put the saw away I notice another branch that needs to be cut, and I have 10 apple trees to cut too.


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## jaxadam (Apr 20, 2021)

p0ke said:


> The snow finally decided to GTFO and now it feels like it's finally actually spring... So now I'm in a hurry to cut the apple trees before they start blooming. Goddamned pain in the ass  Every time I decide to put the saw away I notice another branch that needs to be cut, and I have 10 apple trees to cut too.



Time to start making some apple pies! My wife's parents have an orchard out in Oregon, and having the kids pick apples from the trees and convert them into a pie is a great learning experience for them.

Here are the amaryllis in full bloom. Funny story, we think an animal might have eaten one of the seeds/bulbs, because one has popped up in the woods right behind our house.






And it looks like my hack job on the crepe myrtle was successful! It's still alive!


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## p0ke (Apr 20, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> Time to start making some apple pies! My wife's parents have an orchard out in Oregon, and having the kids pick apples from the trees and convert them into a pie is a great learning experience for them.



Yup, we made a bunch of pies last year. Picking all the apples before they rot is a huge task though, so unfortunately most of them ended up in the dumpster (and all the half-decent ones went to a nearby forest, for deer to eat).
We also had about 30 liters of juice made - this year I wanna figure out how to squeeze it myself, then I could make wine and/or cider out of some of it.


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 26, 2021)

So my wife was tired of our ugly plastic terracotta planter-pots and since the Texas sage bushes in them had died during a long streak of sub-freezing temps this past winter, it was time to address both issues. I found three new sage bushes ( albeit they're a little on the small side right now) along with some much nicer looking white ceramic pots. I used a 1/2" diamond drill bit to add some drainage holes in the bottoms and mixed up a loamy planting medium of coconut fiber, compost, perlite, sphagnum, and river sand. When I was finished, my wife liked them so much that we decided to do two more with peach hibiscus. So now we have five in total along our walkway. Glad to get these all done cause they need as much time as possible to get established before the Texas summer sun starts pounding the shit out of em. 

Few pics...


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## p0ke (Apr 26, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> I found three new sage bushes ( albeit they're a little on the small side right now) along with some much nicer looking white ceramic pots.



Looks great! 

Over here the winter just won't give up  It was pretty warm for a week or so, my wife bought and planted some flowers, I bought new summer tires for the car and put those on... and now it's been snowing pretty much since Friday. It melts straight away because the ground isn't freezing, but still. It's almost May FFS...


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 26, 2021)

p0ke said:


> Looks great!
> 
> Over here the winter just won't give up  It was pretty warm for a week or so, my wife bought and planted some flowers, I bought new summer tires for the car and put those on... and now it's been snowing pretty much since Friday. It melts straight away because the ground isn't freezing, but still. It's almost May FFS...



Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I would gladly take an extended winter if I could get it. I love storms, clouds, snow, cold, etc. But I guess that's partly because our summers are so hot and dry... and lasts so long. No doubt that if I lived where you do, I'd be ready for summer as well. Here's hoping that you get some warmer weather soon... cheers!


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## p0ke (Apr 26, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I would gladly take an extended winter if I could get it. I love storms, clouds, snow, cold, etc. But I guess that's partly because our summers are so hot and dry... and lasts so long. No doubt that if I lived where you do, I'd be ready for summer as well. Here's hoping that you get some warmer weather soon... cheers!



I like winter, no doubt about that. Dark and cold kinda suits my personality. But when it's already getting warmer and then it starts to snow again, even I just can't take it  
But yeah, even statistically it should start getting warmer soon, so I'm sure I'll be back complaining about the heat in no time  Then again I have AC in the house now, so I don't mind heat anymore...


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 26, 2021)

p0ke said:


> I like winter, no doubt about that. Dark and cold kinda suits my personality. But when it's already getting warmer and then it starts to snow again, even I just can't take it
> But yeah, even statistically it should start getting warmer soon, so I'm sure I'll be back complaining about the heat in no time  Then again I have AC in the house now, so I don't mind heat anymore...



Same on the personality lol. I dig the sun sometimes but man.. something about a rainy/ stormy/ cold day when I'm able to be home... love it. Yeah, man... our weather here in Texas knocks us around pretty good when were switching gears from winter to spring and then again autumn into winter. Temp swings are huge here. But yeah when you're getting spring vibes and start to acclimate to it ( physically as well as psychologically lol) it can be kinda aggravating when it switches back again. 

And speaking of a/c.. we just had a new unit installed last year to the tune of $4k. Then last Sat... bam.. .no cold air. I was pissed like "WTF??? We just had this replaced less than a year ago!!". But the a/c tech was just here and our old fan control board on the heat/ exchange was the issue... caused the unit to ice over and stop working. So sucks that we have the expense of the new board to incur now but at least it wasn't anything having to do with the new unit that we put in last year. And he temp jumped the old board so that we at least have cold air until he can get back out here with the new board later this week. Oh the fuckin joys of home ownership lol.


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## p0ke (Apr 26, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Oh the fuckin joys of home ownership lol.



Yep... It's the best thing ever but can be such a pain in the ass sometimes  Wouldn't trade it for anything but sometimes you just wish you could call the landlord to have stuff fixed.

And yup, getting acclimated is exactly what I'm talking about. For me it's mostly physical, as in I wanna get rid of the thick and heavy winter clothes and get the grill and garden furniture out etc asap, but my wife gets downright depressed when the sun doesn't shine for prolonged periods. Then you almost see the light, but then it goes back to the same shit, it can be pretty devastating... The good part is that it gives me a little extra time to finish cutting the goddamned apple trees though


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 27, 2021)

p0ke said:


> Yep... It's the best thing ever but can be such a pain in the ass sometimes  Wouldn't trade it for anything but sometimes you just wish you could call the landlord to have stuff fixed.
> 
> And yup, getting acclimated is exactly what I'm talking about. For me it's mostly physical, as in I wanna get rid of the thick and heavy winter clothes and get the grill and garden furniture out etc asap, but my wife gets downright depressed when the sun doesn't shine for prolonged periods. Then you almost see the light, but then it goes back to the same shit, it can be pretty devastating... The good part is that it gives me a little extra time to finish cutting the goddamned apple trees though



Funny you mention about calling the landlord cause I've actually felt several times like "man, I miss letting a landlord handle these things". But to counter that, I also look at what we've paid into our mortgage over the past 20 months and I sure as hell am glad that money has gone into something that is ours as opposed to putting almost that same amount into someone else's pocket. But yeah, I sometimes wish that it wasn't entirely on me and my wife's shoulders. 

I can understand where your wife is on the depression. I've lived most my life with depression and there are def times that I appreciate nice warm weather. I'm not necessarily happier when it's cold/ dreary but there's just something comforting about it sometimes. Also where I live is so notoriously hot and dry throughout most months of the year that I guess there are many times that I simply appreciate anything that counteracts the heat and drought. I think that if I lived where you do, that I'd be more inclined to welcome the sun and warmth for more extended periods... especially if I was anticipating it and had already busted out the bbq pit, patio furniture, etc lol.


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## p0ke (Apr 27, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> I also look at what we've paid into our mortgage over the past 20 months and I sure as hell am glad that money has gone into something that is ours as opposed to putting almost that same amount into someone else's pocket.



^ Exactly. I'm constantly out of money, but when I look at the mortgage details and see almost 20k paid off in the 3 years I've owned this house, I don't regret making the splash for a second.



High Plains Drifter said:


> I can understand where your wife is on the depression. I've lived most my life with depression and there are def times that I appreciate nice warm weather. I'm not necessarily happier when it's cold/ dreary but there's just something comforting about it sometimes. Also where I live is so notoriously hot and dry throughout most months of the year that I guess there are many times that I simply appreciate anything that counteracts the heat and drought. I think that if I lived where you do, that I'd be more inclined to welcome the sun and warmth for more extended periods... especially if I was anticipating it and had already busted out the bbq pit, patio furniture, etc lol.



It's not so much the cold, but the lack of sunlight that does it. Over here, relatively close to the north pole, the sun is only up for a couple of hours a day during the winter (even further up north it doesn't come up at all for like a week in the middle of winter), and that's what does it for her. We've got one of those fake sunlight lamps for those times, and that definitely helps, but the problem is that we forget to use it 
It's the opposite in the summer though - it feels almost as if the sun doesn't go down at all (and up north, it actually doesn't for some time).

Like I said before, that's my kind of climate, but even I can't take the darkness forever, and especially like you said, when I've already taken out the summer gear and the weather goes shitty again, it just really sucks.


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 28, 2021)

p0ke said:


> It's not so much the cold, but the lack of sunlight that does it. Over here, relatively close to the north pole, the sun is only up for a couple of hours a day during the winter (even further up north it doesn't come up at all for like a week in the middle of winter), and that's what does it for her. We've got one of those fake sunlight lamps for those times, and that definitely helps, but the problem is that we forget to use it
> It's the opposite in the summer though - it feels almost as if the sun doesn't go down at all (and up north, it actually doesn't for some time).
> 
> Like I said before, that's my kind of climate, but even I can't take the darkness forever, and especially like you said, when I've already taken out the summer gear and the weather goes shitty again, it just really sucks.



That really puts things in perspective. I didn't consider that there was such a lack of natural light there throughout winter months. I'd also guess that artificial light can only do so much to help. Pretty sure I'd have a greater appreciation for those sunny days if there were significantly fewer of them. I mean... sometimes I hate the late afternoon sunlight coming thru the west windows just cause it highlights all the dust on the furniture lol.


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## p0ke (May 13, 2021)

Finally got some outside stuff done - we oiled the patio and all the outdoor furniture today 










Yeah, there's still a lot of them


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## High Plains Drifter (May 13, 2021)

^^^ Love the rich tone of the deck as well as the furniture.


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## p0ke (May 14, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> ^^^ Love the rich tone of the deck as well as the furniture.



Yep, they're almost like brand new for a while after oiling. The actual deck is a bit worn though, so I think I'll have to swap out the planks in a few years. I'm thinking some kind of composite might be a good idea as that'll be a bit more weather proof, but then again actual wood feels better under your feet. And it's not happening right now anyway, maybe 5 years from now or something like that at this rate...


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## High Plains Drifter (May 14, 2021)

The way that the top boards look... fairly straight and level, makes me feel like the joists are maybe sill in decent shape. But yeah, composite decking would be my choice when the time comes. I'm partial to composite material probably in part to what happened to me as a kid when I slid across a wet wood deck barefoot and wound up with a large sliver of wood entering my foot under my toes and exiting out the side of my foot... lol but ouch!


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## p0ke (May 14, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> The way that the top boards look... fairly straight and level, makes me feel like the joists are maybe sill in decent shape. But yeah, composite decking would be my choice when the time comes. I'm partial to composite material probably in part to what happened to me as a kid when I slid across a wet wood deck barefoot and wound up with a large sliver of wood entering my foot under my toes and exiting out the side of my foot... lol but ouch!



Yeah, it's not in bad condition yet, but it's starting to show little signs that it isn't gonna last forever. The worst part is just outside the picture, and even that just needs a couple of slightly bigger screws to fix for now. It's risen a little bit, probably because of the tree roots going under it. 

One thing I'm gonna have to do one of these days is tear apart the front patio all together. You may or may not remember me writing about it some time ago - the previous owner had painted it with some indoor paint (I think) that didn't let any moisture through and hadn't left any gaps between the planks for water to run through, so it's absolutely rotten now  
But I don't wanna take it apart before I buy some new planks to replace the old ones, otherwise it'll just sit there open and I'll even forget about it


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## pondman (May 14, 2021)

Hollowway said:


> Want me to ruin your weekend? Consider that the guy who built this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/...1-august-2015-pondmans-universe-multi.300745/
> and this: http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/ngd-fanned-8-quilt-flamingo.307959/
> designs water features and landscapes for a living. I have never seen one, but if he can put full time luthiers to shame with his hobby, I can't imagine how awesome his landscaping is.



Ha ha , I've started scaling down with my landscape and design company. Thinking of taking up something new maybe.


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## High Plains Drifter (May 14, 2021)

p0ke said:


> Yeah, it's not in bad condition yet, but it's starting to show little signs that it isn't gonna last forever. The worst part is just outside the picture, and even that just needs a couple of slightly bigger screws to fix for now. It's risen a little bit, probably because of the tree roots going under it.
> 
> One thing I'm gonna have to do one of these days is tear apart the front patio all together. You may or may not remember me writing about it some time ago - the previous owner had painted it with some indoor paint (I think) that didn't let any moisture through and hadn't left any gaps between the planks for water to run through, so it's absolutely rotten now
> But I don't wanna take it apart before I buy some new planks to replace the old ones, otherwise it'll just sit there open and I'll even forget about it



I vaguely remember you posting about that front porch. I'm pretty envious when I see big projects like decks, additions, etc where it seems like someone just snapped their fingers and voila... done. With me, even the simplest projects wind up taking forever or involve 20 steps or leave me having to disassemble half the house in the process lol.


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## High Plains Drifter (May 19, 2021)

Added two more white planters on the inside of the sidewalk to balance out the three that we already had on the outside. So now we have a total of five... three with Texas sage bushes and two with peach-colored hibiscus. The peach was the only color that my wife and I both liked for this location. I'm happy with the results but damn these things are heavy.


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## jaxadam (Jul 8, 2021)

Well this thing is doing fantastic. I honestly thought it wouldn't make it.







Looks like we're getting something on here!






And on here!






But not on here...






And I don't go near this thing...






I actually never remember what any of them are so it's always a nice surprise to be surprised.


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## soliloquy (Jul 8, 2021)

I'll be moving to a new house at the end of the month. I totally want to add a small/miniature hobbit village/door/house kind of thing in my front yard. No clue how i will do this, as i want the top of it to be grass. will have to hire some professional landscaper who knows what i want to execute. lets see how that goes


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## jaxadam (Jul 8, 2021)

soliloquy said:


> I'll be moving to a new house at the end of the month. I totally want to add a small/miniature hobbit village/door/house kind of thing in my front yard. No clue how i will do this, as i want the top of it to be grass. will have to hire some professional landscaper who knows what i want to execute. lets see how that goes



That would make an awesome mailbox!


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## soliloquy (Jul 9, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> That would make an awesome mailbox!


nah, the letter box will be on the porch, but the ACTUAL mailbox would be a few blocks down (we, canadians do things differently)

if its a hobbit village, it would be rather small. dont want it being inconvenient to get to during snow, or even just forcing the mail-people to break their backs.


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## p0ke (Jul 14, 2021)

It's a million degrees hot outside and I'm about to go out to trim some hedges with my neighbor... The previous owners had left them growing all over the place, so now we decided to handle the situation. But I haven't even walked out the door and I'm already sweaty af


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## p0ke (Jul 18, 2021)

Finally pretty much recovered from cutting the hedges. It took all day! And it was around 32°C (90°F) hot all day too. The positive part is that it'll be much less work from now on, as long as we keep taking care of it.
The reason it was a major PITA though, is that it's hawthorn... So it has these huge spikes that go right through your shoe if you step on them (I don't even want to count how many times I stepped on one), and my arms looked like I'd been cutting myself or something 
Also there were actual trees growing inside the hedge, mainly lindens but also a couple of maple trees... So cutting those down will probably free up more energy to the hawthorn and make it more heathly.

Also my neighbor was nice enough to take all the cuttings to the disposal place, he also rented a trailer for it (my car doesn't have a trailer hook, so I couldn't do it).


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## wheresthefbomb (Jul 22, 2021)

This is my first year taking my environs seriously. I live in a cabin in the woods, but there's still a lot for me to do. Last year I cleared out a ton of brush from the woods for the landlords, and the wild roses are loving it. Looking forward to harvesting rose hips in the fall.

I also have raspberries growing out from under my deck, and this year I've actually been stewarding them, weeding out everything that isn't raspberries and transplanting bushes down the side of my house where they haven't reached yet. The goal is to hopefully have raspberries all along the sunward side of my cabin by next summer.

I've also got a peony and some delphinums that the landlords gave me, they're doing just "okay" this year, but next year they'll be fully established and do really well I think.

I _also_ learned that chickweed is edible this summer, and my yard is absolutely rotten with the stuff. It's been going on my salads and in my eggs just about every day. 

I was looking forward to making fireweed syrup again this year, but apparently moose also find fireweed flowers delicious, and they chomped my entire "field" of fireweeds down to knee height. They're all trying to grow a second round of buds but the damage has been done, mom and baby are around often enough that I expect they'll get to them before I do.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2021)

Man.. treating pests doesn't come cheap at $1300... didn't know it could cost so much for a home that's only 1800 sq ft but it is what it is. My wife's only concern... "Don't let them hurt the spiders!" lol


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## KnightBrolaire (Aug 12, 2021)

Here's some pics from my flower/vegetable garden earlier this summer. I planted a mix of daisys, bee balm, day lilies, hostas, marigolds and some other stuff to attract hummingbirds and bees. Works quite well, especially with the russian sage I have growing all over the backside of the house. My raspberry bushes got annihilated by japanese beetles this year, but I still got a decent harvest from them.
Veggie garden is a mix of dill, cilantro, anchos, bell peppers, jalapenos, cajun belle, habanero, cherry tomatoes, squash, iceberg lettuce, and kale.


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## jaxadam (Aug 12, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Man.. treating pests doesn't come cheap at $1300... didn't know it could cost so much for a home that's only 1800 sq ft but it is what it is. My wife's only concern... "Don't let them hurt the spiders!" lol



That sounds very expensive…. Is that in and out with termite?


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> That sounds very expensive…. Is that in and out with termite?



Yup. But they were highly revered on angi, yelp, google, etc. and have a great rep established around our area. I went thru "interviews", inspections, and quotes from five other companies ( local and national) before making the decision to use these guys. They also had vast experience with subterranean and formosan specifically. I wanted Termador HE and that was what they used. Next year will only be $195 so that's a bonus. Plus any signs of activity over the next year and they'll be back out here to re-treat. We fortunately haven't seen any signs of activity in the home nor attic ( tubes, dirt, wings, etc) but there was activity on the property recently so we wanted to get a jump on it.


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## jaxadam (Aug 12, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> Yup. But they were highly revered on angi, yelp, google, etc. and have a great rep established around our area. I went thru "interviews", inspections, and quotes from five other companies ( local and national) before making the decision to use these guys. They also had vast experience with subterranean and formosan specifically. I wanted Termador HE and that was what they used. Next year will only be $195 so that's a bonus. Plus any signs of activity over the next year and they'll be back out here to re-treat. We fortunately haven't seen any signs of activity in the home nor attic ( tubes, dirt, wings, etc) but there was activity on the property recently so we wanted to get a jump on it.



Yeah, if that’s for an initial treatment with Termidor, that sounds right on the money. They will usually throw in a year of in/out. $195 renewal is great though, mine is $400 at the end of this month.


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## High Plains Drifter (Aug 12, 2021)

jaxadam said:


> Yeah, if that’s for an initial treatment with Termidor, that sounds right on the money. They will usually throw in a year of in/out. $195 renewal is great though, mine is $400 at the end of this month.



You've got a lot more house though so I'm sure that's on par. Every company had something that steered me away... like no guarantee, weak enviro safe chems, questionable contract wording, horrible reviews, etc. I would've taken a cheaper road given any other critters but not when it comes to subterraneans and formosans. We finally have some piece of mind and as you know, that often times comes at a cost.


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## jaxadam (Aug 12, 2021)

High Plains Drifter said:


> You've got a lot more house though so I'm sure that's on par. Every company had something that steered me away... like no guarantee, weak enviro safe chems, questionable contract wording, horrible reviews, etc. I would've taken a cheaper road given any other critters but not when it comes to subterraneans and formosans. We finally have some piece of mind and as you know, that often times comes at a cost.



Well you know what they say when it comes to homes with termites…. They either have them, or they’re gonna get them!


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## p0ke (Aug 12, 2021)

^ That's one of the benefits of living in a cold place  The only pests we're ever likely to have are mice and rats, and so far those bastards have stayed away *knocking on wood*... 

That said, I just took a bunch of our outside windows for repair. A few of the glasses had cracks on the edges and a few of the windowpanes we're in such fragile condition, I could barely get them to the workshop in one piece even though it's less than a mile away from our house. The guy estimated that the repair will cost roughly 500€, and then the windows will be good for around 15 years (with some minor painting every now and then, ofc).


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## wheresthefbomb (Aug 12, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> Here's some pics from my flower/vegetable garden earlier this summer. I planted a mix of daisys, bee balm, day lilies, hostas, marigolds and some other stuff to attract hummingbirds and bees. Works quite well, especially with the russian sage I have growing all over the backside of the house. My raspberry bushes got annihilated by japanese beetles this year, but I still got a decent harvest from them.
> Veggie garden is a mix of dill, cilantro, anchos, bell peppers, jalapenos, cajun belle, habanero, cherry tomatoes, squash, iceberg lettuce, and kale.



Your vegetables look great! We have to worry about moose eating the garden here hahaha, my landlord's gets taken out every year (except the potatoes)


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## KnightBrolaire (Aug 12, 2021)

wheresthefbomb said:


> Your vegetables look great! We have to worry about moose eating the garden here hahaha, my landlord's gets taken out every year (except the potatoes)


Thanks. I only really have to worry about some occasional whitetails and rabbits. The only moose around here are about 4 hours north of here.


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## High Plains Drifter (Apr 20, 2022)

New hibiscus bump. My wife and I have had pretty good luck growing/ propagating hibiscus plants over the past year or so and this year she wanted to get another one. When she saw images of this particular hibiscus, she fell in love but it took us a while to find anyone that had em. We finally found a place that had like 4-5 of em but none were blooming and they all had mites pretty bad. So we got the most promising one of the bunch, brought it home and immediately isolated it in the garage with a grow light while we treated it with Neem Oil. After a while it started to show signs of new growth so we gave it a little more time then transplanted it in a nice mix of coconut coir, worm castings, pearlite, lava rock,and some quality potting soil. 

And then after another week or two, the little thing started to bud. Fast forward to last week and it finally started blooming. Gotta say that these are the most intense-looking hibiscus flowers that I've seen in person. I'm not a big fan of really bright flowers... especially yellows But I do admit that for whatever reason I really really dig this one. No photo editing if you can believe it. This thing is vibrant!


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## jaxadam (Apr 20, 2022)

These things are back.













This is pretty funny... an animal ate one of the seeds and "redeposited" it in the woods.


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## p0ke (May 14, 2022)

Ripped out a couple of tree stumps today using an iron rod. They've been in the way when mowing the lawn since we moved here, so I figured I'll see how hard it'd be to pull them out. I wasn't expecting to get them out, but it's been several years since the trees were cut down, so the stumps were rotten - I just stuck the rod under them and pulled them out of the ground along with their rotten roots. The whole thing took like 10 minutes.

Now there's still one left that's a lot bigger and was cut down last year. It didn't give up yet, so I guess I have to wait a few years for it to rot before I try again


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## wheresthefbomb (May 25, 2022)

i've had this old toy piano sitting around for a little over a year now. I got it out of a dumpster, it was originally supposed to be part of a stress release yoga workshop where it was going to be destroyed, but that all got canned and it just ended up being a yard ornament. 

After staring at it from my living room window for many months, I had a brainstorm. Made out of flowers. I couldn't be more pleased with the results. 

The structure is going to be a greenhouse, I am covering it this summer(and getting paid to do so!) The kick drum is probably going to turn into a flower box at some point as well.


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## Church2224 (May 28, 2022)

Got me a new lawn mower.... Next is redoing the beds around the house and maybe doing a retention wall....


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## jaxadam (May 28, 2022)

I just put some secret shit down and this is BY FAR the best our grass has every looked. There's not a blade out of place. Documenting for future reference because this is a good as it's every going to get. #nofilter


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## High Plains Drifter (May 28, 2022)

Church2224 said:


> Got me a new lawn mower.... Next is redoing the beds around the house and maybe doing a retention wall....


I finally broke down this year and got a new push mower too. Wound up with a TroyBilt 21" mulching. I like my old one better for various reasons but this one is fine and I got a good deal on it. I kept the old one for mowing in the back which is more jungle-esque. 

This was the year that I had planned to take it easy outside simply due to the insane heat that came on so early. But my plans changed as I decided that it was time to work on the aesthetics of the flower beds and such. So...

78 ft of landscape edging 
40 cu ft of cypress mulch
200 lbs of top-soil
300 lbs approx of natural sandstone/ flagstone rock

... and a ton of weeding, pruning, tree-trimming, mowing, fertilizing, pest control, transplanting of several container plants, and harvesting rainwater ( approx 60-65 gal although it's going to go fast now that the dry season is already here). Also decided to lay in a short walkway with sandstone between two of the flowerbeds. It's in the third pic... Needs to be weeded but it looks okay and we needed to bridge the little space between the sidewalk and the yard.


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## Church2224 (May 28, 2022)

High Plains Drifter said:


> I finally broke down this year and got a new push mower too. Wound up with a TroyBilt 21" mulching. I like my old one better for various reasons but this one is fine and I got a good deal on it. I kept the old one for mowing in the back which is more jungle-esque.




Oh I got something a little more than a Push Mower....


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## jaxadam (May 28, 2022)

Church2224 said:


> Oh I got something a little more than a Push Mower....



You got a SCAG! Those things are a beast. We had the Turf Tiger.


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## jaxadam (May 28, 2022)

High Plains Drifter said:


> I finally broke down this year and got a new push mower too. Wound up with a TroyBilt 21" mulching. I like my old one better for various reasons but this one is fine and I got a good deal on it. I kept the old one for mowing in the back which is more jungle-esque.



Our mower is pushing 18 years old. We have a newer one too but it's just a pain in the ass to use. It feels 100 pounds heavier by how they sat the engine more toward the front. I've had to get the old one fixed quite a few times, and I've probably paid twice what I could have gotten a new one for but I'm going for a world record here.


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## Church2224 (May 28, 2022)

jaxadam said:


> You got a SCAG! Those things are a beast. We had the Turf Tiger.



I see you are a man of good taste and Culture as well! My buddy who has 5 Scags, including his push mower even, has a 72 inch cut Turf Tiger. Thing is an absolute tank. I also have a model Turf Tiger on my desk. One day when I have the land I will get one...

We just got an order of Scags at my job. I liked them so much I thought, well I need to have one now too! 




I been in the Landscaping industry for about 10 years, and have been working on small engines and mowers since I was a kid. Outside of music this is a big passion of mine. I got into it because I spend a lot of time with my Great Grandfather when I was a kid and my early teenage years. He was big into working on small engines and at one time had about 30 lawn mowers and others machines like tillers, vacs, generators, ect. in his backyard in different states of operation he would work on and show me the basics on reparing them. He also had a farm with multiple acres of land he would take me to and I would help him with land clearing, planting, harvesting, and tilling. When he passed away he left me his 1975 John Deere tractor, implements and vintage tillers. I had it all until 2020 when some one stole it all from my family's property.....

This Scag is just the newest part of the fleet I have for my house. I also have an Exmark Turf Tracer Walk Behind, and Toro, Exmark, Honda, and Lawn Boy ( which is 35 years old! ) commercial grade push mowers. This doesn't include all the equipment I have for my own business. Some people have cars and motorcycles, I have outdoor power equipment -








I know it is not the most conventional interest but it takes me back to when I was a kid and spending time with my great grandfather, working on machines and working outside. Aways enjoyed it. I started my own landscaping business 9 years ago which I still have strong to this day and it helps fund my insane guitar collection. During college I worked full time in my own business while also learning a bit about landscaping and planting from my friends in the industry and working at a local nursery. I also work for Brightview, the largest commercial landscape company in the US. I will try to get some pictures for you all of what some of my teams are working on to help you all and inspire you, and projects I have worked on in the past. Just got to go through all of my pictures...


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## Church2224 (May 28, 2022)

jaxadam said:


> Our mower is pushing 18 years old. We have a newer one too but it's just a pain in the ass to use. It feels 100 pounds heavier by how they sat the engine more toward the front. I've had to get the old one fixed quite a few times, and I've probably paid twice what I could have gotten a new one for but I'm going for a world record here.


Whish ones do you have? Honestly a lot of older mowers I would just keeping on fixing up. Most residential grade machines these days outside of Toros and Hondas are not built well at all. I am not usually the "They don't make X like they use to" guy but damn outdoor power equipment can be crap these days...


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## p0ke (Jun 15, 2022)

I wish I could keep my lawn that tidy and even, but not a chance over here! The winter totally kills it every year, and especially this year the ice just wouldn't melt. So now that it's been relatively warm for a month or so, grass still just won't grow in certain spots. I guess it'll come back in time, but then the next winter will come and kill it again.

I've got a really good push mower though, the Stiga Multiclip 47. I've had it ~4 years I think, and it just starts with the first pull every time, even after sitting in cold and damp storage for 6 months. I've never used a mower that good before, the ones my parents had always took half an hour of beating to get to start


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## jaxadam (Sep 27, 2022)

So much for Yard of the Month.

Pretty fucked...






Fucked...






TOTALLY fucked...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 27, 2022)

jaxadam said:


> I just put some secret shit down and this is BY FAR the best our grass has every looked. There's not a blade out of place. Documenting for future reference because this is a good as it's every going to get. #nofilter


I used to work on cell phone camera software and I always chuckle to myself about "#nofilter". It's being overly pedantic but man I've seen the raw images that come out of these tiny sensors and they are NOT attractive.


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## jaxadam (Sep 27, 2022)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> I used to work on cell phone camera software and I always chuckle to myself about "#nofilter". It's being overly pedantic but man I've seen the raw images that come out of these tiny sensors and they are NOT attractive.



Do you know of a filter I can use to make it look like it did a few months ago?


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## brector (Sep 27, 2022)

Church2224 said:


> and Lawn Boy ( which is 35 years old! )
> 
> View attachment 108325


Oh man that takes me back. My dad had a self-propelled lawn boy up until we got a riding mower, when I was around 15. I mowed many a lawn in my early teens with the lawn boy. Those things were tanks. I think the only issues he had with it was with the self-propulsion. Had to take it to the shop a couple times. Thanks for taking me back!


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## p0ke (Sep 28, 2022)

Oh man, I've been super lazy with the garden this year. I've mowed the lawn maybe 2-3 times and trimmed the hedges once, but that's basically it. After next weekend I'm gonna put all the patio furniture and grill into winter storage, and I haven't even sorted the garage so that they'll fit in there. Everything's just been thrown in there and left at the middle of the floor  I seriously gotta get to it soon though, as you never know when the first snow falls and everything starts to freeze...


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## LiveOVErdrive (Sep 28, 2022)

I inherited an old push/reel mower with my new house. Little lawn in the city. So I've been using exclusively that and I kind of love it. So satisfying watching those clippings shear right off.


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## jaxadam (Oct 20, 2022)

mellissapickron said:


> I like this thread. I enjoy reading replies from people who enjoy decorating. Many of you are so creative. It has never been easy for me to create something beautiful. I've always trusted this with my girlfriends or friends.



Click all pictures that contain a penguin.


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## Church2224 (Oct 30, 2022)

Pre ordered this for my lawn....









82V 30” Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Tool-Only (82LM30S)


Power through grass all day long - no matter how tough Power Equivalent: 200cc Runtime: 110min* Charge Time: 60min* Coverage: 2 Acres Blade Speed: Constant 16K FPM 4G/GPS Connectivity: Fleet Monitoring + Greenshield™ Theft Protection Warranty: 2 Year Tool and Battery (sold separately)




commercial.greenworkstools.com





Commercial grade electric push mower, quite excited. If I like it for myself I will add more for my business


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## Church2224 (Oct 30, 2022)

brector said:


> Oh man that takes me back. My dad had a self-propelled lawn boy up until we got a riding mower, when I was around 15. I mowed many a lawn in my early teens with the lawn boy. Those things were tanks. I think the only issues he had with it was with the self-propulsion. Had to take it to the shop a couple times. Thanks for taking me back!



Good to hear some one else loves these things. I have 6 total right now, a few I am restoring. I wish they still made the Commercial Grade 2 cycle Lawn Boys. They were light and lasted forever. Great machines


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## jaxadam (Oct 30, 2022)

Church2224 said:


> Pre ordered this for my lawn....
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hot damn that looks nice. I hate to put to bed the 20 year old starts every pull Murray.


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## Church2224 (Oct 30, 2022)

jaxadam said:


> Hot damn that looks nice. I hate to put to bed the 20 year old starts every pull Murray.



Hey if your mower works keep it lol. I have a 30 year old Toro I just got works great. Nothing wrong with an old machine. 

I am getting this mostly because a lot of the industry is going electric. So I am going to try it at my house then my business. 

Also looking at Makita stuff...









Makita USA - Product Details -XML09Z


36V (18V X2) LXT® Brushless 21" Self-Propelled Commercial Lawn Mower, Tool Only




www.makitatools.com


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## p0ke (Oct 31, 2022)

About lawnmowers, I've got a Stiga. I believe they're still made in Sweden, and this one's rock solid even though it's their cheapest model. Starts on the first pull every time, even after sitting in a cold and moist shed for almost half a year. And basically no maintenance, the only thing I've ever had to do was to tighten the blades a little bit when they started rattling (and even that I've only had to do once in the five years I've had the machine) + of course checking and adding oil every now and then.

The mower we had when I was a kid was terrible - always took ages to get to start and then it would choke on anything you'd come across. And same thing with the mower our landlord had in the place we lived before. Taking care of the lawn was part of the rental contract, so there was no option but to keep fighting that crappy mower. That was my general impression of lawnmowers, so because of that my Stiga makes me really happy each time I use it.

If this one ever breaks down, I'm probably getting an electric one too - one where the same batteries also work with chainsaws, trimmers, hedge trimmers etc. Cutting the hedge with a wired trimmer is a huge PITA as the cable always gets entangled somewhere and generally you always need to trim in places where the extension cables just don't reach... Oh yeah, and at one point my mom had an electric wired lawn mower. You can probably guess how convenient that was  It was pretty cool though, as it didn't have wheels at all, it just floated using the propulsion from the blades somehow.


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