Landscaping Advice

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

I have a question not remotely related to the Prado.

What do I do with a narrow stretch of lawn, on the southern side of my place, that is high traffic, uneven, receives little to no sunlight in winter and looks like the image below when it rains (the water would be about an inch deep)?



For a sense of scale, the "lawn" is 2ish metres wide here.

To make it difficult, I'm renting, so I'm not keen to spend lots of $ to fix this issue.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

It was an easy question until the last sentence. Grass isn't a good option unless drainage is sorted and a shade tolerant grass is put down. Granite is likely your cheapest option, mainly to sort out drainage and then let the grass grow if you don't want to spend much. A couple of frisky dogs in another cheap option then rent the mud hole out on weekends.

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

It wasnt an issue until I got a dog - I just wouldn't go out there till its dry. Now she lives out there and runs up and down the back yard (well, at the moment she sinks up and down the yard).

Ive debated getting it concreted, though this is likely to cost several thousand dollars. I could gravel the whole area, at about $150ish for the gravel, plus maybe the same for a base, plus my labour.

Leveling and re-turfing is an option, except the dog...she's the last thing a new lawn needs.

In case someone is wondering - The rope in the photo is holding up a pole supporting a tarp to give the dog some protection from the rain (we only have 300mm eaves).

[oceanracer Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close oceanracer]

Tuscan toppings is what I'd do

[Danda Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Danda]

I have a question not remotely related to the Prado.

What do I do with a narrow stretch of lawn, on the southern side of my place, that is high traffic, uneven, receives little to no sunlight in winter and looks like the image below when it rains (the water would be about an inch deep)?



For a sense of scale, the "lawn" is 2ish metres wide here.

To make it difficult, I'm renting, so I'm not keen to spend lots of $ to fix this issue.

The cheapest option would be shutter up both sides fill with roadbase and compact ......................

[ozimacca Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozimacca]

As you are renting I would ask the landlord if they are Ok with going halves on the cost of fixing the problem.
The dog is going to cut up anything soft so I would probably concrete it then put synthetic grass on top, sloping the whole lot so that the water runs off into the nearest drain.

[Westcoast Mark Member Find all posts View Profile Close Westcoast Mark]

You could build up the levels and use roll on turf. Artificial turf would work but you would need to get the proper pet turf, otherwise if you dog goes potty on the turf it can start to smell.

[Turbo Piston Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Turbo Piston]

You could build up the levels and use roll on turf. Artificial turf would work but you would need to get the proper pet turf, otherwise if you dog goes potty on the turf it can start to smell.

My idea

[diesel69 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close diesel69]

I would be talking to the landlord (or property manager if you rent through an agent) and asking them to solve the problem, pointing out that you are willing to contribute to the cost and or labour if you wish to do so.

The landlord will be able to claim the cost of any improvements/repairs back on their next tax return

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

I would be talking to the landlord (or property manager if you rent through an agent) and asking them to solve the problem, pointing out that you are willing to contribute to the cost and or labour if you wish to do so.

The landlord will be able to claim the cost of any improvements/repairs back on their next tax return

My big problem is, I caused the issue by getting a dog. In the past, the muddy watery goodness wasnt an issue, as I would simply avoid the yard if it was too wet. Now, I have myself a new pet - meaning I have to go outside, and my lovely dog runs up and down and churns everything up.

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

In the past, the muddy watery goodness wasnt an issue,

I beg to differ..may be not an issue for you but maybe an issue for the landlord?? The scalloping in the pic looks like it's been happening for years....years of wear and tear..not just a recent dog. As a property owner (& landlord) who owns a cut and fill property on a steep hill, I'm all too aware of the issues of standing water lying next to a house. It's not good.

Ours has >=2metres compacted drainage sand on every side of the house with the drainage pebbles on top (with a few of those plastic drainage channels), so any excess water drains away/ and/or into the earth, not into the house. It's not great for the kids but hey!! I'm with diesel69 100%. I'd be getting more soil to batter the land back into the flower bed so the water flows away from the propery. What happens after that is for the landlord's problem, I'd go with new turf..

Just saying..

Edit: the front of our house is similar (sort of) to the pic from Turbo Piston

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

Where the water pools is where the pipe for the other unit's water runs. It was layed long after the units were built. I might just flick the photo to my real estate and find out what my options are.

[Nik83 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nik83]

As a landlord, so as an owner, I have to say,it would be in my interest to fix it with you than for you. I'd rather it was fixed properly than doohickeyed. Jm2c.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

I didn't want to start a new thread and did some searches for anything of a similar nature without much luck, so I'll use this existing one since the last post was 2 weeks ago... Hope you don't mind.

I'm wondering what different soils people use or soil concoctions to fill in the hole for a newly planted shrub/tree when you have a really poor soil on your property to begin with. On my property we have heavy clay, both exposed in some areas and other areas it's a few inches under a mulched soil created over God knows how many decades. It's that orange type that's as hard as concrete when it's dry and doesn't allow moisture to penetrate. I've planted a lot of shrubs over the past 2 years after our house was built. I dig decent holes for my trees which are usually about 600mm in diameter by 600mm deep. I then pour gypsum into the hole first. The soil I use is a 50/50 mixture of plain garden soil mix from my local landscaping business, and horse manure. The fresher the better. I collect the manure from our paddock which has two horses in it and half fill a wheel barrow, then add the $49m2 budget level garden soil to it then turn it with a shovel mixing it all together and wetting it down with a hose as I mix it. Then into the hole it goes and I compact it down then repeat this process 3 times to fill the hole for one shrub. All of my trees are very healthy and grow fast and a lot of people who visit also comment on how healthy the trees look. The soil around the newly planted tree drains extremely well and the horse manure component holds moisture very well so will allow the tree to stay hydrated for longer periods in hot weather without the need to water too often. I mulch them with sugarcane mulch too. And given the horse manure is light on with nitrogen and those other nutrients that can cause burn, there is no concern whatsoever with the burning of roots, even with Austalian Natives.

I've read extensively that to improve clay soils you have to dig in compost into and so on. I've found this to be complete rubbish because the clay element is still there and will never go away. I think the best and pretty much only thing you can do is to remove the clay from the hole alltogether and replace it with a new soil. The holes I dig are so large to allow the tree roots to establish and gain some strength before they begin to punch into the clay surrounds. If I made the holes too small here the roots would be too weak and will most likely just turn back on themselves creating the "pot plant" effect.

I do have a compost bin and do make compost in it continuously. It's 240L and I add horse manure to make up half of the volume, chicken manure from our chook pen, fruit and vegetable scraps and mowed grass all mixed and moistened. When it's ready to use a few months later it's the richest soil full of worms. As a test I planted two Panama Red passion fruit vines 2.5m apart side by side. One hole had 50/50 horse manure and garden soil mix. The other had the same for the bottom half and the top half had my compost. The passionfruit vines with the compost mix grew literally twice as fast as the other and had a slightly deeper green colour to the folliage. I've usually saved my compost mix for fruit trees I've planted as it takes months to get more prepared.

From my early teens I found gardening and tree planting & caring really interesting so would like to hear what anybody else has done or used for soil when planting new trees.

[Spilsy Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Spilsy]

I have a question not remotely related to the Prado.

What do I do with a narrow stretch of lawn, on the southern side of my place, that is high traffic, uneven, receives little to no sunlight in winter and looks like the image below when it rains (the water would be about an inch deep)?



For a sense of scale, the "lawn" is 2ish metres wide here.

To make it difficult, I'm renting, so I'm not keen to spend lots of $ to fix this issue.

I've started to level the whole stretch of yard out. Moving soil (if yo can call it that) from the high areas into the low areas. I've put, or at least attempted to put, a fall away from the house. For the time being, i have throuwn out some lawn seed - just to see if it takes.