c/backyard-upgrades

Talked with my neighbor about his artificial turf last weekend

He said his water bill dropped $40 a month and he spends zero time on mowing, so now I'm wondering if my obsession with a perfect grass lawn is just a waste of time and money. Anyone else starting to think natural grass is overrated?

My neighbor insisted I should plant a clover lawn instead of grass

He said it stays green with half the water, so I ripped out my whole patch last spring and now it's full of weeds and dead patches during summer heat, has anyone else tried this and actually had it work out?

Vent: Tired of seeing people put patio furniture right on the grass

My neighbor Jim just spent $800 on a nice teak set and set it directly on his lawn in Arlington. Three weeks later the legs are already rotting and the grass underneath is dead. I told him a simple gravel base with pavers would have cost maybe $60 at Home Depot and saved the whole setup. Why does everyone skip this basic step?

PSA: That fancy raised bed kit I bought last spring was a total waste

I spent $300 on a cedar raised bed kit from a big box store in June. By August the corners were splitting and the bottom boards started rotting out. My neighbor built his own with $60 worth of lumber from a local mill and his still looks brand new after two years. Anybody else find that the premade kits fall apart faster than building your own?

Just swapped my gravel path for decomposed granite. Night and day difference.

I put in a gravel path two years ago and hated it. Every time we had a big rain, the stones washed out into the lawn and I spent hours raking them back. Last month I tore it out and put down 3 inches of decomposed granite with a plate compactor. After a heavy downpour last week, the path held up perfectly. Anyone else made the switch and wish they had done it sooner?

Tried putting down a cheap tarp under my gravel path and now I have a weed explosion

I laid down a basic $15 tarp from the hardware store last spring to stop weeds under my 3-foot wide path, but now it's just trapping moisture and the weeds are growing right through it. Has anyone else had this happen or is there a better barrier material I should try?

Chatted with my neighbor about her grandparents' farm and it hit different

Talking to Mrs. Gunderson last weekend, she mentioned her grandparents never had a dedicated garden bed - they just dug holes right in the lawn and planted tomatoes. She said they grew enough for the whole block on a quarter acre. Got me thinking about how we overthink backyard upgrades now with all these raised beds and grids. Anyone else find old school methods working better than the stuff we buy?

Had a show down between paver base panels vs gravel this weekend

My neighbor Frank swore by the old school gravel method for his patio, so I went with paver base panels on my side. After a full season of rain and freeze thaw cycles here in Portland, his pavers are already shifting and I've got zero movement. The panels cost me about $200 for a 10x10 area, but I saved 6 hours of digging and hauling. Has anyone else tried these panels or am I just lucky so far?

Hit $500 exactly on my backyard patio project and it changed my whole plan

I was aiming for a $400 budget for flagstone and gravel, but when I priced out the good stone dust base and compacted gravel base, it came to exactly $500. That extra $100 made me realize I should skip the fancy border stones and just go with a simple edge, and honestly it looks way better now. Anyone else have a budget number that totally shifted your design choice?

That $200 paver patio I laid last summer is now a weedy mess

I spent a whole weekend in July putting down a 10x10 paver patio in my backyard, leveling sand and all. By spring, weeds were sprouting between every crack and the whole thing looks like it's about to sink. Did I just do a cheap job, or is there a trick to keeping pavers from turning into a garden?

Thought those solar pathway lights were a gimmick until last night

I bought a set of $30 solar lights from Home Depot three months ago just to shut my wife up about the dark walkway. After a week of full sun they lit up for almost 8 hours straight and I didn't trip once on that cracked paver. Anyone else have a backyard upgrade they were dead wrong about?

Got burned by a $300 automatic sprinkler controller

I got that smart Rachio controller everyone raves about and installed it myself last spring. Thought it would save me time and water bills but it kept overwatering my flower beds even after I adjusted the settings three times. Turns out the moisture sensor was faulty out of the box and I didn't catch it until my water bill jumped $60 in one month. I ended up ripping it out and going back to my old manual timer which cost me $25. Has anyone else had bad luck with these fancy wifi controllers or did I just get a lemon?

Went with composite decking over pressure treated last spring. Regretting it hard now.

That 105 degree week killed half my new shrubs

Planted 6 arborvitae in early July after building a new bed. Looked great for exactly 4 days. Then we hit that heatwave where it was 105 for 3 days straight. I watered every morning like normal but they still got scorched. Three of them are brown and crispy now. Lost about $90 worth of plants. Should I have put up shade cloth or watered twice a day? Anyone else lost plants in a sudden heat spike?

Wasted $400 on a fancy outdoor kitchen setup that I barely use

Last summer I went all in on a built in grill, mini fridge, and sink setup for the backyard. Cost me $400 for the materials and another $200 for a guy to help run the gas line. Now it just sits there collecting spider webs. I grill maybe 3 times a month and the sink is more hassle than it's worth with the hose hookup. Anyone else regret going big on outdoor cooking upgrades?

Neighbor's weed barrier debate made me rethink my whole approach

My neighbor Bob caught me laying down landscape fabric last Saturday. He told me he ripped all his out after 2 years. Said the weeds just grew on top anyway and it made his soil go bad underneath. Never thought about that. He's got this nice garden with no fabric at all. Just mulch and hand pulling. I was spending $50 a roll on that stuff. Has anyone else stopped using landscape fabric?

My uncle in Ohio told me to just use pea gravel instead of fancy pavers...

Neighbor said my fire pit was too close to the fence... saved me a headache

I had this fire pit setup right near the back fence for like two years. Thought it was fine. Then my neighbor Gary came over one evening and pointed out the fence boards were starting to warp from the heat. Said if a spark caught the dry grass underneath I could be looking at replacing a whole section of fence or worse. So I moved it about 8 feet further into the yard and put down a ring of pavers. Took me a Saturday afternoon. Now I feel way better about having people over. Has anyone else had a neighbor call them out on something that actually made things safer?

Built a pergola 8 years ago and just noticed the posts are sitting directly in concrete which is gonna rot them out eventually

Saw a post on r/decks last week where someone's post rotted clean through after 10 years and ran outside to check mine only to find the same exact setup, now I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to fix it without tearing the whole thing down has anyone dealt with this?.

My neighbor roasted my paver patio and I had to fix it

Installed a paver patio in my backyard in Columbus last spring. Looked fine to me. Pavers were level, joints filled. Then my retired contractor neighbor walked over. He pointed out my edge restraints were all wrong. Said I used the cheap plastic ones that shift after rain. He was nice about it but basically said my whole hardscape would fail in 2 years. I didn't believe him until we got a heavy storm in June. Saw the outer pavers sliding out of place. Dug them up and put in galvanized steel edging instead. Cost me an extra $180 and a full weekend. But now it's solid. Has anyone else had a neighbor call out a mistake that saved you money in the long run?

Just found out how much water my new sod actually needs

I was reading the care sheet from the garden center where I bought my tall fescue sod last month. It said new sod needs about an inch of water per day for the first two weeks, which is way more than I was giving it. I've been using a rain gauge to check, and I was only hitting half that. No wonder some patches looked a bit sad. Has anyone else had to totally change their watering routine after getting new grass?

Pro tip: test your new sprinkler zone before you bury the line

I was in my Denver backyard last month and turned on the system, only to have a geyser shoot up from a cracked fitting I missed. Had to dig up a 15 foot section of fresh trench to fix it, which took all afternoon.

I keep seeing people put down landscape fabric under gravel paths and it's a huge mistake.

Warning about those cheap composite decking boards from the big box store

I'm out about $1200 after the boards on my new deck started warping and fading in less than a year, so what's a better brand that actually holds up?

Am I the only one who got burned by cheap patio pavers?

I bought a pallet of those bargain concrete pavers from a big box store last spring, and after one winter in Michigan, half of them are cracked and flaking. I'm out about $400 in materials and a full weekend of labor. What's a better material for a patio that actually holds up to freeze-thaw cycles?