c/diy-backyard

29

logan205•13d ago

Noticed something smart at a community garden in Portland

I visited a community garden in Portland last weekend and saw they used old wine barrels cut in half for raised beds. They stacked two on top of each other and filled them with soil - perfect depth for root veggies without spending $100 on lumber. Anyone tried this with other barrel types?

9

jordan_anderson90•13d ago

My uncle swore by planting marigolds next to tomatoes, and I finally get why

Last spring my uncle told me to put marigolds all around my tomato bed to keep pests away. I thought it was just old garden talk and didn't bother doing it. Then half my tomato plants got eaten by something and his bed across town was fine. I tried it this year with 12 marigolds for 8 tomato plants and I've barely seen any bugs. Has anyone else tested this or is it just a placebo thing?

4

tarar27•15d ago

Bought a $200 sod cutter off Craigslist. Huge mistake.

Needed to redo my backyard lawn in Austin. Saw a deal on a used sod cutter. Machine broke down after 20 feet. Had to rent a proper one for $85. Anyone else get burned buying cheap tools for a one-time job?

20

jakeb25•16d ago

Overheard a neighbor say 'raised beds are just expensive planters' and it stuck with me

I was out back last weekend messing with my drip irrigation (the cheap Orbit kit from Home Depot) when I heard my neighbor across the fence talking to his buddy. He said raised beds are just expensive planters and you're better off digging straight into the ground if your soil isn't pure clay. It got me thinking because I spent about $150 on wood and screws for two 4x8 beds last spring, and honestly my tomatoes did fine but my carrots were pretty stunted. This year I dug a small patch directly in the dirt behind my garage, mixed in some compost from the pile I've been turning since March, and my bean plants are way happier than the ones in the beds. The raised beds do keep the weeds down and look nice, but for root veggies I'm starting to think he had a point. Has anyone else found certain crops just do better in the ground no matter how good your bed setup is?

14

julia_carter70•16d ago

Stopped by a community garden in Denver and noticed something about their soil setup

I was visiting my sister in Denver last month and she dragged me to this community garden near her place. I wasn't expecting much, but I got talking to the lady running it. She showed me how they layer cardboard and compost right on top of the grass to build new beds. No tilling, no digging. I always thought you had to rip out sod first. She said they saved about 80 hours of labor last spring just by skipping the digging part. I came home and tried it in a corner of my own yard that was all weeds and rocks. Three months later I'm pulling squash out of that spot. Has anyone else used this no-dig method for a new bed?

5

taylor668•16d ago

Overheard a guy at the hardware store say 'cedar mulch is for show, not for soil' and now I'm rethinking my whole garden plan

I was picking up a bag of lime last Saturday and this older fella was talking to the cashier about how he stopped using colored mulch years ago. Said it just sits on top and does nothing for the ground underneath. I've been dumping bags of that red dyed stuff on my flower beds for 3 seasons now. My soil is still like clay. I never once thought about what the mulch was actually doing besides looking nice. Has anyone else just kinda assumed mulch was helping and then found out it wasn't?

29

samwalker•16d ago

My neighbor laughed at me for putting landscape fabric under my gravel path and now the weeds are pushing through everywhere

I spent $120 on that heavy duty fabric last spring and installed it exactly like he said not to, but now 8 months later the bindweed is punching right through it in the Denver rain - has anyone found a way to stop this stuff without digging the whole thing up?

28

zarab24•17d ago

That $200 compost tumbler I bought last spring turned into a rusty mess by August.

I figured a metal one would hold up better than plastic but the lid hinge snapped and the paint peeled off after three months in the sun... anyone found a tumbler that actually lasts more than one season?

30

phoenix29•17d ago

Built a small raised bed from scrap wood, didn't think it'd last the summer

I threw together a 4x2 raised bed in my Denver backyard last April using old fence boards I had sitting around. No liner, no treated lumber, just screwed them together and filled with dirt. Figured it'd rot out by August. Well, it's been 14 months now and it's still holding together fine, even through the snow and rain. I put tomatoes and peppers in it and got way more produce than I expected. Has anyone else had cheap scrap wood hold up way longer than you thought it would?

17

xena373•19d ago

Poured concrete vs paver patio and I picked wrong the first time

Last spring I was stuck between doing a poured concrete slab or a paver base for my backyard patio. I went with concrete because I thought it would be quicker and cheaper at around $1,200 for materials. Six months later I had two cracks running through it from the ground shifting after a wet winter. I ended up tearing the whole thing out and putting in pavers on a compacted gravel base with edge restraints. The pavers cost me $1,800 but they've held up perfect through two freeze-thaw cycles so far. Now I'm looking at the old concrete chunks piled behind my shed wondering what to do with them. Has anyone else made the switch from concrete to pavers and regretted not doing it sooner?

13

the_cole•22d ago

Can we talk about how long it actually takes to install a paver patio?

Every video online says a weekend, but my 10x12 paver patio in Denver took four weekends because I spent two of them fixing the base after rain turned the gravel into a swamp.

10

terry_wood51•24d ago

My neighbor said my raised beds were way too close together and I laughed at him until harvest time

So my neighbor Bob is like 70 years old and grows tomatoes every summer, but I figured I knew better since I watched like 40 hours of YouTube on building garden beds. I built five 4x8 foot boxes in my backyard last spring and squeezed them into a tight row with maybe 18 inches between each one. Bob walked over while I was filling them with soil and said "you're gonna hate yourself come July when those plants fill out." I just nodded and kept working because what does some old guy know, right? Fast forward to August and I could barely squeeze between the beds to pull weeds or pick peppers without smashing my plants. The zucchini leaves were rubbing against the tomato cages and I had powdery mildew on everything from no air flow. I spent this winter tearing up three of the beds and spacing them 3 feet apart, and Bob helped me level them out. Cost me about $80 in extra lumber but now I can actually walk through my garden without doing the sideways shuffle.

17

hart.cora•25d ago

PSA: 2x4 pressure treated lumber can shrink more than you think

Built a raised garden bed last spring using wet pressure treated 2x4s from the local lumber yard. By fall, there were quarter inch gaps between every single board where the wood dried out and shrank. Had to fill them with soil to stop it washing out every time it rained. Next time I'm buying the lumber 3 months early and letting it dry in the garage first. Anyone else deal with this or just me?

18

henry604•26d ago

Neighbor's comment about my raised beds totally changed how I see them

I was out watering my veggies last Saturday when my neighbor Bob from two doors down walked over and said my raised beds looked like 'coffins for plants'. At first I was pretty annoyed, but then he explained how he builds his with a slight curve on the ends to let water drain better. Now I'm staring at my 4 straight cedar boxes and wondering if he's got a point. Anyone else ever get an offhand comment that made you rethink your whole setup?

18

william_jackson65•26d ago

Unpopular opinion: I let my grass grow tall on purpose for 3 months and it looked better than my neighbors manicured lawn

I stopped mowing my backyard back in June this year and just let everything go wild. I kept waiting for it to look like a mess but after about 6 weeks the clover and wildflowers took over and it was actually pretty with purple and yellow blooms. A guy next door complained to me that it looked neglected so I offered to walk him through it and he just shook his head. I did learn that you have to watch out for poison ivy creeping in though because I got a rash on my ankle after week 8. Has anyone else tried a managed natural lawn approach or am I the only one who thinks a little wildness beats boring green grass?

12

the_charlie•26d ago

TIL that building a small koi pond in my backyard was a terrible idea

I dug a 4x6 hole behind my garage in Phoenix last summer and filled it with water and four goldfish... by week two the water was green and the mosquitoes had claimed it as their own private resort. Has anyone actually managed to keep a backyard pond from turning into a swamp without spending a fortune on pumps and filters?

13

margaret_jackson73•27d ago

Spent $600 on a sod cutter and wish I'd rented it instead

I bought a used sod cutter off Craigslist last spring thinking I'd save money on my backyard reno in Phoenix. Paid $600 for it, used it for one weekend to strip out my whole lawn... and then it sat in my garage for 8 months taking up space. The kicker is I moved to a new house and had to sell it for $150 because the guy who bought it knew I was desperate. If I'd just rented one from Home Depot for $75 a day, I'd have been done in two days for $150 total. My back still hurts from hauling that thing around and I barely saved anything. Anyone else buy a specialized tool and regret not just renting?

6

the_jason•29d ago

Took me 8 years to realize I was watering my grass wrong

I always watered in the evening after dinner thinking it helped the soil soak in overnight. Then last summer during that dry spell, my neighbor who works at a nursery casually mentioned that evening watering just sits there and grows fungus. Walked over to my lawn and sure enough, every patch had this gross powdery mildew going on. Has anyone else learned a basic yard habit the hard way like that?

19

the_rowan•1mo ago

Watched my neighbor's new patio flood for the third time this spring

They put it in flat against the house with no slope for water to run off. It's a basic thing, but I see it all the time in our area where the clay soil holds water. You need at least a quarter inch of slope for every foot away from the foundation. Has anyone else had to fix a patio that was installed wrong the first time?

5

sagep19•1mo ago

Shoutout to the old guy at the hardware store for saving my patio project

I was trying to level the ground for some pavers last week and my string line kept getting messed up. He saw me struggling and showed me how to use a simple water level made from a clear hose, which worked way better. Has anyone else found a simple tool or trick that saved a big job?

27

hart.mark•1mo ago

Back when I built my first deck, everyone said to just nail the boards down tight.

I saw a neighbor's new deck in my old neighborhood start to buckle after just one summer because they didn't leave a gap for the wood to swell. I learned the hard way you need a 1/4 inch space between each board, which I found out from a guy at the lumber yard after my own project had issues. What's the one basic thing you see people skip that always causes trouble later?

7

daniel857•1mo ago

I finally asked my neighbor about his gravel path after seeing it hold up for 3 years

He lives two doors down in our Phoenix suburb, and his whole backyard is rock and cactus. I asked him last week what he used under the gravel to keep weeds out. He said, 'I just used the cheap landscape fabric from the big box store, but I put down a full 4-inch layer of crusher fines first and compacted it.' He explained that the fines make a solid base so the fabric doesn't tear, and the gravel on top stays level. His path looks as good as the day he put it in, with almost no weeds. Has anyone else had luck with crusher fines as a base layer, or did you use something different?

4

drew965•1mo ago

The week my raised bed soil turned into concrete

I spent over $200 on what the garden center guy called 'premium vegetable mix' for my new 4x8 foot raised bed. He swore it was light and full of good stuff for roots. After one heavy rain last Tuesday, the whole thing set up like a brick. I mean, I could barely push a trowel into it. I called the place back and the same guy just said 'oh yeah, sometimes that happens with our mix, you gotta add more compost.' I had to spend my whole Saturday breaking it all up with a garden fork and mixing in six bags of peat moss and a bunch of my own leaf mulch. My back is killing me. Has anyone else gotten totally burned by bad soil from a place that should know better?

7

the_angela•1mo ago

I was totally against a fire pit until my neighbor in Phoenix built one last month.

He used leftover pavers and river rock, and now his whole family is out there every night. Has anyone else built a simple fire feature that actually gets used a ton?

14

robin_bennett78•1mo ago

TIL my neighbor's trick for keeping squirrels out of his raised beds

I was helping him move some pavers last weekend and he pointed at his perfect lettuce, saying 'I just sprinkle a line of cayenne pepper powder around the edge every few days... they hate the smell.' It seems to work for him, but will it wash away and need constant redoing after every rain?