looking for ideas, what to do with this area next to my house (corner). currently its a jungle almost. i was thinking to remove all grass, plants whatever is growing, lay down carpet and then some nice shrubs. and mulch.

Anything else that can be done here?

not having done any gardening, what's best way to get rid of any plans, weeds, or bushes. etc etc.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CYsXQiTqy9CDzv9TA

Does the area get sun?

yes, facing south, sun hits all day east to west

Lay down some heavy duty landscape fabric and put a layer of river rock or decorative bark and call it a day. No mowing, no weeds, no hassles. If you go this route, make sure to get the really heavy duty landscape fabric. 5 oz or more thickness. Don't buy the bargain stuff from Home Depot. They're a waste of money. I did the front of my property with rocks. Paid good money to have it done professionally. The buggers used crappy landscape fabric. The kind you get just about anywhere. I have weeds and grass poking through. This after only five years.

Anyway, here's what works well..............

https://www.amazon.ca/VEVOR-Barrier-...234770&sr=8-32

The heavy duty weed barrier (not fabric) comes in 2, 4, 5, and 6 foot widths and come with lines on the material to help line things up.

After rocks are placed, you can put ceramic dishes with plants here and there. Go Asian theme and make a rock garden with a pond or two. The sky's the limit. Actually, don't go pond. It's too much work. Oh, river rock is best. Don't use that white stuff that never stays white, lol.

Just a suggestion. Nothing else.

Thanks. I’m just wondering, are the products at big name shop good? Ie Scott, Vigro etc

Yeap. They generally carry the same lines year to year I’ve found

Their “quick and thick” seed is probably the best deal going anywhere. You get almost 4 times the amount of seed for the same price at Canadian tire etc.

You better go quick though because all their stuff is usually pulled before mid summer

Harvested this season's garlic the other day, now just drying it out:

https://i.imgur.com/th6PeAe.jpg

Whats a good weed killer I can use on my lawn?

Killex, or anything with the selective herbicide 2-4-D in it.

I have about the same amount of garlic in the garden. Too lazy to pull them out. Do you consume the bulb type things that grow at the top of the plants? I have a variety that does that. It's edible apparently. I have a shitload of green onions I need to do something with. Strawberries are doing well. I rarely harvest them. It's just neat to have them around. You can tell I'm about as excited about this stuff as I am with US politics. Now flowers. That's a different story. Nothing has bloomed yet, but the Dahlia's are ever so close. Irises have come and gone. My neighbours are awaiting the raspberries and blackberries that grow like weeds along the fence. I give them full permission to pick as much as they like. Then, they give me a jar or two of preserves in return. Win-win! I've given up on roses. It's all about the Dahlias.

Do you mean the Garlic scapes? Yeah we keep them, I use them for a variety of things, from cutting up and throwing straight into a stir fry. Or using to flavour when cooking baby potatoes (Throw some scapes and fresh dill in the potato water when boiling). The latest one I want to try is garlic scape pesto sauce.

Our strawberries are all finished, most of them got eaten by either the birds, or the freaking wall lizards which have invaded my yard.

We also just started harvesting our Raspberries, which are quite a good crop this year. The only silver lining to this year's shitty spring/summer weather is that I haven't needed to manually water everything so much.

Garlic scapes are the bomb. Unfortunately my veggie bed got allium rust a couple years ago, so I can’t grow any in there for a while :(

Scapes. That’s what they’re called. I remember looking it up last year. Raspberries are out. Didn’t notice them till today.

I need to replace the soil for my indoor plants, are there special soil that's better, and any specific tips?

great68 ready to fight off the vampire apocalypse with all that garlic...

i think these days stores are careful of what they sell for week killer off the shelf and limited supply...

i just use one of those weed pullers where i don't have to bend over and i release the weed like cocking a shotgun by fiskar


been thinking of getting propane to get those popping out of concrete but don't know how effective they are and not sure i wanna be killing with fire :lol

Looks fun https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfzS5...d=MDJmNzVkMjY=

I have one spot in my flower bed that grows a poppy, it's back this year.

And just now... My neighbour's gardeners just quoted my wife $1100 so trim a single row of cedars. Think of all the things I can do with $1100.

Blueberries and raspberries are out and tasting great. My cucumber plants are producing like crazy in the greenhouse. Hoping the tomatoes start to ripen soon.

Yeah a lot of municipalities have banned the high potency herbicides.

I have one of those fiskar weeders, but I hardly use it. I think they work well if your soil is really soft, but my soil is clay and just too hard to pull entire taproots out, they always break off.

Weed torches work really well actually, and will actually kill the root (sometimes might require multiple torchings)

what's the popular/go-to torch tool?

does it just use one of those green bbq canisters or something even smaller?

I bought mine from that place that sells overpriced items to yuppies. As Hondaracer would say......................... Lee Valley Tools.

I've had it like forever. It works like a charm.

I'll look for the specific model. Give me a sec.........


Looks like Lee Valley sells different ones now. Both don't look very useful. However, I found the one I have, on Canadian Tire's website. By the time you click on the link, the page should load by dinner time, hee hee............. (fucking CT).

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/b...w.ds#store=601

I like this model, because it has piezo electric starter thing. No need for a welding flint striker thingy. When you screw on one of those small propane tanks, the tool is very well balanced. Remember to just put enough heat to shrivel them up. No need to burn the bejesus out of them and start a forest fire. Always have a bucket of water nearby, lol. I had pine needles buried under some landscape rock and I had a small forest fire.......... okay, a little exaggeration, but it kept burning for quite some time. I ran in to get a bucket of water and by the time I got back, all of Smallville burnt to the ground.

that's quite the pricy walking stick old man :pokerface:

i'll have to wait for those ct 50% off sales too rich for my cheap ass :lol

I have a lincoln electric propane torch, works with standard 20lbs tanks. I bought it years ago in the states before they started carrying them locally. Just be careful next to dry grass. I use it to kill the grass that comes up through my paver stone paths. I also use salt/vinegar/soap/water solution for this, along with hours and hours of weed wacking.

I just came in from weeding out in the garden this morning. Fricken hell, I was drenched in perspiration. You don't realize it until you come in. Had to use the washroom. Everything was stuck to my skin. Couldn't pull my pants and underwear down easily. Standing in front of the AC to cool down the boys, ftmfw. Can't really do that with a heat pump or a split AC.

Watching the last Blue Jays game in Boston where it was really hot. The announcers mentioned how catchers dealt with the heat. All that protective gear on in the blazing heat. The way they described it was eye opening. Worst position to play on a hot day.

Need some landscaping advice from a n00b homeowner.

I have this strip of dirt between my driveway and my neighbour that i cleared out a shit ton of weeds and bushes on.

https://i.imgur.com/zKS6wqr.jpg

However now I don't know what to do with the bare dirt currently, primarily to slow the growth of weeds and re-growth of the bushes on the ground, but its rooty and uneven so laying down landscape fabric cleanly might be difficult.

There's also a bunch of stumps and bushes stuck between rocks and stuff and I don't know how deep the roots go so not sure how difficult it would be to dig that out.

Also the neighbour who's yard is higher than mine, has a bunch of ugly lava rock that keeps spilling over to our side, and so I am afraid if I lay down river rock there, it's just gonna get mixed up with his lava rock and look like shit.

Any thoughts?