Chevy and GMC Duramax Diesel Forum banner

What did you do to your Home/Property today?

837K views 10K replies 318 participants last post by  22DMaxJD 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

following the same format as crazycrew's thread titled "what did you do to your Sierra/Silvy today", i thought it would be cool to have one for your residence, shop, garage, land, etc etc etc


:neener
 
#5,810 ·
Found out I'm not watering the Melons enough for this heat. Found the two biggest ones start the shrivel/cast off thing by the plant...in just one day.

Heart dropped sad.
 
#5,811 · (Edited)
Need some guidance from y'all cuz I'm a noob at this.

So I'm currently having clay (then black dirt/top soil) hauled in around the house so I can start establishing a yard. The sand is currently graded pretty well around the entire house, so I plan to spread the clay out over the existing grading for the most part. Once I get the clay down, I'm going to drag the whole thing to hopefully smooth it out and level the bumps. Then I'm gonna do a ~2" lift of black dirt and do the same thing with grading and dragging it.

We currently have weeds, prairie grass, and who knows what else growing in the sand. My question, is it better to spray the shit currently growing with a herbicide or it is okay to just spread the clay right over the plants?

Also, is spreading the clay with black dirt/top soil over the top the right approach to get a nice lush yard eventually? We're also having a sprinkler system installed if that info helps.
 
#5,812 · (Edited)
From an Organic viewpoint, don't poison the land. Weeds and other undesirables are Natures way of trying to protect the soil from erosion. They thrive in poor soil conditions. 'Top Soil' labeled....same thing. Poor soil full of unwanted seeds.

Improve the soil and the weeds will give up.

Clay over sand, very little (if any) nutritional value. Not much different than a track builder spreading a few inches of sandy loam over rock, laying sod, watering the heck out it and then moving on.

Not much there to eat, so to speak. Very little (if any) microbial action going on.
I'd be looking towards something more compost related for a growing medium. We have something available in this area that's relatively inexpensive ($30/yd) called Tx Hardwood Mulch.

Not a decorative bark mulch, it's more of a rich fully composted mix. It's what I use in all my raised garden areas and dead or low spots in the turf, as well as a seasonal lawn dressing.

Followed with regular feedings using a seaweed based lawn supplement, something like HastaGro 12-4-8 Lawn Food
Long term plan, this ^ stimulates deeper root growth, opens up the natural soil aeration and adds beneficial microbes to the mix.
You'll water less and have a greener lawn than the neighbors, thru extended dry conditions. And the weeds won't have a chance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pigpen23
#5,813 ·
Biggest tomato I've ever grown. Heirloom stock, all organics. Vine ripened to perfection.

Still green and growing, 5" diameter so far, and no splits, no birds, no worms.... :smile2:

Will eventually be pink before turning red.
That's going to be one heck of a slice, over a matching size charcoal-grilled-to-perfection burger. :neener

Maybe for Independence Day?
Let's hope there's no Bun Recall by then. marx
 

Attachments

#5,817 ·
This is most of it. About 5000 sq ft of new lawn. It was machine "smooth"when I started, but it took many hours of raking, then roll, seed (drop spreader with PTLawn's R&R blend), cover with compost via peat moss roller, water.
Picture was the first pass of the compost-cover


Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
#5,819 · (Edited)
#5,820 ·
Pruned and tied the tomatoes again, planted a few more pounds of onion sets, mowed the lawn.
 
#5,821 · (Edited)
Fixed the fountain in the 1/ acre pond out back
 
#5,822 ·
Took advantage of the wet ground and unused power of the LML and ripped these bushes out

Been on my mind for a while, every picture I take in that area of the driveway you can see half alive and half dead bushes, so I removed them all

Probably going to square off the end of the bigger hedge and put some smaller bushes and new bullrock in

You guys ever experimented with alternative's other than actual mulch, like how discount tire always shows chewed up tires as mulch..

Wall Shrub Plant Soil Yard


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Trailer


Vehicle Tire Automotive tire Yard Plant


Property Siding Home House Wall


Property Home Automotive tire Tire House
 
#5,823 ·
They probably drown to death.
You never fixed that drainage issue.

If you're going to throw old tire debris on it (no nutritional value), might as well paint the dirt green and call it done.
 
#5,824 · (Edited)
Was thinking about making risers for the condensing units, and flooding it with some earthly material with bullrock sprinkles, think that would fix the drainage issue?

Something that wouldn't easily erode over time

Still trying to wrap my head around it being low and being able to drain outward


Could have been the water...or the grass killer I sprayed on the rock to keep grass from growing, stuff can travel

On the fence lines it goes out about 8 inches or so on either side, straight lines though :)
 
#5,825 ·
Gutter up the hill at the garage, divert to the side away from drive.
Take the flow away before it collects in the low spot.
Or do you think the water there is from the bump out window roof?

Could've been the poison too.
Herbicides have no place 'round my place. Mfr claims it's safe, along with everyone else on the Roundup bandwagon, yet people still come across issues where it went beyond just a foliage kill with runoff kill zones and healthy trees mysteriously dying.
 
#5,826 ·
My wife was using her lawn edger that she got awhile back. It started sounding funny and I told her to finish it off, about 1 minute later there was that smelly white smoke coming out of it...haha

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: Babyhauler
#5,837 ·
Sorry to hear about your guys dogs. My wife's little house dog is around 12 years old and he is slowly loosing his eyesight and hearing.


I was spray the yard for mosquitoes today and then a buddy stopped by and we chatted for a few hours. He told me he does the listerine yard spray thing. So I gave that a shot. Its alot cheaper si if it don't work I ain't really out nothing anyway. We shall see

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
#5,839 ·
Well, my Surface Pro3 computer crashed 10 days ago after or during an update. Of course, there is a thing called backing up your computer that should help in this situation. If I had done it, it would help.
Anyway, now I have a 4 year old computer that should run better without all of that pesky information, files and programs on it. My accountant has a backup of my quickbooks. Luckily, I should be able to re create all of that info.

Between working till dark and taking care of the puppy, I think I have only been on the desk top a couple of times to make some invoices. I have a lot of Dmax forum to catch up on.

Bought a new flex hose to replace the leaking one on the septic tank discharge tank to the drip irrigation lines. Easy digging in the sand that I back filled with last year.
Picked up many limbs from the storms blowing through almost daily. Mulched the yard off the patio and small front yard between house and driveway with 48" Exmark. Blades were hitting water in the deep spots. Started cutting the rest of it with the 60" Deere. I could cut the ditch since the mud grip tires are still on there.

Back to setting up my "new" or empty computer.
 
#5,840 · (Edited)
@Babyhauler - If you haven't tried already, plug in your Surface Pro, hold down both the power button and volume up button for 20-30 seconds. Mine are right next to each other. My Pro 4 locked up and a tech told me to try it. Worked for me. Good luck.
 
#5,842 ·
Nope, that would not work this time. I have used that before. This was the blue screen of death that appeared after an update. My computer guy also has a surface3, so he is familiar with them. He also builds servers so he lives this stuff daily. If I was backed up, it would not be that big of a deal.

Does anyone use an online service to back up stuff to? Someone told me they use Dropbox to back up their stuff to. Good, bad or ugly? Any ideas?
 
#5,841 ·
Harnold, Sorry for your family's lose. I hope the kids can recover quickly from this.


Good luck with your building projects at the new place. Dark at 5:00 is a pain to deal with, especially when cold. However, It will be 75*F here at 6:00 am. Humidity at 90%, so I'll be wet all over just hooking up the trailer and loading mowers even in the shade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: harnold
#5,846 ·
Yesterday, tied and pruned the tomatoes again, picked about a gallon more blueberries, gathered up several boxes and bags of trash that hadn't bee cleaned up after a few small projects, worked on the Troy Built tiller (new gas lines and filter), pulled the carb off of the old walk behind Gravely and cleaned it (was leaking gas through the carb.).
 
Top