Forum: Garden
April 29, 2008
Creating Front Yard Garden
We are interested in digging up some of the cement in our front yard to plant a little flower garden. Anyone done this on their own? Do you need a permit? We have extremely hostile, anti-green neighbors (they flipped out when we had a tree planted in front of our house), so we'd like to have our ducks in a row when we start.
thanks for any tips.
Street tree advice
I requested a street tree from the parks dept. about a year and half back. Long story short, I just now found out that they rejected my request last year sometime due to underground utilities at the site. Does anyone have any alternative ideas for sprucing up the sidewalk? We have a row of about 10 houses with nothing but bare sidewalk and we need something to pretty the block up.
April 28, 2008
Replacing old fencing
I am interested in recommendations from other brownstone owners on hiring reputable fence companies to install shadowbox style wood garden privacy fencing. Several adjoining neighbors on my block are considering this venture collectively and could use any help from those of you who have been there, done that and are happily satisfied. Thank you in advance for your responses.
April 25, 2008
Where to find grass sod?
Title pretty much says it all. I am looking to buy some grass sod for my small backyard. Anyone know who has it in stock?
April 24, 2008
Tree Protection?
I have been watching the construction at 447 Clinton Ave and the attached property at 440 Waverly. Recently, renovations have ramped up on the 440 Waverly building, which involve extending the structure a number of feet back into the yard. However, there is a massive oak tree in the yard (possibly planted when the house was built around 1850) and the ditch outlining the perimeter of the future building comes very close to the tree. Is it possible for the tree to survive this construction? And if not, is it possible to be an advocate for this gorgeous old timer? Is there any way to protect a tree?
April 21, 2008
Finding sod and top soil
Hello, can anyone recommend a place to buy sod and topsoil. I need about 340 square feet of both.
Thanks
Self Watering Planters
Can anyone tell me where I can buy some self watering planters for my covered porch. I'm tired of the plants dying each spring/summer from lack of water. I have two wooden planters 4'x 2'.
sawdust for composting
Need some brown material for your compost bin? I have 2 bags of sawdust, perfect for composting. Anyone want it? Free. Pick up in Cobble Hill. Call 718-594-7260
April 19, 2008
Garden Design Help
We are trying to find garden design help for our Carroll Gardens house. Does anyone have any recommendations? We are looking for plantings, some paver or blue stone areas, cover for the cinder block walls, minor lighting using already existing electrical and some type of water feature. Any advice or referrals would be much appreciated. Thanks
making a pebble garden area
Has anyone made a pebble or gravel covered area over dirt in a garden (see pic)? Do you have to dig out three or so inches and put larger rocks below for drainage, or can you just put an inch or so of pebbles on top of existing dirt? I want to make sure drainage is decent but it would obviously be a lot more labor to go three inches down. TIA.
April 18, 2008
Planting Grass
We live in a garden apartment with a small yard. Last year we planted grass in April and it came in beautifully. Unfortunately, this spring the grass came back in patches. Any tips on how to re-seed? Is it too late?
April 17, 2008
laying a stone patio -- how much gravel to put down
How much gravel (inches) should be laid as the base for a stone patio (presumably tamped down, covered by sand, tamped down, and then putting stone down)?
Gardening help needed for stoop area
We recently broke up and removed the concrete in front of our place in the hopes of planting a small tree and an evergreen hedge. But as I dig down I see very little soil; there's a ton of very old/decaying red brick, some black pumice-like material, white "rocks" that can be crumbled in-hand, and bits of something that vaguely resembles slate. Except for the gravel on top, this stuff looks like it's been here over 100 years. The soil in back of our place is excellent, but I've dug a foot down here in front and it seems like it's mostly old building materials.
Anyone have any experience converting an area like this (your typical brownstone front stoop) into a small garden? I've done by best to remove the top layer of gravel, but we can't afford to have the entire pit removed and replaced with soil. Any ideas what I could do? If I mix in some quality compost and/or top soil, will that be enough? Roughly how much soil would I need to add?
FREE SOIL!
If anyone needs good soil for their spring gardening I have at least 12 sacks of soil available. I'm in Boerum Hill and you'd need to be able to come pick up. Email me at nyflicka1@hotmail.com if interested.
April 14, 2008
small tree for rowhouse backyard
We are considering planting a small tree in our rowhouse backyard, which gets good sun. THe place where the tree would grow is close to power lines. Can anyone recommend a pretty tree that will not grow too large, that flowers but does not attract flies? I have heard dogwoods mentioned, but wouldn't know what kind or whether they get too large.
April 12, 2008
Save the Fish!
I got rid of some of my American Pond Fish babies last year but those that remain from the litter of 2007 have survived the winter and are still too numerous to be supported in my modest pool. If you have your own underpopulated pond, have a soft spot (as I do) for these "anti-koi" (they're kinda like normies rather than hipsters), and want to save them from a life negotiating the City sewers, please, please come and take them off my hands. There are about 10 - 15 for which (whom?) I need to find a new home. I'm located on State between Nevins and Third Avenue. Email me at johnife A T Panix D O T com.
April 7, 2008
Gardener/Landscaper needed in Bed-Stuy
We are looking for someone to help us design and supervise implementing the design of our garden in Stuyvesant Hts. Not big budget!
However, some pavers/bluestone, and horticultural help needed. We recently had a mudroom addition removed, so some cement work/brick work / pavers is needed to provide the proper drainage and grading away from the foundation where the old mudroom used to be.
Any and all suggestions of good people to work with requested, please!
Many thanks.
Backyard/Garden Landscape Contractor
Looking for some recommendations for a landscape contractor to do some pavers and soil removal.
Looking to lay pavers over an area of about 18' by 30'set in gravel and sand and remove about 6" of soil.
Anyone do anything similar recently and have a contractor they recommend? Any idea what this project might cost? I am assuming it is about $1,200 - $1,500 for the cost of materials.
Thanks!
April 6, 2008
Landscape Stone?
Doers anyone know of a reasonable place to purchase actual stone pavers and planter bed borders? Home Depot & Lowes only seem to have the concrete imitation stuff. Thanks..
April 4, 2008
Wanted Bluestone/Slate for patio
Looking to buy old heavy duty bluestone/slate (blue/grey in color) to finish off our patio.
Approx. 24" wide by anywhere from 24" to 36" in length and 1" to 3" in thickness
April 2, 2008
Anyone want an apple tree?
I am going to dig up an apple tree from my Boerum Hill back yard - it is about 9 feet high and had a few apples on it last year - probably mid next week. Leave your email in reply.
April 1, 2008
Property Line Phots 2x
So as you can see from the photos this is all unusable space...
Property Line What to do??
When we bought the house last summer we got the survey that showed our property line which is the row of bushes. Now in front of the row of bushes is a chain link fence then a wood fence. I guess none of the other previous owners could have been bothered with removing the old fences.
Our neighbor, who is old, is NOT SO nice. That description is being generous. She has threatened to sue more than a few of people on the block. She has even called the Buildings Department on her other neighbor. Also called them on the previous owner per the public record. Now many of these complaints were from when she was a bit younger. She is making our life very difficult.
So my questions is how do I go about getting the fence pushed back to the property line. I am told that since the bushes are the line I do need her permission which was made very clear by her screaming and yelling at me and threating to sue me that I can not take them down.
What can I do? The owner has made it very clear that she is not giving us an inch and even feels that our fences infringe on her property line and our survey is "fake".
From the bushes to the wood fence is 1'7" basically that is wasted space that no one is using because of the bushes and fence. Also the owner's yard is a complete disaster. Filled with leaves and debris. She does not use the area and has not had that yard cleaned in who knows how long. All her landscaping or lack of it is all overgrown and out of control.
What can we do???