I bought a house not too long ago. Sits on a nice little lot, but the landscaping hadn't been particularly well attended to for probably a decade or more.

 

I got started on the front of the house this evening. Dug out 8 barberry bushes from the beds along the front of the house, in addition to two big juniper bushes that were on the sides of my front stoop. That still leaves 6 nice mature boxwoods and a giant overgrown viburnum. I'm figuring on getting rid of the viburnum in the next couple of evenings...then I'll figure out how to modify the remaining beds around the boxwoods into something a little more to my liking.

 

I loath barberry bushes. They add some nice color to the landscaping and while they're not hard to trim the cleanup is a pain.

I loath barberry bushes. They add some nice color to the landscaping and while they're not hard to trim the cleanup is a pain.

 

Very literally.

 

That's one of the primary reasons I got rid of those suckers. It was that, and the fact that they were over-crowding the beds.

Very literally.

 

That's one of the primary reasons I got rid of those suckers. It was that, and the fact that they were over-crowding the beds.

 

Yeah, when you trim them early in the spring the barbs are still soft and not really a problem. But without completely raking out all of the mulch around the area you trimmed there will still be some clippings left over. Not enough to notice until you trim them again or are picking weeds and find the nice dried up, hardened poison needles hah. Seems like no matter how well you cleaned up the trimmings, you always find them the hard way at a later date.

Mr. Cat finally got smart about all the dead ash trees in our yard that still remain. We hired a guy who has already downed 4 or 5. Him and his crew cut them up, stacked them, and cleaned up the debris in less time than it would have taken us to do 1! We have a few more really big ones to go that should be coming down very soon. Less $ than we thought and well worth it!

 

Of course, I don't have any more trees in my yard so that stinks.

Mr. Cat finally got smart about all the dead ash trees in our yard that still remain. We hired a guy who has already downed 4 or 5. Him and his crew cut them up, stacked them, and cleaned up the debris in less time than it would have taken us to do 1! We have a few more really big ones to go that should be coming down very soon. Less $ than we thought and well worth it!

 

Of course, I don't have any more trees in my yard so that stinks.

 

$100 a tree?

Fantastic. I just hired them. First treatment is scheduled for today. With the amount of dandelions I already have, if there is just a "bunch" of them after today, it'll be a vast improvement. :lol2:

 

How is it working out for you?

Mr. Cat finally got smart about all the dead ash trees in our yard that still remain. We hired a guy who has already downed 4 or 5. Him and his crew cut them up, stacked them, and cleaned up the debris in less time than it would have taken us to do 1! We have a few more really big ones to go that should be coming down very soon. Less $ than we thought and well worth it!

 

Of course, I don't have any more trees in my yard so that stinks.

 

We had two really nice ash trees that we had to take down last summer.

$100 a tree?

 

Maybe $200 a tree? I can't remember how many total are coming down. $2,000 total.

Maybe $200 a tree? I can't remember how many total are coming down. $2,000 total.

 

guy quoted me $1,000 to take down 11. Mind you, only a couple were very large and none were close to the house.

How is it working out for you?

 

I just started using TruGreen again this year too. I've got so many other projects going on (working on my deck right currently) and my lawn has been overrun with weeds and problems, I figured since it doesn't cost all that much more, to just let them do it. I noticed a big difference after the first treatment in May (I got a late start), and just had my second done. I had used them in the past for a couple seasons when I was facing time problems from coaching summer baseball, and was pretty happy with what they did. I only stopped using them because I felt like I could take care of it myself. That didn't work out so well.

guy quoted me $1,000 to take down 11. Mind you, only a couple were very large and none were close to the house.

 

Yeah, some of these are very close to the house and some are pretty big! Guy is coordinating with Owen Electric to bring down the wires to our house because some will take the wires with them for sure. Overall, I'm pretty happy so far! Money well spent and the time saved is tremendous!

How is it working out for you?

 

First treatment back in April was great. Almost immediately got rid of 99% of the weeds in our yard. Did the second treatment about 10 days ago. Looked at my account and they charged me double. I called and asked why, and they said they did a grub treatment as well. I had specifically told them when they called about grub treatment that I didn't want it. They did it anyways. Nope, not paying for that garbage. Said the charge would be credited back to my account within 10 days. If it ain't back today when I look, I'm cancelling.

 

So to answer your question, not well. :lol2:

My only problem is white clover, I spray 2-4-D for my weeds and it kept the clover in check but I think its became ammune to it. Read where soil might be low in nitrogen but I really don't want to add I mow enough as it is. Any suggestions?

My only problem is white clover, I spray 2-4-D for my weeds and it kept the clover in check but I think its became ammune to it. Read where soil might be low in nitrogen but I really don't want to add I mow enough as it is. Any suggestions?

 

How are you applying the 2-4-D? Are you spot spraying it with a handheld sprayer or using a sprayer attached via water hose (like a miracle grow sprayer or and adjustable type hose attachment) and spraying your entire lawn? Also do you have any grass mixed in with the clover or has the clover completely taken over? If it has, the 2-4-D will kill the clover, but it or other weeds will eventually come back if you don't overseed those sections that were overrun with clover. I promise you that the clover hasn't become immune to the 2-4-D though, that stuff will kill anything depending on how it's mixed.

No it's just big spots and has grass mixed in. I have a 40 gallon sprayer that goes on a side by side because I mow rooughly 2 1/2 acres.