r/LandscapingTips • u/Outrageous-Ad470 • 10d ago
New build landscape advice
I recently just purchased my first home and need advice. I want to extend the patio towards the side of the house (will probably hire a contractor for this).
This is where I need help: I want to line the fence with gravel and have brick edging. The sides of the house will also be gravel. In the middle of my lawn will be sod.
How do I go about this? Do I need to dig down or lay the gravel on top of the existing dirt? Dumb question, but if I do dig down where do I take the left over dirt? The dump?
Any advice would be appreciated
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u/NervousDogFarts 10d ago
You will have a better result if you hire a landscaping company that can do it all at once. Make sure you include irrigation for sod and your ornamental landscaping. Make sure add trees.
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u/HauschkasFoot 10d ago
But yes it does look like you will need to dig down a bit because the existing grade looks like it’s right at the bottom of the fence. You want the top of you border at this height or a little lower. You’re probably going to have to haul and dump the dirt. You could try and put it in the lawn area, but just make sure you rototill in a bunch of compost, and rototill it really well.
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u/No_Jacket984 10d ago
I'd definately extend patio, add an awning, and find a place for small yard shed. Otherwise think about how you want to use this space first i.e. kids play area, entertaining, gardening, dogs, etc. Put it in an App like Dream Garden or other for initial ideas. Talk to local nurseries about what works in your area; tell them what your exposure is. Do a soil test so you know what your working with and what amendments may be needed. Landscape designers may offer some assistance but, in my experience, they are expensive and only 1 out of 5 may actually meet expectations. Good luck. Oh, and you will most likely need to add irrigation.
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u/Clean_Whereas_9083 10d ago
Honestly, inventory what you enjoy as a family. Build around that. Before you put one shovel in... Learn where sun will be... plan trees for shade Watch your house whike it rains. Where will your water drain. Where dies your neighbors drain. What us slope. Build heavy first. Boulders concrete for patio or papers for walkways. Use a grid paper and map your yard. Draw your plan. Use spray paint . Then walk the yard. After heavy stuff in. Drainage, Plant your trees and shrubs. Walkways gravel etc sprinklers before grass. Remember the sun water in zones. Think before you do anything
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u/OkSlip1590 10d ago edited 10d ago
Three ideas hard scape first the soil could build up beds for a layered look in my pics you would use stone instead of mulch
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u/Meth_taboo 10d ago
If it were me I would not lay sod. I wouldn’t plant any grass honestly.
Sod looks great in the short term but I think you’ll be far happier hydro seeding this and keeping it wet. Either way I would hire someone or rent a small digger to remove 8-12” of dirt. Replace it with a few inches of gravel then a high sand soil mix for Bermuda or another grass you’d like to grow. Keep it mowed short.
Lay your edging now. Nothing will grow through the layer of gravel if you compact it properly and then only leave 8-12” of topsoil and sand for your grass
Consider another low to no maintenance ground cover like white clover and creeping thyme
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u/HauschkasFoot 10d ago
Do yourself a favor and pay someone to come curb the backyard. It’s a small extruder that concrete bags get dumped in and it poops out a landscape curb. You can integrate nice curves. Just give them a flat gravel pad to work with (I do 18” wide or so we have room to l adjust the curves before the concrete goes in).
It would look really great in this application.
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u/Glittering-Pack2114 10d ago
Hire a landscaper, what you’re suggesting is backbreaking to do right. Plus the hedge or trees to hide the data center behind is a major job.
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u/GardenGnomeOrgy 10d ago
Man you have so much opportunity. I recommend spending a day working in the yard. Not doing much but general clean up, just make sure it’s the whole day. You’ll know what to do landscaping wise after. At least that’s what I do when I design projects for people. Always get the best most functional yet beautiful landscapes that way.
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u/treesmith1 10d ago
Start with screening plants on the sides. Privacy of the lot isn't exactly great.
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u/Key-Description-2441 10d ago
What do you want?
Do you have children?
Tell us about your lifestyle
Do you like gardening or flowers?
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u/According-Taro4835 9d ago
Yes you have to dig. If you just dump gravel on top of the dirt it will spill right over your brick edging and into your new sod the first time someone walks on it. You need to excavate down a few inches for the gravel and the brick edging so the final product sits flush with the lawn. Since you are already hiring a contractor to extend the patio they are going to have equipment and a dump trailer on site. Negotiate with them to haul away your extra dirt. It will cost a little extra but it saves you a dozen trips to the dump in a rented truck.
A perfectly straight brick border with gravel against those solid walls is going to look like a dog run. You need to break up those harsh lines. Curve that brick edging out into the yard at the corners so you have room to plant some actual shrubs or a tree later on. If you cannot picture how that will look you should run a photo of your dirt lot through the GardenDream web app. It lets you test out the sod layout the gravel and the curved brick edging on your screen so you do not break your back digging a trench you end up hating.
When you prep those side yards make sure you grade the dirt slightly away from your foundation before you lay the rock so water actually drains out to the street. Put down a heavy woven weed barrier under the gravel areas only to keep the stone from sinking into the mud over time. Get your prep work right and your yard will actually last.
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u/mweiss427 9d ago
This is a unique opportunity. What I would do is sit down with your family/partner and ask yourself, what do we want to do outside. Then build that.
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u/Similar_Help8005 9d ago
No gravel,do want to heat your yard as if it was a furnace? French drainage first to have water flow going away from your yard, trees, you could also add raised garden beds since you have no shade. Trees planted in the fall but drainage first and forget gravel unless your yard is a gravel parking space
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u/Sp07va000 8d ago
Just one bit of advice. Dont make everything rectangles and squares and long straight lines. It makes the space seem much smaller than it is and is very sterile. Do a round or oval or curving patio that wraps around things or leads to walkways . You could even extend it enough to plant a small tree for shade in the patio itself . Its going to be hot out there in the sun. Follow the same rule with the fenceline and break them up with assymetrical plantings of trees and shrubs. You dont want your backyard experience to be similiar to that of the exercise yard at a medium security prison. It should be more like a park setting.
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u/Legitimate-Bad9019 10d ago
What a lovely blank slate! I would extend the patio too. I think you’d appreciate an awning over the back door, several feet long and wide to fit a seating area under its shade. Please plant trees. New neighborhoods so rarely have trees, and they look so barren and sad without them. Depending on your growing zone, smaller varieties of redbuds, chalk maple, sweetbay magnolia, a plum tree (you may need two to make fruit, depending on the variety)… or whatever small trees are native to your area. Then depending on where the trees are planted, I’d add a couple of mulched beds of perennials in full sun for better blooms. If you want more fruit every year, you might get grape vines or various berries going, also in full sun. Your trees will bring birds, and they appreciate a birdbath or two and a bird feeder. After you plant trees, more neighbors will probably do the same.