@awk@rtjhnstn Or perhaps the yard is full of elephant ears. We let the ee’s grow around the perimeter of two sides of the yard for privacy. They’re currently a little over 7’ tall and the bigger ones have leaves that are 4-5’ from tip to stem. Freezing doesn’t kill them off; they’re right back in full growth each April or so.
I have a great outdoor space, screened in gazebo, couch, propane fire pit, pellet grill. Only problem is I need to have a day off where it’s not 90 degrees out to enjoy it
@Mehrocco_Mole I’ve thought about it. The two on the sides are max height allowed in the township. I like the neighbor to the left anyway. His was the first fence and he went out of his way to put up something nice. They have a severely autistic kid so the fence was a necessity to stop him from eloping. The neighbor straight back is fine but we have no real interaction. The fuckers on the right with that pallet looking fence can get bent. The husband is a beat reporter for our local ABC affiliate. His ego crosses the doorway 10’ before the rest of him. His wife is a snot. Their 16 year boy invites friends over who occasionally toss their beer cans over the fence into my yard. I throw them back. There’s a daughter, about 13 who is fine, for now. I have little hope for her.
@cinoclav@gera28 plant blackberries all along the fence of the tv guy. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Also nice is bamboo. Put a 4’ deep 60 mil rhizome barrier on your side and nothing on his. He’ll be fighting that forever.
@cinoclav 's back yard is nicely mown, tv guy’s looks pretty densely grown. Bamboo or other fast growing invasives would backfire BIGtime.
I’d landscape with a lot of low-maintenance shrubs and groundcovers. Screen tv-guy’s fence with arborvitae, cypress, or juniper - put flowering dogwood along the opposite fence. Go over to Carolyn’s Shade Gardens for ideas of what to put beneath them, but cut down the lawnmowing time with some easy groundcovers; pachysandra, lily of the valley, hosta, etc etc.
Then a nice little hardscaped patio area with a hammock stand…
@cinoclav@gera28@tweezak Or plant poison ivy on your side or poison oak and train it to climb the fence. One farm (immediately next to my grandmother’s) has poison ivy planted all along his fences that enclose his 90 acres or so (except my grandmother’s side) to go with his no trespassing signs. Since he had goats they kept his side trimmed. Of course you are an ex-goat so maybe that would keep it from spreading on your side (grin).
/giphy just kidding
@cinoclav Build a more substantial back panel, then paint all three of them to match. The design will be much less obvious if they’re all the same color, and it might even piss off your cheap neighbors as a bonus.
@gera28@tweezak@magic_cave@aetris What you can’t see on the other side of that pallet fence is exactly how much money they’ve put into everything else. The wife spends every free second she has out there tending to her yard. She has a side business doing renovations and designs. It’s actually kind of ridiculous how much crap there is around their house. That building to the left used to be an old barn when they bought the property. They tore it down, rebuilt it as a garage with his man cave on the second floor.
Believe me, I’ve considered many options, including bamboo. We have a planter with mint and I’ve thought about tossing a bunch of that over there too. It would work it’s way underground and take over before anyone knew it was there. As we have a couple of bird feeders, she must hate having all the birds around since I saw an owl decoy put up on the fence one day. I may just start tossing some handfuls of seed over there in the dark.
@cinoclav how are they selfish? There are laws about fence lines and if they are on their side what is the issue? Planning to sabotage cause you don’t them is stupid. If you don’t like your side improve it in your property. None of that looks ugly to me
Ok one fence panel is crooked… They fenced your yard for you
@unksol There’s so much more to the story. I could start with the time when they were new neighbors and they ran a bobcat through part of my yard and tore it up. They said they’d fix it and never did. I ended up having to fix it myself by filling it in and reseeding. When they put the fence up it was about 8" over the allowed height of 72". I went over to kindly tell them that if the inspector came out to look at it he would force them to remove the top plank. I was trying to be helpful, instead they gave me a bunch of shit about it. The guy acted like a total dick. He said, “Well I’m 6’ so I can tell if it’s too high.” I looked slightly down at him and said, “Yeah, I’m 6’, which is how I knew it was too high since it’s over my head.” Meanwhile his wife kept running out screaming that she didn’t want to look at our clothesline, which is literally one single line that hangs below the top of the fence line, out of sight. Three days later the top row facing my yard came down to bring it to code. There’s still a section that faces the street that’s too high. I’m keeping that one in my back pocket to report in case they really piss me off again. The fence is also literally an inch from the property line. Their mulch is pushed through it and into my yard, which makes it a pain to cut and trim along the fence. There’s an area that I had taken care of for the last 20 years and could have legally gone after them for an easement but I was trying not to be the jerk new neighbor.
While she spends all her time on the backyard that they can see and use, the area in the front between our properties remains completely untouched. It’s a total jungle and looks like crap. What you see in the picture here is barely what it looks like now. Also, her kids cut across my lawn going home, which I’m totally fine with. However, they actually had the nerve to put down rocks where that red arrow is so the kids had a walkway that leads directly to the middle of my front yard. Who the fuck does that?
When they were redoing their yard they took down a ton of trees. Some dead, some perfectly healthy. But they didn’t cut anything back that affected my property. I pointed out a few trees on their property that were in bad shape that I was concerned would fall into my house if they went down. They couldn’t have cared less since it wasn’t affecting their landscape plans. After the last big wind storm I spent a day outside with my chainsaw having to cut up huge limbs from their trees. Another big limb had come down and was half in my yard, resting over their fence with the larger part of the limb on their side. Two days later it magically ended up entirely on my side of the fence. It couldn’t have gotten there without them pushing it over. I dragged it behind their fence at the back of their yard since the fence doesn’t go all the way to the property line and left it there. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
Btw, I’m fine with my own yard. I also don’t care if there are fences around the back. Though two of them are nice while the wood one is really ugly. It’s not finished and is just warping and is going to quickly rot.
@cinoclav so that’s a valid list of complaints that might actually be actionable. Vs the I Don’t like fences. Especially if they are out of compliance and just being assholes. I am missing the arrows.
I’m in a weird space were the neighbor treats some stuff as his lawn. Property line litterly skims they’re house. but its half an acre over and he’s just mowing. Using a rundown garage as a chicken coop. We’ve talked and really want to sell that off eventually. Need to get on that
@cinoclav but still if their fence is on their side they are either completely responsible for what’s on their side or you are for what’s on yours. I believe most states require you both to agree on a reasonable fence within state law and each pay for half the cost if you take it to court and run down the middle
@cinoclav other than obviously you can trim the part of the tree over the line as long as you don’t kill it in most states. . But that’s obviously for trimming be careful dropping a large limb. If your relationship is completely shot maybe consult a lawyer
@cinoclav@unksol We had some renters next to us when we bought our house. They were not bad people but they had two little girls that would come out their back door and run right across our driveway right in front of our garage. Now I really didn’t care about them using our driveway but I was really concerned one of us was going to back out over one of them. I talked to their dad and told him I wanted to put in arborvitae along the edge of the driveway to prevent that horrific disaster and he was cool with it even though it wasn’t really on my property. A new neighbor there later asked if he could take them out. I told him the story and he totally understood. I helped him cut them down.
@cinoclav@unksol My serious suggestion would be to build a fence you like the look of out of pressure treated posts and 3 stringers. Sink the posts in cement and trowel it so the water runs away from the post. Use cedar for the fence boards and put it all together with coated trumpet head torx drive deck screws. It will last and look great for many many years. Put that up an inch or so from theirs and forget about them. That said, a screen of 20’ tall live bamboo screen would be beautiful and you’d never see them. Added bonus: bamboo loses leaves constantly and they get everywhere. It will drive her completely insane.
@cinoclav@gera28@tweezak The trouble with blackberries though is that neighbor could spray them through the fence slats with round up and that will kill them. Then getting out a ton of dead blackberries will be a giant pain that will pretty much slice and dice you unless you wait for them to rot. Of course if she didn’t do that having a ton of blackberries to eat would be lovely. They are so expensive in the store and they taste so good!
@cinoclav@gera28@Kidsandliz@tweezak I mean I think your options are to look at state law and get a lawyer. Fence laws get complicated. Or if you don’t like the look put your own up and the middle be the no man land. If there is any contestation of the property line we they are dicks you’ll end up in court anyway
@mike808@unksol Or enclose the entire garden in chicken wire. Have to do that at the farm due to deer or when the neighbor’s cows get in. In either case it is good by blueberry bushes, flowers, small newly planted trees… you name it.
@mike808 this is just the yard. But rural. I do see a herd of 30+ come through a couple times in the fall right by the house. Or I used to. Currently mom and her foal plus another go right by the window 10 feet out. By fall I might consider her fair game
@Kidsandliz@mike808@tinamarie1974 I don’t consider deer pest although I haven’t gotten around to a garden yet. They have a trail from the neighbors and into my property 12 acres. They just happen to wander through the portion I would call “yard” if I had kids. I don’t. They are fine. May taste delicious. Not dealing with city/suburban deer here
@Kidsandliz@mike808@tinamarie1974
Well when you say cohabitate lol. I do plan to get around to hunting this year. That’s a couple hundred pounds of free range meat if you get a few and they are delicious.
It can be best to take young does. So the older ones who know to look for cars etc can keep breeding. In theory. But if I recognize her and the kid I might pass. Feels kind of dickish to take her when she got used to feeding right out the window
@Kidsandliz@mike808@unksol yeah I don’t like the idea of hunting (and would never), but understand why it is important to control the population, etc. I respect others choice…so don’t think I am passing judgement.
@tinamarie1974 lol I didn’t think you would but if you eat meat… Holy heck they do it way worse on an industrial scale. And if you don’t well. Good for you.
People turn petty differences into silly made up talking points for politics these days. It’s exhausting.
@unksol agree, I find it so frustrating that everything turns into a political argument. I am just happy when people have an opinion.
And I DO eat meat, I am a ball of contradictions. The only way I can is because I didn’t kill or never met the animal. I know it is crazy, but it is how I can justify it.
I have a friend who is a farmer and he offered to sell me a head of cattle recently. It was a great deal, but I couldn’t do it. Nope
@Kidsandliz@tinamarie1974@unksol
I get it that the deer are cute. But not a single one of the people that hyperventilate over population control hunts have ever offered one nickel to the city or residents to pay for all of the landscaping that has to be replaced constantly from their ravaging my property and devaluing it by increasing my expenses to maintain it. Not. One. Nickel. So in my view, they can either put up or shut up about their feelings about cute deer that don’t cost them a penny to pay for all of the damage forcing their “pets” onto the other residents that don’t feel the same way and just want these urban vandals removed or controlled.
Even then, it’s not like I can just pick them off and harvest them any time I’d like. That’s not allowed in cities, even though they’re on my property and they can’t read the damned “No tresspassing. Tresspassers will be shot.” signs.
The process, as I understand it, is that the state DNR studies the local deer overpopulation (because in the cities and urban areas, they have no natural predators to stop them from breeding like rabbits) and makes a recommendation to allow the city special hunt licenses. Then the city council approves scheduled safe cullings of DNR-recommended numbers of bucks and does. The city police takes volunteer officers (who hunt) to perform the culling, and they take the carcasses to a local processor who then donate the meat to local food pantries.
So it isn’t like there’s a bunch of hunters who cowboy over to the local park in the off-season to fill up their freezers or go shining to take them out. A whole lot of people have to agree to make it happen. So when certain folks get their feels all up in a bunch over it, they need to remember that this is a democracy, and not everyone gets their way all the time.
I’m happy to change my position when speaking to my city council to take them out every chance the DNR will let them if my neighbors start giving me gift cards at the local landscaping nurseries to pay for the deer buffet they want me to run for them. Until then, circle of life for the deer.
The deer was there before you decided to buy your house
It is your responsibility to throughly and completely research a property before purchasing. You should have taken this into account before you purchased.
If you don’t like wildlife, move to a more urban area
Instead of planting tasty treats, plant flowers and shrubbery the deers do not prefer. They will leave your property alone and go snack on your neighbors flowers.
Sorry, but the deer or other wildlife will not just leave because you don’t want them there. Instead of wasting your energy to complain, find a way to live in harmony.
Or continue to be pissed off, but it won’t do you any good.
@Kidsandliz@tinamarie1974@unksol
Where I live has been an urban area for almost a hundred years. Deer have never lived “in the wild” in such concentrations because people have driven off their natural predators and folks like you have volunteered my landscaping for them to eat without my permission or consent.
There is a difference between a deer sighting here and there, much like one would expect in the rural, wooded, non-urban areas, and a “train” of 10-15 deer that gang rape my property every day for weeks on end. Or the damage to vehicles and injury from the wrecks they cause being unable to process dealing with urban vehicle traffic.
So put up a grant to compensate residents for the damages you don’t have any problem imposing on those that disagree with you, or shut up about how my city controls deer overpopulation. Your view of “appropriate” or “natural” populations is completely unfounded in any environmental science, and mine is in alignment with DNR studies, city council review and approval, volunteers who participate to practice safe hunting skills, that in the end, feed people that would otherwise go hungry.
You should go visit a commercial abbotoir to see real animal abuse. And I’d bet you’d be singing a different tune if it was packs of cayotes or cougars running through your neighborhood.
@Kidsandliz@mike808@unksol you are truly exhausting. And again shame on you for not investigating before your purchase. I noticed how you ignored that point. Why should someone else be financially responsible for your oversight and bad garden planning?
Also I know you THINK you are omniscient, but there are packs of coyote that roam near me and I can hear them yipping at night. No issues. I was aware of their presence before purchasing my home.
If deer are a garden pest yes plant things they don’t like. Stick to your garden. Or over plant so they have extra but they really don’t need you help.
I always love seeing one or two deer in my field with their fawns bedding down.
I usually see 30-40 in a herd a couple times a year and its only a few acres to the river. like seeing that too. I like knowing we have a healthy deer population. And the DNR works VERY hard to maintain that. Because all natural predators of deer are gone.
@mike808@tinamarie1974 if your city needs to cull deer I can guarantee it’s done through the DNR and probably via hunters. If there are more than they can handle… Well you needed more hunters/sponsored hunts/quotas earlier. It’s really rare that it would go past that. If it is and they are being responsibly harvested and going to soup kitchens. Good.
I intentionally bought my property knowing there would be deer. And space for gardening. And hunting. Or at least I hoped. I got a little lazy. Hence why mom and fawn are right out the window. That would be a little unfair. I didn’t bait them but they have gotten comfortable in my yard. Although I intend to cut it soon. But that’s really only makes a 100 ft difference.
Can we agree that deer are not pest and if they need to be killed they should be used to feed people?
It’s not uncommon for people to have a disconnect between eating meat and taking an animals life. I agree It’s weird and if you can involve them and the respect that goes into it vs a meat packing plant opinions can change one side or the other. Industrial farming is … Not great. But I eat that too.
We live where we live. Deer are not generic pests to just be killed. They don’t attack anyone. There are reasons to control their population. They don’t really belong in major cities it’s dangerous for them and for us. If they are they they are a resource that can benefit people.
@mike808@tinamarie1974 and I failed to read Mike’s full response earlier. Sounds like they need to up you deer reduction zones. Maybe your DNR is crappy. But it’s always going to be hard to get support in urban areas. Cause people don’t want to see that. Best you can do is try and educate even if they don’t want to confront that disconnect
@tinamarie1974@unksol
Interesting. So people who live in ghettos and in poverty choose to live there, in squalor?
So people who are foreclosed on and forced to move chose to get foreclosed on and live where they live, and deer overpopulation is a primary guiding factor in that choice?
Perhaps you unknowingly enjoy some sort of privilege related to where you live and being able to choose where you live without consequences that not everyone else in STL gets to enjoy. Deer-whistle much?
I will continue to vote for candidates on my city and county councils that support increased deer reduction as often as the DNR will recommend it.
If you want more deer in your neighborhood, good for you. Come get them out of mine. The residents in my city support aggressive deer reduction for all of the reasons I’ve stated. They do not belong in urban areas, which is what my city is.
@mike808@tinamarie1974 wow. Just. Wtf dude. You are just all over the place. I don’t know where you live but I already agreed with you that deer reduction zones needed to up the quota if they are a problem. If your DNR is doing a bad job then get involved. My state does analysys and actually manages stuff. If yours is failing have you written to you state officials and the DNR? I bet there are hunter groups to talk to if the DNR fucks up they have a vested interest in managing the population.
I don’t think you were ever advocating to just kill deer. I hope. But you can come across very hostile.
I made a harmless joke about not having a dog or outside cat to poop in my lawn. But there are harmless deer I might hunt later. You blew up at the word deer. Kill them all which is just bad hunting/management. Maybe dial it back a notch or two. There are better ways to deal with your frustration
@Mike808, as I have said before you have issues and there is nothing anyone here can do to help you.
You may live in an urban area, but unless you live in the City of St Louis do not try to tell me it was urban 100 years ago. I will call bullshit on you. Many towns, municipalities and cities were formed over 100 years ago but anything west of Forest Park (maybe Maplewood - county) was considered very rural. St Louis just did not have the logistical infrastructure (significant roads, trollies, etc) to have thriving industrial centers anywhere but downtown.
Regardless of where you live it is your choice. Do we have economical constraints with those choices, YES. I would LOVE to live in Frontenac, but I am not as privileged as you believe. I researched many areas based upon multiple criteria like current home value, growth, school districts, proximity to friends and family, etc and made a choice based upon what I could afford. Given we still live in the USA I am fairly certain you did the same unless maybe you are in witness protection? So, once again, calling bullshit.
As far as population control REREAD THE THREAD YOU DUMBASS. Unksol and I were discussing the topic and I stated that although I do not like to see deer killed I understand the need for population control for many reasons. For some reason this caused you to start foaming at the mouth. Guess what we don’t have to like every situation, we just have to accept it and move on. Example: You may not like that Trump is your President, but at least until November he is and there is nothing you can do about it but accept it as a fact. MOVE ALONG
TL:DR you are an angry bitter man who likes to throw tantrums if people do not agree with your POV. Too damn bad, I live in the USA and am allowed to have my own opinion Go vote for whatever you wish and just be happy you have that ability. Now leave me alone you unstable troll
Is a sanctuary for local wildlife - rabbits, deer, raccoons, the occasional fox, snakes, lizards, squirrels, blue jays & other birds of many kinds. Oh, and pollinators. That’s my excuse for letting it stay mostly untamed, or as some neighbors probably say, unkempt.
Actually it’s my sanctuary, vegetable garden, and dogs bathroom. But it’s also my chicken coop, junk collection, and storage area.
edit: forgot the blueberry bushes, pecan tree, lemon tree, and satsuma.
Its a limited common element which we have to take care of and water but can’t plant in or put stuff on. And they (HOA) took away our fence so it opens to the street and the fronts of the houses on the back street. And they took away our tree because (to be fair) it was sick and refuse to plant a new one or let us pay to put one in.
We have a little concrete patio with the grill and planters and the external A/C unit that uses about 20% of it; that is ours, as long as we don’t do something the HOA disapproves of.
Meh.
@duodec@phendrick I mean technically it’s supposed to be democratic that everyone living here agree to xyz standards to maintain property value. If you sign on. That’s on you. Although I understand in large cities that can be the only option. But if you wanted that price it comes with a cost.
I would never want to be part of one. But I’d never want to be in a city either. Like all life. Cost/benefit analysis.
Still you can bitch about it and try and find a way to push in a better direction
@duodec@phendrick HOA - my friend had a victory over them a while back. They had a couple of over the top rules that many neighbors, of hers anyway, hated. So she looked to see how many petition signatures would it take to over turn the rules. Took her a month of nearly full time effort door to door but she got the signatures (something close to 900 of them). OMG the inbred best buds who populated the board were pissed off. Took them two more months to slowly “validate” the signatures (fortunately they didn’t pretend to “lose” a few pages) but they won. As a side benefit she lost weight with all that walking.
@duodec@Kidsandliz@phendrick lol sad as it is that what it takes. If you’re the only one getting hit it’s easy to swipe under the rug. If it’s stupid you got to go knock on doors. It’s easy for them to pass shit with no one noticing. If everyone went to the meeting that might not happen. But no one goes, so you are stuck backing it out later when it impacts you
My gorgeous backyard with my sister’s family in it. Every summer we celebrate the burning of my small Christmas tree which has usually gotten nice and crispy by that time. The neighbors’ deck does not look like that because of a Christmas tree burning, just saying.
@unksol I want to say she was in charge of the incendiaries and her mustache was a casualty. In reality, the baby kept pulling it off and throwing it on the ground.
Mine is small but nice. We took out a big tree and all the grass and made it less flat. We put in flagstone paths and a koi pond with a waterfall. We have umbrella shaped red Japanese maples to sit under. We have a lot of fruit trees but that and the chickens attracted vermin that we have to deal with. We also are in an ongoing battle with a very large great blue heron that is determined to eat our koi that are each way too big for him to swallow.
I’m a city girl stuck in the suburbs, and I don’t know from backyards. My spouse doesn’t care what’s back there either. So it’s none of the above, just a boring expanse of grass and weeds. Eventually I’ll plant something, probably.
@ahacksaw are neither of you mowing? There does come a point where you have to kill it all. Mine is awful but I want to grade it first. Not a worry if yours is flat
Depends on your climate what to plant but your local state University extension center probably recommends the right type for your area on it’s site if you’re into diy.
I’m at the point where it would be kill the entire yard. Kill it again. and overseed with high quality Kentucky blue grass in fall. Support in spring. Kill any new weeds each spring summer. Cause I can’t stop them getting in from the woods. But dense/healthy grass should stop most weeds… Of course then you have to keep on top of mowing.
You can rent an overseeder for a day from most hardware stores. Rural king sells bulk seed
@unksol We now, or rather now we pay someone to do it for us. (They seed and trim and so other maintenance too.) I even know what I want to plant, I just don’t want to actually make the effort to do it. I hate summer, so weeding is my idea of hell. Our lot is fairly steeply graded and doesn’t get a lot of sun, and my preference would be to plant a nice thick ground cover like ajuga, but that wouldn’t be fair to my neighbors. I’ll probably put in some flowering shrubs at some point and call it a day.
Apt building. We have one but aren’t allowed to use it. At least my window looks out that way and not the parking lot. When I lived in houses they varied. What was important to me is not a back yard (not to mention I hate hate hate yard work), rather having a porch I could put porch swings on.
(picture is updated every thirty seconds on my page, so what you see now, won’t be what you see later.)
From my backyard weather page. The camera used to be moveable for the viewer, but technology advanced and it no longer is. I can move it, though.
The dark patches in the grass are little islands of clover. For the bees. The catnip is on the side of the house to the right. If you wanna see his tractors, let me know. I’ll move the cam.
@Kidsandliz Right now (and you can’t really see it well) under the clothesline, there are two chairs. Spot is under one of those chairs. We’ve had a horrible gopher problem this year, everyone in the neighborhood has. I actually watched a gopher pop its head up from one of the holes last week. I grabbed Pancho, took him over and said “get the gopher”. He looked at the hole, sniffed it, and walked off.
@lisaviolet Now that is funny (peeing in it). Mom and dad’s yards had gophers once. As kids we used to jump on the raised soil mounds around the yard. Don’t recall how they got rid of them.
@Kidsandliz@lisaviolet I don’t mind my resident gopher/ ground hog but there’s not much out there for him to hurt. His burrow is under the fire pit and sometimes he’s halfway up a tree which is just weird. If he was digging into foundations well. He’s bigger than the cats and a shotgun would be mutch quicker
@Kidsandliz@lisaviolet they sell mole “traps” if you want to get into that gruesome mess. I might care if I ever fix it. Never seen a high density of groundhogs. If it’s just the one don’t the damage… Camping his home hole with a shotgun will do it. If you have the stomach for it.
@lisaviolet I was going to link them but they are all pretty gruesome. You can Google if you are ok with that. The other option is to use a pesticide that kills their food. Then the moles won’t come in. Not a ground hog issue.
Not sure the cats wouldn’t mess with the traps either
And no pesticides. We try to be as poison free as possible here.
I have a couple of videos up on my youtube channel. One of Skipper running through the yard with a live gopher in his mouth, with a parade of cats behind him and another one of a little elderly deaf girl we named Bernadette (nods to Big Bang Theory; she was tiny and loud) we’d brought home from the vet’s office, eating one. Cats are welcome to dispatch the rodents. But us humans will just bitch and moan about the damage the critters do and let nature take it’s course.
@Kidsandliz@lisaviolet you win I was mixing up gophers which I have seen but rarely with the big 10+lb ground hog. cat would probably just leave him alone
… is a battlefield, with regular skirmishes between me and the blackberries, maple trees and nettles. Right now, I’ve pushed the perimeter back to a comfortable distance, but I know they are just biding their time, plotting amongst themselves, waiting for the right moment - a lapse in my vigilance - to reclaim some of their former territory. War is hell.
@tinamarie1974 We had a couple of goats back when the kids were in 4H. We quickly learned that 2 Pygmy goats barely make a discernible dent in the PNW jungle.
@macromeh are you sure there are no vines in there? Those are my main issue. Concentrated roundup can kill most of the thorny stuff if you got it and give it time
backyard! [This is where I go to find solace, daydream, have sword fights with my family, enjoy nature. If I walk back 300 yards I can descend an incredibly steep drop via grapevines and walk a beautiful creek with several small waterfalls.]
[
@AuntMean67 Beautiful. There is a creek with a waterfall about a mile hike through the woods behind my house. On my hike this morning, I saw 10 elk (including 3 large bulls and a calf) in a clear cut in the timber lands.
@macromeh@unksol I don’t have the convenience of shopping when I want or being around a lot of people ( well, being around people can be a drawback of city living). also, internet in the country really sucks. so don’t be so jealous. You can always put up a screen saver of the country.
@AuntMean67 you should try to get in the starlink beta. You might not get in but when they get more satellites up it’s going to change things. I can only get DSL but it’s not awful. No cable and they fight competition. Starlink are launching fast so in general the internet market might be up for a big change in the next few years. Cable companies will try and find a way to fight it I’m sure
@AuntMean67@f00l Hughes net and previous Satelite internet used geosynchronous Satelite. Big satelites at high altitude which caused lag and they cost a lot. Good for SAT phones and shitty internet
Spacex/the new wave is doing lots of very small satelites in low earth orbit. So no lag. But you have to have enough up vs stationary satelites. They have enough up to keep the network up now. But not the bandwidth. Hence why its a beta. They still need to get more satelites up if everyone wants in on it
@AuntMean67@f00l but since spacex is privately owned, makes their own rockets and Satelites, reuses their rockets… They look good to escalate this pretty fast. Cross your fingers
@AuntMean67@f00l it might still take them a few years to launch everything but the stated purpose is to deliver high speed internet to rural areas first.
@AuntMean67@f00l not a vapor product this time. They are launching 60 satelites at a time. And have license to launch thousands. You can watch the launches/deploys on YouTube. See the boosters land. They are now the only company capable of launching American astronauts as well until ULA (boeing/Lockheed) finally catch up. And starlink is planned to be their main income stream. It’s going to happen and cable companies don’t have a reason to fight about rural area. When they have enough up to compete in cities it might get ugly.
Mine is wooded so it stays OK without much effort. Unfortunately I live in an area that’s hot and has bland inorganic sand and nothing else so the only trees that grow are:
Pine trees, scrub oaks. That’s all… So not the most attractive trees.
Last house I lived in my back yard had all sorts of plants and flowers… I tried first few years here but unless in water constantly it’s a waste of effort.
Nothing likes growing in white inorganic sand, I tried amending the soil in the flower beds but obviously didn’t do enough. Think need to just replace the soil completely and that’s too much expense for me to spend on the outside.
It’s weird, our city is on the fall line and one side of the city when you see soil dug up it’s pure white sand… Go a few miles the other direction and it’s all heavy brick red clay. Complete opposites. What I wouldn’t give for horrible back breaking red clay again.
@OnionSoup you could do some raised beds so you don’t have to screw with the local dirt. Obviously yould have to build them. Getting dirt from a local landscaping company is probably cheaper than by the bag at big box. Depends on how much you need
Now you can go for higher treated wood which will last longer Especially if you are just doing flowers or ornamentals. When we talk about treated wood the entire process and chemicals have changed from years ago. Where there was arcenic. Really toxic but long lasting stuff in railroad ties. Never use that. But modern stuff is fine.
@AuntMean67 if you were concerned about the pressure treating its all based on copper now. There are a lot of grades and standards. Mostly based around how much water they will come in contact with. Most of a raised bed drains well. You might want to use ground contact rated for the base
They are supposed to introduce a bacteria that will kill mosquito larva. Obviously if there is running water no. But mosquitoes can’t hatch in running water. So…
Also obviously clear all small pockets of standing water. Still trying to get rid of the old tires the previous owner left…
@somf69@unksol My neighbors took all of the old tires on their lot and had them shredded for their driveway. Then they put stones over it. Very nice. But I don’t know what it cost.
@AuntMean67@somf69 local tire shop takes them for a few bucks. Way cheaper than our waste disposal district. I just haven’t taken the last few in because pandemic. I drilled the sidewalls a long time ago but they can still hold water
Has 7-foot tall weeds in it.
@awk You have 7’ tall weed in your back yard. Someone’s using Miracle Grow!
@awk @rtjhnstn Or perhaps the yard is full of elephant ears. We let the ee’s grow around the perimeter of two sides of the yard for privacy. They’re currently a little over 7’ tall and the bigger ones have leaves that are 4-5’ from tip to stem. Freezing doesn’t kill them off; they’re right back in full growth each April or so.
@awk @magic_cave @rtjhnstn I didnt know ee’s would survive a frost. Do they spread as well?
@awk Mine has thistle trees. It’s shocking how high those can grow.
@awk @magic_cave @rtjhnstn mine look like what Google says EE do but they don’t go that high. And such a broad leaf round up will kill it.
I have a great outdoor space, screened in gazebo, couch, propane fire pit, pellet grill. Only problem is I need to have a day off where it’s not 90 degrees out to enjoy it
I have a beautiful back yard! Here’s a picture of it right now (12:06am), in fact!
Technically it’s the cat’s bathroom
Is large and hopefully one day will have a lovely inground pool…#lifegoals
…is incredibly boring. It’s grass surrounded by three different fences thanks to selfish neighbors.
@cinoclav Build your own fence a foot taller than theirs. That’ll show 'em.
/giphy border wall
@Mehrocco_Mole I’ve thought about it. The two on the sides are max height allowed in the township. I like the neighbor to the left anyway. His was the first fence and he went out of his way to put up something nice. They have a severely autistic kid so the fence was a necessity to stop him from eloping. The neighbor straight back is fine but we have no real interaction. The fuckers on the right with that pallet looking fence can get bent. The husband is a beat reporter for our local ABC affiliate. His ego crosses the doorway 10’ before the rest of him. His wife is a snot. Their 16 year boy invites friends over who occasionally toss their beer cans over the fence into my yard. I throw them back. There’s a daughter, about 13 who is fine, for now. I have little hope for her.
@cinoclav Your backyard looks like a blank canvas. You can do something to make it great!
@cinoclav @gera28 plant blackberries all along the fence of the tv guy. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Also nice is bamboo. Put a 4’ deep 60 mil rhizome barrier on your side and nothing on his. He’ll be fighting that forever.
@tweezak You’re evil. I like that.
@cinoclav 's back yard is nicely mown, tv guy’s looks pretty densely grown. Bamboo or other fast growing invasives would backfire BIGtime.
I’d landscape with a lot of low-maintenance shrubs and groundcovers. Screen tv-guy’s fence with arborvitae, cypress, or juniper - put flowering dogwood along the opposite fence. Go over to Carolyn’s Shade Gardens for ideas of what to put beneath them, but cut down the lawnmowing time with some easy groundcovers; pachysandra, lily of the valley, hosta, etc etc.
Then a nice little hardscaped patio area with a hammock stand…
@cinoclav @gera28 @tweezak Or plant poison ivy on your side or poison oak and train it to climb the fence. One farm (immediately next to my grandmother’s) has poison ivy planted all along his fences that enclose his 90 acres or so (except my grandmother’s side) to go with his no trespassing signs. Since he had goats they kept his side trimmed. Of course you are an ex-goat so maybe that would keep it from spreading on your side (grin).
/giphy just kidding
@moonhat didn’t wear a mask to the grocery store.
@cinoclav Build a more substantial back panel, then paint all three of them to match. The design will be much less obvious if they’re all the same color, and it might even piss off your cheap neighbors as a bonus.
@gera28 @tweezak @magic_cave @aetris What you can’t see on the other side of that pallet fence is exactly how much money they’ve put into everything else. The wife spends every free second she has out there tending to her yard. She has a side business doing renovations and designs. It’s actually kind of ridiculous how much crap there is around their house. That building to the left used to be an old barn when they bought the property. They tore it down, rebuilt it as a garage with his man cave on the second floor.
Believe me, I’ve considered many options, including bamboo. We have a planter with mint and I’ve thought about tossing a bunch of that over there too. It would work it’s way underground and take over before anyone knew it was there. As we have a couple of bird feeders, she must hate having all the birds around since I saw an owl decoy put up on the fence one day. I may just start tossing some handfuls of seed over there in the dark.
@cinoclav how are they selfish? There are laws about fence lines and if they are on their side what is the issue? Planning to sabotage cause you don’t them is stupid. If you don’t like your side improve it in your property. None of that looks ugly to me
Ok one fence panel is crooked… They fenced your yard for you
@unksol There’s so much more to the story. I could start with the time when they were new neighbors and they ran a bobcat through part of my yard and tore it up. They said they’d fix it and never did. I ended up having to fix it myself by filling it in and reseeding. When they put the fence up it was about 8" over the allowed height of 72". I went over to kindly tell them that if the inspector came out to look at it he would force them to remove the top plank. I was trying to be helpful, instead they gave me a bunch of shit about it. The guy acted like a total dick. He said, “Well I’m 6’ so I can tell if it’s too high.” I looked slightly down at him and said, “Yeah, I’m 6’, which is how I knew it was too high since it’s over my head.” Meanwhile his wife kept running out screaming that she didn’t want to look at our clothesline, which is literally one single line that hangs below the top of the fence line, out of sight. Three days later the top row facing my yard came down to bring it to code. There’s still a section that faces the street that’s too high. I’m keeping that one in my back pocket to report in case they really piss me off again. The fence is also literally an inch from the property line. Their mulch is pushed through it and into my yard, which makes it a pain to cut and trim along the fence. There’s an area that I had taken care of for the last 20 years and could have legally gone after them for an easement but I was trying not to be the jerk new neighbor.
While she spends all her time on the backyard that they can see and use, the area in the front between our properties remains completely untouched. It’s a total jungle and looks like crap. What you see in the picture here is barely what it looks like now. Also, her kids cut across my lawn going home, which I’m totally fine with. However, they actually had the nerve to put down rocks where that red arrow is so the kids had a walkway that leads directly to the middle of my front yard. Who the fuck does that?
When they were redoing their yard they took down a ton of trees. Some dead, some perfectly healthy. But they didn’t cut anything back that affected my property. I pointed out a few trees on their property that were in bad shape that I was concerned would fall into my house if they went down. They couldn’t have cared less since it wasn’t affecting their landscape plans. After the last big wind storm I spent a day outside with my chainsaw having to cut up huge limbs from their trees. Another big limb had come down and was half in my yard, resting over their fence with the larger part of the limb on their side. Two days later it magically ended up entirely on my side of the fence. It couldn’t have gotten there without them pushing it over. I dragged it behind their fence at the back of their yard since the fence doesn’t go all the way to the property line and left it there. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
Btw, I’m fine with my own yard. I also don’t care if there are fences around the back. Though two of them are nice while the wood one is really ugly. It’s not finished and is just warping and is going to quickly rot.
@cinoclav so that’s a valid list of complaints that might actually be actionable. Vs the I Don’t like fences. Especially if they are out of compliance and just being assholes. I am missing the arrows.
I’m in a weird space were the neighbor treats some stuff as his lawn. Property line litterly skims they’re house. but its half an acre over and he’s just mowing. Using a rundown garage as a chicken coop. We’ve talked and really want to sell that off eventually. Need to get on that
@cinoclav but still if their fence is on their side they are either completely responsible for what’s on their side or you are for what’s on yours. I believe most states require you both to agree on a reasonable fence within state law and each pay for half the cost if you take it to court and run down the middle
@cinoclav other than obviously you can trim the part of the tree over the line as long as you don’t kill it in most states. . But that’s obviously for trimming be careful dropping a large limb. If your relationship is completely shot maybe consult a lawyer
@OldCatLady that means a lot coming from an old cat lady. Every old cat lady I’ve known has a mean streak.
@cinoclav @unksol We had some renters next to us when we bought our house. They were not bad people but they had two little girls that would come out their back door and run right across our driveway right in front of our garage. Now I really didn’t care about them using our driveway but I was really concerned one of us was going to back out over one of them. I talked to their dad and told him I wanted to put in arborvitae along the edge of the driveway to prevent that horrific disaster and he was cool with it even though it wasn’t really on my property. A new neighbor there later asked if he could take them out. I told him the story and he totally understood. I helped him cut them down.
@cinoclav @unksol My serious suggestion would be to build a fence you like the look of out of pressure treated posts and 3 stringers. Sink the posts in cement and trowel it so the water runs away from the post. Use cedar for the fence boards and put it all together with coated trumpet head torx drive deck screws. It will last and look great for many many years. Put that up an inch or so from theirs and forget about them. That said, a screen of 20’ tall live bamboo screen would be beautiful and you’d never see them. Added bonus: bamboo loses leaves constantly and they get everywhere. It will drive her completely insane.
@cinoclav @gera28 @tweezak The trouble with blackberries though is that neighbor could spray them through the fence slats with round up and that will kill them. Then getting out a ton of dead blackberries will be a giant pain that will pretty much slice and dice you unless you wait for them to rot. Of course if she didn’t do that having a ton of blackberries to eat would be lovely. They are so expensive in the store and they taste so good!
@cinoclav @gera28 @Kidsandliz @tweezak I mean I think your options are to look at state law and get a lawyer. Fence laws get complicated. Or if you don’t like the look put your own up and the middle be the no man land. If there is any contestation of the property line we they are dicks you’ll end up in court anyway
Deer’s bathroom
@unksol Right next to the Deer’s all-you-can-eat buffet of tender landscaping micro-greens. Hostas are particularly tasty, apparently.
Fuckers. Shoot em and turn them into meat for the local food pantry. Feed the people, not the deer.
@mike808 @unksol Or enclose the entire garden in chicken wire. Have to do that at the farm due to deer or when the neighbor’s cows get in. In either case it is good by blueberry bushes, flowers, small newly planted trees… you name it.
@mike808 this is just the yard. But rural. I do see a herd of 30+ come through a couple times in the fall right by the house. Or I used to. Currently mom and her foal plus another go right by the window 10 feet out. By fall I might consider her fair game
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @unksol I have deer and try to plant flowers that they don’t find particularly tasty.
For the hostas I have been sprinkling them with garlic powder. Seems to be doing the trick.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974 I don’t consider deer pest although I haven’t gotten around to a garden yet. They have a trail from the neighbors and into my property 12 acres. They just happen to wander through the portion I would call “yard” if I had kids. I don’t. They are fine. May taste delicious. Not dealing with city/suburban deer here
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @unksol yup I am happy to have them too. I think they are beautiful and enjoy watching them while trying to cohabitate
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974
Well when you say cohabitate lol. I do plan to get around to hunting this year. That’s a couple hundred pounds of free range meat if you get a few and they are delicious.
It can be best to take young does. So the older ones who know to look for cars etc can keep breeding. In theory. But if I recognize her and the kid I might pass. Feels kind of dickish to take her when she got used to feeding right out the window
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @unksol yeah I don’t like the idea of hunting (and would never), but understand why it is important to control the population, etc. I respect others choice…so don’t think I am passing judgement.
@tinamarie1974 lol I didn’t think you would but if you eat meat… Holy heck they do it way worse on an industrial scale. And if you don’t well. Good for you.
People turn petty differences into silly made up talking points for politics these days. It’s exhausting.
@unksol agree, I find it so frustrating that everything turns into a political argument. I am just happy when people have an opinion.
And I DO eat meat, I am a ball of contradictions. The only way I can is because I didn’t kill or never met the animal. I know it is crazy, but it is how I can justify it.
I have a friend who is a farmer and he offered to sell me a head of cattle recently. It was a great deal, but I couldn’t do it. Nope
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @unksol
I get it that the deer are cute. But not a single one of the people that hyperventilate over population control hunts have ever offered one nickel to the city or residents to pay for all of the landscaping that has to be replaced constantly from their ravaging my property and devaluing it by increasing my expenses to maintain it. Not. One. Nickel. So in my view, they can either put up or shut up about their feelings about cute deer that don’t cost them a penny to pay for all of the damage forcing their “pets” onto the other residents that don’t feel the same way and just want these urban vandals removed or controlled.
Even then, it’s not like I can just pick them off and harvest them any time I’d like. That’s not allowed in cities, even though they’re on my property and they can’t read the damned “No tresspassing. Tresspassers will be shot.” signs.
The process, as I understand it, is that the state DNR studies the local deer overpopulation (because in the cities and urban areas, they have no natural predators to stop them from breeding like rabbits) and makes a recommendation to allow the city special hunt licenses. Then the city council approves scheduled safe cullings of DNR-recommended numbers of bucks and does. The city police takes volunteer officers (who hunt) to perform the culling, and they take the carcasses to a local processor who then donate the meat to local food pantries.
So it isn’t like there’s a bunch of hunters who cowboy over to the local park in the off-season to fill up their freezers or go shining to take them out. A whole lot of people have to agree to make it happen. So when certain folks get their feels all up in a bunch over it, they need to remember that this is a democracy, and not everyone gets their way all the time.
I’m happy to change my position when speaking to my city council to take them out every chance the DNR will let them if my neighbors start giving me gift cards at the local landscaping nurseries to pay for the deer buffet they want me to run for them. Until then, circle of life for the deer.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @unksol once again we will disagree.
Sorry, but the deer or other wildlife will not just leave because you don’t want them there. Instead of wasting your energy to complain, find a way to live in harmony.
Or continue to be pissed off, but it won’t do you any good.
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @unksol
“The gang” terrorizing the neighborhood. Yet again.
@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Where I live has been an urban area for almost a hundred years. Deer have never lived “in the wild” in such concentrations because people have driven off their natural predators and folks like you have volunteered my landscaping for them to eat without my permission or consent.
There is a difference between a deer sighting here and there, much like one would expect in the rural, wooded, non-urban areas, and a “train” of 10-15 deer that gang rape my property every day for weeks on end. Or the damage to vehicles and injury from the wrecks they cause being unable to process dealing with urban vehicle traffic.
So put up a grant to compensate residents for the damages you don’t have any problem imposing on those that disagree with you, or shut up about how my city controls deer overpopulation. Your view of “appropriate” or “natural” populations is completely unfounded in any environmental science, and mine is in alignment with DNR studies, city council review and approval, volunteers who participate to practice safe hunting skills, that in the end, feed people that would otherwise go hungry.
You should go visit a commercial abbotoir to see real animal abuse. And I’d bet you’d be singing a different tune if it was packs of cayotes or cougars running through your neighborhood.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @unksol you are truly exhausting. And again shame on you for not investigating before your purchase. I noticed how you ignored that point. Why should someone else be financially responsible for your oversight and bad garden planning?
Also I know you THINK you are omniscient, but there are packs of coyote that roam near me and I can hear them yipping at night. No issues. I was aware of their presence before purchasing my home.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974 wow that got toxic while I was not watching. Can we all please calm down?
If deer are a garden pest yes plant things they don’t like. Stick to your garden. Or over plant so they have extra but they really don’t need you help.
I always love seeing one or two deer in my field with their fawns bedding down.
I usually see 30-40 in a herd a couple times a year and its only a few acres to the river. like seeing that too. I like knowing we have a healthy deer population. And the DNR works VERY hard to maintain that. Because all natural predators of deer are gone.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974 we also have deer reduction zones around major cities because they do cause accidents
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974
No responsibile hunter ever shoots an animal as a pest and leaves it to die.
@Kidsandliz @mike808 @tinamarie1974
And @mike808 please phrase it better. No one was disagreeing about population control or the DNR.
No one was disagreeing about eating meat. And if they were. Who cares? more for you. Calm down.
@unksol thanks! Maybe @Mike808 was trying to demonstrate how annoying it is when people attempt to turn innocent topics into a political debate
@tinamarie1974 @unksol
Must be nice to be able to choose where to live. And choose when to care about who was there first.
I like living in a city that implements deer culling, and will keep voting for candidates who support more of it.
Come get your deer.
@mike808 @unksol so you didn’t chose where to live? Someone chose your house for you? Interesting.
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 if your city needs to cull deer I can guarantee it’s done through the DNR and probably via hunters. If there are more than they can handle… Well you needed more hunters/sponsored hunts/quotas earlier. It’s really rare that it would go past that. If it is and they are being responsibly harvested and going to soup kitchens. Good.
I intentionally bought my property knowing there would be deer. And space for gardening. And hunting. Or at least I hoped. I got a little lazy. Hence why mom and fawn are right out the window. That would be a little unfair. I didn’t bait them but they have gotten comfortable in my yard. Although I intend to cut it soon. But that’s really only makes a 100 ft difference.
Can we agree that deer are not pest and if they need to be killed they should be used to feed people?
It’s not uncommon for people to have a disconnect between eating meat and taking an animals life. I agree It’s weird and if you can involve them and the respect that goes into it vs a meat packing plant opinions can change one side or the other. Industrial farming is … Not great. But I eat that too.
We live where we live. Deer are not generic pests to just be killed. They don’t attack anyone. There are reasons to control their population. They don’t really belong in major cities it’s dangerous for them and for us. If they are they they are a resource that can benefit people.
@mike808 @tinamarie1974
Yes they are cute. They can also be food. It’s possible to hold both opinions. It either. Without complaining at each other
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 and I failed to read Mike’s full response earlier. Sounds like they need to up you deer reduction zones. Maybe your DNR is crappy. But it’s always going to be hard to get support in urban areas. Cause people don’t want to see that. Best you can do is try and educate even if they don’t want to confront that disconnect
@tinamarie1974 @unksol
Interesting. So people who live in ghettos and in poverty choose to live there, in squalor?
So people who are foreclosed on and forced to move chose to get foreclosed on and live where they live, and deer overpopulation is a primary guiding factor in that choice?
Perhaps you unknowingly enjoy some sort of privilege related to where you live and being able to choose where you live without consequences that not everyone else in STL gets to enjoy. Deer-whistle much?
I will continue to vote for candidates on my city and county councils that support increased deer reduction as often as the DNR will recommend it.
If you want more deer in your neighborhood, good for you. Come get them out of mine. The residents in my city support aggressive deer reduction for all of the reasons I’ve stated. They do not belong in urban areas, which is what my city is.
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 wow. Just. Wtf dude. You are just all over the place. I don’t know where you live but I already agreed with you that deer reduction zones needed to up the quota if they are a problem. If your DNR is doing a bad job then get involved. My state does analysys and actually manages stuff. If yours is failing have you written to you state officials and the DNR? I bet there are hunter groups to talk to if the DNR fucks up they have a vested interest in managing the population.
I don’t think you were ever advocating to just kill deer. I hope. But you can come across very hostile.
I made a harmless joke about not having a dog or outside cat to poop in my lawn. But there are harmless deer I might hunt later. You blew up at the word deer. Kill them all which is just bad hunting/management. Maybe dial it back a notch or two. There are better ways to deal with your frustration
@unksol once again, thanks
@Mike808, as I have said before you have issues and there is nothing anyone here can do to help you.
You may live in an urban area, but unless you live in the City of St Louis do not try to tell me it was urban 100 years ago. I will call bullshit on you. Many towns, municipalities and cities were formed over 100 years ago but anything west of Forest Park (maybe Maplewood - county) was considered very rural. St Louis just did not have the logistical infrastructure (significant roads, trollies, etc) to have thriving industrial centers anywhere but downtown.
Regardless of where you live it is your choice. Do we have economical constraints with those choices, YES. I would LOVE to live in Frontenac, but I am not as privileged as you believe. I researched many areas based upon multiple criteria like current home value, growth, school districts, proximity to friends and family, etc and made a choice based upon what I could afford. Given we still live in the USA I am fairly certain you did the same unless maybe you are in witness protection? So, once again, calling bullshit.
As far as population control REREAD THE THREAD YOU DUMBASS. Unksol and I were discussing the topic and I stated that although I do not like to see deer killed I understand the need for population control for many reasons. For some reason this caused you to start foaming at the mouth. Guess what we don’t have to like every situation, we just have to accept it and move on. Example: You may not like that Trump is your President, but at least until November he is and there is nothing you can do about it but accept it as a fact. MOVE ALONG
TL:DR you are an angry bitter man who likes to throw tantrums if people do not agree with your POV. Too damn bad, I live in the USA and am allowed to have my own opinion Go vote for whatever you wish and just be happy you have that ability. Now leave me alone you unstable troll
Is a sanctuary for local wildlife - rabbits, deer, raccoons, the occasional fox, snakes, lizards, squirrels, blue jays & other birds of many kinds. Oh, and pollinators. That’s my excuse for letting it stay mostly untamed, or as some neighbors probably say, unkempt.
Actually it’s my sanctuary, vegetable garden, and dogs bathroom. But it’s also my chicken coop, junk collection, and storage area.
edit: forgot the blueberry bushes, pecan tree, lemon tree, and satsuma.
@Mehrocco_Mole if you have chickens my guess is that it’s a rat cafeteria after dark.
@Mehrocco_Mole @tweezak Yes. Those tiny dinosaurs probably murder rats after dark
It’s a place where I can grill and enjoy adult beverages
Its a limited common element which we have to take care of and water but can’t plant in or put stuff on. And they (HOA) took away our fence so it opens to the street and the fronts of the houses on the back street. And they took away our tree because (to be fair) it was sick and refuse to plant a new one or let us pay to put one in.
We have a little concrete patio with the grill and planters and the external A/C unit that uses about 20% of it; that is ours, as long as we don’t do something the HOA disapproves of.
Meh.
@duodec “HOA” = is a misspelling of “wannabe petty despots”
@duodec @phendrick I mean technically it’s supposed to be democratic that everyone living here agree to xyz standards to maintain property value. If you sign on. That’s on you. Although I understand in large cities that can be the only option. But if you wanted that price it comes with a cost.
I would never want to be part of one. But I’d never want to be in a city either. Like all life. Cost/benefit analysis.
Still you can bitch about it and try and find a way to push in a better direction
@duodec also if you are referring to the verge or right of way. Of course you do. Read the contract/state laws/HOA rules really carefully first.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_verge
Yes the state mows it now and then but I do it mowing the lawn before they get there usually
@duodec @phendrick HOA - my friend had a victory over them a while back. They had a couple of over the top rules that many neighbors, of hers anyway, hated. So she looked to see how many petition signatures would it take to over turn the rules. Took her a month of nearly full time effort door to door but she got the signatures (something close to 900 of them). OMG the inbred best buds who populated the board were pissed off. Took them two more months to slowly “validate” the signatures (fortunately they didn’t pretend to “lose” a few pages) but they won. As a side benefit she lost weight with all that walking.
@duodec @Kidsandliz @phendrick lol sad as it is that what it takes. If you’re the only one getting hit it’s easy to swipe under the rug. If it’s stupid you got to go knock on doors. It’s easy for them to pass shit with no one noticing. If everyone went to the meeting that might not happen. But no one goes, so you are stuck backing it out later when it impacts you
@Kidsandliz @phendrick @unksol
My gorgeous backyard with my sister’s family in it. Every summer we celebrate the burning of my small Christmas tree which has usually gotten nice and crispy by that time. The neighbors’ deck does not look like that because of a Christmas tree burning, just saying.
@kerryzero those are some impressive mustaches. Where is her’s
@unksol I want to say she was in charge of the incendiaries and her mustache was a casualty. In reality, the baby kept pulling it off and throwing it on the ground.
@kerryzero lol so she was in on it. How did the heist go
@kerryzero @unksol
@lisaviolet @unksol love this
@lisaviolet lol well done
Some polls need to be multi-select. A single backyard can have so many uses. But seeing which answer is trending, I foresee dog toys in Meh’s future.
Mine is small but nice. We took out a big tree and all the grass and made it less flat. We put in flagstone paths and a koi pond with a waterfall. We have umbrella shaped red Japanese maples to sit under. We have a lot of fruit trees but that and the chickens attracted vermin that we have to deal with. We also are in an ongoing battle with a very large great blue heron that is determined to eat our koi that are each way too big for him to swallow.
@tweezak pics??
I’m a city girl stuck in the suburbs, and I don’t know from backyards. My spouse doesn’t care what’s back there either. So it’s none of the above, just a boring expanse of grass and weeds. Eventually I’ll plant something, probably.
@ahacksaw are neither of you mowing? There does come a point where you have to kill it all. Mine is awful but I want to grade it first. Not a worry if yours is flat
Depends on your climate what to plant but your local state University extension center probably recommends the right type for your area on it’s site if you’re into diy.
I’m at the point where it would be kill the entire yard. Kill it again. and overseed with high quality Kentucky blue grass in fall. Support in spring. Kill any new weeds each spring summer. Cause I can’t stop them getting in from the woods. But dense/healthy grass should stop most weeds… Of course then you have to keep on top of mowing.
You can rent an overseeder for a day from most hardware stores. Rural king sells bulk seed
@unksol We now, or rather now we pay someone to do it for us. (They seed and trim and so other maintenance too.) I even know what I want to plant, I just don’t want to actually make the effort to do it. I hate summer, so weeding is my idea of hell. Our lot is fairly steeply graded and doesn’t get a lot of sun, and my preference would be to plant a nice thick ground cover like ajuga, but that wouldn’t be fair to my neighbors. I’ll probably put in some flowering shrubs at some point and call it a day.
Apt building. We have one but aren’t allowed to use it. At least my window looks out that way and not the parking lot. When I lived in houses they varied. What was important to me is not a back yard (not to mention I hate hate hate yard work), rather having a porch I could put porch swings on.
(picture is updated every thirty seconds on my page, so what you see now, won’t be what you see later.)
From my backyard weather page. The camera used to be moveable for the viewer, but technology advanced and it no longer is. I can move it, though.
The dark patches in the grass are little islands of clover. For the bees. The catnip is on the side of the house to the right. If you wanna see his tractors, let me know. I’ll move the cam.
@lisaviolet Looks like the cats you catch in your
catnip patchcat trap could have an interesting life never leaving your yard.@Kidsandliz Right now (and you can’t really see it well) under the clothesline, there are two chairs. Spot is under one of those chairs. We’ve had a horrible gopher problem this year, everyone in the neighborhood has. I actually watched a gopher pop its head up from one of the holes last week. I grabbed Pancho, took him over and said “get the gopher”. He looked at the hole, sniffed it, and walked off.
Charlie peed in it. I’ll tell, ya, these cats…
@lisaviolet I want to see the tractors.
@lisaviolet Now that is funny (peeing in it). Mom and dad’s yards had gophers once. As kids we used to jump on the raised soil mounds around the yard. Don’t recall how they got rid of them.
@sammydog01 Okay, you want to see them now?
@lisaviolet YES!
@sammydog01 I had to take photo, the tree and rain gauge thingy from the weather station blocked the view.
Both Mahindras, but he doesn’t like red so he had the dealership paint his first one blue.
@lisaviolet I’m a bit disappointed it’s not John Deere green. But I like it anyway! Thanks!
@sammydog01 At the time he got these, he felt Mahindra was the superior tractor.
Did I ever mention he was in a nationwide ad for Mahindra? And he was in a print version as well.
@lisaviolet You didn’t mention your husband was famous! Cool!
@sammydog01 He’s not. lol
@lisaviolet @sammydog01 that is some serious equipment
@lisaviolet is that a pool or a pond?
@RiotDemon Pool.
@lisaviolet @sammydog01
@Kidsandliz @lisaviolet I don’t mind my resident gopher/ ground hog but there’s not much out there for him to hurt. His burrow is under the fire pit and sometimes he’s halfway up a tree which is just weird. If he was digging into foundations well. He’s bigger than the cats and a shotgun would be mutch quicker
@Kidsandliz @unksol We have so many tunnels in the yard it’s like walking on a sponge.
@Kidsandliz @lisaviolet they sell mole “traps” if you want to get into that gruesome mess. I might care if I ever fix it. Never seen a high density of groundhogs. If it’s just the one don’t the damage… Camping his home hole with a shotgun will do it. If you have the stomach for it.
@lisaviolet I was going to link them but they are all pretty gruesome. You can Google if you are ok with that. The other option is to use a pesticide that kills their food. Then the moles won’t come in. Not a ground hog issue.
Not sure the cats wouldn’t mess with the traps either
@Kidsandliz @unksol Shudder…no thanks.
And no pesticides. We try to be as poison free as possible here.
I have a couple of videos up on my youtube channel. One of Skipper running through the yard with a live gopher in his mouth, with a parade of cats behind him and another one of a little elderly deaf girl we named Bernadette (nods to Big Bang Theory; she was tiny and loud) we’d brought home from the vet’s office, eating one. Cats are welcome to dispatch the rodents. But us humans will just bitch and moan about the damage the critters do and let nature take it’s course.
@Kidsandliz @lisaviolet you win I was mixing up gophers which I have seen but rarely with the big 10+lb ground hog. cat would probably just leave him alone
… is a battlefield, with regular skirmishes between me and the blackberries, maple trees and nettles. Right now, I’ve pushed the perimeter back to a comfortable distance, but I know they are just biding their time, plotting amongst themselves, waiting for the right moment - a lapse in my vigilance - to reclaim some of their former territory. War is hell.
@macromeh you could always hire a goat. There are a few lurking around her if you can catch them…
https://goatseatweeds.com/
@moonhat is to blame!
@tinamarie1974 We had a couple of goats back when the kids were in 4H. We quickly learned that 2 Pygmy goats barely make a discernible dent in the PNW jungle.
@moonhat is to blame!
@macromeh are you sure there are no vines in there? Those are my main issue. Concentrated roundup can kill most of the thorny stuff if you got it and give it time
backyard! [This is where I go to find solace, daydream, have sword fights with my family, enjoy nature. If I walk back 300 yards I can descend an incredibly steep drop via grapevines and walk a beautiful creek with several small waterfalls.]
[
@AuntMean67 Beautiful. There is a creek with a waterfall about a mile hike through the woods behind my house. On my hike this morning, I saw 10 elk (including 3 large bulls and a calf) in a clear cut in the timber lands.
@macromeh… what is the emoji for glaring with jelousy?
@macromeh how awesome! Those are animals I never get to see.
WORKER BEES! HERCULES! TURKEY GREASE! AWESOME!
@mediocrebot
@macromeh @unksol I don’t have the convenience of shopping when I want or being around a lot of people ( well, being around people can be a drawback of city living). also, internet in the country really sucks. so don’t be so jealous. You can always put up a screen saver of the country.
@AuntMean67 you should try to get in the starlink beta. You might not get in but when they get more satellites up it’s going to change things. I can only get DSL but it’s not awful. No cable and they fight competition. Starlink are launching fast so in general the internet market might be up for a big change in the next few years. Cable companies will try and find a way to fight it I’m sure
https://www.starlink.com/
@unksol looking into it as we speak, thanks
@AuntMean67 @unksol
I hope starlink will be way better than Hughes.net?
@AuntMean67 @f00l Hughes net and previous Satelite internet used geosynchronous Satelite. Big satelites at high altitude which caused lag and they cost a lot. Good for SAT phones and shitty internet
Spacex/the new wave is doing lots of very small satelites in low earth orbit. So no lag. But you have to have enough up vs stationary satelites. They have enough up to keep the network up now. But not the bandwidth. Hence why its a beta. They still need to get more satelites up if everyone wants in on it
@AuntMean67 @f00l but since spacex is privately owned, makes their own rockets and Satelites, reuses their rockets… They look good to escalate this pretty fast. Cross your fingers
@AuntMean67 @unksol
20+ years ago, I had a rural life and was able to get isdn.
Because <20+ years ago>, it wasn’t that bad for the time.
Now I have rural friends who can’t get anything decent except LTE.
I’ll mention this to them.
@AuntMean67 @f00l it might still take them a few years to launch everything but the stated purpose is to deliver high speed internet to rural areas first.
@AuntMean67 @unksol
Anyone who is rural, and who wants decent internet service, is very familiar with the concepts of “delays“ and “vapor products”.
: (
@f00l @unksol I’ve given them my information. Now I just have to wait and see if my area has beta testing. Crossing my fingers.
@AuntMean67 @f00l not a vapor product this time. They are launching 60 satelites at a time. And have license to launch thousands. You can watch the launches/deploys on YouTube. See the boosters land. They are now the only company capable of launching American astronauts as well until ULA (boeing/Lockheed) finally catch up. And starlink is planned to be their main income stream. It’s going to happen and cable companies don’t have a reason to fight about rural area. When they have enough up to compete in cities it might get ugly.
Is just more space I have to mow.
Mine is wooded so it stays OK without much effort. Unfortunately I live in an area that’s hot and has bland inorganic sand and nothing else so the only trees that grow are:
Pine trees, scrub oaks. That’s all… So not the most attractive trees.
Last house I lived in my back yard had all sorts of plants and flowers… I tried first few years here but unless in water constantly it’s a waste of effort.
Nothing likes growing in white inorganic sand, I tried amending the soil in the flower beds but obviously didn’t do enough. Think need to just replace the soil completely and that’s too much expense for me to spend on the outside.
It’s weird, our city is on the fall line and one side of the city when you see soil dug up it’s pure white sand… Go a few miles the other direction and it’s all heavy brick red clay. Complete opposites. What I wouldn’t give for horrible back breaking red clay again.
@OnionSoup you could do some raised beds so you don’t have to screw with the local dirt. Obviously yould have to build them. Getting dirt from a local landscaping company is probably cheaper than by the bag at big box. Depends on how much you need
@OnionSoup I’m not endorsing this at all but sounds reasonable on a quick glance
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/g20706096/how-to-build-a-simple-raised-bed/
Now you can go for higher treated wood which will last longer Especially if you are just doing flowers or ornamentals. When we talk about treated wood the entire process and chemicals have changed from years ago. Where there was arcenic. Really toxic but long lasting stuff in railroad ties. Never use that. But modern stuff is fine.
@OnionSoup @unksol thank you! That’s good to know. I love raised beds. Getting old, don’t want to kneel so much.
@AuntMean67 if you were concerned about the pressure treating its all based on copper now. There are a lot of grades and standards. Mostly based around how much water they will come in contact with. Most of a raised bed drains well. You might want to use ground contact rated for the base
https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/benefits-of-pressure-treated-wood/9ba683603be9fa5395fab9052c50759
Granted if you don’t want to kneel you might want some help filling any. That can be tons of dirt
…is where every gnat and mosquito lives
@somf69 if you have long standing water get some mosquito dunks.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Summit-12-in-Mosquito-Dunks-6-Pack-110-12/100334779
Most big box stores and Amazon have them. Just linking for an example.
https://www.summitchemical.com/mosquito/mosquito-dunks/
They are supposed to introduce a bacteria that will kill mosquito larva. Obviously if there is running water no. But mosquitoes can’t hatch in running water. So…
Also obviously clear all small pockets of standing water. Still trying to get rid of the old tires the previous owner left…
@somf69 @unksol My neighbors took all of the old tires on their lot and had them shredded for their driveway. Then they put stones over it. Very nice. But I don’t know what it cost.
@AuntMean67 @somf69 local tire shop takes them for a few bucks. Way cheaper than our waste disposal district. I just haven’t taken the last few in because pandemic. I drilled the sidewalls a long time ago but they can still hold water