OT- Landscaping Help/Removing Grass But Can't With Tree Roots

WeberWho · June 2018

Sorry for being way off topic. Trying to make a landing area for my wood shed and a place where I can put a couple 12' wood racks of split firewood for my smoker.

My plan is to lay river rock down. So I've removed grass up until the tree. Now I'm stuck. I can't remove anymore grass without hitting tree roots. How do I go about this? Can I lay some landscape fabric over the grass around the tree than cover with rock since I can't remove the grass? Not sure how to remove the grass without hitting tree roots. Not sure how to get around the tree to keep going. Just looking for a suggestion. Thanks guys!

alaskanassasin · June 2018

Surface roots should not be a problem, I have tilled around hundreds of trees 3-4" deep with no problems. If it has been super hot and dry I would be a bit more hesitant.

The easiest way to do it would be to just cut straight a border/ bed edge with a shovel and lay down heavy fabric on top of the grass and place your stones, you could get some larger 4-6" stones for a border so you have something to weed eat against. I don't see any need to dig your yard up, if you lay fabric and small stones they will be flush with 3" tall grass mowing.Good luck!

DoubleEgger · June 2018

Of course you can lay landscape fabric and rock on it. That’s probably what I would have done for the whole thing. Screw all of that digging. Lol.

The_Stache · June 2018

What type of grass?

WeberWho · June 2018

alaskanassasin said:

Surface roots should not be a problem, I have tilled around hundreds of trees 3-4" deep with no problems. If it has been super hot and dry I would be a bit more hesitant.
The easiest way to do it would be to just cut straight a border/ bed edge with a shovel and lay down heavy fabric on top of the grass and place your stones, you could get some larger 4-6" stones for a border so you have something to weed eat against. I don't see any need to dig your yard up, if you lay fabric and small stones they will be flush with 3" tall grass mowing.Good luck!

Thanks alaskanassasin! Much appreciated.

I'm trying to keep things level for the mower deck. We have river rock around our shed a few feet away. So I had to drop it a little for the rock. Nothing fancy but I'm far from knowing what I'm doing. Usually how it goes when it comes to projects.

I'll lay some heavy fabric over the grass around the tree and toss some rock on it. Thanks!

WeberWho · June 2018

DoubleEgger said:

Of course you can lay landscape fabric and rock on it. That’s probably what I would have done for the whole thing. Screw all of that digging. Lol.

Trust me, that's exactly what I was thinking after about 5 minutes of digging. Than it turned into me being a cheap @$$ and how I should have rented some type of sod remover for $100+ for a few hours. I just need to go a few feet on the other side of the tree. Getting there. Just wasn't sure how fabric over grass next to a tree that will need water would do.

DoubleEgger · June 2018

WeberWho said:

DoubleEgger said:

Of course you can lay landscape fabric and rock on it. That’s probably what I would have done for the whole thing. Screw all of that digging. Lol.

Trust me, that's exactly what I was thinking after about 5 minutes of digging. Than it turned into me being a cheap @$$ and how I should have rented some type of sod remover for $100+ for a few hours. I just need to go a few feet on the other side of the tree. Getting there. Just wasn't sure how fabric over grass next to a tree that will need water would do.

That fabric won’t affect water absorption at all.

WeberWho · June 2018

The_Stache said:

What type of grass?

I wish I could tell you Stache. I have Kentucky Blue upfront but the back of the house I'm clueless.

WeberWho · June 2018

DoubleEgger said:

WeberWho said:

DoubleEgger said:

Of course you can lay landscape fabric and rock on it. That’s probably what I would have done for the whole thing. Screw all of that digging. Lol.

Trust me, that's exactly what I was thinking after about 5 minutes of digging. Than it turned into me being a cheap @$$ and how I should have rented some type of sod remover for $100+ for a few hours. I just need to go a few feet on the other side of the tree. Getting there. Just wasn't sure how fabric over grass next to a tree that will need water would do.

That fabric won’t affect water absorption at all.

Good to know. Thanks Double

tarheelmatt · June 2018

I'd do fabric over too if you wanted to go that route .

You can kill the grass with glyphosate by spraying very lightly to not coat the ground and roots or wipe the grass with a roller with glyphosate to kill the grass. Then put your rock down. If grass and weeds come up, just spray with glyphosate to control.

WeberWho · June 2018

tarheelmatt said:

I'd do fabric over too if you wanted to go that route .

You can kill the grass with glyphosate by spraying very lightly to not coat the ground and roots or wipe the grass with a roller with glyphosate to kill the grass. Then put your rock down. If grass and weeds come up, just spray with glyphosate to control.

Thanks Tarheelmatt. I'll look into that.

TideEggHead · June 2018

Hard to tell from the picture but looks kinda like fescue?

Ozzie_Isaac · June 2018

I'm no engineer, but if you have to a few feet on the other side of the tree be in the middle of your shed?

Killit_and_Grillit · June 2018

If I’m not mistaken that’s a poorly trimmed Rose of Sharon. Which means it’s not a tree, it’s basically a weed. You can easily scrape the top roots off and do whatever you want. It will survive.

I cut one down 3 weeks ago. To the nub. Guess what’s growing back in my backyard?

WeberWho · June 2018

Ozzie_Isaac said:

I'm no engineer, but if you have to a few feet on the other side of the tree be in the middle of your shed?

Sorry I wasnt being very clear. I'm trying to keep the wood storage shed along the neighbors fence. The orange is where I want to put rock down to match the rock around my main backyard shed. I'm planning to move my wood storage shed.

WeberWho · June 2018

Killit_and_Grillit said:

If I’m not mistaken that’s a poorly trimmed Rose of Sharon. Which means it’s not a tree, it’s basically a weed. You can easily scrape the top roots off and do whatever you want. It will survive.

I cut one down 3 weeks ago. To the nub. Guess what’s growing back in my backyard?

I have no idea what it is. I don't think it's a Rose of Sharon. It doesn't grow any flowers like the images show online. I'd love to borrow my dad's compact tractor and yank it out. I'm afraid I'll take the neighbors fence out though when removing it.

I know what you mean with crap coming back. I pulled out 4 lilac bushes a few years ago and they keep wanting to come back

Killit_and_Grillit · June 2018

There are a couple sub species. And when they get big a lot of times they stop budding those blue violet flowers. Ours hasn’t done it since we moved in. (Right up to the moment that I cut it to the dirt)

You could scalp the top of it and put Roundup on it instead of digging it out. A couple of years and it will be mulch.

My wife made a comment today about black eyed Susan’s and maybe a lilac. My face went murdery over planting another soul sucking miscreant on our property.

WeberWho · June 2018

Killit_and_Grillit said:

There are a couple sub species. And when they get big a lot of times they stop budding those blue violet flowers. Ours hasn’t done it since we moved in. (Right up to the moment that I cut it to the dirt)

You could scalp the top of it and put Roundup on it instead of digging it out. A couple of years and it will be mulch.

My wife made a comment today about black eyed Susan’s and maybe a lilac. My face went murdery over planting another soul sucking miscreant on our property.

Good to know about them stop budding. I'm not really sure what the 1st owner of the house was thinking for majority of everything he touched. The tree, bush, weed will come out at some point. I voiced how I wanted to rip it out but someone said that I should keep it. Next time I have the tractor down here I'll warn my neighbor that sections of his fence might be missing!

OT- Landscaping Help/Removing Grass But Can't With Tree Roots

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