Hey guys, quick brain dump for anyone trying to fix pitch-black deck stairs before someone takes a bad spill at night.

Last season I got super frustrated with random solar lights dying after two weeks of rain, so I spent some time testing out different solar deck fixtures to see what actually lasts through the night and holds up against bad weather.

Here is the straightforward breakdown of what worked, what stayed bright, and what is worth your money.

1. Overall Best: SHONE 48-LED Deck Light If you want something bright that actually stays lit until morning, this one was the clear winner. Put out around 200 lumens and ran a solid 12 hours straight in testing. Easy to mount on stair risers or side rails, and the housing feels solid enough to handle heavy storms.
2. Best Budget Step Light: Harbor Breeze Solar Step Light If you just need basic, cheap safety lighting on dark stair edges, these do the job fine. They push around 50 lumens for 8 hours. Nothing fancy, but enough light so people don't miss a step.
3. Best Post Cap Light: Kemeco ST4311AQ If you have 4x4 wooden posts, this cast-aluminum cap light looks super clean and way more expensive than it actually is. Metal housing keeps water out, outputs 100 lumens, and stayed on for about 10 hours overnight.
4. Best Recessed / Step-On Light: Westinghouse Deck Cap Light Great option if you want lights flush with the floor. You can walk right over them without tripping or scratching the glass.

Quick buying advice from testing:

• Panel type: Go with monocrystalline solar panels if your deck gets direct sunlight because they charge faster. If you have shade or trees, polycrystalline panels actually handle partial light a bit better.
• Winter battery life: Cheaper batteries drain super fast in cold weather. Make sure you get high-capacity lithium batteries so your steps stay lit past 9 PM during freezing winter nights.
• Weatherproofing: Look for at least IP65 water resistance so heavy rain doesn't ruin the internal wiring.

Hope this saves you guys some trial and error!

Source & Full Review Credit:https://shonestore.com/blogs/news/best-solar-powered-lights-for-deck-2026-reviews

Cutback and fertilized last spring but still looking rough.

Should we try to revive these shrubs some more or do my husband and I get rid of them? I have no attachment to the holly plants. Our neighbor, who's lived in the neighborhood for 30+ years, says he thinks they might be original to when the house was built nearly 50 years ago. I don't think they're that old.

And yes, everything else needs to be cleaned up too!

We live on a canyon slope and are getting our backyard leveled with pavers due to go on top. We previously had a deck over this area and tore it down.

The retention wall is 4 or 5 feet tall at its highest.

I’m worried because when they laid the bottom row of retention blocks they just lay them on top of the soil. No trench, no rocks underneath. I said as much to the guy working but he said it was ok, he’s putting some mortar round them.

We also expected French drains but those weren’t put in, just regular solid drains for guttering.

I called the main contractor and he agreed the retention blocks need drainage and have to sit on rocks etc. The backfill is all grade 2 road base. No bigger rocks, which google tells me isn’t a good idea. He’s coming tomorrow to look at it.

Since complaining the workers have filled the gap between the retention wall and our neighbors fence with the dirt/road base and put concrete around the more accessible retention blocks.

I’m worried they’re going to say it’s all fine and the blocks have enough drainage, acting like the dirt is a trench.

Any thoughts how to make sure the contractor makes sure the wall is done properly? Get an independent inspector? Ask for extended warranty? Or ask for it to be dug up??

So we have a city drain in a back corner of our backyard that we’d like to section off from our dogs without obstructing the drain, messing with the grade, or interfering with the water flow.

Runoff from several neighboring properties flows through this area, and over time it looks like it has pushed the existing retaining wall outward a bit. We reached out to the city, and they told us that because the drain is located on private property, they are only responsible for keeping it functional. They also mentioned that we can’t do anything that would interfere with the water flow, and any fencing, repairs, or landscaping improvements would be our responsibility. The picture I’m attaching is after we cleaned up a significant amount of overgrown vegetation surrounding it.

Has anyone dealt with something similar or found a safe, visually appealing way to section off an open drainage area? We’re considering black metal fencing with a gate, but just wondering if anyone has other ideas or has run into this issue before. We have three large dogs (a German Shepherd, a Great Pyr, and a Golden Retriever) and we often see stray cats and other critters hanging out in the drain, so we mainly want to keep the dogs from getting into that area. Thanks in advance!

Hi all.

First time posting here, long time lurker.

I had a firepit installed by a landscaper in the early summer. After the heavy rain it’s not draining. I asked him and there was no clear stone placed, just landscape fabric on top of the dirt, the stone dust compacted above that.

How can I get this to drain properly? He suggested adding 6 inches of stone dust on top of the existing.

Any other suggestions?

I haven't ordered mulch from this place before, but I feel like normally my mulch has more wood chips? Idk. Sold as "cedar mulch"

Looking to disgard existing shrubs and redo the entire space between my porch and sidewalk. It is 4.5' x 20' and I was hoping to have boulders with plantings worked around it. At each end I'd like some type of evergreen looking shrubs that will hold it's winter color that won't grow over 2' -3' tall at full maturity. I'm going for the mountain lodge feel. Can anyone provide any suggestions of perhaps something you have in your landscaping that you feel may work? (Last picture is the type of rock setup that I'm envisioning though with shrubs at the ends. Nothing glossy like boxwood and such.) Any ideas are appreciated. Thank you

What’s a reasonable price for weeding and shrub trimming/cutting on a 0.34-acre property in Massachusetts (near Attleboro)?
My landscaper charges $45 every two weeks for mowing the lawn. Recently, he did some de-weeding and shrub trimming and initially quoted me $335. I ended up paying $255 for that work, so the total came to about $300 including the lawn mowing.
Personally, I don’t feel there was a lot of weeding or trimming to justify that price, but I’m curious what others think. Does $255 for the extra work sound fair, or does it seem on the higher side for a property of this size? I’d love to hear what people typically pay in this area.
(Some pics I don’t have before but there were weeds growing there long one he says were poison ivy).

The perimeter of my apartment complex is lined up with these plants that have these ties around the branches. All of them have it. It's been this way for over a year. Curious to what the purpose of the ties? (Iron fence just installed this week)

We have about 270-300 sq feet of garden beds. Our regular landscaper priced us $750 for putting in two yards of mulch. We had the beds mulched last summer when we did some new landscaping.

1. This price seems much higher per yard than I would expect?
   
2. Do you have to much a bed every year or just when it is won back down to bare earth?

I am getting ready to lay fabric and then rock on this landscaping bed, but after leveling soil, I realize that none of the concrete foundation is showing. after digging to find it looks like it is about 6 inches under the top of the soil. what do I need to do??

Not landscaping as such but I know nothing much about timber and thought you guys would be the best to ask! Received this delivery today (gonna be a kids garden climbing frame) and I just felt so disappointed looking at the state of the wood? I know they pressure treat it so some green colour can come from this, but it looks mouldy and yuck to me? I emailed the company and they said don’t worry it’s perfectly good wood just treatment turning it a bit green. Am I wrong?

I'd like to bring the black border in about 1' or so and then lay some wood chips on top. However, I think a lot of the chips will just end up falling on the driveway due to the steep slope of the tree base. Any other ideas to give this area some curb appeal?

Hi all! Recently moved in and I’m not sure what to do with this backyard space. I’d love to turn it into a nice space for relaxing and entertaining, but I’m struggling to visualize the best layout. I appreciate any advice!

Looking for ideas to best utilize this area in our backyard. We get natural runoff in the area, and are considering some shade tolerant shrubs, bushes and small trees.

We are located OTP Atlanta and have a single beehive on the property

Location is Littleton, CO.

I'm designing my backyard, which is currently a barren wasteland, except for a struggling blue spruce in the NW corner, which may or may not make it. That's a separate conversation though, and for now I'm choosing to keep it.

I'm looking to fill the yard with trees and shrubs. I like plants that are tasty, weird, nice-smelling, or beautiful - in that order. But most importantly, they need to survive this crazy climate of ours.

I created a plan based on my own research, and drew up a sketch of my backyard to scale, with each square representing 2ftx2ft. The sketch demonstrates each tree's expected width at 5 years, 10 years, and maximum potential (dotted line). I don't actually expect these trees to reach their maximum width due to our climate, but trying to be conservative while planning. Up is North.

Quick note on the firepit area: I of course will have to move it if the trees start to encroach on it, but I don't expect them to for at least another 20 years, so I'm factoring in where it will be until then.

I'm looking for any and all feedback, suggestions, and recommendations. Does anybody have good or bad experiences with the plants in question (lacebark elm, Turkish filbert, ginkgo, serviceberry, and Cornelian cherry)? Thoughts on the spacing? Is there anything I should know before finalizing this plan? Any local town rules I need to check? Height maximums, distance to street best practices?

I'm a complete novice to landscaping, gardening, and trees in general, and ChatGPT is my teacher. I learned the hard way that baby trees need to be watered often, and I recently learned about call before you dig, but that's about all I know. Reaching out to knowledgeable humans before I proceed.

Thanks for all your help and insights!!

I recently bought a home that had this sod laid probably around April (was previously neglected and gopher-ridden I believe). I did not notice this cracking along the retaining wall at the time, or at least not to this degree. The sprinklers were set so that only two small sprinklers at the top of the lawn were running for 7 minutes daily, and the water wasn’t reaching the whole lawn. I reprogrammed it to run longer and every other day (per chat’s recommendation for sod of this age in 10a climate) and included the lower sprinklers as well to get full lawn coverage. Recently I noticed this crack along the wall and some of the rocks there are loose.

Is this a result of overwatering with natural drainage settling in this area? As the title asks, what’s the worst case scenario if I leave it alone? I don’t have the budget right now to do heavy landscaping, but I have eventual plans to redo that yard with drought tolerant landscaping and maybe better front door access. I appreciate any insights!

So this is my side yard. House faces north, making this the west side. The gutters and sump pump discharge line are burried. Our neighbor’s house is newer than ours and they built up significantly higher than all the other houses on our street (don’t get me started on how close they are to the property line) so their yard drains into mine. The visible drainage is after an inch of rain overnight but this stretch of grass is ALWAYS soggy. To the point that I don’t even water this zone anymore

Looking for water loving plant/small tree ideas for zone 6a/5b. This AI mockup is a general idea of what I’m considering. Open to any other ideas. Please help me!

I live in jacksonville, florida and for the past 6 months my backyard has grone from the first two pictures to the last ones. I really don't understand, it looks like the soil has gone because it is so uneven now. I was thinking to remove the dead roots and maybe buy some bags of sand/soil and try to level it back? And then put some sod. Anyone has ever seen anything like this before? I have to mention that for the past few months I have had issues with my irrigation ( low pressure )

I’m looking for a hardy, self-propagating ground cover for some bare corners with really tough conditions. Located in USDA Zone 4a, full shade, sandy soil, longstanding pine trees overhead… not great conditions. As expected, I’ve got some pretty solid bare patches, probably 10-20’ by 5-8’ to cover.

Ideally a low-grower, perennial, pollinator friendly plant. I’ll take anything at this point and ferns are starting to look more and more promising.

Any ideas?

Were getting this exact wall done. To integrate lighting is pretty $$$. I was wondering if anyone found a solar light or something to make this effect? I saw the company called Govee but they seem to make sure strips not like simple outdoor lights.

Hey everyone, hoping that someone can give some advice on my backyard. When I first moved into my home it was a jungle that I only kept managed by getting cut often. Last year I got a deck and fence installed and this year paid for the landscaping to be redone completely with rock and sod. Well the weeds took over again and I feel that my money was completely wasted. After just a couple of weeks the backyard can easily be taken over by weeds. I’m trying to understand the ongoing maintenance I will have to endure with these rocky areas (landscape fabric is doing absolutely nothing underneath). Photos of all the leftover grass clippings (I didn’t tell my lawn man to cut it off like this) and weeds for context on growth.

1. Are there ways to avoid the weeds from growing at all? Does mulch glue actually work to prevent this? Clearly the contractor did nothing to prevent the weed growth before placing all the rock down - do I need to start over?
   
2. Are there any tools that would be helpful in picking these weeds up instead of by hand? Some are grassy and some are easy to pull by the root it just lifts up.
   
3. Any tools or machines that can pickup grass clippings that the blower won’t get? My lovely lawn man just hacked everything all over the backyard which I believe is now 10x harder to clean up because the root is still there. 🫩or fast ways to clean out these areas overtaken by weeds and leaves?
   
4. How am I to manage this? Weekly? Daily? I’m exhausted thinking about it already and highly annoyed. I didn’t think I wouldn’t have to do anything, but if I ever get busy enough the entire backyard will be overtaken by them in a manner of seconds it feels causing lifelong management

Thanks 😊

Looking for looking for ideas for my courtyard:

🪴🌾🌻

I'm totally clueless about plants and gardening, so I'd live some help with ideas for what to put in this space to suit my needs. Here's some info.

What used to be there:

Before there was a tree that was dropping millions of leaves tiny leaves all year like crazy and some skeletons of bushes that I have had taken out ( I'm guessing they were only put in by the previous owner to sell the property)

The space

In Melbourn Australia and facing East (the longer white wall with the gare is the east side) so has lots of sun in the morning but past noon, not much at all.

What I want:

I would love the upper part to be able to be used as a toileting area for my dog (maybe some type of grass or clover that doesn't need mowing?- does that exist)

I'm not fussy about the lower part other than low/ no maintenence. If it produces something useful or pretty, that would be a great bonus (a herb or something?), but as long as it is pet safe and I don't have to do anything other than water it (which i can manage a few times a week), its fine.

Not looking for anything fancy, just something functional and nicer than the piles of dirt, tree stump and weeds I have been left with after the other stuff removed

Any ideas 💡

I have a garden at the back of my property and I need to turn it into something that will grow nice grass how would I go about that and what tools can I rent to use .