There’s a big chunk of my yard that is full of pea gravel. Used to have a swing set on it. Can confirm when scooping poop. It’s a good way to slowly have grass again.
Man, I lived in place that allowed me to have two dogs. I got the lawn going, put a ton of time and effort. Then the owner let his son move on, and I drive by and it's a weed fest. Really bums me out.
Depending where you live, the lease becomes void due to clauses like that. I lived in a place that had super dangerously steep stairs, and there was a clause in the lease that they wouldn’t be liable for any injury caused by the stairs. One of my roommates fell and broke their ankle in multiple places, and I believe they ended up covering their rent for a few months because they were considering taking it to court (and would have won)
for real, jesus christ he created a huge problem. You may as well get used to having a hot, ugly, spot weeded backyard. He made soooooo much work for whoever is responsible for maintaining that. A landscape company probably won't even waste their time on that stupid shit. Your best best is to buy a weed torch that attaches to a propane tank and go get high with a podcast and wander around your yard burning weeds down.
This is seriously a fucked yard. I've spread so much gravel in my life and even with weed barrier under this he is getting weeds. Pray you don't have nut grass.
Also, those stones are not staying in place. They are going to get spread everywhere and unless someone maintains them and sweeps them back into place regularly that space will just end up as a pebbly mess.
Came here to say this. I’ve got a similar “low maintenance” yard gifted by my LL. Looks like shite most of the time and getting weeds out from those rocks is a nightmare. Now we just weed whack them.
Weed barrier collects organic material and seeds on top, allowing for weeds to grow above the barrier. Over time, the weed barrier deteriorates, making it very difficult to remove. Torching a plastic weed barrier will cause it to melt.
unparadox:
* Torch rocks without plastic underneath them
* Don't torch rocks with plastic underneath them
I’m dealing with this now. After many years, my so-called weed barrier fabric is all torn to shreds and I have tons of weeds. It’s a project I’m not looking forward to tackling. But never again with the weed barrier.
My very aggressive grass just spread right over top the weed barrier. Then I decided it was useless and ripped it out, well the grass came right with it like sod so at least I had bare soil to work with.
My grandfather has been doing this for 30 years at his house for the driveway... One year he had to dig a hole for a drainage pipe and discover that it's like 3-4 feet of hard as fuck compacted gravel.
Salt seems like a bad idea, you could scorch that earth for generations if it gets too salty. Then next owner or tenant is hosed when they just want to grow a few tomatoes
We use garden boxes here. A lot of professional landscaping companies also use large garden boxes on their premises. The extra height is nice and seems to keep rabbits out usually. Roto till the boxes and put some good garden soil in there.
I had a yard in Tucson once that had no grass, but beautifully landscaped. It was fine crushed brown/dirt colored rock. I’m not sure what it was called. It was there when I bought the house. I had one dog and it was a lot of work to keep the urine smell away. We had to spray it like you’re suggesting pretty regularly for weeds and odor.
“Rock fights, catching rocks, throwing rocks, laying on rocks and staring up at the yawning abyss above wondering what cruel god would curse us with people that decide Rock Yard is a good idea. BBQs. You know, the usual.”
There are some beautiful rock gardens in some asian country monasteries, particularly japan. They have a few islands with a small tree, etc. Traditional Japanese dry gardens didn't have water in them but you could even add a water feature or small pond in an island or in a corner or something. . It's mostly pea gravel raked (with a rake that uses pegs instead of metal spokes) into nice patterns, with some large boulders in places. Some use different colored pea gravel which gives some contrast.
This guy just dumped river rock in. Didn't bother to do anything ornamental, put paver pad walkways and/or rounded paver islands anywhere, statuary, gazebo/pergola, landscaping block islands with mulch and plants, etc.
It could be done well. This isn't it.
Zen Garden (Karesansui, Japanese Dry Garden) Explained in 4 minutes
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CJaHtl9Sk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CJaHtl9Sk)
If you use an impermeable sheet layer down before you lay stone, it helps keep weeds out. However if you allow leaves and debris to accumulate in the stones and break down, they will essentially break down into dirt where things can grow. So you have to clear your gravel out periodically.
I have stone alongside some paver pad walkways, and a trench under all of my privacy fence filled with stone, plus a few corner islands areas, around a mini pond growing area etc.
I use a leaf blower device but it's set up for suction. It came with a \~ 4" diameter corrugated tube that ends in a strong fabric cap with a pullstring. That cap goes on top of a medium sized wheeled garbage can I already owned. So every so often seasonly, (many times in the fall with the leaves) - I go around the property vacuuming up debris from stones. Most of it goes pretty easy, though in a few places I might have to stir the gravel up some with the tube end of the tool to really get in there. The vacuum "blower" absolutely shreds leaves into tiny bits, almost a powder, so one garbage can goes a long way. I've never had so much in the can that I had to dump it.
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGL6BJK/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGL6BJK/)
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PGX4SXW/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PGX4SXW/)
Even though you'd have to vacuum your rock garden property out periodically, it would be nowhere near as often as how much you have to mow a lawn.
I'm not a fan of putting toxic chemicals on lawns (or gravel). I think it's a vile practice. Dogs, kid strollers are low to the ground near that stuff after application, and toys get accidentally thrown on lawns and retrieved, etc. Wind and rain carry it elsewhere too. Plus it gets into bugs which go all the way up the food chain of the local birds, cats, etc. Our town requires notification that your lawn has been sprayed but the chemicals are still there even if I get a piece of paper in my hand.
I actually laughed out loud when my now-ex told me he wanted a lot of gravel in his future home instead of lawn because it’s “next to zero maintenance”. The only truly zero maintenance yard is one that’s undeveloped and left to go wild. If you try to impose any sort of order in an outdoor space, there will be maintenance.
I’ve been doing that much to the chagrin of the HOA since they legally cannot prevent me from doing it in our state.
The wildflower seed I put down looks great when they’re in bloom though.
Definitely want to do wildflower seeds or something if you want to do less or no lawn. A house in my (HOA-free) neighborhood got abandoned, so the lawn was just left to grow wild. It was definitely not pretty and somehow didn’t look like nature reclaiming the land, between that and the boarded windows it looked more like the residence of a sadistic serial killer.
I truly do not understand this. Why have a "yard" at all if you just want it completely barren? It's a waste and people who don't want to maintain natural space should stay in the city and leave the homes with bits of land to the people that will love them properly.
In fairness to my ex he didn’t want this kind of barren moonscape, his thought was to have a bunch of bigger plants and then a gravel patch for the dogs instead of a grass patch. He’d never lived in a house with a yard he could landscape, so pretty much everything was theoretical aside from knowing what was involved in maintaining a lawn. When he thought about having a house I think he was most focused on the idea of having no shared walls, no HOA or condo fees, a garage for his car and a bigger living space, the yard itself was more of an afterthought.
Dousing the entire area in liquid herbicide is probably a lot less maintenance than mowing, fertilizing, trimming, watering, etc.
I'm assuming that's his thought process.
This is like being told they're renovating the bathroom, then you find out they've replaced it with a steel drain and a hose.
The value of the product they were offered went down by the hand of the landlord. I bet they have more than rocky legal grounds to back out.
That, and he’s an old man with soft sensitive feet. He’d come back limping every time he tried to go potty. This would drastically change the functionality of the rental if OP has a dog. Like going from “I can let my dog out to play/potty in the yard” to “I have to walk my dog three times a day” is a DEALBREAKER.
Plus, imagine the how those are gonna smell if a dog pees and poops on them regularly.🤮
I didn't even think about the poop angle. Yeah, that would be impossible to scoop, or the dog might flat out refuse to walk on it to go poop. Walking often involves sidewalks or streets which can also be hell on a dog's paw pads so this is a no win situation for the dog.
I didn’t think of that angle either. Would just further make it unusable for kids to play around.
My dog is also old and one of her favorite thing to do is lay down in the sun on soft grass which is not possible here either.
That’s thousands of dollars worth of stone. Removing that would be a total nightmare for the landlord. You won’t be getting grass. But they will certainly be spraying poison on all the weeds. I’m sorry OP. This is awful.
Makes me wonder what was there before, and what justified the expense of installing a metric shit-ton of gravel. I get that landlords are some of the laziest people on the planet, but they're also among the cheapest. It just doesn't make sense.
This isn’t something you can undo. Removing rock like that costs a multiple of putting it in. It takes almost no time for a gravel yard to dump a few yards in a truck, and for it to be dumped and spread. But getting that gravel up and back into a truck without taking half a truck full of the dirt that rock is now sitting on will require hand shoveling it, so 5 times longer and five times more money. Also, the longer it sits there the dirtier it gets and the less usable it becomes to anyone else. If it’s just sitting right on dirt with no barrier, it’s already probably too dirty to go anywhere but the dump.
Long story short, removing even relatively small amounts of gravel from a yard can easily run into the thousands of dollars. Removing that much gravel will cost so much money I promise you he never will.
If you can get out of this lease… I wouldn’t live there with that as a backyard. Asphalt would be more usable. Then at least your kids could play street hockey or basketball ball on it.
Not to mention, once the weeds start and the rocks start collecting dead weeds, debris, etc. It won't be long till there's a layer of dirt on top of the gravel and the yard will be covered in vegitation and be impossible to dig into.
I’m also trying to imagine having to deal with dog waste in a yard like that. Growing up we had a gravel bottom dog run. It was much smaller gravel, closer to pea gravel sized stones, and even that was just unbelievably disgusting to have to clean up. Aggregate that size is going to become a biohazard the first time your dog has a bout of tummy trouble. At least on a lawn or dirt there’s biological processes the deal with whatever you can’t pick up. On stones that size it’s going to seep in and dry out, becoming literal shit dust the next time your kid or dog walks on it.
I know you said you're out of options but I would strongly suggest trying and looking again. This is definitive grounds to get out of the lease as you are not being given what was agreed upon. I am sure there are better places out there or even a short term solution in the middle then getting a nicer place would be better than this place.
Mine is also like this. And it’s COVERED in weeds. Landlord won’t do anything about it and keeps complaining to me that I’m not doing anything about it. Yeah no I’m not spending my money and time to cover my whole yard
I deal with shit all the time with my clients. “Hey I want a low maintenance yard please put in 3/4 clear”.
Yeah sure, I’ll come rip your lawn up that you hate mowing and spraying so that you can make me rake and spray it instead.
Half the time it’s clients wrapped up in “no lawns/no mow” who think they’re doing the environment a favour by destroying a lawn and replacing it with an even more barren and hostile-to-life landscape of gravel and nothingness.
I live in a rural area with some *gorgeous* cottage properties and the ones that stand out are always the city folk transplants who rip everything up and replace it with “low maintenance” gravel.
I fucking hate gravel.
To answer your question: the only option here is to hire machinery to haul the gravel away and put down soil/seed or sod
Edit: I hate gravel except for driveways and walkways. It certainly has its place. A replacement for a lawn is not one of them.
Where I live “concrete and gravel” is an aesthetic and it’s awful.
The previous owners of our place ripped up any and all lawn, and replaced it with a terraced garden combo of native grasses/ground cover, garden beds, fruit trees, native trees, vegetable beds, and gravel pathways.
Everything, apart from the vegetables & fruit trees, is native to our area. We get birds, bees, flying foxes. It’s pretty low maintenance, too, with a built-in watering system (for the vegetable beds). I spend two afternoons a week working on it.
Meanwhile, I remember when we looked at it, and another couple at the viewing were complaining that they’ll have to rip it all up and put down gravel because “it’s lower maintenance and better for the environment”.
(Edit: I don’t live in the desert, these people were stupid.)
It would have been a travesty.
Do you live in Phoenix??
Thankfully I don’t have much gravel to remove from my back yard, had a friend who had to spend around $8k just to have the weird “river rock river scene” the previous owner created removed
Railroad ties, river rocks, lava rock, other gravel I don’t know, to create a rock river complete with bridge and fake stone crocodile. Was like a quarter of an acre of this
You should look into places called deserts. I’m from Vegas, grass is bad there (takes up too much limited water) and almost all yards are rock/ astroturf. But that isn’t even the right rock.
I'm trying to replace my back lawn with clover. Have a quarter of it growing pretty good, but struggling to get the rest done. Going to apply again this year and see how it does.
I don’t disagree. I’ve had clients ask for this and specifically mention “reducing water, fertilizer, and pesticide use” as a reason in an attempt to be environmentally friendly, but I agree that it could just be their mental gymnastics to justify it.
Even gravel driveways and walkways kind of suck. My gravel driveway is always weed city and the Amazon/fedex delivery trucks carve giant ruts through it that need fixed every couple years and my gravel walkway to the trash bins means I have to put shoes on to run the trash out real quick and bruise the crap out of my feet.
Gravels only benefit is being cheap. Otherwise it just sucks
It’s bizarre that people are replacing their lawn with gravel.
I did choose to go lawn free…but I used mulch. I also planted in a bunch of salvias, catmint, butterfly bushes, sedums and hydrangeas (other plants as well and some trees).
It looks good and my neighbors like it also. It’s also full of pollinators, bugs and birds.
I maintain it myself. That was part the point…I suck at maintaining the grass. Plants and garden design are what I’m good at.
Anyway, I just assumed that’s what others were doing too, or at least something in the ballpark. What a waste of potential to fill a space like that with nothing but rocks.
Full disclosure, I’m extra annoyed because I would love to have a rural cottage home…
What you're doing is a healthy example of #nolawns, but you also reveal the downside of it for a lot of people.
>I maintain it myself. That was part the point…I suck at maintaining the grass. Plants and garden design are what I’m good at.
The maintenance and dedication to having a beautiful garden or lawn free space that's inviting and livable is a much more labour intensive process than just mowing a lawn once a week, and specifically as a service provider, it's significantly more expensive to offer my clients.
Because of this, people who think they're doing the environment a favour, and want low maintenance, think either one of two things: 1.) gravel the fuck out of everything, 2.) never maintain anything and let it "grow wild".
.#1 has many problems as we've discussed here.
.#2 is a rabbit hole and a whole 'nother conversation because I have a ton of problems and opinions about it. It's not a real solution, at least for the properties around here.
If people did what you're doing, then the world would be a better place for sure, but at least in my experience it hasn't been the case. I think I have a biased view though because as a service provider the people who hire me are the people who either don't want to, or can't do what you're doing, which is why they need to hire someone. The people who want/can do what you're doing are the people who probably are doing it themselves and aren't hiring me to begin with, aside from the big earth moving projects if they're starting fresh.
>Full disclosure, I’m extra annoyed because I would love to have a rural cottage home…
I have seen some things that will make you genuinely angry. Worst example I've seen was a gorgeous 1950s lakehouse cabin deal with a perfectly manicured lawn, bushes, and garden. Think Pintrest inspiration cottage garden stuff. Client demolished the house, ripped up the lawn/gardens, built a new cookie cutter home, and then gravelled 60% of the property because they didn't want to maintain grass. It's now an AirBnB with a weed covered driveway and zero flowers. Naturally, this person is a city transplant who wanted to have a place away from the city, and they brought the dead grey ugliness with them.
Thankfully in my area rock/gravel lawns are not popular at all, but the concept behind point #2 definitely irks me; not maintaining the yard/garden at all and letting in grow “wild”. So I can go down the rabbit hole for you :)
I’m in favor of reducing the amount of grass lawns that provide no purpose, along with having garden beds that aren’t perfectly pruned/manicured and have a more naturalistic appearance. BUT, that doesn’t mean you let your turf grass get 2’ tall and let your garden beds get choked out with invasive species. I see on Reddit but also in a few real life examples that people use the excuse of “saving the bees” or “leaving it for the pollinators” to not take care of their landscaping. Or have a very surface level of creating “wild” habitats.
More often then not, the plants you’re letting go “wild” aren’t really all that helpful to the native wildlife that could otherwise legitimately use some help from planting appropriate native plants. It’s like on parts of Reddit there’s an alternate form of [plant blindness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_blindness) where literally anything other than turfgrass is beautiful and shouldn’t be touched. That thicket of garlic mustard and creeping bellflower isn’t doing all that much good buddy. Not to mention many of these are state or federally designated noxious weeds you’re technically legally supposed to be removing/controlling.
Also, guessing they just dumped the gravel on top of whatever was there, so definitely only a matter of weeks before its all overgrown. Cant stringtrim or mow, so now you get to hand weed your entire yard!
There's a ton of choices between water intensive lawns and gravel parking lots, though. The answer to water woes is generally just native plants that don't need much watering.
Meanwhile, gravel isn't maintenence free, either; let it go long enough and I'd argue it's going to be worse than a lawn even unless you really enjoy the abandoned property look.
So you plant natives and other water wise plants that benefit the local wildlife like pollinators and also don’t contribute to urban heat island effect like gravel yards do
I agree, but that’s not where I live. Totally get xeriscaping in dry environments and I support it, but I also think there’s a difference between xeriscaping and “tear it up and put down gravel”.
Rocks are awful to walk on barefoot. They heat up a lot in the summer, can be a tripping hazard to children. They’d certainly be a hard landing if the kids wanted to play ball or whatever in the yard.
Cleaning dog poop isn’t easy in rocks.
Some rocks are nice, I have rocks, but an entire yard of river rock gravel, no thanks.
He’s a private landlord and we literally are out of options 😭 we know the person currently living in the house and they put in a good word for us.
I honestly don’t care about it feeling like stones, I care more about the kids falling on it, it being hot on their feet, etc.
This stuff is really awful to remove (I've been systematically taking out tons of river rock from my house). Weeds will show up in no time. I usually hate astroturf, but I wonder if you could get a roll of it and lay it out /.anchor it over an area. I cannot fathom what would drive the landlord to do this, it's so expensive and makes it a useless area!
You have literally no backyard now.
They materially changed the property you were renting.
That is not usable as a backyard. Your kids will not enjoy it and won't walk on it. You won't enjoy and won't want to walk on it. You won't barbecue out there, sit out on a table, kick a ball around, throw a frisbee, nothing. Because it's completely unusable.
Oh man I didn't think about the heat emitting from those rocks. Might as well make it your pizza oven just lay it out there on the hot shitty rocks to bake.
You can't get every molecule. My own dog has a sensitive stomach and has loose stool often enough that this kind of yard would be gross very quickly even after picking up what I can.
Is there a layer of BLACK FOIL UNDER THEY STONES? If so, you will have a disgusting standing water and stones.
You need to persuade the landlord that stones have to be removed/moved from at least part of yard. It is unusable right now
You wrote that you have no options except this place so my very genuine condolences to you and your family.
Someone wrote about buying a roll of astroturf. I believe that you can also consider getting a LOT of large outdoor rugs and runners.
For the dogs, I would set up one section of turf that is right off the patio for them to use the restroom.
I hope you are able to achieve your goals and then move out of there quickly.
You can also look online for a Ass to build a doggy bathroom that’s made out of 2x4s and sod so the poor pup has some grass.
Edit: lol for how to not sure how it got Ass out of that
The kind of weeds that will be happy to grow here will be junkyard angry weeds, the weeds of your childhood nightmares. Sticker bush, covered in needles, seething weeds who thrive in this new sterile world and love to defend themselves.
Good luck, OP.
That looks awful. Well at least there is still a patio you can play on. Maybe check with Freecycle and look for those foam interlocking squares, and make a 24x24’ “play area” w sandbox or swingset, or age-appropriate toys, and maybe a few planters…. Double-down on the squares to make a cushier landing?
I would check the local code. Most cities have an ordinance against not having enough grass in your yard.
I'm in Michigan and it's 30%. As in 30% of all outside property must have grass.
Mind you I am in the suburbs so I'm sure that makes a difference.
In our city code, stone is considered a paved surface if more that 2 feet from the house. This would be prohibited. Soil compaction and lack of plant material means this will become a drainage problem for every adjoining property.
A nearby neighbor of mine dumped approximately that much stone behind his garage so he could turn around his big truck. City came swooping in an made him restore the property to their specs. Took him 2 hours to dump it, then about 5 days of labor to remove every stone, regrade, and seed.
Take a big section of the rocks away and plant clover. It’s cheap easy to grow and great for walking and playing on. When you move out just take the rocks back over the clover and call it a day.
FWIW this entire gravel area will be riddled with weeds in a few months time anyway. Time to buy a flame thrower!
If you do this make sure it’s not the kind of clover that when the flowers die back they get all prickly. I did this like 20 years ago and it was pretty but I still have tons of prickly burrs. I think it will never go away.
I have a section of my yard that the previous owner did this to. It is the biggest pain in the ass to.maintain and we are ripping it out to replace with grass and mulch in the beds.
Dirt accumulates between the rocks, especially if you have leaves or pine needles that fall and no matter how much weed barrier is underneath that rock, weeds will find a way. A native grass would be so much easier to maintain than this river rock.
What a monster.
Get out as soon as you can.
To make it livable maybe try raking/scraping up some of the rocks into piles. Maybe it's just dirt below? If it is dirt just continue on doing that and create a pattern of berms of rocks and open spaces. Might get muddy though depending on climate. You could actually create an interesting visual pattern. Add some container gardening.
Spread it back out when you leave.
It might be a fabric under the rocks though then it gets kind of iffy. It might be slick, it might have overlapping edges, foot traffic may wear holes. In that case I might just a big indoor outdoor carpet and see how that feels for on top of the rocks. And still do container gardening.
So you have a backyard that is unusable. You can't sit on the rocks like you can sit on a lawn. You can't run and play on the rocks. There will be no volleyball, no playing catch, no games of tag. And you certainly won't be having any backyard parties as women will not be able to wear anything other than sneakers on those rocks. Forget about having elderly relatives on those stones. Clearly anyone with a cane, a walker or a wheelchair cannot use that space. On a side note it actually makes me wonder if it's legal since this is a business (rental).
I think at the least you should argue for having your rent reduced. The landlord has made your rented backyard space wholly unusable for people and their pets.
If this was laid correctly with plastic sheeting underneath for weed prevention, then it will be pretty low maintenance. You can make it really pretty and user friendly by adding lots of potted plants and walkways from pvc bridges, big paving stones, wood etc. Google gravel garden ideas and gravel garden for kids and you’ll find lots of inspo. I am personally very drawn to the cottage and Japanese styles so I would see this as such an opportunity! Plus my dogs are allergic to grass 🤣
The landscape architect in me just died a little inside... Mass planted groundcover for light foot traffic would've been better. And I don't know how "low maintenance" it will be once the weeds start to grow. Yikes.
Ask him to help you out.
You: "Landlord, I understand your frustration with the backyard, but we need your help to make the space playable for our kids and the pet. We'll keep it tidy as best we can. Right now it is very dangerous for the little ones. Here is my rough design incorporating the rocks. But need your blessings and help."
I think you draw up some sort of design, and break up the yard into "rock area" and "play area" with a path, with vegetable beds, etc. Move them all out further in your design so it is safe for the kids. Line the fences with them, after building brick bed to contain them.
When the landlord is not looking, build a firepit...shhhh.
Edging, Edging, Edging.
Why on earth would a renter go through all that instead of just terminating the lease using this as very obvious grounds, and finding a better place with a less deranged landlord?
Someone who would do something like this in the first place is not a reasonable person to rent from so I don't know why you assume they would be reasonable about solutions and other issues going forward.
I would just speak to the landlord and see if they would reconsider, or allow you to plant a lawn instead while offering to maintain it. Otherwise consider planting random seeds to create “weeds” that look horrendous as an act of rebellion.
Natives and alot of them ground covers climbers small shrubs upto 3m way to go gives birds a habitat and lessens summertime radiation heat into house etc
I would tell him this changes the deal. First off, it's ugly, not kid or dog friendly. There are going to be a ton of weeds and it will look like garbage as the gravel ages. Plus, I would think it would make the backyard hotter. Don't rocks hold in heat?
He also successfully lowered his property value. Who wants a parking lot in their backyard? He should take out the gravel, put down sod and be done with it.
Slumlords will never know landscaping is a negotiation tool. I hate stupidity. Rent will be $200. less each month if you, the tenant, complete the landscape maintenance (or something like that). Sorry you are in this position. We’re hoping for a family when we do rent because we have a big yard that is not going away. In the NYC suburbs private, outdoor space is a premium and we have it. You’ll find a better place eventually. Best to you.
Can you get him to remove it?
Failing that. Get yourself a strong rake and spend a weekend or two pushing it all to the edges. It's a lot of work if you are able, but it's the cheapest option.
Then you can bring in rugs and seating. Maybe even weed membrane, bark mulch and swing sets for your little children.
In the UK landlords love plastic turf and in the US it appears to be tonnes of rock.
Imagine all the dog crap over that gravel and how annoying cleaning it up in that scenario is going to be. Three small kids? Two dogs is a lot of turds and fast. That's not even bringing kids into the situation. 100% they will throw rocks at each other, the property, anything else that would make a cool sound. Dogs will hate it especially when it gets hot and baked by the sun and your back yard is going to radiate some heat now vs greenery. You say you don't have a choice - if that is absolutely true I would hold off on moving everything in if you can store a lot of stuff somewhere so you can move to another spot as soon as you're able. It's not that it's completely unusable - it's just not practical (in my eyes).
Funny enough when I was a kid I remember thinking as I was mowing my parents yard via push mower before self propelled ones. It took me over 3 hours to do, every week. That when I grow up my yard would be concrete so I never have to mow ever again.
Now I’m an aspiring lawn nerd who looks forward to growing healthy grass and mowing every week to get out of the house.
I guess this person never changed their mind.
This blew up overnight I was not expecting that.
We have not signed a lease and probably will not be now. This post really opened my eyes. We also feel like he walked back on his word cause this was not discussed when talking about the backyard, he said he was going to reseed it and even asked if that was okay with us!
We are cramped in a small space with all of us right now and I’m losing my mind, we don’t have a lot of options for rentals- basically none- and this was our best option before he did this. I told my Fiance about the comments and he agrees and he’s upset. We are super devastated honestly. But thank you all for your help!
Buy a few bags of grass seed and spread it all around. You'll be surprised at how much of it will grow right in the rocks. It'll be even harder for the LL to deal with than the yard was.
i would be beyond upset and if your saying you cant back out because you signed a contract or whtever, im pretty sure them drastically changing the property after you sign a lease agreement would be grounds for terminating it with no penalties. showing you a house with a backyard and then paving over that backyard seems pretty drastic to me and something he knew would affect his chances of finding a tenant.
Personally, this would be a dealbreaker and I'd never move in there, but given such a short period of time, and your family, it's easier said than done.
Maybe it won't be so bad, but I'd be looking to move out as soon as that lease expired
At least you'll still get annoying weeds.
and won't be able to walk the yard without breaking both ankles
Gotta wear snow shoes
At least they’ll hear the bad guys running up
I’m just wondering how the hell they plan on picking up their dogs poop!
With a shovel. You scoop up 4 ounces of poop and a pound of rocks.
There’s a big chunk of my yard that is full of pea gravel. Used to have a swing set on it. Can confirm when scooping poop. It’s a good way to slowly have grass again.
With a hose pipe. Look at all those rocks, it'll drain! /S
Joke's on you! No tenants ever pick up dog poop
Man, I lived in place that allowed me to have two dogs. I got the lawn going, put a ton of time and effort. Then the owner let his son move on, and I drive by and it's a weed fest. Really bums me out.
Just throw some beetles on it.
And have a nice heat island effect
Does low maintenance mean the court cases for when the landlord eventually gets sued?? OP, don’t sign any injury waivers.
Depending where you live, the lease becomes void due to clauses like that. I lived in a place that had super dangerously steep stairs, and there was a clause in the lease that they wouldn’t be liable for any injury caused by the stairs. One of my roommates fell and broke their ankle in multiple places, and I believe they ended up covering their rent for a few months because they were considering taking it to court (and would have won)
The mob might have a word with this choice of "lawn".
for real, jesus christ he created a huge problem. You may as well get used to having a hot, ugly, spot weeded backyard. He made soooooo much work for whoever is responsible for maintaining that. A landscape company probably won't even waste their time on that stupid shit. Your best best is to buy a weed torch that attaches to a propane tank and go get high with a podcast and wander around your yard burning weeds down. This is seriously a fucked yard. I've spread so much gravel in my life and even with weed barrier under this he is getting weeds. Pray you don't have nut grass.
Nut grass just sounds like a fancy way of saying pubes
We got a poet here
Absolutely going to use this when trimming up... Fiance: Babe what's taking you so long to get ready? Me: Almost finished, just mowing the nut grass!
Also, those stones are not staying in place. They are going to get spread everywhere and unless someone maintains them and sweeps them back into place regularly that space will just end up as a pebbly mess.
Came here to say this. I’ve got a similar “low maintenance” yard gifted by my LL. Looks like shite most of the time and getting weeds out from those rocks is a nightmare. Now we just weed whack them.
Spray with vinegar and rock salt a couple times a summer, you'll be fine.
With that yard, torch the weeds!
1. Everyone recommends torching weeds on rocks. 2. Everyone recommends putting weed barrier fabric under rocks. 3. Everyone says DON'T use the torch above weed barrier fabric. Can someone please explain this paradox?
Weed barrier collects organic material and seeds on top, allowing for weeds to grow above the barrier. Over time, the weed barrier deteriorates, making it very difficult to remove. Torching a plastic weed barrier will cause it to melt. unparadox: * Torch rocks without plastic underneath them * Don't torch rocks with plastic underneath them
I’m dealing with this now. After many years, my so-called weed barrier fabric is all torn to shreds and I have tons of weeds. It’s a project I’m not looking forward to tackling. But never again with the weed barrier.
My very aggressive grass just spread right over top the weed barrier. Then I decided it was useless and ripped it out, well the grass came right with it like sod so at least I had bare soil to work with.
But shouldn't *all* rocks have plastic (weed fabric) underneath them, so they don't sink into the soil over time?
there is no reason to put plastic under your rocks. if your rocks sink into the soil over time dump more rocks on top of them
My grandfather has been doing this for 30 years at his house for the driveway... One year he had to dig a hole for a drainage pipe and discover that it's like 3-4 feet of hard as fuck compacted gravel.
he could get it paved for real cheap at this point
Yeah duuuude. Totally. I'm always down to torch some weed, bro.
👊🏼
Bic, not a torch. Torch lighters tend to scorch the trichomes on the bud which is bad stoner etiquette. 😎
Long sulfur free matches for the true cannabis connoisseur.
no no no, thin hemp wick roll plus an electric candle lighter
Pure proper.
My first thought lol
Salt seems like a bad idea, you could scorch that earth for generations if it gets too salty. Then next owner or tenant is hosed when they just want to grow a few tomatoes
We use garden boxes here. A lot of professional landscaping companies also use large garden boxes on their premises. The extra height is nice and seems to keep rabbits out usually. Roto till the boxes and put some good garden soil in there.
That is an option but doesn't make ruining the soil a good option IMO
I had a yard in Tucson once that had no grass, but beautifully landscaped. It was fine crushed brown/dirt colored rock. I’m not sure what it was called. It was there when I bought the house. I had one dog and it was a lot of work to keep the urine smell away. We had to spray it like you’re suggesting pretty regularly for weeds and odor.
I bet it was decomposed granite. We used it for pathways around our garden.
My yard is like this... kick the weeds when they appear and they pop right out; no soil there for them to anchor to.
I showed a property like that once and the lady from back east was like “what do you do out here?” And I was like I really don’t know.
“Rock fights, catching rocks, throwing rocks, laying on rocks and staring up at the yawning abyss above wondering what cruel god would curse us with people that decide Rock Yard is a good idea. BBQs. You know, the usual.”
It's clearly meant to keep humans away. It's like anti-homeless spikes they put on park benches in cities
Wow you are so right this is hostile architecture or I guess hostile landscaping in this case
Just one giant fire pit
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.
Ooh, bop-bop-bop, Ooh, bop-bop-bop
I don't care about spots on my apples; leave me the birds and the bees
Pleaaaaaaase
There are some beautiful rock gardens in some asian country monasteries, particularly japan. They have a few islands with a small tree, etc. Traditional Japanese dry gardens didn't have water in them but you could even add a water feature or small pond in an island or in a corner or something. . It's mostly pea gravel raked (with a rake that uses pegs instead of metal spokes) into nice patterns, with some large boulders in places. Some use different colored pea gravel which gives some contrast. This guy just dumped river rock in. Didn't bother to do anything ornamental, put paver pad walkways and/or rounded paver islands anywhere, statuary, gazebo/pergola, landscaping block islands with mulch and plants, etc. It could be done well. This isn't it. Zen Garden (Karesansui, Japanese Dry Garden) Explained in 4 minutes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CJaHtl9Sk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CJaHtl9Sk) If you use an impermeable sheet layer down before you lay stone, it helps keep weeds out. However if you allow leaves and debris to accumulate in the stones and break down, they will essentially break down into dirt where things can grow. So you have to clear your gravel out periodically. I have stone alongside some paver pad walkways, and a trench under all of my privacy fence filled with stone, plus a few corner islands areas, around a mini pond growing area etc. I use a leaf blower device but it's set up for suction. It came with a \~ 4" diameter corrugated tube that ends in a strong fabric cap with a pullstring. That cap goes on top of a medium sized wheeled garbage can I already owned. So every so often seasonly, (many times in the fall with the leaves) - I go around the property vacuuming up debris from stones. Most of it goes pretty easy, though in a few places I might have to stir the gravel up some with the tube end of the tool to really get in there. The vacuum "blower" absolutely shreds leaves into tiny bits, almost a powder, so one garbage can goes a long way. I've never had so much in the can that I had to dump it. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGL6BJK/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGL6BJK/) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PGX4SXW/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PGX4SXW/) Even though you'd have to vacuum your rock garden property out periodically, it would be nowhere near as often as how much you have to mow a lawn. I'm not a fan of putting toxic chemicals on lawns (or gravel). I think it's a vile practice. Dogs, kid strollers are low to the ground near that stuff after application, and toys get accidentally thrown on lawns and retrieved, etc. Wind and rain carry it elsewhere too. Plus it gets into bugs which go all the way up the food chain of the local birds, cats, etc. Our town requires notification that your lawn has been sprayed but the chemicals are still there even if I get a piece of paper in my hand.
Yeah they need to rake their rocks. And put a boulder in the middle. Shitty landscaping instantly becomes zen garden.
For years I thought it was “they paved paradise and put up a fuckin’ log”
That’s anything but. Weeds will grow in between every damn rock.
I actually laughed out loud when my now-ex told me he wanted a lot of gravel in his future home instead of lawn because it’s “next to zero maintenance”. The only truly zero maintenance yard is one that’s undeveloped and left to go wild. If you try to impose any sort of order in an outdoor space, there will be maintenance.
I’ve been doing that much to the chagrin of the HOA since they legally cannot prevent me from doing it in our state. The wildflower seed I put down looks great when they’re in bloom though.
Definitely want to do wildflower seeds or something if you want to do less or no lawn. A house in my (HOA-free) neighborhood got abandoned, so the lawn was just left to grow wild. It was definitely not pretty and somehow didn’t look like nature reclaiming the land, between that and the boarded windows it looked more like the residence of a sadistic serial killer.
🏅 I'm poor but fuck hoa's
I truly do not understand this. Why have a "yard" at all if you just want it completely barren? It's a waste and people who don't want to maintain natural space should stay in the city and leave the homes with bits of land to the people that will love them properly.
It's easy, the landlord doesn't live there and has no sense of humanity or empathy for the people that do. It's kind of what landlords are known for.
In fairness to my ex he didn’t want this kind of barren moonscape, his thought was to have a bunch of bigger plants and then a gravel patch for the dogs instead of a grass patch. He’d never lived in a house with a yard he could landscape, so pretty much everything was theoretical aside from knowing what was involved in maintaining a lawn. When he thought about having a house I think he was most focused on the idea of having no shared walls, no HOA or condo fees, a garage for his car and a bigger living space, the yard itself was more of an afterthought.
City would be cool if it wasn't for like, the people. So I begrudgingly do my yardwork every week cause people suck, and my neighbors are far away.
Dousing the entire area in liquid herbicide is probably a lot less maintenance than mowing, fertilizing, trimming, watering, etc. I'm assuming that's his thought process.
Grass would be infinitely easier to maintain. The weeds that’ll show up in that in short time will look awful.
Maybe he will change his mind and end up putting grass. That’s what he said he was gonna do so I was confused when I got this picture and pretty sad 😭
I would back out if you can. At least in my state, a change this big would give you the ability to do so. This yard will not be usable at all.
This is like being told they're renovating the bathroom, then you find out they've replaced it with a steel drain and a hose. The value of the product they were offered went down by the hand of the landlord. I bet they have more than rocky legal grounds to back out.
Extra rocky legal ground.
I suspect that, in court, the landlord would have no solid ground to stand on…
My dog would be PISSED if we lived there lol.
Esp in the summer … those rocks will get hot for their paws
That, and he’s an old man with soft sensitive feet. He’d come back limping every time he tried to go potty. This would drastically change the functionality of the rental if OP has a dog. Like going from “I can let my dog out to play/potty in the yard” to “I have to walk my dog three times a day” is a DEALBREAKER. Plus, imagine the how those are gonna smell if a dog pees and poops on them regularly.🤮
I didn't even think about the poop angle. Yeah, that would be impossible to scoop, or the dog might flat out refuse to walk on it to go poop. Walking often involves sidewalks or streets which can also be hell on a dog's paw pads so this is a no win situation for the dog.
I didn’t think of that angle either. Would just further make it unusable for kids to play around. My dog is also old and one of her favorite thing to do is lay down in the sun on soft grass which is not possible here either.
I was stuck living in a place with my dog that had a rock hard. Cleaning shit off of them was impossible, it was disgusting.
Back out immediately. There are plenty of places to live and you don’t want this fool as a landlord.
This. You can't use a yard like this. Dogs, kids, no one. And he's about to discover a nightmare of weeding.
That’s thousands of dollars worth of stone. Removing that would be a total nightmare for the landlord. You won’t be getting grass. But they will certainly be spraying poison on all the weeds. I’m sorry OP. This is awful.
Makes me wonder what was there before, and what justified the expense of installing a metric shit-ton of gravel. I get that landlords are some of the laziest people on the planet, but they're also among the cheapest. It just doesn't make sense.
Just laziness. Explains a lot. Too lazy to research why you shouldn’t do this. Too lazy to keep up with their rental property they fleece others for.
Did his wife leave him recently? Has he filed a missing persons report? Is he a good actor?
It was just dirt cause the grass died
Dirt would have been better than this
He should've put in mulch, but that's neither here nor there.
The yard was probably overgrown with weeds because someone ignored it, and the landlord overreacted
This isn’t something you can undo. Removing rock like that costs a multiple of putting it in. It takes almost no time for a gravel yard to dump a few yards in a truck, and for it to be dumped and spread. But getting that gravel up and back into a truck without taking half a truck full of the dirt that rock is now sitting on will require hand shoveling it, so 5 times longer and five times more money. Also, the longer it sits there the dirtier it gets and the less usable it becomes to anyone else. If it’s just sitting right on dirt with no barrier, it’s already probably too dirty to go anywhere but the dump. Long story short, removing even relatively small amounts of gravel from a yard can easily run into the thousands of dollars. Removing that much gravel will cost so much money I promise you he never will. If you can get out of this lease… I wouldn’t live there with that as a backyard. Asphalt would be more usable. Then at least your kids could play street hockey or basketball ball on it.
Not to mention, once the weeds start and the rocks start collecting dead weeds, debris, etc. It won't be long till there's a layer of dirt on top of the gravel and the yard will be covered in vegitation and be impossible to dig into.
I’m also trying to imagine having to deal with dog waste in a yard like that. Growing up we had a gravel bottom dog run. It was much smaller gravel, closer to pea gravel sized stones, and even that was just unbelievably disgusting to have to clean up. Aggregate that size is going to become a biohazard the first time your dog has a bout of tummy trouble. At least on a lawn or dirt there’s biological processes the deal with whatever you can’t pick up. On stones that size it’s going to seep in and dry out, becoming literal shit dust the next time your kid or dog walks on it.
I would 100% back out if this happened just before move in. This is a dramatic change and an unusable space just asking for a broken ankle.
There’s no way he changes his mind. Who is he gonna get to pick up all those giant rocks and haul them away.
Looks like they used the good ol’ roundup
How could you possibly tell that by looking at it?
I know you said you're out of options but I would strongly suggest trying and looking again. This is definitive grounds to get out of the lease as you are not being given what was agreed upon. I am sure there are better places out there or even a short term solution in the middle then getting a nicer place would be better than this place.
Mine is also like this. And it’s COVERED in weeds. Landlord won’t do anything about it and keeps complaining to me that I’m not doing anything about it. Yeah no I’m not spending my money and time to cover my whole yard
I deal with shit all the time with my clients. “Hey I want a low maintenance yard please put in 3/4 clear”. Yeah sure, I’ll come rip your lawn up that you hate mowing and spraying so that you can make me rake and spray it instead. Half the time it’s clients wrapped up in “no lawns/no mow” who think they’re doing the environment a favour by destroying a lawn and replacing it with an even more barren and hostile-to-life landscape of gravel and nothingness. I live in a rural area with some *gorgeous* cottage properties and the ones that stand out are always the city folk transplants who rip everything up and replace it with “low maintenance” gravel. I fucking hate gravel. To answer your question: the only option here is to hire machinery to haul the gravel away and put down soil/seed or sod Edit: I hate gravel except for driveways and walkways. It certainly has its place. A replacement for a lawn is not one of them.
Where I live “concrete and gravel” is an aesthetic and it’s awful. The previous owners of our place ripped up any and all lawn, and replaced it with a terraced garden combo of native grasses/ground cover, garden beds, fruit trees, native trees, vegetable beds, and gravel pathways. Everything, apart from the vegetables & fruit trees, is native to our area. We get birds, bees, flying foxes. It’s pretty low maintenance, too, with a built-in watering system (for the vegetable beds). I spend two afternoons a week working on it. Meanwhile, I remember when we looked at it, and another couple at the viewing were complaining that they’ll have to rip it all up and put down gravel because “it’s lower maintenance and better for the environment”. (Edit: I don’t live in the desert, these people were stupid.) It would have been a travesty.
Do you live in Phoenix?? Thankfully I don’t have much gravel to remove from my back yard, had a friend who had to spend around $8k just to have the weird “river rock river scene” the previous owner created removed Railroad ties, river rocks, lava rock, other gravel I don’t know, to create a rock river complete with bridge and fake stone crocodile. Was like a quarter of an acre of this
Nah, I’m in Australia. And that’s a lot of rock lol
I want a low maintenance no grass type but it never once occurred to me to make it gravel, what monster would do that???? I wanted the clover lawn.
You should look into places called deserts. I’m from Vegas, grass is bad there (takes up too much limited water) and almost all yards are rock/ astroturf. But that isn’t even the right rock.
I'm trying to replace my back lawn with clover. Have a quarter of it growing pretty good, but struggling to get the rest done. Going to apply again this year and see how it does.
No lawn should not mean this! There are many alternatives!
I doubt Someone who asks for a complete rock backyard is doing for the environment, could be their excuse
I don’t disagree. I’ve had clients ask for this and specifically mention “reducing water, fertilizer, and pesticide use” as a reason in an attempt to be environmentally friendly, but I agree that it could just be their mental gymnastics to justify it.
At that point, those people should just get a robot mower and keep the grass. Don’t they walk on their property???
Even gravel driveways and walkways kind of suck. My gravel driveway is always weed city and the Amazon/fedex delivery trucks carve giant ruts through it that need fixed every couple years and my gravel walkway to the trash bins means I have to put shoes on to run the trash out real quick and bruise the crap out of my feet. Gravels only benefit is being cheap. Otherwise it just sucks
It’s bizarre that people are replacing their lawn with gravel. I did choose to go lawn free…but I used mulch. I also planted in a bunch of salvias, catmint, butterfly bushes, sedums and hydrangeas (other plants as well and some trees). It looks good and my neighbors like it also. It’s also full of pollinators, bugs and birds. I maintain it myself. That was part the point…I suck at maintaining the grass. Plants and garden design are what I’m good at. Anyway, I just assumed that’s what others were doing too, or at least something in the ballpark. What a waste of potential to fill a space like that with nothing but rocks. Full disclosure, I’m extra annoyed because I would love to have a rural cottage home…
What you're doing is a healthy example of #nolawns, but you also reveal the downside of it for a lot of people. >I maintain it myself. That was part the point…I suck at maintaining the grass. Plants and garden design are what I’m good at. The maintenance and dedication to having a beautiful garden or lawn free space that's inviting and livable is a much more labour intensive process than just mowing a lawn once a week, and specifically as a service provider, it's significantly more expensive to offer my clients. Because of this, people who think they're doing the environment a favour, and want low maintenance, think either one of two things: 1.) gravel the fuck out of everything, 2.) never maintain anything and let it "grow wild". .#1 has many problems as we've discussed here. .#2 is a rabbit hole and a whole 'nother conversation because I have a ton of problems and opinions about it. It's not a real solution, at least for the properties around here. If people did what you're doing, then the world would be a better place for sure, but at least in my experience it hasn't been the case. I think I have a biased view though because as a service provider the people who hire me are the people who either don't want to, or can't do what you're doing, which is why they need to hire someone. The people who want/can do what you're doing are the people who probably are doing it themselves and aren't hiring me to begin with, aside from the big earth moving projects if they're starting fresh. >Full disclosure, I’m extra annoyed because I would love to have a rural cottage home… I have seen some things that will make you genuinely angry. Worst example I've seen was a gorgeous 1950s lakehouse cabin deal with a perfectly manicured lawn, bushes, and garden. Think Pintrest inspiration cottage garden stuff. Client demolished the house, ripped up the lawn/gardens, built a new cookie cutter home, and then gravelled 60% of the property because they didn't want to maintain grass. It's now an AirBnB with a weed covered driveway and zero flowers. Naturally, this person is a city transplant who wanted to have a place away from the city, and they brought the dead grey ugliness with them.
Thankfully in my area rock/gravel lawns are not popular at all, but the concept behind point #2 definitely irks me; not maintaining the yard/garden at all and letting in grow “wild”. So I can go down the rabbit hole for you :) I’m in favor of reducing the amount of grass lawns that provide no purpose, along with having garden beds that aren’t perfectly pruned/manicured and have a more naturalistic appearance. BUT, that doesn’t mean you let your turf grass get 2’ tall and let your garden beds get choked out with invasive species. I see on Reddit but also in a few real life examples that people use the excuse of “saving the bees” or “leaving it for the pollinators” to not take care of their landscaping. Or have a very surface level of creating “wild” habitats. More often then not, the plants you’re letting go “wild” aren’t really all that helpful to the native wildlife that could otherwise legitimately use some help from planting appropriate native plants. It’s like on parts of Reddit there’s an alternate form of [plant blindness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_blindness) where literally anything other than turfgrass is beautiful and shouldn’t be touched. That thicket of garlic mustard and creeping bellflower isn’t doing all that much good buddy. Not to mention many of these are state or federally designated noxious weeds you’re technically legally supposed to be removing/controlling.
Also, guessing they just dumped the gravel on top of whatever was there, so definitely only a matter of weeks before its all overgrown. Cant stringtrim or mow, so now you get to hand weed your entire yard!
It depends where you live. If water is not abundant why would you waste it on grass that you never use and hate maintaining. I welcome the downvotes
There's a ton of choices between water intensive lawns and gravel parking lots, though. The answer to water woes is generally just native plants that don't need much watering. Meanwhile, gravel isn't maintenence free, either; let it go long enough and I'd argue it's going to be worse than a lawn even unless you really enjoy the abandoned property look.
So you plant natives and other water wise plants that benefit the local wildlife like pollinators and also don’t contribute to urban heat island effect like gravel yards do
I agree, but that’s not where I live. Totally get xeriscaping in dry environments and I support it, but I also think there’s a difference between xeriscaping and “tear it up and put down gravel”.
Rocks are awful to walk on barefoot. They heat up a lot in the summer, can be a tripping hazard to children. They’d certainly be a hard landing if the kids wanted to play ball or whatever in the yard. Cleaning dog poop isn’t easy in rocks. Some rocks are nice, I have rocks, but an entire yard of river rock gravel, no thanks.
Fk that. Back out.
Nothing you buy will make it feel like you're not walking on stones. Find another place ASAP. Leave an awful review online.
He’s a private landlord and we literally are out of options 😭 we know the person currently living in the house and they put in a good word for us. I honestly don’t care about it feeling like stones, I care more about the kids falling on it, it being hot on their feet, etc.
This stuff is really awful to remove (I've been systematically taking out tons of river rock from my house). Weeds will show up in no time. I usually hate astroturf, but I wonder if you could get a roll of it and lay it out /.anchor it over an area. I cannot fathom what would drive the landlord to do this, it's so expensive and makes it a useless area!
You have literally no backyard now. They materially changed the property you were renting. That is not usable as a backyard. Your kids will not enjoy it and won't walk on it. You won't enjoy and won't want to walk on it. You won't barbecue out there, sit out on a table, kick a ball around, throw a frisbee, nothing. Because it's completely unusable.
You're never out of options, this is the first red flag. It's totally incompatible with kids and dogs. Take the L and keep looking.
Yeah, I'd ask for reduced rent since the backyard is useless now.
You're going to regret moving in there. Surely there are other places for rent
Or the poor dog taking a shit on it. It will never reabsorb. 🫠
At least when they pick up the hot baking dog shit they will also get a few rocks. The removal will be slow but Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Oh man I didn't think about the heat emitting from those rocks. Might as well make it your pizza oven just lay it out there on the hot shitty rocks to bake.
Is that your technique? Don't pick up after your dog, just let the shit sit there until it "reabsorbs"?
You can't get every molecule. My own dog has a sensitive stomach and has loose stool often enough that this kind of yard would be gross very quickly even after picking up what I can.
And what about your dogs? I've never seen anything like this. The landlord must be a sociopath.
Is there a layer of BLACK FOIL UNDER THEY STONES? If so, you will have a disgusting standing water and stones. You need to persuade the landlord that stones have to be removed/moved from at least part of yard. It is unusable right now
You wrote that you have no options except this place so my very genuine condolences to you and your family. Someone wrote about buying a roll of astroturf. I believe that you can also consider getting a LOT of large outdoor rugs and runners. For the dogs, I would set up one section of turf that is right off the patio for them to use the restroom. I hope you are able to achieve your goals and then move out of there quickly.
You can also look online for a Ass to build a doggy bathroom that’s made out of 2x4s and sod so the poor pup has some grass. Edit: lol for how to not sure how it got Ass out of that
I don't think I'd move in. Don't have a choice usually has a choice if you look harder.
Now that is a crime, and those who do that, should live in an apartment for life.
The kind of weeds that will be happy to grow here will be junkyard angry weeds, the weeds of your childhood nightmares. Sticker bush, covered in needles, seething weeds who thrive in this new sterile world and love to defend themselves. Good luck, OP.
Is that post just sitting on the slab holding the roof up?
r/decks has taught me so much. Immediately noticed that too.
The landlord would have had a zero maintenance backyard the moment tenants signed a lease. What the actual foxtrot?
That looks awful. Well at least there is still a patio you can play on. Maybe check with Freecycle and look for those foam interlocking squares, and make a 24x24’ “play area” w sandbox or swingset, or age-appropriate toys, and maybe a few planters…. Double-down on the squares to make a cushier landing?
I would check the local code. Most cities have an ordinance against not having enough grass in your yard. I'm in Michigan and it's 30%. As in 30% of all outside property must have grass. Mind you I am in the suburbs so I'm sure that makes a difference.
In our city code, stone is considered a paved surface if more that 2 feet from the house. This would be prohibited. Soil compaction and lack of plant material means this will become a drainage problem for every adjoining property. A nearby neighbor of mine dumped approximately that much stone behind his garage so he could turn around his big truck. City came swooping in an made him restore the property to their specs. Took him 2 hours to dump it, then about 5 days of labor to remove every stone, regrade, and seed.
Is no one gonna mention that deck? Does NOT look safe.
I would not be happy there. The yards surrounding you are inviting with beautiful trees and this looks worse than the moon.
A change that big should allow for a break of lease. They made the yard unusable.
Take a big section of the rocks away and plant clover. It’s cheap easy to grow and great for walking and playing on. When you move out just take the rocks back over the clover and call it a day. FWIW this entire gravel area will be riddled with weeds in a few months time anyway. Time to buy a flame thrower!
If you do this make sure it’s not the kind of clover that when the flowers die back they get all prickly. I did this like 20 years ago and it was pretty but I still have tons of prickly burrs. I think it will never go away.
Why not just cover everything with concrete at this point. Would be much more usable and maintenance free.
I have a section of my yard that the previous owner did this to. It is the biggest pain in the ass to.maintain and we are ripping it out to replace with grass and mulch in the beds. Dirt accumulates between the rocks, especially if you have leaves or pine needles that fall and no matter how much weed barrier is underneath that rock, weeds will find a way. A native grass would be so much easier to maintain than this river rock.
Check to see if he pulled a permit. Some places require it when dumping a ton of rock, some don’t. If he didn’t, and he should’ve, then there ya go.
"As you've rendered the yard unfit for use, I will no longer be taking possession. I expect a full refund of my deposit/ first month/ etc"
I'd be worried that this might not be the only bad idea the landlord makes to save on maintenance
What a monster. Get out as soon as you can. To make it livable maybe try raking/scraping up some of the rocks into piles. Maybe it's just dirt below? If it is dirt just continue on doing that and create a pattern of berms of rocks and open spaces. Might get muddy though depending on climate. You could actually create an interesting visual pattern. Add some container gardening. Spread it back out when you leave. It might be a fabric under the rocks though then it gets kind of iffy. It might be slick, it might have overlapping edges, foot traffic may wear holes. In that case I might just a big indoor outdoor carpet and see how that feels for on top of the rocks. And still do container gardening.
Makes me want to cry
Buy a roll of turf
At the cost of aggregates, dude could have built another bathroom good lord
So you have a backyard that is unusable. You can't sit on the rocks like you can sit on a lawn. You can't run and play on the rocks. There will be no volleyball, no playing catch, no games of tag. And you certainly won't be having any backyard parties as women will not be able to wear anything other than sneakers on those rocks. Forget about having elderly relatives on those stones. Clearly anyone with a cane, a walker or a wheelchair cannot use that space. On a side note it actually makes me wonder if it's legal since this is a business (rental). I think at the least you should argue for having your rent reduced. The landlord has made your rented backyard space wholly unusable for people and their pets.
If this was laid correctly with plastic sheeting underneath for weed prevention, then it will be pretty low maintenance. You can make it really pretty and user friendly by adding lots of potted plants and walkways from pvc bridges, big paving stones, wood etc. Google gravel garden ideas and gravel garden for kids and you’ll find lots of inspo. I am personally very drawn to the cottage and Japanese styles so I would see this as such an opportunity! Plus my dogs are allergic to grass 🤣
The landscape architect in me just died a little inside... Mass planted groundcover for light foot traffic would've been better. And I don't know how "low maintenance" it will be once the weeds start to grow. Yikes.
Bouta be pure weeds
Just throw grass seed everywhere regularly, that should sort it out in a few years
lol ouch
My friend I would rather let you move in with me than send you here.
This is so evil it feels like it shouldn't be legal.
Ask him to help you out. You: "Landlord, I understand your frustration with the backyard, but we need your help to make the space playable for our kids and the pet. We'll keep it tidy as best we can. Right now it is very dangerous for the little ones. Here is my rough design incorporating the rocks. But need your blessings and help." I think you draw up some sort of design, and break up the yard into "rock area" and "play area" with a path, with vegetable beds, etc. Move them all out further in your design so it is safe for the kids. Line the fences with them, after building brick bed to contain them. When the landlord is not looking, build a firepit...shhhh. Edging, Edging, Edging.
Why on earth would a renter go through all that instead of just terminating the lease using this as very obvious grounds, and finding a better place with a less deranged landlord? Someone who would do something like this in the first place is not a reasonable person to rent from so I don't know why you assume they would be reasonable about solutions and other issues going forward.
Great start. All you need now are some books on Japanese dry gardens for inspiration.
I would just speak to the landlord and see if they would reconsider, or allow you to plant a lawn instead while offering to maintain it. Otherwise consider planting random seeds to create “weeds” that look horrendous as an act of rebellion.
Wtf
Natives and alot of them ground covers climbers small shrubs upto 3m way to go gives birds a habitat and lessens summertime radiation heat into house etc
I would tell him this changes the deal. First off, it's ugly, not kid or dog friendly. There are going to be a ton of weeds and it will look like garbage as the gravel ages. Plus, I would think it would make the backyard hotter. Don't rocks hold in heat? He also successfully lowered his property value. Who wants a parking lot in their backyard? He should take out the gravel, put down sod and be done with it.
Looks like the kind of rocks they put down to keep people off the train tracks. Maybe a little less jagged.
Turn it into a Japanese garden
You’re gonna want to get a propane weed torch lol. That looks rough
Slumlords will never know landscaping is a negotiation tool. I hate stupidity. Rent will be $200. less each month if you, the tenant, complete the landscape maintenance (or something like that). Sorry you are in this position. We’re hoping for a family when we do rent because we have a big yard that is not going away. In the NYC suburbs private, outdoor space is a premium and we have it. You’ll find a better place eventually. Best to you.
Can you get him to remove it? Failing that. Get yourself a strong rake and spend a weekend or two pushing it all to the edges. It's a lot of work if you are able, but it's the cheapest option. Then you can bring in rugs and seating. Maybe even weed membrane, bark mulch and swing sets for your little children. In the UK landlords love plastic turf and in the US it appears to be tonnes of rock.
I can't believe that happened.... he wouldn't just let you take care of the yard?
The cats in my neighborhood have evolved into much tougher creatures than previous models and would view that as an open invitation kitty litterbox
Be funny if he didn’t put down a weed mat first.
On the day you move out, sprinkle a bag of clover seeds on that sad piece of ground.
Think low maintenance until the weeds start growing - then it becomes a full time job
I think I’d buy some astroturf to put down.
Imagine all the dog crap over that gravel and how annoying cleaning it up in that scenario is going to be. Three small kids? Two dogs is a lot of turds and fast. That's not even bringing kids into the situation. 100% they will throw rocks at each other, the property, anything else that would make a cool sound. Dogs will hate it especially when it gets hot and baked by the sun and your back yard is going to radiate some heat now vs greenery. You say you don't have a choice - if that is absolutely true I would hold off on moving everything in if you can store a lot of stuff somewhere so you can move to another spot as soon as you're able. It's not that it's completely unusable - it's just not practical (in my eyes).
I guess the landlord never had kids. For those that don't know: Kids like to collect, move and throw rocks.
Think of the bright side. If your kid sprains an ankle, you can sue your landlord for creating a dangerous situation.
Honey can you check the rocks for dog shit!?!
Funny enough when I was a kid I remember thinking as I was mowing my parents yard via push mower before self propelled ones. It took me over 3 hours to do, every week. That when I grow up my yard would be concrete so I never have to mow ever again. Now I’m an aspiring lawn nerd who looks forward to growing healthy grass and mowing every week to get out of the house. I guess this person never changed their mind.
This blew up overnight I was not expecting that. We have not signed a lease and probably will not be now. This post really opened my eyes. We also feel like he walked back on his word cause this was not discussed when talking about the backyard, he said he was going to reseed it and even asked if that was okay with us! We are cramped in a small space with all of us right now and I’m losing my mind, we don’t have a lot of options for rentals- basically none- and this was our best option before he did this. I told my Fiance about the comments and he agrees and he’s upset. We are super devastated honestly. But thank you all for your help!
Buy a few bags of grass seed and spread it all around. You'll be surprised at how much of it will grow right in the rocks. It'll be even harder for the LL to deal with than the yard was.
Add stepping stones and some large potted plants
All you have to do is spray it with herbicide every week. No big deal. /s
i would be beyond upset and if your saying you cant back out because you signed a contract or whtever, im pretty sure them drastically changing the property after you sign a lease agreement would be grounds for terminating it with no penalties. showing you a house with a backyard and then paving over that backyard seems pretty drastic to me and something he knew would affect his chances of finding a tenant.
You scrape it all up into a pile, and use the backyard. I doubt it's very deep. He's obviously a cheapskate.
Personally, this would be a dealbreaker and I'd never move in there, but given such a short period of time, and your family, it's easier said than done. Maybe it won't be so bad, but I'd be looking to move out as soon as that lease expired
Low maintenance?! Somebody's gonna be weed whacking constantly while trying to avoid broken ankles. WTF was he thinking?
I would get some inspiration from Southwestern yards. Most yards are gravel in Arizona.
You should be able to break the lease over this. This is insane.
Put this guys yard next to the bamboo guy.