Landscaping & Grounds

Transform your yard with expert guides on landscaping design, lawn care, drainage, irrigation, and hardscaping to boost your home’s curb appeal

Craftsman bungalow with fresh white paint, sage green shutters, a rust-red front door, and tidy mulched beds

ExteriorCurb Appeal Upgrades9 min read

Weekend Curb Appeal: Seven Projects That Transform Your Front Yard

Seven high-impact DIY curb appeal projects ranked by payoff per hour: front door paint, house numbers, lighting, mulch edges, and more.

Hands adjusting a pop-up sprinkler head with a screwdriver in bright morning light on a green lawn

ExteriorIrrigation & Lawn Care8 min read

Tune Up Your Sprinkler System and Stop Watering the Sidewalk

A step-by-step guide to a spring sprinkler tune-up: zone audit, head adjustment, matched nozzles, the catch-cup test, and setting seasonal percent.

A curved paver walkway through a green front yard, rubber mallet and level resting on freshly laid stones

ExteriorDriveways & Walkways13 min read

Lay a Paver Walkway That Won’t Heave, Wander, or Grow Weeds

Build a paver walkway from the ground up: excavation depth, compacted base lifts, screeded bedding sand, edge restraints, and polymeric sand joints.

Hands connecting black drip tubing to a hose bib fitted with backflow preventer, filter, and pressure regulator beside tomato plants

ExteriorIrrigation & Lawn Care9 min read

Install Drip Irrigation Off a Hose Bib in One Afternoon

A step-by-step guide to building a hose-bib drip system: backflow preventer, filter, pressure regulator, mainline layout, emitter sizing, and a timer.

Newly planted foundation bed with small shrubs spaced widely in dark mulch along tan lap siding, tape measure between plants

ExteriorGardens & Planting Beds9 min read

Design Foundation Planting Beds That Never Outgrow the House

A step-by-step guide to laying out foundation beds with mature-size spacing, a dry drip-edge strip against the wall, and the right mulch depth.

Two cedar raised garden beds under construction, one filled with dark soil and one showing hardware cloth across its base

ExteriorGardens & Planting Beds8 min read

Build Cedar Raised Garden Beds That Outlast the Soil

A step-by-step guide to building cedar raised beds with post-anchored corners, hardware cloth against burrowers, and a soil mix that drains and feeds.

A low split-face block retaining wall under construction with drainage gravel, perforated pipe, and a string line

ExteriorFencing & Retaining Walls12 min read

Build a Block Retaining Wall That Will Not Lean

A step-by-step guide to building a segmental block retaining wall under three feet: trench and base depth, compacted gravel, drainage stone, setback, and capping.

A level held against a pressure-treated fence post set in gravel and wet concrete along a taut string line at sunset

ExteriorFencing & Retaining Walls11 min read

Build a Privacy Fence With Posts That Stay Plumb for Decades

A step-by-step guide to building a wood privacy fence: string layout, post hole depth, gravel-and-concrete setting, racking versus stepping on slopes, and hanging pickets straight.

Gloved hands setting a low-voltage path light into a mulched bed at dusk beside a stone walkway and cable spool

ExteriorExterior Lighting10 min read

Install Low-Voltage Landscape Lighting That Looks Designed, Not Decorated

A step-by-step guide to low-voltage landscape lighting: sizing the transformer, planning wire runs, burying cable, and aiming fixtures after dark.