Like the title says just moved to a new spot in Portland and looking to maximize this new space mostly as a chill space. Giant cherry tree in the middle that has dropped a bunch fruit that looks kind of inedible
*I should add "landscapers" came and cut a bunch overgrown stuff including a Hydrangea on the right that was enveloping our home
Also there are a ton of flies and tiny bugs that seem to like to bite and sting my feet
by shalashashka69
30 Comments
Your renting? Wouldn’t spend a penny for the homeowners sake
Why would you put money into a rental?
Just over seed and water the grass. You can clean up the beds around but don’t do much. You should be saving money to buy a house that you can landscape to your liking not fixing someone else’s yard up.
Beyond patio furniture, solar lights, an outdoor rug, basically anything you can TAKE with you when you move — don’t do a damn thing.
You will have absolutely zero return on investment, unless your landlord agrees to give you 3% of rent back for future renters for making the backyard nicer ? Don’t do it.
Instead, price out what you want to do, stick it in a savings account with high yielding interest, and put it towards your OWN space when you get one.
Dont put too much $$ into a rental. It honestly looks okay.. just keep it trimmed and tidy, you already have a nice deck there for outside…. maybe ghet like a portable gazebo you can take with you whenver you move if needed
HELP? This is not life or death.. chill
Green rattle can call it a day
OP, learn from me.
I wanted to clean up the space we were renting for our landlord so she shaved off some monthly in exchange for some work. That’s when the trouble started. Landlord was critical of everything I was doing even though they had a dirt patch with weeds to begin with. Then landlord wanted me to do things outside my skill set which led to them outsourcing. Then she failed to get any maintenance upkeep (relying solely on me) and tried taking me to court for not providing proper upkeep on the space I was trying to help out to begin with. It went no where since she had nothing written into a contract but the headache/grey hairs were enough.
If you still feel compelled to do anything, get it all written out beforehand with expectations of what you will do before and afterward plus maintenance costs. Good luck!
Nothing but cannabis plants
I’m like you- I also rent and wanted to improve my surroundings. I planted native shrubs and perennials with the owner’s approval and had some $ knocked off the rent. My husband and I have lived at our place for three years and don’t want to buy yet with the way things have been going with the housing market. As far as not taking it with me when I move, I’m at peace with it. I like the idea of leaving a nice space behind for pollinators and birds after I’m gone. Decide what you want and talk to your landlord about options:)
Looks fine to me for a rental. Save your money.
Stewardship. I live there, I want it to look good. I had neighbors at the time come up to me and ask i i bought the place. I told them I lived there and wanted it to look good. No weeds in the yard nor the flower beds. So I bought the weed killer and invested the time and elbow grease. I now own the place after renting 4 years. But I’ve always done this to my homes – yes, my home – because I live there, not the landlord. I had a landlord for 10 years that would reimburse me for the improvements, but I asked her first.
From your photos, it has been neglected. Take your time, and you can turn it around. Possession is 9/10 of the law. Your visitors will be impressed.
Don’t listen to everyone here telling you “not to put a penny into someone else’s house.”
You are going to live here, you deserve to enjoy your space. It doesn’t cost alot to clean up the yard and make it look pretty.
The easiest things to make it look nice right away are edging, weeding, and raking.
Head over to r/composting on how to start a compost pile.
Plant a few native plants that don’t require a lot of upkeep.
Buy plants and flowers off season. Right now, places have them 50% off or more. For $6 you can plant flowers that you will get to enjoy.
I rented a space with a large cherry tree, and here’s what I learned.
– It will suck the life out of everything in the yard that requires water. I would throw down some micro clover seeds.
-the cherries are really annoying. If you don’t rake them up, you can track sticky bullcrap all over your house.
-cherry pits are toxic to dogs, if you have a dog also make sure you are raking them up.
-cherries are delicious though! Don’t forget to pick and eat them.
-you will have alot of squirrels, raccoons, and crows come to visit.
One option is container gardening. Large, beautiful pots and planters. That way you can take your pots and plants with you when you go!! And if the pots are lovely, then even in the winter you will have colors. I always landscaped my apartment balcony when I rented.
OP, I’m in a similar situation, here’s my two cents:
Butcher the tree, not yours, do your best and learn from your mistakes so you can do better when you own in the future. Trim it up and shape it as best you can from the ground. It’ll grow back, who cares. Consider asking the landlord if he would cover that portion by hiring a tree trimmer – that’s tough work but will make a big difference.
Remove anything you don’t like. Rake the shit out of everything. Depending on your soil, pick a cheap seed to sow – grass seed is pretty cheap, I think clover is gorgeous and so is chamomile. Think about tackling one section of the turf at a time so you can be sure to take care of it till it establishes. That’s a big yard to hand water every day – but a 10×10 area right off the deck isn’t so bad.
Then focus on the deck. Get a nice outdoor run, big umbrella, table, chairs. Maybe a little freestanding bar. A grill if you’re into that.
Grab some pots – whatever suits your taste – I like stamped terracotta personally. But plastic is way cheaper. Find out if there’s any free compost sources around. Check Facebook marketplace for free plants, soil, dirt, sand, fill the pots. You can use empty milk jugs to take up space so you don’t need so much dirt.
I like to grow from seed but you might prefer to just buy some stuff. Get some perennial flowers, maybe herbs, whatever you use or think is pretty. I have a pot with rosemary sage and oregano (we don’t use the oregano), it’s gorgeous. Another I just seeded with basil after last years died in the summer heat. In a few months it will be nice and full. A few smaller with lavender.
A few nice pots up on the deck, filled with pretty flowers or aromatic herbs you use will freshen that space right up. With a nice seating area, you’ll start to use it, then you’re cooking with fire.
That yard is big. Ever wanted to grow veggies? You’ve got the space. Till it up, sow and go. Amazon has cheap drip irrigation systems you can hook right up to the hose bib. A beautiful patch of pumpkin, squash, eggplant, and sweet potato will fill in the back corner under the tree.
A few cheap 2×4 teepees will let you grow all the climbers you want – beans, cucumbers, loofah. Maybe passion fruit if your zone allows – it grows quick and the fruit make killer cocktails.
Keep your eyes out for a water feature or pond or something. I got this sick 50 gallon standalone “aquascape” pond off Amazon for $200 – the sound is heaven and helps drown out the neighbors. No fish but I did get some cheap plants and free coral off FB marketplace. You can always get a nice little fish in there to eat the mosquito and frog eggs – or a regular dosing of bleach will do the same thing if you don’t have plants.
A few wind chimes hung from the tree will make beautiful music – I prefer the deep tone style personally.
A metal fire pit with some cheap or salvaged chairs and little Cornhole or horseshoes off the deck.
Just pick a budget, figure out what’s truly important, and get to work. You’ll have paradise in no time. But you really gotta figure out what’s important and matters to you.
I started going crazy on landscaping, while my wife worked on making a nice outdoor gathering area. I ripped stuff, moved stuff, tossed stuff – then on yard waste day I went and pulled stuff from neighbors trash. Now we got tons of foxtail ferns; bromeliads of all colors, shapes, and sizes; several types of aloe; snake plants; even found a citrus tree and a few monsters, few orchids – all from the trash, thousands of bucks worth of plants.
If you want to DM me I’d be happy to share pics of what we did, but I don’t have before pictures. Took me the better part of 6 months of Saturdays, and I still work on it, but now it’s one of my favorite hobbies. Sure, I don’t own it and the landlord reaps the value benefit, but I don’t care – I’m having a blast, learned a lot, and get a beautiful oasis we created ourselves. As far as I’m concerned, I won this transaction, but the LL certainly didn’t lose.
You’re renting, so I would invest in potted plants for the deck. Let the rest go.
It’s a fun dream but don’t waste your money on someone else’s shit
Rental goats for clearing. Seriously.
Make sure everything stays trimmed. If you want to add more plants or something, do outdoors pots so you can take them with you when you leave.
How much are you trying to spend on the project? Knowing you won’t get any of it back when you move out.
Who cares if it’s a rental. I would cut the trees down and throw down some grass seed. Yard work isn’t that scary unless you think it will put you in the hospital.
So like others have said, dont over do it. Its not yours and generally landlords can be a PITA when you start making improvements. However we dont know what they’re like or the situation you’re in so it could be really chill where you might be able to do some stuff and get a kick back for it, it all depends on that. Generally though if I was you and renting from someone I don’t personally know, id start with the mulch up against the house and the gravel walk next to it. Its really cheap and something you can do your self, and it really adds some color. You’re gonna want to pull all those weeds and any plants you dont want, it’ll help keep stuff from popping up in your new mulched bed. Same for the larger bed on the other side of the porch, looks like it has brush that can also be raked out. And others have said potted plants really make the space, and you get to keep them. My mom has like 5-6 plants older than me because she was able to just keep taking them when she moved from house to house. It’ll keep eyes around the porch and less on back of the yard that looks like a bigger project. That id tackle that part in the winter once you kinda get an Idea of what you’re signing up for labor wise after doing the closer up stuff that will do more visually. You’ll also be able to get all those leaves out of there too after that tree drops them and you wont have to deal with them till next year. Does look like you have your work cut out for you but not to worry as its a good place to start and learn for when you get a place of your own one day. Good luck and remember not to put too much effort into something you might have to move out of when the lease is up.
Check if the homeowner is willing to help fund improvements to his/her property.
Keep the shrubs trimmed mow and water. Maybe throw some
Fertilizer down as well
Just ask the landlord. If they are turning enough profit on your rent they will work on it with you. Don’t spend your own $ except for your own plants.
I’m a professional landscaper and have taken the time to do minor landscaping to a rental before.
If I rented this space and knew I would live there for 3ish years I would remove all the dilapidated wood and plastic bed edging around the deck and fence line. I would then rake all of the dead grass and thatch out of the lawn and put down a quality seed blend with a top dressing of screened compost. Water religiously under established.
I would have 2 yards of an undyed shredded hardwood mulch delivered on my driveway to spread in the beds and under the trees. Nothing will grow under the cherry tree so leave that area mulched. Limb up the tree a bit and place a bench of hammock under there. Give all the planting beds a spade edge and plant something like Annabelle hydrangeas along the foundation of the house, you probably only need 3 per side of the deck. These are relatively cheap for their size and showy for summer. Do not buy macrophilia hydrangeas as they never flower at home like they do at the nursery. Plants are usually on sale in fall.
You could do all of this yourself for about $500
Seed & water the grass, maybe get some umbrella, chairs & table for the deck on like FB marketplace or something, also potted plants for the deck could add to the vibe. Maybe some basic trimming on the tree so you can walk under it. Enjoy yourself and the new place op. The deck looks like a cool spot to chill, deff needs some Adirondack chairs at least
Depending on your lease and the state law you’re operating under, if the grounds keeping and maintenance is landlord, you should call them and ask them to repair the burnt grass and maintain it in accordance with the lease. Terminating your lease for requesting that could be a form of tenant harassment depending on the state law
It’s not your property. Spend very little, maybe some labor, but don’t be foolish
Don’t do anything to a rented house. Why spend your money to improve it for the landlord? Unless they reimburse you for expenses, do not waste your money. Buy potted plants for the deck area that can move with you.