Why are your bringing in more soil? Was this area washed out or something? Before you do that, I'd have some local expert landscapers suggest it. Usually people will bring in soil and change the drainage such that their basements start flooding. Drainage is the most important element in landscaping. Rototilling in the past is likely the reason your soil is bumpy now. When rototilled soil settles, it settles unevenly. It is best to leave your original grading alone and level at the surface like you are planning to do. Having said that, sand never needs to be rototilled and ... sand never needs to be aerated. Golf courses aerate their sandy soils because those soils get walked on every single day, wet or dry. Assuming yours is not a golf course, you should never need to aerate it. Secondly, I LOVE sand as a surface. I live in San Antonio and have a limestone rubble soil. I have a choice of topsoil and sand to bring in. I've done both and the sand areas are much nicer. Furthermore, there is nothing harder to work with than cloddy topsoil - well, maybe rocks, but sand it excellent to work with. Once I discovered that, I have used nothing but sand. And yes, the top 6 inches of my soil was washed away before we bought the house. We had exposed tree roots and drop-offs from the sidewalk. Gary what is your reasoning for doing the sprinkler first? My thought would be that you'd clip the heads off the sprinkler with the tractor (if you were doing it right).

Paul, I think I dumped about 2 bags of Wal-Mart steer manure on the string of ornamental grasses seen in the pic above, around May 1 last year, right after I chopped them off. I cut off everything above about 6 inches. This Spring Im going to try leaving it a little longer, maybe 12 or 14 inches tall. My thought is this might give it more strength and help it stay more upright when the snow hits. So far I havent seen any new ornamental grasses come up anywhere from seed. I dont get the feeling they start from seed all that easily. The Giant grass sends out runners about 6 or 8 inches from present grass clump. No further than that. On the Hardy pampas the new stems are in very tight to the old. Id say it spreads only an inch or maybe 2 inches per year. I read somewhere that these tall ornamental grass varieties are very responsive to Nitrogen fertilizer, so you might want to consider putting a little manure or something on yours. If not that, then I imagine a little cheapy lawn fertilizer (without the insecticide and weed killer) would also make yours very happy. The Giant silver grass is being used in Germany for the stuff to put into the fermentation vats to make alcohol motor vehicle fuel. Apparently it grows more fermentable mass per acre than any other crop. In pictures of it growing there, it seems to be about 14 feet tall. Bruce

If the tree does not have surface roots that could make it compete for water and nutrients, you should be ok. The only trees that I would warn about are Black Walnut and Butternut. Their roots and basically all parts produce/contain juglone in amounts large enough to be toxic to many types of shrubs, including hydrangeas and azaleas. The landscaper should make sure that the hydrangeas will get appropriate sunlight conditions. You do not say where you are located but, here in Texas, I try to give them shade in the summer months starting around 11am-12pm. Up in the north, you can give them as much sun as full sun condition since the sun is not as harsh in the summer. But being understory plants in their native SE U.S., they will appreciate afternoon shade no matter where they get it. Enjoy! Luis PS - The only warning unrelated to trees is to make sure that the area does not form puddles and that the soil drains well. Oakleafs are notorious for catching root rot if their 'feet' get wet. By the way, which oakleaf hydrangeas you are considering?

If your yard is large, do a diagonal fence the 10’ away (be sure to call to confirm). They can access from neighbors yard. we have a box much nearer to the fence. Previous owner put it there. I think if you put it too close and they need to access it by the easement guidelines they can take out your fence for access but not sure how often that actually happens