Our Approach to the Advice on This Site
Who writes this, and what they can and cannot vouch for
On Sunday Backyard, this page explains how the advice about Massachusetts yard work gets made: who writes it, what it reads, what it compares and what it refuses to claim.
I write these pages as a parent with a yard and a family calendar, not as a contractor. I do not build, install, treat or plow anything for anyone, and nothing here describes a job I have done for hire. What I can offer is a careful reading of the sources, a comparison of the options people actually weigh, and a plain statement of where the sources stop.
If a page cannot tell you where a number came from, I would rather leave the number out.
The sources behind the figures on this site
Every figure on this site has to trace back to a source a reader can look up. Most come from Massachusetts statute and state regulation, and from the UMass Amherst Extension service. Massachusetts requires anyone who is going to dig to notify Dig Safe at least 72 hours ahead, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays (General Laws, Chapter 82, Section 40A). The state’s lawn rule allows phosphorus fertilizer only when a soil test from the past three years shows it is needed, or on a new lawn in its first growing season (330 CMR 31.05).
UMass Amherst Extension says late summer, from August 15 to September 15, generally gives the best results for renovating a lawn. Where a source comes from another state, such as Iowa State University’s guide to moving shrubs, or is a trade magazine rather than a government or university page, the text says so beside the claim. A figure that cannot be traced to a source is not written at all, and where a sourced figure is missing, the page says so in plain words.
What the guide reads, compares and leaves out
When a question has a legal answer, I read the rule itself, not somebody’s summary of it. Town building departments are the next stop, because a state exemption from a building permit does not remove a local zoning rule. Needham’s building department, for example, requires a deck permit application to show footing size and depth, railing heights and baluster spacing, and says construction must begin within six months of the permit being issued.
The comparisons follow the questions a reader actually asks: how much of a result is set by the calendar, by the base under a surface, or by the material on top. I leave out rankings of named companies and star ratings, because those need a listing to support them, and this site does not keep one.
