In the Weeds

Like many people who were confined to their homes for lockdown, we had the opportunity to look around and really consider some improvements. Brent and I have worked on the yard every year but it never felt like we could really get ahead. As soon as we fixed one problem, 3 more cropped up. With us both working from home, we had a bit more time to really focus. We put the truck to good use and picked up mulch from a local Boy Scout troop. We spent $350 on 5 truckloads for approximately 22 yards. It got to the point the scout master laughed when he saw us pull in. The backyard hadn't been properly mulched in years. We'd done a bit here and there but this time we did a full PhD- we Piled it High and Deep- to really keep down the weeds and make everything look clean and tidy. 

From there we moved on to something much cheaper- pulling weeds and trash trees. Since we had nowhere to be, I could slum around in my crappy t-shirts and sweatpants all I wanted and get back to work as soon as I logged off for my job. I went out everyday for weeks and cleared weeds until it looked tidy and kempt. 

Sydney took this photo. This is what I looked like for a good chunk of the summer.

Before: Back berm.

After: Brent pulled a lot of trash trees. We were blown away how that cleared the view.

Side yard Before and After:

Around the fountain was kind of a constant battle. I weeded it couple of times but when the first fall leaves fell, it had yet again sprouted more. Here's the After and Before:

Someday we will get that fountain working- I'm sure it will be so pretty!

It always blows me away how much better the fire pit looks with a little weeding and sweeping the dirt away.

Both of them done!

The bed to the side of the garage was a BEAST! As if pulling weeds out of the dirt wasn't hard enough, they cropped up in between the stones of the walkway.

Liesel told me one of our neighbors said he saw us working and felt really bad for us. Everyone else in our neighborhood uses professional landscapers and he even though about offering to help. Throughout the summer, he said he was really impressed with the progress we made- our yard looked just as good as all the other homes in the neighborhood. 

We also ripped out a patch of very pointless bushes, a flower bed where a tree used to be and a raised garden. Our yard doesn't need one more flower bed- I feel like we have too many as is. The raised garden was on the east side of the house and the wood was splitting out so the dirt was spilling out of the bottom. In the spring we are going to try and seed those areas. As excited as we were to finally get our feet under us, Brent and I are weirdly more excited for next year. If we can just mulch, weed and seed the areas we ripped up, the yard will not just look nice, it will actually be (dare I say it?) maintainable! 

We love having a large yard, especially with lockdown, but it can be an overwhelming amount of work. I think we finally made a good-sized dent and in the future the yard shouldn't be so all-consuming. We can look at stamped concrete to replace the aging walkway and maybe look at installing a bbq area and a new pergola where I'd like to put a dreamy hammock. Oh the possibilities!