Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Since last fall, the weeds, from what seems like the entire neighborhood, have come to stay at our house. The edgers around our flower beds received a coating of weeds and unwanted grass.

Though the project is still underway, between nights of soccer and weekends of family outings, we have begun cleaning up our front yard.

Living in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, our total amount of land is less than one acre. Our front yard consists of 3 beds in front of our house and a bed around our one tree. We also have a walkway, driveway, and sidewalk.

Keeping our yard looking nice is always a challenge with all the weeds and the different grasses: Bermuda in the front and fescue in the back. It probably doesn’t help that we do not spend lots of time in our yard, so keeping weeds out of our mulch beds is a chore.

After completing our garden in the backyard, we focused on the beds in the front yard. These BEFORE pictures show you how awful our front yard looked. The growth really took off quickly, so we moved fast to make it beautiful again.

We purchased mulch from Lowe’s on sale – 4 bags for $10. To cover all our beds, we purchased 12 bags of mulch. On a warm, sunny day, Paul got to work.

Remove Edgers

With the edgers buried under last-year’s mulch and dense weeds, Paul removed all the edgers from our 4 beds in front of our house.

Careful of bugs and ant piles, he dug up the ones deeply buried in the bed. Though he was careful, he still received a few ant bites from certain members of the ant colony that live under our tree. Ouch!

Clean out Beds

Paul then trimmed all the bushes and raked into piles all the old mulch, trimmings, and weeds. He then filled up trash bags with all the debris.

This yard work is very labor-intensive resulting in sore arms and lower back. Though the work is cumbersome, seeing the empty dirt floor creates a starting point for the work ahead.

Next week, I will share how we prepare our beds while continuing our spring yard work. (I’m using “we” liberally here as Paul has done all this yard work alone. :-))

Question: What plans do you have for your yard work this spring?

Our yard work is underway. Last week, I shared how Paul cleaned out all the weeds, grass, and old mulch from our 4 beds in the front yard. Starting with a clean bed, we chose to prepare and treat the beds before adding the mulch.

Prepare the Beds

After removing all the debris, Paul laid down a thick layer of newspaper on top of the dirt bed. The newspaper helps prevent weeds and grass from seeping up through the mulch and edgers.

To keep the newspaper in place, Paul laid the edgers on the newspaper at the edge of the bed. Hopefully, the newspaper will keep the weeds from popping up between the stones.

Treat the Beds

With a liquid mixture, Paul attached the bottle to the hose and sprayed weed killer over the beds, including the newspaper. With the double protection of the newspaper and weed killer, we hope to lessen the amount of work needed in our yard this summer and fall. 🙂

To get our yard looking presentable again after removing the weeds and former mulch, we prepared and treated our beds to deter the weeds. Our yard is looking better after some tender loving care. Next week, I will end this series with pictures of the finished product. Stay tuned . . .

Question: What yard projects keep you busy?

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Hoping to show you our completed project today, I can only show a half-finished yard. Though we only have about half an hour of work left to complete the two smaller beds, we did not finish in time for this post.

In using time wisely, we spent the weekend with friends celebrating birthdays and enjoying each other’s company. If all goes as planned, our last two beds will get finished this week.

Thankfully, the two larger areas are complete and look so much better than when we started. Our yard is improving which is progress. The weed killer applied to our grass has reduced the weeds and improved our grass. Love it when one application solves the immediate problem. Now, we will progress to fertilizing.

In earlier posts, I humbly shared our yard’s overgrown weeds and how we removed the edgers and cleaned out the beds in part 1. Then in part 2, I showed how my husband Paul prepared the beds and then treated the beds. In part 3, I will present the finished product after adding new mulch and spreading it in our long bed and under our tree.

Add New Mulch

Wow, mulch bags are heavy! Having loaded the mulch on a cart at Lowe’s, then from the cart to our van, next from the van to our garage, and finally from the garage to the beds tired out Paul. Moving those bags so many times brought shoulder and back pain for a few days to Paul. Yet, he continued to work to beautify our yard. 🙂

For our long bed, Paul added four bags of mulch. The bed under the tree took 2 bags, and the 2 smaller beds together should take 3 bags.

Spread the Mulch

Adding four bags of new mulch to the long bed, Paul spread it evenly and adjusted any edgers to keep the bed’s appearance uniform.

In repeating this process under the tree, the edgers needed more adjusting to keep the mulch from cascading into the grass.

Add More Mulch

Once we spread the other 2 bags of mulch in the last 2 beds, we will begin filling in bare spots. We will use the last 3 bags of mulch to create a uniform appearance in all four beds.

In using time wisely this spring to improve our property, we completed our spring yard work for 2 of our 4 beds by adding new mulch and spreading the mulch. Once the other two beds are complete, we will add more mulch to unify all 4 beds.

As you plan your spring yard work projects, take it step by step. With a little planning and lots of hard work, your yard will improve little by little. Enjoy the process and happy improving!

Question: How’s your yard work coming along?