When it comes to our jungle-esque backyard, we last left off with transplanting/digging up one giant 15′ garden bed and leveling it all off in the hopes of growing some lush green grass. And we’re back with a little backyard update (why yes we did spend the weekend getting muddy and why no, I still don’t have Madonna arms, but maybe a third day of bush whacking will be the charm?). Much like any other “room” in the house, it’s definitely a do-it-in-phases thing, especially since it’s such a you’ll-be-sore-after-each-phase process, but there’s something awesome about digging around in the yard for a few hours while the bean naps and Burger sleeps lazily in the windowsill (slash “Supervises”) because there’s a pretty obvious change at the end of all that digging. For example, after three and a half hours of work on our second phase of backyard bushwhacking, here’s the difference:
Yup, we tackled the second 15′ wide garden bed and got to work on digging out about 50% of the path-blocking liriope that went crazy and decided to grow so enthusiastically that it makes your legs all itchy if you walk down the path in shorts. Makes me twitch just thinking about it, actually. See how the path looks about 3″ wide in the back section of this photo that we didn’t dig up yet?
And see how we gained about 6-8″ of walking space on each side (for an estimated total of 12-16″ less of liriope once we get both sides done)? Raise the roof. That’s about 300% more non-leg-itching freedom that we gained.
We put all the liriope that we dug up in the side yard where lots of it is already growing (and actually looks wild and free and pretty in a giant mass, so we’re totally cool with it going bonkers and covering the entire wild area in our side yard).
Digging up liriope isn’t for the faint at heart. John started on this task while I cut down the second 15′ planting bed (trimming everything back and then digging it out at the roots to transplant it or remove it seems to be the most manageable method that we’ve learned to tackle such large planting beds). Meanwhile John was showing the liriope who’s boss by digging up sections with his shovel (using the jump-on-the-shovel method to make sure he got all of the roots up so these guys don’t sprout back up in the spring to surprise us). That’s right, J-Boom put his back into it.
Then once I had the planting bed trimmed down (but not dug up quite yet) we looked at the clock and realized we should tag-team the liriope (I worked from the far end while John worked from the end where he started and we met in the middle) since Clara was going to wake up from her nap in about an hour and a half and we wanted to at least have that one leg-tickling side knocked out. We even had time to grab some dirt from a few bare spots back in the woods at the end of our lot and rake that into the holes that were left from digging up the liriope, so there weren’t any giant pits in the yard. Whew.
The view from this angle is the most dramatic change. This is basically what you see when you walk beyond our side patio and turn to the left to see the backyard. Your eye used to stop about ten feet in front of you at that giant planting bed, but now it goes all the way back to that pretty maple on the other side of the backyard.
It actually looks like a backyard instead of a bonafide bushfest back there. Although we still have a few more rows of liriope to dig out along with actually leveling the 15′ bed that I trimmed down so it’s all ready for grass seed. Not bad for one afternoon though. There’s just something so satisfying about a little reclaim-your-yard bid-ness outside (especially since the weather has been awesome lately – not too hot and not too cold).
I know our backyard is really hard when it comes to orienting yourself since there are just a ton of trees and bushes that all look the same, but this is the old & new view just beyond the patio (the comparison above is the view if you walk about four steps forward from where the shots below were taken and turn 90 degrees to the left).
Maybe this terrible rendering that I did of our lot a while back (with our house sketched about ten times too large and the area around it dwarfed by the giant house in the middle of it all) might help you get your bearings. At least it helps you see where the brick paths go and where two two 15′ garden beds used to be in the back:
Oops, but it’s old so it doesn’t have the deck, which now fills in that odd alleyway area between the original house and the 70’s addition on the left side of the house. Anyway, if all goes well we just think it’ll just take one more phase of bush whacking back there to remove the rest of that crazy path-encroaching liriope, level out that last garden bed, and seed everything in the hopes that we can get a nice lush carpet o’ green going on. You know we’ll keep you posted…
We totally love that there’s a big woodsy lot behind our house, but we’re total suckers for a nice swatch of lawn in front of that for the bean and the burgs to run around on. I think it all goes back to our first house’s backyard (ah spring, nothing ever looks this perma-green in the fall):
Grass in the front + woods in the back = our favorite kind of backyard mullet. So although our current house’s backyard will only be about half as deep as our first house’s was when it’s all seeded and lush, we’re cool with that. Still enough room for playing but less to mow and rake. Jackpot.
What did you guys do this weekend? Anyone else digging around outside and crossing your toes for a nice long kid-nap while you’re out there getting dirty?
Totally unrelated to your post – and maybe you already saw this – but was googling tips on how to make a photo gallery, and I think Lauren Conrad <3 your gallery!
http://www.laurenconrad.com/post/picture-perfect-how-to-hang-a-wall-collage-gallery
Aw thanks Becky! Isn’t that crazy?!
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The yard looks so much better. It’s like it’s able to breathe again :) But, btw, I am still in a stupor about that guy skydiving from space, so excuse me over here. How amazing was that, ha?
Haha- it was amazing!!!! Over 700 miles an hour = crazytown!
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Looks great! Can’t wait to see how the progress looks in the Spring! We’ve recently been getting ours in order after neglecting it for far too long and it’s been quite the work out!
Not sure what you guys are doing next weekend but there’s a Home & Garden show at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. We’ve been the past few years and while it’s not like the one they show on HGTV it’s still a fun time.
Sounds like fun! We will be in Cincinnati next weekend for the start of the book tour- ahhhh!
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This looks amazing for one afternoon of work. You two have backs of steal. We were in Chicago this weekend so I got to play a bit at my mom’s house. She has the green thumb, I have the “can’t keep a desert plant alive with the husband and dogs running around” thumb.
Also, I’m insanely jealous of your ability to be outside like that! As I drove to work this morning it was 41F. Yuck. Winter is comin’!
Ooh, that’s cold!
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The digging will come this week/weekend. I’m creating a real front walk from front steps to driveway to replace the too small, covered with grass and not well spaced stepping stones that I currently have. Soon, I’ll have a lovely walk with real edging (trying out some no-trim plastic edging from HD), and gravel/stones with stepping stones placed throughout. I’m excited!
We’re going to try mixing some dry concrete mix in with the top soil, wetting it down and letting it set to create a better barrier from weeds under the gravel. Have you tried anything like that? I’m curious to see how it does compared to just using weed blocker.
Never tried that- anyone else have experience with it?
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Looks so nice…I wonder when they did all that landscaping? More than a couple decades ago? I have some mums that I need to dig holes for. :)
Yes, I think it’s decades old and it used to be small and cute and now it’s beastly!
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It’s getting there! Way to go guys. We took the weekend off of all projects and celebrated Chris’s birthday and hit up the grand opening of West Elm in our parts! Ahhh, best weekend ever.
Ooh, sounds fun!
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Love the transformation! It’s always amazing how much difference a few hours of work outside can make. We spent part of yesterday afternoon (such a beautiful day!) cutting our yard and “winter-izing” some of our plants–including lilirope, which we call monkey grass. Several of ours need to be separated, so I might try to organize a plant swap in the spring =)
I love that you managed to use the phrase “bonafide bushfest” in a completely serious context.
Oh yes, I’m all business in the backyard. Haha.
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I spent Saturday spreading turkey manure compost on the lawn and pine mulch straw in the fall veggie garden. And then it rained. A perfect gardening day in my book. Except, the yard still stinks a bit ~ that tmc is pretty strong.
Congratulations on making serious progress in your battle with liriope! Mine is so dense that I bent a shovel, so now need to use a pick axe to try to get it up and out! Thanks for the inspiration – a nice reminder that I can do it, a little bit at a time!
Woah! That’s serious liriope!
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We went house hunting this weekend! And found a brick ranch we like a lot…but with some daunting yard work, so this post gives me an idea of what I could be facing in my future. Eeek!
Looks great though!!!
Aw, so exciting Tyra!
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No yard work for us – meant to though. oops. It always seems to be lowest on priorty. We did catch the folk festival though- missed you guys!
Yes, we had so much fun there on Sat!!
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Looks terrific!! It does make me glad I’m still in my apartment-rental stage of life… :-)
Love it! My legs and back are sooooo sore today from working in our front yard this weekend. We decided to fall-ify our flower beds, adding some mums in fun colors and redid the rock border and it looks so good! So worth it, though my buns still aren’t made of steel… yet.
Haha- I’m still waiting on those steel buns as well.
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Looks so much better!
We rented a jackhammer this weekend and busted out some concrete. Best. Saturday. Ever. It’s like the ultimate power tool!
Nicely done! It’s amazing what a lot of elbow grease can accomplish!
I didn’t do any work in the yard this weekend, but instead FINALLY put up my Halloween decorations. Given we’re only two weeks out, it was my “Dude, Get on That” project of the weekend. :-)
Aw, I love that! I bet your house is all festive!
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We drove an hour and a half to hit up the closest H&M, spent an hour there, then drove back. It was funny and actually pretty great. Gotta love a drive in the fall with all the colors.
Also, I had a dream last night that you guys were doing a house crashing on our tiny house, only somehow when you came I had a seriously amazing kitchen. Maybe I have the gift of prophecy?
Aw, I love that!
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We’ve just moved (finally!) so I was looking forward to Miss Georgia having a nice long nap so that I could get a couple of hours of organizing done but I made the mistake of sitting down…and woke up myself 2 hours later…totally unproductive but felt sooo good :)
I’m completely gardening-challenged, but my mom (the master gardener) was here visiting last week and planted some flowers and installed some solar lights in the front. It looks great, but now it’s on me to keep them alive.
Looks amazing!!!
For what it’s worth, Jillian Michael’s 30-day shred (level 2 particularly) for the Madonna arms. It’s 20 minutes a day, but it tones your arms in just
a few days.
Ooh thanks Amanda! The crazy thing is my mom basically was born with Madonna arms and I always ask her why she didn’t give them to me in my genes. Haha.
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Things are really clearing up nicely around there! I’m with you, in that I love a nice open yard surrounded by trees. I have over half an acre of overgrown ivy(surrounded by trees) that my husband and I are trying to make into a yard for our 2 furry babies to enjoy. This post is giving me the motivation to get out there in the yard and start ripping it up! So thanks!
We’ve got sooo much transplanting to do that I dread the work. The previous owners were gifted through some nice family about $3000 worth of landscaping left over from their previous job and they just put it anywhere. They wanted to get it in the ground before the fall got too cold and didn’t want to waste any plants. But now a couple of years later everything is way too big and overgrown.
Hoping we can get it all done this fall or early next spring…sigh
Aw man!
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Love your post! Quick question.. what kind of seed did you use in your old house yard to get such lush grass in the part (or what appears to be part) shade? I am having huge issues in our yard with this!
thanks! jen
We do our best to use local grass that does well right here in Richmond (like a local “fescue mix” from a home store here). That seems to help! Oh and mention it’s a part shade area. Hope it helps!
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Wow that’s such a big difference! Will you be digging out the pathways to give you more lawn?
We need to sort the garden out for autumn, store everything away and prune back. It hasn’t been the best weather for it lately.
I think for now we’re cool with leaving the paths since they’re so low-profile and blend in (once the liriope is gone) but who knows where we’ll end up down the line!
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Oooh, you could use some of the dead lirirope as upcoming Halloween decor! (They all won’t survive in that big wild tomb of flora, unless they’re mutant plants… which just very well could be a serious possibility!) Put some dead leaves among a bunch of white and orange pumpkins, and a potted mum. Fall and halloween, done!
Great work you guys! That was a scary amount of work you got done!
Could be fun!
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First time posting but had to comment as my husband and I were doing some lawn work this weekend too. We just got back from Disney World for our first anniversary, and let me tell you what a shock it was to come back to good old PA to find 50 degree weather and PILES upon PILES of leaves in our yard. We just bought a house in April and orignally loved the yard that was full of charming mature trees. Now, not so much. haha. So yeah, here’s to working on those madonna arms!
Oh man, good luck! I remember our first fall at our first house! I definitely had to get used to all that raking!
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Looks so much better! So hopefully after all this work we can see a Clara playground project next spring!?
Wahoo! I’d love that!
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I’m going to second the Clara playground project! That sounds like a fantastic idea.
Love it!
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I can only imagine the amount of work that went into that – those roots must have been CRAZY! Looks so open now. Great job you guys!
The yard is looking great! I can totally appreciate it! Our yard is an absolute disaster! It’s been neglected for about 15 years and the past 1 since we’ve been here. But we have some trees that have to come out first ($$$$)…one day…but I am looking forward to it! Even though I hate yard work, I like a nice yard!
It’s actually via Lauren Conrad’s blog that I found out about your blog and now I actually ready your blog more then hers, but ssshh… Just love your blog !
Aw thanks Annelies! You’re so sweet!
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It’s looking great guys!! Coming from someone who just had a yard put in last fall, I’m super jealous of all the green you have even if it is weeds and liriope taking over!!
And is it weird that I can picture you and John out there talking while you’re working and coming to the conclusion of your favorite kind of “yard mullet”?! Then deciding to put that into the post? Too funny:)
Hahaha, I actually thought of it when I kept writing “front and back” in the post, so it somehow manifested as a mullet reference! John approves though! Haha.
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Looking Good! It’s really just a preference, lots of stuff in the yard vs a clearer yard – just like interior style! To each their own, I say.
I really enjoy getting out and using my muscles in the yard after a long week of mental working. It just helps loosen up everything, and I really believe it’s one of the best stress relievers!
I would come help! haha
Sherry — the yard looks great! So much progress!
We also did some yard work yesterday (the weather was awesome!) Mainly just the usual mowing the lawn, weeding, edging our sidewalk, pulling out what was left over from our garden, trimming bushes… good stuff. Pruning bushes makes me feel like an adult, haha!
OH! And we also finished painting our door that leads into our garage. Check it out — nice and bold!
http://lifewithacrazypup.com/2012/10/14/red-y-set-paint/
Looks awesome!
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Madonna’s arms started looking a little freaky in later years, so I wouldn’t start digging up stuff you like just to achieve the look. :-)
Hahah!
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Wow, amazing transformation! I kept scrolling up and down and looking for trees before I was sure I was lookking at the same parts of the yard!
Looks a million times better! Great job!
It’s looks great! So much more room! (In the little paragraph before the last picture, I think it should be “our house”, or did you really mean outhouse? haha)
Hahah! Oops!
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WOW! Looks awesome! What a workout!
Wow! What a difference! Looks great!
We headed down to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespeare Festival (a class requirement for the hub). It rained the entire way down- mostly, but Saturday was breathtakingly beautiful.
We went for a run on a random dirt road, crossed paths with some familiar folks, and eventually headed home… Only to be stopped on I-15 with a major accident (as in no movement).
We detoured majorly and drove through some of the most beautiful areas- 20 and 89 north of Bryce Canyon National Park.
Thanks to your recs, the new camera was in full click. (We have the D3100 as the D3200 was a bit more than our desired range combined with reviews.)
Here’s a look at Southern Utah in all of it’s fall (and snowy) glory…
http://wasatchwendy.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-cedar-hills-runand-detour.html
This was the perfect trip as in 5ish weeks we’ll welcome our little lady who was the perfect traveler! (She was nearly completely still when I was the wheel and active as a firefly when hub was driving!)
Gorgeous!!
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Ugh–we’ve been in our house about a year and a half now, so we’ve spent a lot of time a couple weeks ago doing bushwacking on the overgrown landscaping. And behind all those giant bushes, we found green yucky stuff all over the siding. So this weekend, my husband spent some time trimming back overgrown trees, while I washed siding. And that is how we spent our Sunday naptime. God bless naptime!!! :)
i hope you didn’t answer this already, but do you think you’ll still grass seed that area this fall? I’m also in Virginia, near you guys, and I’m trying to decide if it’s too late to seed some areas!
We think it’s right on the edge of might-be-too-late but it’s been so nice and warm that we might try and let you know how it goes!
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Backyard Mullet!! bahahaha – how do you come up with these things?! love it.
My brain works in mysterious ways. Haha!
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This is totally off-topic, but I know you guys use the low/no-VOC paint whenever you can – and I just saw an ad for a new product at Lowe’s for Valspar interior paint that is only $25.96 a gallon and is a paint & primer in one, and it has low odor/no VOC! You might already know that and I just now found it, but just thought I’d pass along the word just in case because that seems like a great deal compared to so many of the other good low VOC paints.
Sounds awesome! Thanks for the tip!
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Totally unrelated but I was wondering if your book will be for sale next weekend in Cincinnati at the Books by the Banks Festival since you guys are promoting it there?
Oh yes, at every single event we’re doing our book will be sold! We have heard from the hosts that they love when folks buy books right at the event from them since they’re hosting us and arranging the whole event (of course we’re so grateful they are!).
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Yes I worked in the yard yesterday, removing random t posts that are useless and using a magnet to pick up nails left over by the siding guys and roofers. Its amazing what a little cleanup can do!
We did absolutely no yard work as we have a condo with no yard. But that may change real soon – we accepted an offer on our condo last week and spent Saturday viewing another house! We’re making an offer on it tomorrow! Aaahh! Butterflies in my tummy as I type! :)
So exciting! Good luck Nicole!
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Ugh…I’ve dug a large amount of liriope at this house (and given it away by the truckloads, literally!). One thing I’ve found that helped was cutting it in squares with a large serated knife (we have a large Ginsu!) and it’s amazing how much easier it makes it to dig up smaller chunks. Good luck…It’s a job I hate, and I’ve resorted now to Roundup after years of digging.
I cringe when I see it for sale at Lowes!
Looks amazing, but I’m totally a visual person and can’t picture where any of that is compared with your house.
Could you use the new iPhone Panoramic camera to do a panoramic view from your back door?
We totally could if we had one! Hah!
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The yard looks great – and I’m so impressed you found/made the time to do it, with everything that’s on your plates. Which iPhone do you have? On my 4SI, the last software update a couple of weeks ago gave me the panoramic option on the camera. Haven’t used it yet, though.
We have the regular iphone 4 (no panoramic option yet).
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There are some Panoramic apps you can try. I’ve used one called 360 Panorama with success.
Sounds fun!
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