Update: Thanks so much for all the kind words and general awesomeness on yesterday’s post. You guys rock my socks.
Ladies and gentlemen, we actually have a backyard. Well, we still need to get some grass going on, but three phases of digging and transplanting and weeding (here’s phase one, and here’s phase two) have definitely turned our Jumanji-esque backyard into a nice clearing for Burger & Clara to run around in… once that aforementioned grass makes itself at home. And we still have a ton of giant trees on the side and back of our lot to keep it from feeling too open and stark, which seems to be the sweet spot for us.
But enough jabbering, the pics do all of the explaining anyway:
As you can see, we leveled the second 15′ wide planting bed, and dug up the rest of the borderline-insane amounts of liriope that encroached on the area that we’d rather just seed and mow for a nice lush little swatch o’ grass. We also brought in some dirt from the back of our lot (free!) in an attempt to level everything out to get it ready for grass, although we’ll add a little top soil when we seed just to be sure we’re giving those little grass seeds all the reason in the world to take root.
We also did some tree-maintenance in the form of cutting these two giant vines that are cannibalizing an old oak tree (they’re so thick and crazy that during Hurricane Irene we worried the extra weight of the vines and the dense leafy branches would pull the tree down on our house). You can see which tree they’re on if you scroll up to the before and after pics above (it’s that crazy leafy-looking mass hugging the tree next to the corner of the house on the right).
Reciprocating saw + John = buh-bye oak-strangling vine. We actually heard from a certified landscaping expert that we hired back in April thanks to a Living Social deal (more on that here) that it would be best to remove any vines from all of the trees on our property, just to keep the tree in the best possible health and not have to worry about them choking the trees or making them fall in a storm. And you apparently just have to cut a chunk out from the base so the roots can’t keep sending nutrients up through the vine and it should slowly die off (then you can yank it off the tree if you don’t like the look of a bunch of dead leaves hugging your tree like a beer koozie). We’ll keep you guys posted on how that goes…
While the reciprocating saw was out we also used it to cut out some old roots (from trees that were cut down decades ago) that would have made for some lumpy not-level grass…
… and we also had another brush with nature. Although this time it wasn’t a tiny snake, it was a baby squirrel. Cue the collective “aww.” This picture doesn’t do his insanely cute size any justice, but take my word for it, this is totally one of those baby animals that you’d see on Pinterest and let out a gasp at his sheer adorable-ness. He was smaller than my hand and quite wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.
But back to the yard progress. At the end of another 3 hour span (aka: another Clara nap), we had completed our third and final phase of bushwhacking and finally have reached ready-to-seed status. Woot!
It’s so funny because every time I turn the corner to walk into the backyard from the patio on the side of the house, I think I’m going to be met with the view in the top pic, so it never fails to make me jump when I see the cleared out view from the bottom pic instead.
It definitely looks kind of stark now, but we know when we get a nice lush carpet of green grass going on that it’ll be awesome and open without feeling too cleared out since our lot is almost an acre that’s chock fulla wooded area on both sides of the house along with most of the area behind the house. So this will just be one open and grassy area for Burger and Clara to have fun in while various woodland creatures can do their thing everywhere else.
Oh and here’s a really great example of how a giant planting bed can block your whole house from the back. And then after a few days of work, it can be history. Poof. Begone house-blocking bush.
So much better! And I can’t even explain how happy we are to see the old brick paths again (so charming!). After nearly two years of staring at about two-bricks-worth of them while the rest was completely covered in leg-tickling liriope, they’re a sight for sore eyes (and itchy liriope-groped legs).
So there you have the latest on our backyard progress. Of course we’ll share seeding/grass-growing pics whenever we can, but we’re pretty psyched that this whole area just took a few pretty serious (but totally doable!) days of work to result in some pretty major changes.
Do you guys like to tackle your outdoor projects in phases? Do you dream about having a certain landscaping setup when you move in (like we did back in 2010) but then take a few years to get your momentum up (we’ve almost been in our house for two whole years, so it’s about time for this!!). It’s amazing how time can fly when you’re putting off yard work…
Reenie says
Lookin’ good =)
LauraCinIndy says
Your house looks so different from the back! I didn’t think it was your home at first. Great job on the yard..there is nothing more satisfying than a cleaned up yard.
Ashley says
Wow! Your house looks so much bigger with all those overgrown plants gone. As I was scrolling through I kept thinking of the pairs of images as “Then” and “Wow!” Haha!
kate says
It looks really awesome! Congrats on getting it all done! As a personal anecdote – a neighbors tree recently came down in our yard because it was choked out by some huge wisteria vines. I wish they had taken care of it like you guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no!
xo,
s
Brenda says
I think Clara will have a lot of fun running around on the paths now that liriope is gone. What a difference!
Krista says
Looking forward to reading about how your do your grass seed! I need to lay down some at my own house and I’m not sure which kind would work best (does it really matter anyway?) so yay for empty, clean spaces!
Marleena P says
When we purchased our first house (an estate sale) this past summer it was so overgrown since the previous owner passed away and no one really cared for it prior to the sale. These posts have made me excited to finally tackle it, especially with the fantastic weather, so I am putting a big-family-backyard-overhaul this weekend. My husband’s Italian and we have plenty of helping hands to do this. But maybe it’s skilled labor for them – cue Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. I digress… wish we could see an aerial shot of your hard work! It looks awesome!
ryan says
Wow you guys that looks awesome! I love how instant gratification yard work is : )
Liz says
No need to tiptoe around with “borderline insane” liriope. It was insane — I looked it up in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for confirmation.
Your Madonna arms will appear tomorrow after this. I’m sure of it.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo,
s
Katie D. says
Have you noticed if Clara naps longer on days she goes to school?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes sometimes she does!
xo,
s
Beth P. says
Have you thought about overseeding with clover instead of grass? We did this when we pulled out about a half acre (I am still exhausted just thinking about it) of wild blueberry bushes. The clover doesn’t need to be mowed and tends to do well if grass is doing poorly, ie like in the drought we had this summer. It also draws birds to your yard, who eat any ticks that might be climbing around. This is a huge deal for us in New England since lyme disease is everywhere!
From the pictures it looks like you have a little hilly situation that might be better suited for clover so you don’t have risk losing your feet getting the mower up and down it!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a fun idea! I’ll have to see if it would work in our area!
xo,
s
Heather says
Wow you guys are truckin’ on the landscaping front! Also, when I saw the comparison photos the first song that went through my head was, “I can see clearly nowww…..”. Thought you’d enjoy that :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha!
xo,
s
Alecia says
Looks awesome! Like another commenter said, I never realized what the back of your house looked like. Also, I never realized your basement door was in the back. For some reason I always imagined it on the side or something (but thinking about that now doesn’t make sense…) Anyway, do you have plans to paint the basement door now that it’s more visible? I think it would be cute painted yellow like the front door. :) A little bit of sunshine in the back yard.
YoungHouseLove says
I’d love to do that!
xo,
s
Abbie says
Great job, it’s already such an improvement! I have to say though, just thinking about all that yard work was makes me appreciate my balcony a bit more. If we had a yard it’d probably look ten times worse than your “before”…and would stay that way, haha.
Erika says
Wow – what a transformation!!! It looks wonderful!
I used to think squirrels were cute until they literally started eating my mother’s house and made a TERRIBLE mess in her attic. They can really cause a lot of damage.
Lindsay Butler says
That looks amazing!! Will you do anything with the bushes / plants against the back of the house?
It REALLY helped to orient me to see the fence / patio in one of the after shots. I cannot believe how much better it looks, even without seed!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes I still have to tackle those!
xo,
s
Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says
Such awesome progress! I just love the “you rock my socks” line – that’s a keeper. :-D
Funny side story about my run in with two squirrels…not cute babies either, more like two street punks ;-) http://ourlifeinaction.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/squirrel-attack/
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah no way!
xo,
s
Ivy Matheson says
What a difference! More importantly, how do you still get Clara to take a 3 hour nap? Do you realize how incredibly lucky you are?
YoungHouseLove says
It seems to go in phases. Sometimes we only get a week or two of half hour naps and then she has a growth spurt and eats a ton and sleeps much longer!
xo,
s
Ashley @ LibertyBelles says
Looks soooo good! Can’t wait to see it with the grass and plants in the spring. Will look amazing!
Amy @ a new old house says
Wow, the difference is HUGE!
I love the brick walks- you could hardly see them before!
Bet you can’t wait for spring to roll around, then you’ll really be enjoying all that hard work you put in now!
kerry says
Not sure I saw this above – What are you plans for the brick road to oz?
YoungHouseLove says
Once we seed we think the paths will be cute! Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
Alison says
Guess I am too old to understand this, how do you rock socks anyway? Rock your world maybe, you guys rock maybe? But socks?
My body hurts just looking at the progress. Great job.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! No idea where that expression came from. Maybe you guys make me want to dance and put some “rock” in my socks.
xo,
s
Kaitlyn says
Looks awesome! What a change a few hours can make!
Have you guys thought about power-washing the brick path? It might make it stand out a lot more (and probably help clear a lot of the dirt from all of your hard work and lithrope).
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to do that!
xo,
s
Amanda G. says
The yard looks awesome! Even though I’m terrified of bugs, outdoor projects always give me the most satisfaction. Do you guys have future plans for removing the liriope and landscaping the bed right up against the house? I’m sure its low on the totem pole of projects!
YoungHouseLove says
Someday we’d love to tackle that!
xo,
s
Maureen says
Wow! What a difference! Ugh, this is making me feel guilty about neglecting my yard! LOL
Jill says
It looks great. How are you going to keep the seed waterd and taken care of while you’re on the book tour? (more importantly, why am I worrying about your grass seed??)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha thankfully we have sprinklers back there on a timer!
xo,
s
Marlena says
Amazing! Now there’s some sweat equity. Ugh, we are so bad with our outdoor stuff. One day, I tell myself. One day.
Jen@The Decor Scene says
It looks awesome already. WOW. I was hoping you were going to take that vine down. Your tree will thank you next year. ;) I remember all to well what our whole entire property looked like 5 years ago when we bought our home. YIKES!!! The previous owners didn’t do anything and we spent the next 2 years cutting, pulling, paint fences, moving boulders {lots}, taking down a pool and then finally paying someone to lay pavers around our whole house {driveway, patio, walkways and stairs}. So now it’s our home. And we have awesome grass now. Just the right amount. It’s very fulfilling in the end. Think how much Clara & Burger will enjoy the grass next year. :)
Michelle Kersey says
Whew. I bet you all are tired!! Great job!
[email protected] says
Whew…glad to hear the vines had berries: totally looked like poison ivy vines to me too!
Sarah says
Poison Ivy also has berries in some cases. Please be careful!
YoungHouseLove says
Not to worry guys! The certified landscape expert was 100% sure it was a type of red-berried holly.
xo,
s
Heather says
You guys should come down to Tampa, Florida for a book signing! I’d love to meet you and plus there is so much to do especially with Clara! (:
Stephanie N says
I wish they had a Tampa stop too!!
Carly says
I love the before and after pictures- doesn’t even seem like the same yard!
Though, I think my favorite part of this post is the Jumanji reference…. nicely done…
Christina @ Homemade Ocean says
Wow….it is like you had all these secret paths! I love it.
Mollie says
looks amazing! i wouldn’t have even recognized your house from the back. how cool would a pergola look around the basement door area? completely unecessary, of course, but pretty nonetheless. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh pretty!!!
xo,
s
Christina says
Looks really great guys! And that brick pathway is so charming!
Jessica says
Unreal!! It looks like a totally different space! What a productive couple of hours! And thanks for showing the pictures of the ADORABLE little squirrel!!
qaseh gifts says
Looks awesome!
Karen Q. says
WOW Everything looks amazing and so clean! Great job!! The brick pathway is so cute!
We def. have been doing landscape work in phases as well. We just tackled the front yard with some new boxwood bushes- cleaning up the smorgasbord we had before- gotta love 1/2 off end of the season sales and bonus, they guarantee their plants for 1 year so if they don’t make it through the winter (sad) we can get new ones.
Next season will be the backyard- dun dun dun… :)
Crystal says
I was a little uncertain at first about removal of all those plants…but WOW! Things look so much better and less jungle-esque. Now you’ll have room for a yard party come spring.
hjc says
At first I read it as “leg-licking liriope” instead of “leg-tickling.” Ew. What a horrible thought! Looks fantastic guys! We have house-size piles of branches all over our yard after a dead tree cutting fest a few weekends ago. Bleh. Must get those taken care of before our first real snow (which could be soon!). Thanks for the bushwhacking inspiration!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, ew!!
xo,
s
Jessica F. says
Awesome job you two!
So what’s the plans for the brick path?
YoungHouseLove says
We think they’re charming so once we seed we hope they look sweet.
xo,
s
Gina says
Awesome job guys!
Wrenaria says
Wow! Such an improvement! I’m exhausted just looking at all that work. Well done, you two.
Olivia says
Looks awesome! My muscles are sore just thinking about all that yard work… very impressive!
Man, the vines on that tree were/are intense!
Gail says
Wow, great job!
Gabbi says
What an improvement…when I think of how far we have come with our yard {the backyard especially}, I can totally relate to your feelings. Great job, guys! :)
Jenny says
Wow, looks great guys! What a crazy difference. Good on you, getting rid of that tree-eating vine; I always feel so bad for defenseless trees that get gobbled up by those.
Reminds me that there’s a tree in our neighbors’ yard that’s completely covered by a vine and could fall on our house, I’ve been meaning to talk with them about splitting the cost for an arborist check-up…maybe I should offer to deal with the vine, too. I wish they’d take better care of it, it makes me so nervous!
Amanda says
Holy camole! Congrats — I am so not outdoorsy, or garden-minded, or anything with dirt, so I respect when someone does this kind of stuff themselves. Clara is going to love the new yard!
Leyna says
Since you have Clara on a great bedtime schedule and she wakes up at a TOTALLY awesome non-early hour in the mornings, I am quite positive you must drug your child for these amazing 3 hour naps. Come on, spill. What’s your secret?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, it’s more like we have to wait for them! She has spurts of weeks when they’re just a half hour or an hour and then she hits a growth spurt and eats like crazy and sleeps much longer, so when we hit those phases we make ourselves go out and work! Haha!
xo,
s
Sarah says
Run little fella!! $herdog’s grabbing the spray paint!!