My new home was build in 1983, and I’m sure the landscaping was planted shortly after that time. Obviously, it was a wee bit overgrown. It had to go. I could not even look out of the windows without standing on my tip toes. I knew it was going to take a lot of work, but it wouldn’t get done unless I got at it. I live on a limited budget and there is no extra money to hire guys to do the work. It was up to me, myself, and I!
I took my big pruners (I call them loppers) and started cutting down the bushes. What a mess, but I got them trimmed down and ready to pull out.
I gave my Toro lawn mower and wagon a work out by hauling all of the cuttings out behind the house to where I had started a brush pile.
Pulling these old stumps out with their deep long roots was a job. I was able to pull the tall end bush out with my truck; however, I didn’t have 4-wheel drive so I could not get enough traction to pull the other two out. My niece came over with her 4-wheel drive pickup and we got them pulled out. We hauled the stumps up back and added them to my brush pile. My niece is a “can do” lady the same as I am. We got the job done!
Now it was time to start digging. Because of all the big roots and stumps still in the ground, I could not use a rototiller to till it up. So, I started digging with my trusty old shovel. Friends told me that I should not be doing all this hard work. Most of them go to the gym to get their exercise. When I exercise I want to see some results other than hoping I might loose some weight. Work never hurt anyone.
The ground was filled with stumps and big long roots. It was hard work digging them out as I worked my way across the front of the house. There were two locust trees not far from this area and some of their roots had grown over and mixed with the other roots. They needed to be cut off and dug out. If I killed the locust trees by trimming their roots, then my plan was to replace them with more desirable trees.
Here I had dug almost all the way across. Needless to say, I did not do this all in one day. It was several days of digging before I got all the roots and rocks out. The summer had slipped into fall and I got sidetracked with fall work. This project had to wait until spring to be completed.
I’m happy to share that over that winter I became engaged. Yes, engaged! You are never too old to fall in love! Now I have a partner who wishes to stay in the background, so I will call him “Beloved.” See how nice the ground looked after Beloved rototilled the area? He also helped me plant the new plantings. Then we laid down landscaping tarp and covered it with mulch.
We finished! It only took a year and a half from start to finish to get it done. All good things take time. Now it just needed a little time to fill in. Doesn’t it look so much better?
On my next post, I’ll have another “exciting” adventure to share – how I turned an area of my yard into a Rose Garden. Till then, keep gardening.
I love it your a inspiration to me love always robin