After we made the decision to wait until some major ground work was completed on the backyard before finishing the front-yard landscaping, it felt like it was going to be a long long time before we would be able to make any progress. But things have a way of happening on their own. A number of things.
To prepare for work in the front
Our next-door neighbor had recently put in a new lawn and we had told him that we would put in the same type of lawn - eventually. But since our old lawn started to get weed invested and threatened to spread to the neighbor’s, he offered to kill our lawn for us. And within a couple of days, there he was, spreading the lawn killer.
About the same time that happened, another neighbor talked to my wife and told her that we really don’t need to do major work on the backyard first. Depending on how we landscape the front, we could just lay plywood down for the bobcat to drive over. That would save the lawn from getting torn up in the process. Hmmmmm …
To make a dent in the back
And within a week of all this, a contractor we had used for other work let us know that a couple of landscape workers he knew were looking for work. We didn’t think we were ready, but yet we couldn’t pass up this opportunity, so we hired them for a few hours this weekend to help move a shed, tear apart an old hot tub, and remove some shrubs from the backyard and also from the front. The shed and the hot tub were two huge obstacles that we thought we would never get to. And now they are both handled.
They did such a good job that we hired them to do more work the following weekend. So, between the two weekends, these guys
- Repositioned the shed
- Removed the old hot-tub
- Removed some useless shrubs from the front yard and backyard
- Removed ALL debris that had accumulated over the year from the backyard
- Tore up the lawn in the front yard and removed it
Oh, and by “remove”, I mean that they put everything on our curb just in time for the city’s spring clean-up day - what a pile that turned out to be.
Looking at the huge pile, my wife and I told each other that there was no way the two of us would have accompished that much. It was very satisfying to see it and also to see how clear both yards look. The next step now is our work - to develop a layout plan for the yards. Oh, and another neighbor recently recommended a landscape architect, just in time.
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Wow, it’s great to have such neighbours helping you. Sometimes you start a job and then realize you really need some people to help you. Somethings you just can’t manage without friends or neighbours.
Did the landscape architect do a good job? Just curious for the results…
victor, thanks for the comment. The landscape architect provided a nice layout, but now we’re in the process of deciding whether to use her services to get it done or not. I’ll definitely be posting on the progress.
I checked out your site - a lot of good information.