The State of the Backyard 2017 Edition

When we bought the current house we’re in, it was winter and our showing was at night. In those conditions everything seemed maybe a bit overgrown, but fine. How wrong we were.

Here’s what I wrote in a draft for a never-revealed post entitled “Backyard Reveal, Year One:”

The backyard was originally not on my list of things to tackle this year, but once the weather warmed up and I got to take a good look at it, I knew that if I didn’t make an attempt at it I’d have a bigger and uglier job down the road.

Everything was beyond overgrown. There were tons of nuisance trees, aggressive perennials, and an endless supply of ferns!! There were also an abundance of peonies, which inspired my peony series. I originally was going to scale them back, but I love them so much that now I have to keep them.

The sad look of “progress” 2016 edition.

The sad look of “progress” 2017 edition. No inspiration here folks, just a bunch of real-life over-growth.

I had every intention of giving you a backyard reveal, but the job was just too big. That endless supply of ferns was well over 100, and I haven’t even taken them all out. In fact, in an area I previously cleaned out, I already have removed 11 ferns this year. Dominic and I are keeping count.

Check out the backyard in 2016

All I could manage last year was to clean up half of one side of the flower beds, get the garden roto-tilled so I could start applying kitchen scraps, and cutting of the nuisance saplings, only to have them grow back again. The ground was so root bound with weeds and perennials that a meter section usually took me around an hour to work up.

This year the work is going much quicker. The Hermit found some bricks for me and I’m digging them in as a border.

I’m trimming the established trees and cutting some to the ground so they can start over. When I cut down one of the bushes I was very happy to discover an established grape vine!

How do you not notice that you have a grapevine, you ask? Well, I did, kind of. Last year I thought it was a weed, or something that was maybe on the neighbours side of the fence. I didn’t want to be a bad neighbour, so I cut away the parts that were getting tangled up in our bush and moved on to other projects.

In other good news, the dwarf apple tree I transplanted from Humboldt seems to be thriving. The chives are extremely happy too!

This year the plan is to go through the side of the yard I did last year and continue to get the nuisance perennials out. I’ll paint the potting shed and maybe the deck too. The Hermit will rototill the garden space for me and I’ll plant my first city garden

As for the other side of the yard. . . it will probably have to wait another year.

Here’s the home of at least 200 more ferns that I’m going to have to eventually pull out. Anyone want some ferns?

Related: Curb Appeal in a Weekend

What are you working on in your yard? Do you have an overgrown yard too?

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Comments

Melissa Townley-Smith

Love this post! Our yard is also a work in progress, but I've decided to let the perennials have free reign in the flower beds. I will cut away the brown parts, and the rest can have at it. We had to remove a couple established trees that were diseased, so getting the stumps out and planting new ones is next on the list. I try to keep the weeds at bay, but yard work is not a passion of mine. As long as it looks okay, and isn't full of thistle and dandelion, I'm going to let it be this year. I might plant a couple hanging baskets.

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- Kristen Raney
  
  Exactly! We're still in the stage of life where its really hard to keep up with a yard.
  
  Reply
  - Liam
    
    Hi Kirsten I have just started my back lawn and was wondering how I would go about putting in some beds for colour and what shapes would you go for the area is large
    
    Reply
    - Kristen Raney
      
      Even though your area is large, I would start with a smaller flower bed until you feel like you can manage more. Go on Pinterest to get a feel for what you like the best. If you use chemicals, wait until the fall and round up the area you want your flower bed to be in, then dig it up first thing in the spring, add some dirt and compost and rototill. If you want to avoid chemicals, dig up the area and remove the grass clumps. Keep weeding all summer and plant next year. Or, put landscaping fabric and mulch overtop and cut out holes where you want your plants to go. Hope that helps!
      
      Reply
Lisa

Are you planning on a vegetable bed, or perennials? I'd worry if ferns like it, it's too shady for vegetables. When I see a garden in the works my mind goes to veggies, but I don't know what you have in mind! My soil is clay, so most of my garden is in raised beds (vegetables and fruit trees alike) or containers. I also had lots of rocks in my yard when I moved in, so made some herb gardens with those. I found you through the post about perennials that are problems. I so agree about the mint! I love mint, and have many varieties... in pots... or a dedicated area of the yard, out of the way, where nothing else is growing save the ivy I don't care about. I love your photos! That's what I like in gardening blogs, the photos. They give me inspiration, and sometimes I just plain like to look at gardens.

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- Kristen Raney
  
  Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked the post! I wrote this post because I moved into a house where the yard hadn't been looked after for years and I was trying to make sense of the existing and super overgrown flowerbeds, as well as revive a grass and weed filled vegetable garden space. (Short answer, I'm planning both, but this post is geared towards flower beds.) So far I've removed 118 ferns this year, and removed at least as many if not more last year.
  
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Trish E

I'm 20 years into my yard makeover. Having 18 trees on 1/2 acre means lots of shade. Wish I knew the ferns and Daylillies would take over because I would never have transplanted any of them. I'm in lower Michigan zone 5 and another aggressive plant I have is Trinity plant. Luckily it. Blooms for me all summer soooo, I kind of leave it alone.

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