jtidwell
06-19-2007, 08:03 PM
I caved and contracted it out. :phew
Since DS was born in October, I've tried to maintain this enormous and complex yard in my rapidly-shrinking free time -- I've tried for ten years -- but I need to face the fact that I just can't handle it myself anymore! (DH mows the grass and deals with the poison ivy; I do everything else.)
The yard got really scary. In New England, the forest is always trying to grow back, and our yard is no exception. It's overgrown with sassafras saplings, Norway maple saplings, bittersweet vines, columbine, English ivy, wild violets, multiflora, barberry, and Lord knows what else. Oh, and poison ivy, which I'm miserably allergic to. Tree limbs have fallen, the lilacs have grown a thicket of suckers where I could once walk among the trunks, and the stone steps have sprouted slippery grass that is dangerous to walk on.
So I called in help yesterday.
A local guy, just starting out in the landscaping business, came by this morning and spent four hours weeding and trimming and pulling out saplings. He'll do it again next week, and the next, until it's "done." I feel really good about this. He uses hand tools and hard work instead of power tools, which I like -- I did not want the racket and stink of leafblowers and hedge trimmers. (We keep an organic yard.) The areas he worked on look fantastic, but natural, not straightedge-perfect. He put most of the clippings in a tidy brush pile, with one (!) extra bag of yard waste and one plastic bag of uprooted invasives. He shows terrific judgment about what to pull and what to leave behind, so I don't have to worry that he's going to uproot my rosebush after telling him to "pull out the things with thorns." :doh (Yeah, I did that; the barberries and multiflora and brambles really did have to go!)
Now our house doesn't look like it's abandoned! Yay!
And now I have time to clean the rest of the house. :giggle
Since DS was born in October, I've tried to maintain this enormous and complex yard in my rapidly-shrinking free time -- I've tried for ten years -- but I need to face the fact that I just can't handle it myself anymore! (DH mows the grass and deals with the poison ivy; I do everything else.)
The yard got really scary. In New England, the forest is always trying to grow back, and our yard is no exception. It's overgrown with sassafras saplings, Norway maple saplings, bittersweet vines, columbine, English ivy, wild violets, multiflora, barberry, and Lord knows what else. Oh, and poison ivy, which I'm miserably allergic to. Tree limbs have fallen, the lilacs have grown a thicket of suckers where I could once walk among the trunks, and the stone steps have sprouted slippery grass that is dangerous to walk on.
So I called in help yesterday.
A local guy, just starting out in the landscaping business, came by this morning and spent four hours weeding and trimming and pulling out saplings. He'll do it again next week, and the next, until it's "done." I feel really good about this. He uses hand tools and hard work instead of power tools, which I like -- I did not want the racket and stink of leafblowers and hedge trimmers. (We keep an organic yard.) The areas he worked on look fantastic, but natural, not straightedge-perfect. He put most of the clippings in a tidy brush pile, with one (!) extra bag of yard waste and one plastic bag of uprooted invasives. He shows terrific judgment about what to pull and what to leave behind, so I don't have to worry that he's going to uproot my rosebush after telling him to "pull out the things with thorns." :doh (Yeah, I did that; the barberries and multiflora and brambles really did have to go!)
Now our house doesn't look like it's abandoned! Yay!
And now I have time to clean the rest of the house. :giggle