Our backyard transformation started last spring, when the pandemic first began gripping the country and we were all forced into our homes. When confined to a bounded space, one tends to embark on a closer examination of one's surroundings. With the weather improving, in a warm, sunny rebuke of tragedy beginning to unfold, naturally my attention was focused outside. Our backyard had been a source of frustration nearly every season since we moved in, and with most activities cancelled and visits with family and friends out of the picture, it seemed like a good time to tackle it.
Our house was built in the late 1930's and around the same time a border of trees was planted around the yard's perimeter. A mix of deciduous and evergreen, they grew to be lovely and tall, shading the yard from the brilliant summer sun. Underneath were a number of bushes, shrubs and other smaller trees: mostly rhododendron, yew, forsythia, and arbor vitae, but also some Japanese maple and mountain laurel. Acting as a border was long winding row of hosta. We were told the whole thing was planned out and planted by a local award-winning gardener.
We never got to see those trees, because about six months prior to putting the house on the market, the previous owners had all the trees cut down. Now the yard, grass, and other landscaping was exposed to the sun and elements on a scale they were not at all prepared for. We had one lovely summer, that first summer, with a yard full of green grass and modest, stately landscaping. When the yellow forsythia bloomed and the pink rhododendrons popped, we thought we had the most beautiful yard in the world.
It didn't last. With no tree cover, the grass and plants bore the full brunt of the hot, dry summer sun that pounded down on our south-facing, slightly sloped yard. The reaction was extreme, and in opposite directions. The grass, even with regular watering, withered and died by the end of August; it became crunchy dry straw infested with a myriad of bugs and weeds. The plants other the other hand, loved the increased solar energy, and exploded with growth, but not in a good way. What was once a well-planned yard with distinct bushes and shrubs carefully placed quickly became an overgrown amorphous mass, as the plants put out branches and leaves in an attempt to soak up the most sun possible. With that came a profusion of vines and weeds, mostly creeping ivy and the notorious bittersweet.
Over the next few years, we attempted futilely to beat everything back into submission, with minimal success. The yard needed an overhaul, and our modest pruning, weeding, and clearing was like trying to bail out the Titanic with a leaky bucket. Adding fertilizer and watering the lawn more only led to more weeds growing and choking out the grass, and grubs came to take over at the end of each summer.
Fast forward to spring 2020, and it was decided that the spring and summer quarantine project was fixing the yard. A clear cut was the most logical solution; nothing could really be saved, and with two small kids now running around, more open space, and fewer plants that required maintenance, was needed. It took most of the summer, cutting back, digging out stumps, pulling out old roots, vines, and especially the invasive bittersweet.
By September there was a large dirt patch in the middle third of the yard. Open, fresh dirt, a blank canvas. In early October I laid down grass seed and watched it sprout and grow into the November frosts.
And so 2020 ended with the hopeful promise of a new backyard experience the following spring, which seemed appropriate since the newly-approved vaccines brought their own hopeful promise of a return to some level of normalcy.
Early last month, we decided that instead of battling with the remainder of clearing this whole summer, we'd hire a landscaper to do it. This made sense, because there were a series of large stumps that also needed to come out, and additional dirt was needed to level the bottom part of the yard as it sloped quite a bit near the bottom. What a good decision that was! In two days they did what would have taken us months by hand. Now we have a truly open yard, ready for planning and using. The plan is to put down grass in some areas, then build raised garden beds in one area. The corner of the yard is being reserved for either a shed or a chicken coop. Possibilities, possibilities..
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