Oh man, we were busy little yard bunnies this Sunday. As in, we probably logged about four hours out there. We started while Clara napped, which ended up being three hours (woot!) and then we each switched off watching Clara while the other finished a few things up. The mission? To have more than a few tiny slivers of grass in our backyard. See how that giant weedy-looking planting bed robs the yard of some great Burger & bean-friendly running-around area? The pictures don’t do it justice, but the planting bed is at least fifteen feet wide and the giant stick-like butterfly bush is around eight or nine feet tall.
You think I’m kidding, right? So here’s a shot of my 5’2″ self standing in the middle of that giant butterfly bush. Not kneeling. I’m totally standing up.
Here’s the same planting bed as seen from a different POV (the other side of the yard). Although we love the butterflies that come to visit The Biggest Butterfly Bush in the World (<–not a legally substantiated claim), we thought transplanting it our best bet at reclaiming the yard.
So the first step was to clip things waaaay back. This doesn’t hurt them (they die all the way back in the fall/winter anyway), but it makes digging it up a lot more manageable because you can actually see the roots without taking a stick to the eye.
When we got things clipped back we actually learned it wasn’t all one big bush, it was actually a series of smaller bushes that had joined forces to create The Biggest Butterfly Bush in the World. You know, like Transformers, except in bush form. So after we made that discovery, it was pretty simple to dig them out at the roots and transplant them all in the way-back part of our yard (which is a wild & woodsy area that we’d love to make a butterfly haven).
Then we had to dig out all the little weeds and roots to get the ground flush with the grass around it (so it won’t be all bumpy and raised after we seed it with grass). Oh and while we were digging, lookee what we found:
It’s a giant tree root, so we think there used to be a giant tree in this insanely giant planting bed, which makes slightly more sense (a big ol’ tree might have matched the enormous bed’s proportions).
Oh and as we were digging things out, John discovered this tiny guy on his shovel (snake warning! If you’re skeeered, don’t scroll!). He was only about as big as a worm, so he wasn’t too intimidating.
And see all of these border stones that once lined that planting bed’s perimeter? Picture me transporting them all from the backyard to the carport with my own brute strength (and daydreaming about Madonna arms the whole time – but so far, no dice on those). We’ve had some luck selling them for a buck a stone to some sweet neighbors of ours (apparently they’re $3 a pop at garden centers, so they’re happy to grab them for a dollar each), so that’s the plan. Here’s hoping we break even after buying grass seed with our hard-earned border-stone profits. Haha.
Then we got to work trying to level the dirt, which we did with flat shovels. It looked a little something like this:
After a good four hours of clipping, digging, transplanting, leveling, hauling, and raking, here’s what we were left with:
A nice big swatch of space to seed with grass… just as soon as we dig out the other giant butterfly bush on the other side of that liriope-lined path (yes, were that lucky – The Biggest Butterfly Bush in the World apparently comes in pairs). Hence the “Part 1” in the title. Oh well, slowly but surely. Did we mention we also want to dig up all that crazy path-encroaching liriope? I know, that’s a whole lotta digging, but we think it’ll be as dramatic as our front yard makeover if we can actually pull it off. Remember that one?
We worked on that on and off throughout the spring, so we’re hoping we can put in some time this fall to overhaul the back yard. It’ll certainly be a while before it’s looking as spiffy as the front, but for now we’re keeping morale up by staring at the then & now shots below and soaking up what a huge difference just removing that one planting bed has made. Woot.
What did you guys do this weekend? Did you get dirty or meet any snakes?
Psst- John’s gearing up for his annual health-a-thon. The name? Aquatober. The game? It’s all explained over on Young House Life.
Bea says
It is very possible that was a baby copperhead. They seem to be out and about right now (we live about 2 miles from you). Our next-door neighbor had one on their front walkway. Be careful! On a more positive note, did you think about Craiglisting the lirope? We followed your example this spring, and were able to get rid of some large evergreens that were in the way.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Bea! A few experts identified it as a brown snake (non venemous, and apparently it could have been full sized!). So glad. As for the liriope, we have an irrigation system, so we’re convinced we should dig it up ourselves since we don’t want someone else feeling terrible if they hit our system and break a pipe! So we plan to very carefully attack it ourselves, just because we’re 90% sure where the system is and we’ll go super slowly and carefully…
xo
s
Jenn says
Ironically, we worked in our yard for several hours yesterday as well. Wasn’t the weather just gorgeous? I guess it just warranted outdoor work. We got a garden hose for our front yard as well as a covered hose reel to keep it looking nice. We also got a vertical hose stand for the hose in the back yard. My hubby chopped a bunch of really tall weeds (i.e. as tall as me) in the back yard, while I pulled up some ivy that I discovered that had started to grow into our one of our gutter (the vertical kind). The ivy had grown through a crack and then pulled the gutter off the wall (no kidding!).
We have also been having major spider problems, so we bought some outdoor spider spray and sprayed the perimeter of our house and garage.
Lastly, I bought some mums to plant in two large pots – one for either side of the driveway. This was my first time planting flowers. We have never had a yard before b/c we had always lived in an apartment. Hope they grow!!
Lynn @ Our Useful Hands says
Good job on the yardwork! We are waiting for the FL sun to stop being so bossy (probably mid-October) before we can stand to tackle outdoor projects. There is a strange red ground dwelling weed that has grown tentacles and now surrounds and chokes out all living grass in our back and side yard. It’s day is coming…
My best, Lynn
Melissa G says
Definitely got yard work in. Even bought my 5 year old a pint sized rake so she could get in on the action. She loved it and proceeded to boss me around like it was nobody’s business.
Michelle O says
No yard work this weekend. But I did have a snake experience a couple of weeks ago. As I was leaving my mom’s house, a small black snake (3′) made his way in. Thankfully, he didn’t make it very far and went back out fairly quickly. NOT my favorite thing!
YoungHouseLove says
Eeks! Glad he made his way back out!
xo
s
Lauren says
We dug up liriope from beside our front sidewalk last weekend. It was a ton of work, but worth it! One person used a pitchfork to poke down under the roots and pull it up. A second person was on the other side pulling back on the liriope. It worked pretty well – that stuff has some pretty intense roots. We had to fill in with a lot of dirt afterwards before seeding. But now our grass is starting to sprout! Oh and we mowed over the liriope to cut it down before starting which I think makes it easier to manage and see where you are digging.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tips Lauren!
xo
s
Corie says
I wondered when you’d have to dig up some space for Clara to play in the yard, I just figured it wasn’t a priority since she’s still little… but it looks like the time has come! Good work!
You’ll LOVE it once it’s all said and done. One of our fave things to do is head out into the backyard with our boys to play ball. Are you considering a swing-set in the future or anything? Ours is the BEST money we ever spent, the boys play on it every.single.day. OR I’ll bet you two could come up with a plan for an awesome playhouse for her out there if swings aren’t your thing.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes,we would love that! Clara’s grandparents have a slide in the back that she loves! And she’s a swing-loving gal too!
xo
s
Stefanie says
I tackled our backyard Saturday for about 4 hours. We have a neglected garden bed (came with the house) that I cleared out and TONS of weeds that I pulled along our fence line. I also came into contact with 6 black widow spiders (RIP). After reading up I realized that by just keeping the yard cleaned up they’ll probably find a new home all on their own but being the non spider person that I am I also made a trip to Home Depot for organic spray for the yard. I’m local and I hear they’re bad this year..have you guys had any issues?
I also pulled up a random garden bed that was in the middle of the yard (tomatoes and….two corn stalks…really?!) and leveled out the ground. I need to get some grass seed down but I’m not sure of the best time to do it. Should I wait until Spring? Any advice on the grass growing front is appreciated. I’ve realized that while the backyard is full of green it’s mostly weeds!
This weekend we’ll be hitting up the State Fair! Hope you guys are able to make it this year!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re just having acorn issues. They’re everywhere! Seriously they’re coating the ground. As for seeding, we’re going to give it a try (if you’re too late in the season a lot of times the seed just freezes and sprouts in the spring when it warms up – pretty cool.
xo
s
Stefanie says
Yeah, we’re having the acorn issues too. They’re falling from the sky like missiles right now. I great tradition that my mom started with my brother and I and that I’ve kept up with my own kids is to gather up acorns and fill plastic freezer bags with them. Then pop them in the freezer. Towards the end of winter when the squirrels are probably running low on stock we let them thaw and sprinkle them in the yard. The kids really enjoy it and it’s a fun (and free!) activity.
This weekend covered pine cones with peanut butter and rolled them in bird seed and hung them in the trees outback. I love fall!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so cute!
xo
s
Shannon Summers says
PS, I know I already commented but how excited were you guys about the season premiere of Dexter last night?! I just got caught up on season 6 and I was freaking out about the cliff-hanger! What’s been your favorite season so far?
-Shannon
YoungHouseLove says
Ahhhhh! So excited! The first season is probably our favorite and this one seems like it’s the same (edge of your seat, so nervous). Of course the crazy Rita twist is one to remember too…
xo
s
Shona says
I was going to ask you about Dexter, too! I mean, we did other stuff this weekend as well but Dexter was the highlight of our schedule :)
I thought last night’s episode was great, and it has me very excited to see what’s going to happen next — such a change from last season, which I thought was disappointing. Season one is my favorite as well, with season four (Trinity killer) a close second!
YoungHouseLove says
Yess!!! So excited. We’re loving it so far. Such a great twist with Deb…
xo
s
Brandy says
I was hoping today’s post would be a big fat tour announcement :) I’m not anxiously awaiting or anything! haha I love that you were able to clear off that area for Miss Clara and Burger though…looks great!
YoungHouseLove says
Wednesday is when we’re hearing it’ll all be finalized. Wahoo!
xo
s
Shellie says
Me too! I was all prepared to put in a request for time off work as soon as your post came up and I know when you’d be around. I was telling my husband this morning how I’m going to bring pics of a before and after of our kitchen to show you what you inspired. LOL, I’m a super-dork.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! So much fun.
xo
s
Gretchen says
Between you guys doing all that stuff and our industrious neighbors spending the weekend spreading mulch, I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to put off facing OUR neglected yard. At least it’s raining here today! Looking good!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Here’s hoping it’s not nearly as bad as you think! It always feels more intimidating to think about it (don’t get me wrong, it’s hard work while you’re doing it, but the payoff is usually instant, so that’s nice).
xo
s
Milly says
Yay for the transforamtions!
I have to say I like the pics of John. I mean, what a pose holding that root!
Can’t wait for part two.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! That’s mah man.
xo
s
Alison says
Last night I roped my husband and my oldest (who is proudly .5″ taller than me) into helping cut in some paint in an area I couldn’t reach. Yay teamwork!
YoungHouseLove says
Gotta love teamwork.
xo
s
Momcat says
My inner garden geek comes to play. Yup, they say butterfly bush is invasive here in Virginia:
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat/butterfly-garden.asp
Too bad. I have a couple in my yard but they are pretty well tended & not spreading, but this weekend I noticed a new “baby” bush in another flower bed (that I did not put there!)
Rats. The butterflies love them. Good news is that link will give you native species that you might consider instead!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, thanks Momcat. Out they come. Thanks for the tips everyone!
xo
s
Adriane (aka the greenhorn) says
The snake made me laugh since my husband also went on a crazy backyard tackling spree (pressure washing the house and everything) and he ran into 5 snakes! He kept coming in to tell me about them. :) But we live in Florida…so black racers and green garters are pretty common in the grass. They are big and take you by surprise but are nonvenomous. I stayed inside to pack our hospital bag–5 weeks until baby comes!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I love the idea of him coming in every ten minutes to tell you about another snake. Hilarious! And congrats on the wee one on the way!
xo
s
emily @ go haus go says
Fall is my favorite time to tackle the yard. Not too hot out, the bugs aren’t biting and the ground is soft!
Love the changes you are making. I squealed a little bit on the snake picture….
Steph says
Okay this is gross, but on a tiny iPhone screen I definitely thought John was holding up a dead animal, not a tree root! I thought you guys totally lost it for a second :)
YoungHouseLove says
Ewwww- I think we’d be running and screaming if that happened. Thank goodness it was only a tree root.
xo
s
Nikki Olson says
Dude, next time write the snake warning in red!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Sorry Nikki!
xo
s
RebeccaH says
INDEED! And maybe a few paragraphs before the picture. You guys came close to needing to buy me a new computer! ;) (kidding)
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah! Next time we’ll have to do bold red flashing type at the beginning of the post ;)
xo
s
Amy Hanlon says
I had every intention so doing a little yard work this weekend, but no such luck. I’ve been in such a autumn mood and I wanted to plant some mums, clean up the flower beds and set out a few pumpkins. Guess there’s always this weekend? LOL
jennT says
ooh!! I love RIPPING grody plants out. LOVE it. for serious!
We ripped out some ugly vines and seeded some grass in its place this weekend. I’m a little nervous that the vagrant mountain chickens will rob us though. I wonder if the fertilizer is toxic???
YoungHouseLove says
Hah! Sounds like lots of work!
xo
s
sallie says
looking good. my not-so-handy husband built our son a rockbox this weekend based on yours! it’s awesome and little man loves it. thanks for the inspiration and how-tos!
Diane says
If your neighbors have their fill of border stones, I live in the area and would love to arrange a meet ‘n swap: stones for grass seed money! There are stones missing from my borders.
:(
YoungHouseLove says
I’ll email you about it Diane! Thanks!
xo
s
Lisa Riley says
You can not kill butterfly bushes. I have one that I trim down to little nubs every year and it grows at least 10 feet up each year. However, they attract the most beautiful butterflies, butterfly moths (not sure that is the exact name but they are cool looking!), and also have beautiful flowers. We have our bush blocking the view from the street into our yard so mid-summer it creates nice privacy.
Christina @ Homemade Ocean says
Dang, you got some major curb appeal going there!!!!
Dawn says
We worked in the yard too – final mow before the rain starts (Seattle) and cutting down 10 lavatera. After I cut them off the base, I took the branches and “sowed” seeds in all our barren areas. The seeds broadcast with a good thump on the ground and next year I’ll have 20 plants! If you want more butterfly bushes, you can just cut off a good size branch and stick it in the ground. I have a “pruning” b-bush that’s 12 feet tall and about 10 feet wide after 5 years. They are kinda like weeds. Your yard is shaping up!
Riki says
I have a similar problem! There’s a huge flowering bush (no idea what it is) planted on the corner of my house on a steep slope. Mixed in I have found many, many weeds and three maple trees. Mostly I just block it out because I have no idea what to do with it . . . the bush is beautiful when in bloom but pretty ugly the rest of the year.
Tyra says
off topic-but i love the updated clara/burger picture in the header. they are so cute!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Tyra!
xo
s
Jenna at Homeslice says
Nice! A little more running around room is always good in my book!
Melissa says
We also worked in our (tiny) backyard on our butterfly bush this past weekend. Our butterfly bush had taken over the backyard to the point where our patio furniture barely fits. We spend the day hacking away at it and got quite far. I’d say trimming but that would be a huge understatement. I know they are very resilient and grow back but about how far down can you “trim” them where they will still come back; do you know?
YoungHouseLove says
I think all the way to the ground. They seem to die back that far in the winter. I think they’re really hardy!
xo
s
Nicholin says
Great job on the planting bed removal. I love butterfly bushes, so I hope it finds a good home.
We’ve been working on our garage for the last week. _Many_ new see thru plastic containers later… *sigh* Hopefully we’ll be ‘done’ soon. *smile*
Erika says
Ack! I would have been in the house as soon as the snake was discovered…gives me shivers just thinking about it!
Glad you are transplanting the butterfly bushes!
Chris says
Our large yard was just graded and seeded (we had a sewer line installed last year). I didn’t do it myself as I’m in the 1% category of the over 60 years of age who follow your blog and that type of work is beyond my limits. But I did move over 50 cinder blocks to the back yard so I got a workout which didn’t help my arms in the least. Now I’m getting down and dirty from having to water the lawn twice a day. It’s amazing how much mud and straw can stick to a pair of boots…..how I wish we had a sprinkler system!
YoungHouseLove says
Um, moving 50 cinder blocks to the backyard is no joke. Seriously! Hats off!
xo
s
kristi says
Good job guys! Looks so much better! I spent yesterday afternoon outside putting all our yard stuff away for the cold weather. It was sad. Bye,bye plastic playhouse, bye,bye deck and porch chairs, bye,bye kiddie pool… etc. I did leave the toddler swing up though. Now I’m home sick from some kind of stomach bug. Blah!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man! Hope you feel better soon.
xo
s
Catherine says
Did you ever do an ariel diagram of your backyard? Sorry to sound stalkerish, but my brain can never figure out where in the heck this slice of yard is in relation to the rest of your outdoor space!
YoungHouseLove says
We tried! It was a terrible rendering (the house is wayyyy too big and out of scale) but here ya go: https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/05/lets-take-it-outside-again/
xo
s
Jen says
I love the physical tiredness and the clean slate after a good cleaning up like that. Hope you guys do too despite doing it on a pretty regular basis!
YoungHouseLove says
Amen! The soreness feels like proof that we accomplished something. Haha!
xo
s
Leslie says
I feel ya! I have been digging out all the pea gravel from a path at the side of our house, which leads to also removing the stepping stones, then removing the old weed block fabric, then putting down new fabric, replacing the stones and next weekend (hopefully) putting creeping thyme down to fill in between the stones :) My mom suggested doing this because the pea gravel seems to really hold the heat in the summer and the plants next to the path were really suffering. Hopefully having living plants on the path will help keep it cooler. Good luck and keep at it – it looks great so far!
Wrenaria says
Nice work, guys! Yardwork can be so rewarding. Makes for big visual changes relatively quickly. Ish. Super cute little snakey dude, too.
I… spent all weekend doing homework. Probably will be my answer for every weekend until December. Full time job + post bacc program = very little free time.
I did find time to blog about a project I did last month though! http://wrenariantroves.blogspot.com/2012/09/diy-hogwarts-express-sign.html
YoungHouseLove says
Ahhh! You did an amazing job with that! It looks just like the inspiration one!
xo
s
Jennifer says
Looks great guys! My husband and I took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday to get some much needed yard work done too. We have a over a half of acre of ivy we are trying to tame! Luckily we didn’t find any snakes!
Cori says
Been there, done that…not fun, in my opinion. But it makes such a huge difference! Sherry, you look like a little garden pixie standing next to that huge butterfly bush!
YoungHouseLove says
Hah! John said it looked like I was kneeling. Isn’t that funny? the bush was trying to swallow me.
xo
s
Shelly says
WOW! Just looking at your yard makes me tired, but it looks great! Also, be glad you don’t have Madonna arms, you are way cuter and that girl looks like she’s been living in a food dehydrator! ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! Thanks Shelly.
xo
s
Chelsea {Whatcha Makin' Now?} says
Looks great! We spent our weekend in the yard too! We had to rake up the dead grass (from long hot summer with zero rain) so we could reseed. So now I GET to water the lawn first thing in the morning and again at night. It will be worth it to have green grass next year. We also worked on our garage makeover. I hope to send you guys before and after pics once it’s complete!
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to see those!
xo
s
Julia says
We had a butterfly bush extravaganza this summer as well! Check out my post on my blog. We though we had only 2 butterfly bushes…turned out to be more like 5 or 6 in there. Crazy! It was smart of you guys to wait to do it on a nice cool weekend like it was …we did it in August…HOT HOT HOT!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that sounds rough!
xo
s
chris says
Great job! I love Butterfly Bush, but for the life of me I can’t keep one alive. All that liriope! We used to have quite a bit at our last house. One time I asked my husband to ‘trim’ it because it was looking ‘rough’. He took a mower to it. I cried and cried and told him he ruined our yard. He mowed it in Dec. That Spring it came up with a fierceness and a beautiful spring green. We do it every year now. Do you ever mow yours?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes! We saw a neighbor doing it so we do it too!
xo
s
NYer says
I see you updated the Clara/Burger photo in your header. So cute!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks!
xo
s
Keri Beth says
I also have matching gigantic butterfly bushes, only they’re in my front yard, and they block much of the house from the road. (My four year old calls the biggest one his “hiding place” and doesn’t want me to touch it.) They need to come up, and the sooner the better–it hadn’t occurred to me that I might be able to dig out the roots myself. Maybe I’ll give that a try before calling a stump removal service.
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck!
xo
s
Nichole says
Wow this area is going to be nice and open once you get the other bush out of the way!
We tackled yard work and our garage yesterday. It still has a bunch of stuff in it, but we can now park two cars in there! Wahoo! I also spray painted an old wood tray red to match the red stools I just refurbished. No pics yet, but soon hopefully!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds so cute!
xo
s
Kasia says
Yard before and afters are my favorite- we’ve been overhauling our yard in stages since we moved in 3 years ago and seeing the results of all the work we’ve put in is one of the most satisfying things to me about our house. Anyway, we took what felt like a giant step backwards (yard-wise) yesterday by digging 4 big window wells for the basement we’re finishing. And I found a tiny snake, too!
Laurie says
I did some weeding in our side yard over the weekend. The other night I was dreaming about having to do this chore (it is still very hot in Phoenix so I wasn’t loving the idea). In the dream, I was trying to pull on this big white tree root that actually turned out to be a giant python. Fortunately, I didn’t see anything scarier than a couple big weeds. Spent the rest of the weekend replacing all our door handles and locks because our daughter got robbed at work. They have our address, house keys and car keys! In an effort to make something good come of it, we upgraded all the hardware to ORB and bought a new backdoor so I squeezed in some home renovation in the midst of the chaos.
Laura says
That’s such a big improvement! We spend every free second of this weekend (and last) on our back yard. We killed everything (grass & weeds), tilled the whole thing, combed out the dead stuff, leveled it, added fertilizer and lime, added a thin layer of top soil, and FINALLY put down some nice, native, grass seed. Whew. So yes, we got good and dirty this weekend, but now is the time! Gotta prepare the landscaping for spring planting! But the best part was we’ve only spent about $60 so far. Our amazing neighbors lent us a massive tiller, and all the other tools we’d need. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow! That sounds like a ton of work! Good luck Laura!
xo
s
Jill says
Do you guys have an exterior-of-the-house floor plan? It’s hard to put these little changes in context as to how they’ll contribute to a usable backyard. Right now, it looks like you just took a plant out of the middle of the woods.
YoungHouseLove says
Sure! It’s a terrible drawing (the house is horribly out of scale- it’s way too big) but here’s something to help you get your bearings: https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/05/lets-take-it-outside-again/
See how there are paths lined with liriope and two circular planting beds out back? The brick paths will stay, but those two beds and the liriope will go so we’ll get a nice carpet of green grass back there. Will keep you posted as we go!
xo
s