I wouldn't dig up the entire place. I'd mow the left side and concentrate my gardening efforts on the right.

It appears that someone previously had a garden on the right side. I'd concentrate my efforts there. First find out which weeds are present. If any are perennials (they can live for years) plowing or tilling will propagate them.

But the left side has considerable weeds and also has weedy grass at the back side.

The right side used to be a pool, the previous landlord purchase crappy soil and filled it with it. Which is why it had so many weeds on it.

I was thinking of just using vinegar on the right side. Is that fine?

I agree with Jean - the left side looks much better than the right. Just keep it mowed and manually remove any obvious weeds.

Table vinegar is not all that efficient as an herbicide and requires multiple applications to get complete knockdown of weeds. Instead, try smothering the weeds in the area with a layer of cardboard or newspaper topped with a thick layer of mulch. By the time you are ready to seed a new lawn in fall, the weeds should be dead.

And ignore your neighbor's advice that it's OK to move the trees in summer. It's not :-) You will encounter a great deal of transplant shock and it could prove extremely damaging to trees of that size. And not easy trees to relocate either.......you're looking at a lot of hard work. I'd reconsider moving them at all.

Whatever direction you choose, it's best to keep in mind that this is not a quick fix project. It takes time to get things in shape and looking like the neighbors' property. You are not going to have a lush looking, weed free lawn this season. Not unless you get somebody like the Yard Crashers TV show in to do a complete makeover.

Growing a monoculture of grass with nothing else in it is at least as difficult than tending a garden bed, and IME, much more time-consuming. I wouldn't bother with the effort of that if the plan is to then get rid of the grass for more garden space. I'd just mow the parts you aren't gardening yet, not worrying about what the actual plants are that are being mowed, and expand the garden space as you have plants to put there.

To get started, you could dig/pull out the extraneous plants from a workable-size area, smother the rest to be planted whenever you're sure the unwanted plants are dead. If the smother is put down now, you should be able to use those spots by fall, if your warm season is as long, or longer, than south Alabama.

The advice to start with a spot that's viewed often from inside, looking out of a window, is perfect, I was going to say the same thing. Garden spots that one has to go outside to see just aren't as satisfying, at least until the views out of the windows are established.

Sounds like you're going for a cheap, quick fix to getting it looking nice as you may not be there for long.

I'd do this:

1. Till it ALL, removing as much weed gunk as possible. Roots and all.

2. Level it ALL

3. Get good grade topsoil and level it all over

4. Get a good seed/weedkilling mix and spread it all over

5. Water, water, water till it grows in.

Once it's grown in, cut it, spread new topsoil if there are any bare patches, spread extra seed on those, etc etc.

Your alternative to this would be to till it all, remove all weeds, level, put topsoil on, and SOD IT. (LOL) You'l have a lovely lawn in all of 1 - 2 days,

Anyone who has ever exacerbated a weed problem by tilling would not give that advice. As Jean mentioned in the first reply, tilling can propagate some weeds, making millions where there were only thousands. This can also expose more seeds to light/air, to be able to sprout.

Tilling also, at least temporarily, wrecks the drainage. Can also cause serious erosion (if not soon covered with sod or some kind of mulch cover, before heavy rains or hot, dry winds, if either is applicable to a particular location.)

The easiest spot to "tend" is one that has a new smother, while waiting to make sure everything under is dead. Serendipitously, this also helps to start improving the soil underneath (assuming an organic material is used.) Waiting for weeds to die is so much easier than pulling, digging, tilling, mowing, watering...

Goodness, you'd think that these people were going to till it and leave it for weeks. Yes, if they tilled it and didn't cover it over with something quickly, nor treat it, then yes, it'd propagate weeds.

Okay, you want to do it the easy way? Try the beer lawn guy's advice. Go out and buy or collect as many newspapers as you can. Cover the entire place with newspaper, get at least a 1/2 inch of it thick, water it in place, packing it firmly till there is no light nor air nor nuttin' under it. Smother them weeds! Then put yer topsoil on top and seed it! The newspapers will last longer than some of the top grade blackout cover, the weeds will die, and the newspaper will help your lawn establish a good root system.

Hey guys, just an update: I decided to leave the left side, manually pull out weeds and mow it (I talk about this later in this message). On the right side I did "mulching". My plan is not to grow anything by cutting out wholes, only to prep the soil for next year. Hopefully everything underneath dies by that time (sooner the better). ON edges I cannot reach (i.e: by the hedges) I will *generously* coat it with vinegar. I did a test a day before and the weeds that I tested on all died which is good news. Is that a good plan? Below I have talked about how I mulched please give me advice on that.

I got some cardboard from local stores, laid it down. I did not bother removing any plastic. I imagine that will not degrade and I can just take it out manually whence the cardboard itself is gone.. I put some leaves from my un-done compost hill and put some dirt on top in hopes of having the leaves stick to dirt when wet as I am going to be away for a week or two.

After a while, I ran out of materials to mulch so I cut some grass from the left side (one without any weeds in it) and put it on.

After that ran out, I just got some compost from my compost pile - turned basically into soil at this point - into the cardboard. Is this okay? I am afraid it won't work.

For the previously mentioned area with leaves and some dirt on it, I bought some cattle manure and put that on (15 * 6 kg for $20). This basically hid all the leaves which is what I want as I do not want them to fly away and bother my neighbors.

Is what I described so far okay? Here is new album and photos of progress.

Additional questions:

1. How often do I need to water (if so)
2. Do i need to move this stuff if I want this potentially to turn into compost
3. What would the dirt/weeds/stuff below the cardboard look like.
4. Will the cardboard totally degrade or will I have to remove it and can I leave the stuff above the cardboard (hopefully thats compost by next year) onthe land below?
5. Will I have to remove all the stuff underneath or can I just put new soil + compost + seeds of what ever on top?

IMAGES OF PROGRESS:

http://imgur.com/a/APGJC

Goodness, you have been working hard. Looks terrific already.

Are there any updated pictures? i see this was 4 years ago, i wonder if you have any pictures of what it looks like now.