new homeowner, old yard

8 years ago

So I've entered the endeavor of home ownership. I have also inherited an 83 yr old lawn. The home was refurbished and brought back to life. Unfortunately they didn't try as hard on the outside. Before the property was a jungle. A crab apple tree in the front yard and a plethora of random out of control shrubs and weeds. So the renovation people clear cut everything, chopped the fence down at ground level and didn't uproot anything. We moved in during the peak of winter so now were finally able to get outside a start up on some things. So far we've had the crab apple tree removed and a few others. They laid a seed carpet down on top of everything with that plastic mesh for erosion control which wasn't needed. the leaves weren't raked before the snow fell on top of it all causing a rotting layer of leaves. So the grass is trashed and we're working on raking up the leaves as weather permits and to boot the plastic mesh didn't decompose making raking really fun. Now there are random bulbs and scattered perennials popping up everywhere. What can I do to start repairing years of neglect? I understand Thinks wont be completely fixed this year but I don't want to waste money throwing seed or fertilizer that wont help. Thank you in advance. I am in Wisconsin Zone 5b.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
8 years ago
some ideas
Jeff thanked Dig Doug's Designs
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
8 years ago
Start by IDing what you already have. Then you can ask for advice regarding removing, rejuvenating, or relocating. If you need help, you can post pictures in the Perennial forum, theShrubs forum, or the Name That Plant forum.
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Jeff
Original Author
8 years ago
Holy crap. Now i'm looking at things in a whole new way. That's awesome!
Sigrid
8 years ago
Mowing will get rid of a lot of perennials. It won't get rid of the worst, invasive weeds but your lawn will be green and just don't get on your knees to examine if it's made of identical grass blades or something else.

You may have a collection of perennials you might want to plant in a planned garden, but you probably have a lot of thugs. My neglected garden was overrun with Hostas and Daylilies duking it out and smothering everything else. Some things like Peonies are pretty, not thugs and long lasting. If you know a gardener, ask for help with ID.

Early bulbs can, depending on the bulb and your climate, come up and flower before your grass starts growing. By the time they are done, the grass is ready to be mowed.

Leaf blowers, while noisy and obnoxious, make leaf removal a hell of a lot faster than raking. You can blow the leaves onto a tarp, tie it up (put rope through the grommets before you start blowing), stick it in the back of your car and haul it to the dump. Another option is using a lawn mower with a bagger.

However, some trees don't drop their leaves until very late. Beeches will often not drop them all until it leafs out in the spring, dropping leaves in snow storms all winter.

Many plants, including bulbs, can be dug up and moved at any time of the year. You might lose some, if you dig them up as they start growing, but if you were just going to mow over them, no harm done. You can do this carefully, not wrecking the grass and put the grass back down.