I have owned my house for almost 33 years. The front section had been built in 1843, the rear in 1798 and it had been abandoned for many years when I purchased it. It was the cheapest house on the market at that time for good reasons. Vines were growing through broken windows, 55 gallon drums of unknown substances filled a room, snakes throughout, a groundhog in the basement and raccoons in the attic, a large section of the roof was missing and the basement was full of lead pipes and unidentifiable canned foods from the 1950s. Many plaster walls were cracked because the house had been slammed into by a speeding car in the 1960s. Yet almost all of the house’s original fabric were still intact and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of both architecture and social history.
There was no yard to speak of as the .92 acre consisted of tractor tires, metal cabinets, broken glass, various trash and discards, poison ivy and sumac. The first years were mostly work on the house as it didn’t even have a kitchen when I moved in. I found a discarded sink in the woods, cleaned it up and used it until I finally got a real functioning kitchen. I also slowly started getting the yard under control and the men at the town dump knew me by my first name as Saturdays were spent going back and forth. I was really doing great progress and in my opinion the house and yard were becoming spectacular from their prior condition.
Before — the entrance when I bought the house wrapped in asbestos shingles
After - the original clapboards discovered underneath the shingles
Before — a back and side view of the house
After
Yard work over the years provided me with a nail in my foot, being knocked unconscious, another time a concussion, hand stitches, severe poison ivy rashes, twisted ankle, three knee surgeries from ripped cartilage, bee stings, constant dealings with Lyme disease and restless nights because of stinging nettle.
Before — This area eventually became my backyard lawn.
Before — That’s me in 1987 clearing by hand — young, muscular and a naive blond in over my head. Behind me is where the present front of the back gardens is now located.
Before — The hay bale on the right is where my vegetable garden is located today
I had a great thirty year run, then age and health started catching up with me especially the last few years. Recently, I laid on my side on the ground in the vegetable garden and pulled myself along planting in rows as I couldn’t use my knees or bend over. I sadly lost control over many sections of the yard. I was brought up in a family that you always put a good face toward the public. If something was visible from the road then that is what I worked on and let other things go. I retired in 2018 but family obligations down south and new health problems prevented me from catching up on yard work. I was also brought up that you do things yourself but also know when you need help. I finally gave in for the first time this past year. I hired a company that spent an entire day in August removing poison ivy from my property. They guaranteed it for two years and I have since had them back once.
But this diary is about one day in October with my hiring of four men and a small dozer to help me get some main parts under control, especially ones that had been caused by my shortsightedness. I liked the entire crew very much and thought they did hard excellent work. I’ll let you be the judge.
Before — The first thing they tackled was this boxwood hedge. The eight boxwoods were originally about 8” tall each and bought at an “end of the season” nursery sale. They were planted on a slope and you can see the right side is much taller because it also receives more sunlight.
Before — The boxwoods have grown enough that the gap between them and the house is just large enough for me to get the riding lawn mower through.
Before — I had planted them in a row to line up with the large brownstone post on the right side of the porch steps. Since most of my outdoor entertaining is in the side yard, the hedge provided privacy from the road. Their placement though was a huge mistake.
Before — As seen below from the side porch steps, the hedge partially blocks a straight ahead view, crowds the patio area and causes you to walk around all of this in either direction to get to the other side that also contains the bird feeders.
During — The crew removed the hedge and dug a ditch about seven feet over to the left. It had to be hand dug as the new hedge would be butting right against the flagged underground utilities. Remember to “Call Before You Dig”. Years ago while digging, I cut off power to my house and lived to tell it.
During — the boxwoods removed and lined up against the edge of the woods.
After — Upon the foreman’s suggestion, we flipped the hedges around so the smaller ones will receive enough sunlight to catch up with the other side. Then I can trim a straight line across the top.
After — I cannot describe the difference this has made in providing both views and more breathing room including mowing space.
After — I love looking out now at the yard and woods when I step outside. I’m not sure if I will leave the table and chairs there.
Before — Next up was my large antique brownstone water trough for horses. My former supervisor and I had stopped one day at a stone supplier and when I saw the trough my heart started racing. It was a remarkable piece and price. As usual, I started hemming and hawing but my boss knew me well enough to firmly push me into buying it.
Before — The owner wouldn’t lower his price but he did offer free delivery, a $150 value. The trough was removed with a fork lift from their truck and they had planned to just place it on the ground by the road. I pleaded that I would not have the means of moving it so I begged them to place it here against the house. And then they immediately rushed off. All these years, the back part was not evenly spaced from the house and as you can see the front right was much lower than the rest.
After — The crew got everything perfectly balanced. Another one of my rocks removed.
Before — Moving on. These two evergreens were quite small when purchased on sale. Why I would ever plant them in front of my vegetable garden is beyond me. And the ornamental grass on the right is the first one I had ever purchased so I didn’t know anything about them. It grew into a monster causing me to have to walk around it to get to the garden’s gate behind it.
After — All three were removed.
After — My vegetable garden will definitely get more sunlight now. All new fencing is on my future wish list for both the garden and dog pen. A friend’s son and I made the garden gate after I found the metal piece on the side of the road to use as the center.
After — The two evergreens and the cut-backed ornamental grass circled below in black have new homes now and can continue their lives without being disturbed again.
Before — Next up are my compost and brush areas at the end of this path circling behind some pine trees.
Before — Using this area for about twenty-five years had caused it to get tight leaving just enough room to get a wheelbarrow around and to mow the path. Compost on right, brush in the middle and tree branches and everything else on the left.
After — The crew pushed everything back leaving me enough room for the rest of my life. See the new black composter that I bought from my town this past fall. Lucy has adopted it and pulls me to it every time we take a walk around the yard.
Before — Turning back around from that area you can see a dead wild dogwood tree in the foreground and two large trees on the right that had been blown over during a storm two years ago.
Before — It’s not fully visible in this photograph but there is a large hole with weeds growing up from it. The crew said they did not have the equipment to remove the trees.
After — I went inside to have lunch and after returning they had pulled up the stumps, pushed both trees back out of the yard and filled in the hole. This will make mowing behind the shrubs in the middle much easier now. I will keep chipping on the down trees roots on the right and removing the soil covering them. Notice the dead dogwood tree is gone. On the bottom right is a small hedge of white winterberries that haven't produced berries since they were transplanted here but should now with receiving more sunlight.
Before — This was the front of the back gardens a few years back.
Before — I had planted the boxwoods in the middle to circle a large tree. A major storm knocked the tree over barely missing the concrete fence panels. I placed this concrete column on its stump and on top the round Chinese stone containing a hole in the middle.
Before — This is how the front looked this past year.
Before
Before — The pedestal and stone had fell into the middle of the boxwood circle.
Before — Each side of the front
After — The first thing was to remove the two shrubs from the two urns. The better of the two was planted in this pot on top of a piece of wood that the crew cut from one of the fallen trees out back. It sits in the middle of monkey grass from my parents yard.
After — The other one was placed in this plastic pot and I’ll find a nice spot for it this year.
After — The guys trimmed the privet hedge and the first trim ever for the boxwood around the entrance. That morning to stay out of their way, I had been cutting the boxwood that was sticking through the concrete fence panels.
After — The two urns had always been in front of the hedge making it a bit difficult to mow around them. The crew cut areas into the hedge for the urns creating a straight line. The two large concrete balls were placed on top of the urns by the younger muscle guy. I really enjoy this folly-look.
After — I was surprised that it was not possible to place the pedestal and stone back up on the stump. The stump had deteriorated enough that it was impossible after we tried numerous times and ways. After the crew left, I placed the round stone with the hole on top of these balusters in front of the boxwood. I’m pleased with the replacement look that is much more subdued.
After — This is the front this week as I had finished weeding and mulching everything along the entire line a few weeks ago.
Before — This was the back side of the boxwood circle before they started working.
After — After weeding and trimming it, I forgot how large the rock pile was behind it and had completely forgot about this urn. I need to remove all of this.
Before — In the background of the boxwood circle is this garden that I neglected.
Before — This is how that garden looked a few years back in the fall. To regain control of it will be my coming spring project. Maybe I’ll even find the two garden chairs that are lost inside the mess.
Before — I still have this below hedge row and the sunken garden on the right to take care of. Little by little, I’ll get them back to their previous condition. I am not feeling so overwhelmed anymore and this was the spark I needed to also regain motivation. I thought the total hourly cost for four men and the dozer was outrageous. Yet, it came down to a little more than what it would have cost for one tree removal so I can live with that. I’m now at that age that if I am to enjoy my yard, I have to know when to seek help as there won’t be that many more years. Just don’t ever try to take away my riding lawn mower as I plan to use it instead of a wheelchair if in a nursing home!
Next week life continues as I have a tree company coming to trim back the three Bradford Pear trees along the road that are causing problems especially one over the driveway, remove another tree that is splitting in two and could hit the house and remove some large limbs from a different tree that have broken off and are wedged against an adjacent tree. Nothing stays the same and time stops for no one so I’ll do my best to limp along for the seasons that I have left. After all, there is no other choice in my book. I must admit that I have throughly enjoyed the ride these last thirty-three years and look forward to many more to come. Please feel free to volunteer your labor and assistance.
So this is what has been going on in my outdoor world. What’s up with yours?