Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Tidy Tuesday - Cleaning Up the Yard

This winter was a bear! There's no disputing that one. 

Here on the East Coast we had A LOT of snow.  All that snow piled on top of everything - trees, shrubs, bushes, cars, houses, everything.  It left a lot of mess long after the snow was gone. There were gutters to be repaired. There were fallen trees that need to be cut up and taken away. Plus landscaping to repair all the damage done by the much needed snowplows.

This is all on top of the normal landscaping like cutting the grass, weeding flowerbeds, planting flowers and planning a garden. 

Tackling one project at a time is the easiest way to get it all done. Create a list and break projects into smaller chunks is helpful. Then when you have a little free time, like on the weekends, work on one of the smaller chunk projects at a time.

Here is an example. This is part of my list:
* Move landscaping rocks back into place in front flowerbed (moved by snowplow) - ask hubby to help
* Plan and start planting my garden - buy seeds, turn over dirt, plant seeds, water garden
* Rake up our yard - front and back, bag and take to dump
* Plant gladiolus bulbs on side of house
* Remove remaining dead tree branches - cut them up and take to dump

Some quick and easy tricks to clean up your yard in a hurry.
  1. Rake leaves and twigs into piles all around your yard. Bag up. It's saves a lot of energy as opposed to raking from one edge to the other - dragging the leaves over the entire yard.
  2. Enlist the help of others - kids and hubby, siblings or neighbor kids.
  3. Rent a chipper, mulcher, cultivator, etc. from your local hardware store or rental shop.
 Hopefully these little tips will help you finish your yardwork quickly so you can enjoy the warmer weather of Spring.

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