I know for many of you, yardwork is probably not a big deal, but for me, I enjoy doing yardwork; it is therapeutic for me to get outside, enjoy the outdoors, and do some manual labor. As long as I pace myself and don’t do too much all at once, I am in good shape. Long ago, I learned to “listen” to my body to have insight into how much I can take. And I tell you, that blistering summer heat and humidity here around Atlanta has literally made me melt into a pool of sweat on several days of working outside. Phew! I definitely make sure to stay hydrated, take breaks, and be self-motivated.
I had a yardwork project in the works for the past six months that I finally completed. I hired some help along the way for the bigger parts of my project, but I completed the majority of the work myself. And, I have to say that I am very proud of myself. I divided my project up throughout the six month period of time, paced myself along the way, and actually took the time to enjoy doing some hard work outside. Included in this post are several before and after pictures of my project.
In my yard and surrounding my home are many bushes, shrubs, azaleas, gardenias, and many types of flowers. Last winter, I paid for a landscaping crew to clean and polish things up, but I paid more than I wanted to and the crew was inconsistent. They generally did a good job, but on a couple of occasions, they left hours of clean-up for me that they were supposed to have done. They also were not interested in some of the “bigger” work, so I bought a mini chainsaw and borrowed my neighbor’s chainsaw, and did it myself – to a point.
After completing what I felt comfortable with doing myself, I reached out to another landscaper who has a crew since I observed the excellent commercial work he completed for a friend. Knowing how difficult it is to find people who want to work, do a great job, and are affordable, I was willing to be patient and wait for him to fit me in on his time schedule sometime. I am one of the most positive and patient people anyone will ever meet, and so I really tried to wait, though I was ready for the work to be done. I wanted to give the landscaper my business, but after waiting for five months, following up several times, and receiving no firm commitment to a work date, I gave him a deadline that he could not meet. He was very kind and suggested that I find someone else, and so I did, but had really hoped he could have done the work for me. He and his crew are just very busy, and they likely have bigger jobs to handle than mine, which I understand.
As I say, it is difficult to find people who are basically willing to do the job that is desired – and have it be quality work that is also affordable. I, therefore, reached out to five other local companies – two were tree companies and three were landscapers. The owner of one tree company came out, was very experienced and professional, and gave me a very affordable and reasonable estimate. The owner of another tree company came out, and while he was professional, was inexperienced and gave me an estimate that was double the other company’s. One landscaping company waited several days before getting back to me, and I had already hired a different company for the work.
Another landscaping company was composed of Spanish-speakers, and while I communicated in my basic Spanish to provide my information, they did not call back. And, the last landscaping company wanted an extremely unreasonable amount of money for the work I proposed, so they were no longer a consideration even when they came down on their price. Therefore, I went with the first tree company that provided me the most reasonable price. And, while their contracted stump grinder did not complete all of the work that I paid for and I still ended up doing hours of work, myself, it was the best deal. The stump grinder left eight small to medium-sized stumps in my backyard island that I dug up, myself. It was grueling work, but I did it.
At any rate, I had a huge island in my back yard, composed of several towering butterfly bushes, large rose bushes, large azaleas (25 of which I transplanted), and many other bushes and flowers. I wanted to downsize that, and so I cut it all back during the winter months and took the brush to my local recycling center in many trips. The butterfly bushes were just too huge to transplant, but I did cut back the azaleas and transplanted nearly all of them to other locations in my yard. I know it would’ve broken my mom’s heart if I hadn’t done that, so I invested much effort and sweat into moving as much as I could to save them. My yard – especially my back yard – is literally Azalea Heaven, and is absolutely beautiful in Spring when the flowers are in bloom.
I also cut back and removed or transplanted several bushes and flower bulbs in a smaller island next to my driveway. The tree company that I hired cut down six evergreen shrubs that were not pleasing to the eye and which I never really liked very much. The stump grinder came in afterwards and ground up all of the medium stumps that were left behind. The tree company additionally took out a medium-sized maple tree in my front yard, and the stump was ground up for that, as well. I had also completed some earlier work, myself, in Spring when it was still cool, such as cutting down and removing two large, tall bushes in my front yard island, as well as removing a huge grapevine in the front, and hauling the brush to the recycling center, with the help of my kind, elderly neighbor.
Once all of that work was done, I went into each area with my heavy, metal-pronged rake, and smoothed out the soil and removed the roots and large pieces of mulch as much as I could before spreading grass seed. It has already been a couple of weeks, and my new grass in the front yard is coming up nicely. But, I used a different grass seed for the side and back yards that hasn’t “taken.” So, I ended up returning one unopened bag of the seed to Lowe’s and purchasing a different type of seed that I hope will grow better.
So, while yardwork is very enjoyable and therapeutic for me, I also enjoy the feeling of accomplishment of getting things done. I finally feel like – after six months – that things have shaped up nicely and are completed – at least for now. When you have a large yard and many trees, bushes, and flowers, it is a lot to keep up with and the yardwork can be never-ending if you let it. And, I can’t let it because my summer break from teaching is done for this year, and I am always busy with so many things. Therefore, it is also a relief that my yardwork project is completed and I can focus more on other things again – until the next time!
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