Newspaper

Today’s project was the front yard. Long term we plan to put in some nice shrubs, flowers, and native grasses, but we don’t want to do that while there’s still years of work to be done on the house that would doubtless result in many trampled plants. At the same time, we don’t really care for grass. We don’t currently own a lawn mower and since ultimately we won’t have any grass, buying one for our little patch seems like a bit of a waste.

Instead we’re putting down mulch as a low maintenance temporary solution. We may put in some inexpensive ground cover if we come across it, otherwise this is pretty much it. It’s not the most attractive option, but it’s better than out of control grass and it doesn’t cost very much.

In order to kill the grass and make sure it doesn’t just grow up through the mulch, we first put down a thick layer of newspaper. Sarah started couponing a while back, and as a result we’d accumulated quite the stack of papers to use. As it turns out we need a lot more, since I went through the whole thing just doing the front yard and I didn’t get to the easement in front of the sidewalk yet.

Mulch!

Sarah saw that Menards had a sale on Mulch this weekend so I enlisted Dean’s help to go get forty bags of the stuff since he’s got a pickup truck. Sarah and I continue to consider a more practical vehicle, but in the mean time we’ve been mooching off friends and family with trucks and trailers.

As I went I ripped up our bumper crop of dandelions, but I didn’t get all roots so I’m sure I’ll have to spend more time out there getting them out properly. I left a gap in the front along the fence that we can plant some flowers or something. That area at least will probably not be trampled too badly.

Mulched

You can see our weed  flower bed along the front, as well as the two shrub/tree things. Those probably aren’t long for this world, but I left them for now since I don’t have anything better to put there yet. So in a nutshell, not the best looking yard on the street, but at least now I don’t have to mow it.