House From Foreclosure Auction. Backyard proves it!

[mediabloke]

If you look through the images, you'll see:

. quite a few types of weeds
. a drain in middle of the yard that seems to be full of cement
. a pipe sticking out of the ground that does??
. a tree stump that I started trying to dig out
. a ton of vines
. other things that I can't describe

I've never owned a house before, and have no idea where to start. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Chuck]

If you look through the images, you'll see:

. quite a few types of weeds
. a drain in middle of the yard that seems to be full of cement
. a pipe sticking out of the ground that does??
. a tree stump that I started trying to dig out
. a ton of vines
. other things that I can't describe

I've never owned a house before, and have no idea where to start. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

First of all where are you located. Please finish filling out your profile. You have a BIG job ahead. I see mostly weeds but also worthwhile plants. My advice is to start over with the plants you will want to grow. The second thing is to start small. Get one area like you want it and proceed to the next. I see a lot of weedy ground cover. Some of it will disappear as it get warmer. Mowing is a must. Otherwise it will turn into a jungle. The drain is probably going to a French drain, if not that then to the sewer. The pipe sticking out is either nothing or it is a probably a condensation drain. Get a chainsaw and cut the roots on that stump or place charcoal around it and set it on fire. I would start by solarizing about 75% of it while you are working on the other 25%, but it has to be mowed down first. Good luck

 

[mediabloke]

First of all where are you located. Please finish filling out your profile. You have a BIG job ahead. I see mostly weeds but also worthwhile plants. My advice is to start over with the plants you will want to grow. The second thing is to start small. Get one area like you want it and proceed to the next. I see a lot of weedy ground cover. Some of it will disappear as it get warmer. Mowing is a must. Otherwise it will turn into a jungle. The drain is probably going to a French drain, if not that then to the sewer. The pipe sticking out is either nothing or it is a probably a condensation drain. Get a chainsaw and cut the roots on that stump or place charcoal around it and set it on fire. I would start by solarizing about 75% of it while you are working on the other 25%, but it has to be mowed down first. Good luck

Thank you! I thought I had already updated my profile to say Philadelphia, but I'll double check to make sure that it saved.

I have kids, so while plants are nice, they're young boys and going to destroy everything they see. I'd like a lawn of all grass.
As far as mowing goes, I was told that "lawn mowers are for grass, and nothing else". Was that bad advice?

Additionally, My friend has a tiller that he can lend to me. Does that have a place here?

Thanks

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum! Generally speaking mowers are for soft vegetation, so if you do run it over weeded areas maybe put it on a high setting so that you don't hit any hard, woody bits. Ivy can get quite tough, but it's fairly straight-forward to pull up

 

[Chuck]

Thank you! I thought I had already updated my profile to say Philadelphia, but I'll double check to make sure that it saved.

I have kids, so while plants are nice, they're young boys and going to destroy everything they see. I'd like a lawn of all grass.
As far as mowing goes, I was told that "lawn mowers are for grass, and nothing else". Was that bad advice?

Additionally, My friend has a tiller that he can lend to me. Does that have a place here?

Thanks

A lawnmower is you best friend when it comes to weeds. And a grass lawn is always a place weeds love to inhabit. Keep the grass mowed regularly and no weeds. I am not familiar with the types of grass available in your area. Go to a real nursery and talk to them about grasses. Tilling it up will make it 10 times worse. Unless you use harsh nasty chemicals solarization is the only way to eliminate all that stuff growing there. You could spend the rest of your life digging it up. Mow it down close to the ground, soak the ground and immediately cover with either black or clear plastic and keep it there for at least 3 months.

 

[mediabloke]

Welcome to the forum! Generally speaking mowers are for soft vegetation, so if you do run it over weeded areas maybe put it on a high setting so that you don't hit any hard, woody bits. Ivy can get quite tough, but it's fairly straight-forward to pull up

One thing that I have going for me is the hours I put in raking up all the twigs over the winter.

Additionally, I didn't spend a ton of money on a lawn mower. I picked up a $400 gas powered mower for $60 at a yard sale (owner was moving back to Europe), and all I needed to do was sharpen the blade.

I guess I'll start with a weed whacker, then move onto pulling things up, and finally using a lawn mover. No real yard resetting work until fall.

 

[mediabloke]

A lawnmower is you best friend when it comes to weeds. And a grass lawn is always a place weeds love to inhabit. Keep the grass mowed regularly and no weeds. I am not familiar with the types of grass available in your area. Go to a real nursery and talk to them about grasses. Tilling it up will make it 10 times worse. Unless you use harsh nasty chemicals solarization is the only way to eliminate all that stuff growing there. You could spend the rest of your life digging it up. Mow it down close to the ground, soak the ground and immediately cover with either black or clear plastic and keep it there for at least 3 months.

Thanks. I don't understand: why will tilling make things worse? The consensus seems to be that I should till the yard a week or so before I kill the weeds, so that everything that needs to come up will come up.

There's no grass back there right now. In the next year or 2, I hope to have the entire yard full of grass, but that's a long way away...

 

[Chuck]

Thanks. I don't understand: why will tilling make things worse? The consensus seems to be that I should till the yard a week or so before I kill the weeds, so that everything that needs to come up will come up.

There's no grass back there right now. In the next year or 2, I hope to have the entire yard full of grass, but that's a long way away...

A tiller chops up the roots of plants that spread underground and resurface. Instead of having one plant growing you will now have dozens. It's like having 1000's of root cuttings all growing into new plants. A tiller will bring up buried seeds that are lying dormant in the soil too. A seed can live for years underground. There is no telling what has been grown there in years past. A tiller is for preparing and loosening soil not weed removal.

If you go the chemical route do not use a product like Roundup with acephate as its active ingredient. It kills broadleaf weeds and grasses, not trees and vines. You will need a much more aggressive chemical like Crossbow which has Triclopyr as its active ingredient. Personally, I would not go the chemical route. It is dangerous to people and pets. If you go the manual method of digging, pulling, raking etc. you will NEVER get finished. More will always come up. You have to kill everything in order to have grass and there is no other way except chemicals and solarization. Solarization is easy, not labor intensive at all. You will be ready to lay down sod the first of next spring if not sooner.

 

[mediabloke]

If you go the chemical route do not use a product like Roundup with acephate as its active ingredient. It kills broadleaf weeds and grasses, not trees and vines. You will need a much more aggressive chemical like Crossbow which has Triclopyr as its active ingredient. Personally, I would not go the chemical route. It is dangerous to people and pets. If you go the manual method of digging, pulling, raking etc. you will NEVER get finished. More will always come up. You have to kill everything in order to have grass and there is no other way except chemicals and solarization. Solarization is easy, not labor intensive at all. You will be ready to lay down sod the first of next spring if not sooner.

Are you suggesting the chemical route or another route?

This paragraph implies both...

 

[Chuck]

Are you suggesting the chemical route or another route?

This paragraph implies both...

I am saying that there are two ways to do it. Chemical and solarization. I would go with solarization.
Speaking of chemicals. There is a chemical that is safe to use but it is more labor intensive. It is a product made by Green Light called Cut Vine and Stump Killer. What you do is find the terminal end or where the vine comes out of the ground, cut it close to the soil and put a few drops of this stuff on the stump. This will work on just about every plant including tree saplings, but it is time consuming. You would still need to solarize in order to kill any seeds or other growth.

 

[mediabloke]

If I go the solarization route, based on what I've googled/youtubed, it seems that the time to do it is asap, because it takes a while for it to get the job done, and if I do it early, I'll benefit from the heat all summer.

So if I go this route, the steps are:

1. Use a weed whacker to trim all of the taller weeds
2. Use a lawn mower to cut down everything else (although I'll need to put in on a high setting not to break the mower)
3. put the plastic down and let the magic happen.

My only question then is, what do I do with all the vines in the back? I can't mow them. Should I use the tiller on those? I can pull the weeds out of that area before I do to make sure I'm not turning each one into 100...

 

[Chuck]

If I go the solarization route, based on what I've googled/youtubed, it seems that the time to do it is asap, because it takes a while for it to get the job done, and if I do it early, I'll benefit from the heat all summer.

So if I go this route, the steps are:

1. Use a weed whacker to trim all of the taller weeds
2. Use a lawn mower to cut down everything else (although I'll need to put in on a high setting not to break the mower)
3. put the plastic down and let the magic happen.

My only question then is, what do I do with all the vines in the back? I can't mow them. Should I use the tiller on those? I can pull the weeds out of that area before I do to make sure I'm not turning each one into 100...

Get a good Bypass Lopper at the hardware store. They will take care of the vines and small trees. If there are some vines too big for the loppers, which I doubt, us a handsaw or chainsaw.
#1 correct
#2 correct
#3 water the area that will be under the plastic
#4 put the plastic down
#5 weigh the plastic down with bricks or something so it doesn't blow in the wind

 

[Fernsdaddy]

A lawnmower is you best friend when it comes to weeds. And a grass lawn is always a place weeds love to inhabit. Keep the grass mowed regularly and no weeds. I am not familiar with the types of grass available in your area. Go to a real nursery and talk to them about grasses. Tilling it up will make it 10 times worse. Unless you use harsh nasty chemicals solarization is the only way to eliminate all that stuff growing there. You could spend the rest of your life digging it up. Mow it down close to the ground, soak the ground and immediately cover with either black or clear plastic and keep it there for at least 3 months.

A lawnmower is you best friend when it comes to weeds. And a grass lawn is always a place weeds love to inhabit. Keep the grass mowed regularly and no weeds. I am not familiar with the types of grass available in your area. Go to a real nursery and talk to them about grasses. Tilling it up will make it 10 times worse. Unless you use harsh nasty chemicals solarization is the only way to eliminate all that stuff growing there. You could spend the rest of your life digging it up. Mow it down close to the ground, soak the ground and immediately cover with either black or clear plastic and keep it there for at least 3 months.

You can also check the grass seed bag / box to see if it will grow in your zone. I buy seed when it says it will grow in the north, Check you lawn area for and thing that a mower will kick out and hurt you or some on in the area or bust out a window, I learn the hard way buy not checking first.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

That backyard is begging for a native garden. In fact, it seems you already have one native specie: Common Blue Violet.

 

[mediabloke]

That backyard is begging for a native garden. In fact, it seems you already have one native specie: Common Blue Violet.

What does that mean? Let it grow wild? I moved out of the city so my kids could have a yard. I can't let them run around in this mess. They'll find enough ways to hurt themselves playing without me giving them the extra boost...