What can I do in the fall to prepare my yard for spring?
August 28, 2019 7:06 AM Subscribe
So our yard is terrible. Really a disgrace. We don't have a lot of money to hire someone and health limitations mean that doing heavy work in the summer is very difficult. My hope is that we can do some stuff in the fall that will render the whole mess more stable in the spring.
Yard problems coupled with what I'd like instead:
1. "Flower" beds near the house are basically all rather large weeds. Would like day lilies surrounded by cedar chips.
2. Borders and a small flower bed of day lilies and other perennials are very weedy. Would like to weed/cedar chip.
3. Raised bed is full of volunteer raspberry cane and weeds. Needs total clear-out, possibly plant with local low-effort perennials, not sure what these would be other than...more day lilies, the South Minneapolis friend.
4. Area around and under wheelchair ramp is full of weeds. Cedar chips? How to weed way under the ramp?
5. Giant messy bed of raspberry cane. Giant neat bed of raspberry cane?
6. Weed trees, so many weed trees. Make them so they never come back, but how?
7. Back lawn is all weeds, including some kind of...giant mullein?
Limits: Money, of course. I can't work more than an hour or so at a stretch due to an injury. I also have plant allergies and tend to get amusingly swollen after about an hour even in gloves. Partner can't work in the heat due to health issues. During the summer, we do the minimum to keep the yard mowed.
Hope: September and early October will be cool enough that we'll be able to put in some serious time outside, plus the weeds will have stopped growing. I am thinking that maybe we can...till some stuff under? And cedar chip it? Or do something else?
What can we do this fall to get closer to our ideal yard for spring?
Yard problems coupled with what I'd like instead:
1. "Flower" beds near the house are basically all rather large weeds. Would like day lilies surrounded by cedar chips.
2. Borders and a small flower bed of day lilies and other perennials are very weedy. Would like to weed/cedar chip.
3. Raised bed is full of volunteer raspberry cane and weeds. Needs total clear-out, possibly plant with local low-effort perennials, not sure what these would be other than...more day lilies, the South Minneapolis friend.
4. Area around and under wheelchair ramp is full of weeds. Cedar chips? How to weed way under the ramp?
5. Giant messy bed of raspberry cane. Giant neat bed of raspberry cane?
6. Weed trees, so many weed trees. Make them so they never come back, but how?
7. Back lawn is all weeds, including some kind of...giant mullein?
Limits: Money, of course. I can't work more than an hour or so at a stretch due to an injury. I also have plant allergies and tend to get amusingly swollen after about an hour even in gloves. Partner can't work in the heat due to health issues. During the summer, we do the minimum to keep the yard mowed.
Hope: September and early October will be cool enough that we'll be able to put in some serious time outside, plus the weeds will have stopped growing. I am thinking that maybe we can...till some stuff under? And cedar chip it? Or do something else?
What can we do this fall to get closer to our ideal yard for spring?
There's always spray-on herbicide. I use glyphosphate (Roundup) very sparingly around here, but it really does the trick, even on stubborn stuff like poison ivy. I get the generic stuff from the local feed-and-seed/co-op and it's quite a bit cheaper than name-brand. You're diluting it in a sprayer, so what you buy ends up going a long way.
Alternatively - my brother-in-law swears by his Weed Dragon, which is basically a propane torch for burning (green) weeds down to the ground, but he's mostly managing stuff around hardscaping. In either case you'd want to do this first thing in the spring, as stuff's starting to come up and probably again as-needed every few weeks.
A local nursery should be able to recommend good, low-maintenance stuff for your zone if you think you might get tired of day lilies.
posted by jquinby at 7:36 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Alternatively - my brother-in-law swears by his Weed Dragon, which is basically a propane torch for burning (green) weeds down to the ground, but he's mostly managing stuff around hardscaping. In either case you'd want to do this first thing in the spring, as stuff's starting to come up and probably again as-needed every few weeks.
A local nursery should be able to recommend good, low-maintenance stuff for your zone if you think you might get tired of day lilies.
posted by jquinby at 7:36 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
If you are planning on installing mulch, then I'll share my weed block technique that needs redoing about every 5 years but is pretty much free and much better than weed block fabric: layer cardboard or multi-ply newspaper underneath the mulch. It blocks weeds and gradually decomposes, adding some nutrients and isn't as nasty as the fabric.
You don't even need to thoroughly weed prior to applying the underlayer.... just remove the large weeds that poke up.
posted by mightshould at 7:53 AM on August 28, 2019 [20 favorites]
You don't even need to thoroughly weed prior to applying the underlayer.... just remove the large weeds that poke up.
posted by mightshould at 7:53 AM on August 28, 2019 [20 favorites]
It sounds like you need to get rid of absolutely everything in your beds before doing anything else, right? For very little money, you can make a fantastic, non-toxic weed killer that will help you do this. Here's a decent article about it. (I've used the vinegar/salt/dish soap combo, and it works brilliantly on weeds in the cracks in my driveway. If it doesn't quite get everything the first time around, spray everything green again after a couple of days.)
If you have a decent local library (which I imagine you do in Minneapolis!), it might be a good resource for this. Our small-town library has a garden consultant who has open office hours every week, and they have a seed program. (Free seeds! Just bring some back next year if you can.)
Day lilies are a great choice, because they're basically like weeds (at least in New Hampshire) -- they'll grow anywhere, and they largely take care of themselves, except when they get too thick and you have to thin them out. (Bonus: you can plant the ones you thin out somewhere else!)
As for the lawn itself -- this is a tough one, without spending some money. We just over-seeded our lawn ourselves, and it requires a) a lot of physical effort (look up de-thatching with a rake, and you'll see what I mean), and b) a fair investment for supplies and seed (around $400 in our case, for a half acre lawn). Maybe just the seed and a borrowed/rented spreader could be helpful and less expensive?
posted by nosila at 7:59 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
If you have a decent local library (which I imagine you do in Minneapolis!), it might be a good resource for this. Our small-town library has a garden consultant who has open office hours every week, and they have a seed program. (Free seeds! Just bring some back next year if you can.)
Day lilies are a great choice, because they're basically like weeds (at least in New Hampshire) -- they'll grow anywhere, and they largely take care of themselves, except when they get too thick and you have to thin them out. (Bonus: you can plant the ones you thin out somewhere else!)
As for the lawn itself -- this is a tough one, without spending some money. We just over-seeded our lawn ourselves, and it requires a) a lot of physical effort (look up de-thatching with a rake, and you'll see what I mean), and b) a fair investment for supplies and seed (around $400 in our case, for a half acre lawn). Maybe just the seed and a borrowed/rented spreader could be helpful and less expensive?
posted by nosila at 7:59 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
You can often get plants free on craigslist/free and freecycle.net, esp. plants that spread, like daylilies. You can post the raspberry canes there, as free to anyone who will remove them. I have gotten plants that way.
Your local cooperative extension office can help you; they can refer you to master gardeners, who can help you plan. You want the plants that thrive in your area.
You should mow or scythe as much of the area as possible, you probably know that's how junk trees take hold.
As mightshould says, for the raised beds, you can kill everything in an area by covering it. I used cardboard and old plywood in one very bad patch; it mostly composted in about a year in a damp area. I'm in Maine. Post asking for cardboard, or pick up boxes on recycling eve. Many people bag leaves in paper, I have picked up many of these, use to smother something, and the leaves make compost. It has to be turned in spring. Any remaining weeds from sees will be easy to pull. I prepped the raised bed with a couple inches of newspaper shredded office paper works, too, then cardboard, then soil.
I moved a patch of daylilies, they are splendid in the new location, and came back in the old location. I like them, and they are no maintenance. Lilacs spread well, and you mow new shoots in areas where you don't want them. Hydrangea and or rhododendron get large over time. Blueberry bushes are really quite pretty, blueberries are nice, then they turn color in fall. They spread but not fast. At my old house, I had lots of shade, got a bunch of free hosta and learned to love them.
If there are areas where you want grass, seed in the fall, rake it in a bit.
posted by theora55 at 8:12 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Your local cooperative extension office can help you; they can refer you to master gardeners, who can help you plan. You want the plants that thrive in your area.
You should mow or scythe as much of the area as possible, you probably know that's how junk trees take hold.
As mightshould says, for the raised beds, you can kill everything in an area by covering it. I used cardboard and old plywood in one very bad patch; it mostly composted in about a year in a damp area. I'm in Maine. Post asking for cardboard, or pick up boxes on recycling eve. Many people bag leaves in paper, I have picked up many of these, use to smother something, and the leaves make compost. It has to be turned in spring. Any remaining weeds from sees will be easy to pull. I prepped the raised bed with a couple inches of newspaper shredded office paper works, too, then cardboard, then soil.
I moved a patch of daylilies, they are splendid in the new location, and came back in the old location. I like them, and they are no maintenance. Lilacs spread well, and you mow new shoots in areas where you don't want them. Hydrangea and or rhododendron get large over time. Blueberry bushes are really quite pretty, blueberries are nice, then they turn color in fall. They spread but not fast. At my old house, I had lots of shade, got a bunch of free hosta and learned to love them.
If there are areas where you want grass, seed in the fall, rake it in a bit.
posted by theora55 at 8:12 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
p.s. Fall is the perfect time to spruce up your plant life, so you're going to be in good shape! And in the spring, it will feel so nice!
posted by nosila at 8:39 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by nosila at 8:39 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Do you have teenagers in your neighborhood? They will be cheaper than paying a lawn service, and with supervision and clear directions they can do a good job of the grunt work.
Yes to covering the raised beds to kill of the existing plants. Pull out the bulk and cover until summer. Then add some chicken poop and mix well. Have the teens dig up your wed trees. They will probably come back, but you can stay on top of them by pulling shoots.
Please dont use glycophosphates. We need bees and other insects around for pollination.
For your lawn, consider a local cover crop like a clover mix that wont need much mowing and provides food for bees.
I fixed up my yard by doing an hour of work in the early morning hours every day for a few weeks. You'd be surprised how much you can get done if you pace yourself!
posted by ananci at 8:46 AM on August 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yes to covering the raised beds to kill of the existing plants. Pull out the bulk and cover until summer. Then add some chicken poop and mix well. Have the teens dig up your wed trees. They will probably come back, but you can stay on top of them by pulling shoots.
Please dont use glycophosphates. We need bees and other insects around for pollination.
For your lawn, consider a local cover crop like a clover mix that wont need much mowing and provides food for bees.
I fixed up my yard by doing an hour of work in the early morning hours every day for a few weeks. You'd be surprised how much you can get done if you pace yourself!
posted by ananci at 8:46 AM on August 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'd join Next Door and put up a post explaining your situation and asking for help. I bet there's a local scout troop, youth group, or teens who need volunteer hours for school who could help with some of the heaviest stuff.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:50 AM on August 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:50 AM on August 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
Yes, teens! I got my neighbor teen into lawn mowing this summer by asking his parents, and once he did ours, he picked up several other houses on the block. We paid him $30 a pop and his parents kept trying to price-cut his labor.
Does your local library have a tool lending library? A roto-tiller could help you turn things under. You can consult almanacs and things to figure out seasonally appropriate tasks.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:52 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Does your local library have a tool lending library? A roto-tiller could help you turn things under. You can consult almanacs and things to figure out seasonally appropriate tasks.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:52 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Teens on Nextdoor for sure! My Nextdoor app is full of teenagers and (their parents posting on their behalf) looking for odd jobs in our (suburban Twin Cities) neighborhood. If there's more work than you and your partner can tackle, you can probably get a teenager to come over and shovel mulch and pull weeds for ten bucks an hour or something. That's not nothing, but it's probably more manageable than hiring professional landscapers. (I posted on Nextdoor for an occasional weekend daytime babysitter and got inundated with 13 year old girls and their mothers. It's wild!)
Lots of times there are free mulch posts on Nextdoor (or Facebook or Craigslist). People order a few yards delivered to their driveway and then need to get rid of the excess. Show up with a shovel and a trunk lined with a cheap tarp from Harbor Freight and they'll likely help you load up.
Ferns and hostas are good alternatives to day lilies and may be better at competing against weeds (although occasionally a tree will still pop up in my fern beds). In the spring there will be people dividing their hostas and thinning out their ferns who can share with you for free or low cost. You can get the beds cleared out and ready this fall.
The U of MN Extension program is a fantastic resource for this stuff. Looks like this is a great time of year for seeding your lawn.
posted by beandip at 9:12 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
Lots of times there are free mulch posts on Nextdoor (or Facebook or Craigslist). People order a few yards delivered to their driveway and then need to get rid of the excess. Show up with a shovel and a trunk lined with a cheap tarp from Harbor Freight and they'll likely help you load up.
Ferns and hostas are good alternatives to day lilies and may be better at competing against weeds (although occasionally a tree will still pop up in my fern beds). In the spring there will be people dividing their hostas and thinning out their ferns who can share with you for free or low cost. You can get the beds cleared out and ready this fall.
The U of MN Extension program is a fantastic resource for this stuff. Looks like this is a great time of year for seeding your lawn.
posted by beandip at 9:12 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
If your experience is anything like mine, you can probably mutter something about landscaping and get a lot of offers for hostas from people who you didn't even think had gardens. If it's not, I have been informed by my next door neighbors that it is Time to Split The Hostas, so feel free to hit me up.
My husband and I are pretty clueless about the whole having a yard business, but one of our plans involve doing native grass plantings in border areas. We were pushed towards the Wild Ones plant sale - though of course, there are others that might be cheaper. It's still a good idea to go through there and get ideas for what might work for you. Generally, native plants should be pretty low maintenance.
The best way to deal with volunteer trees is to plant something that beats the volunteer trees for resources - it can be difficult because oftentimes what looks like a new volunteer tree is actually just growing from a root system that belongs to a much larger tree.
posted by dinty_moore at 9:48 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
My husband and I are pretty clueless about the whole having a yard business, but one of our plans involve doing native grass plantings in border areas. We were pushed towards the Wild Ones plant sale - though of course, there are others that might be cheaper. It's still a good idea to go through there and get ideas for what might work for you. Generally, native plants should be pretty low maintenance.
The best way to deal with volunteer trees is to plant something that beats the volunteer trees for resources - it can be difficult because oftentimes what looks like a new volunteer tree is actually just growing from a root system that belongs to a much larger tree.
posted by dinty_moore at 9:48 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I live in MPLS as well and can vouch for cardboard + mulch on top for smothering grass or weedy areas. A couple years ago I drove through my neighborhood the night before recycling day and got all the cardboard I needed, then hired a guy I found on Nextdoor to deliver and spread a load of cedar mulch (it was a big space, so I needed more than my usual 15 bags of mulch crammed into my Honda Civic). If you prepare the beds in the fall you can (should?) wait until spring to plant perennials, and there will be a ton of free/cheap plants for the taking then.
If you go for day lilies, the orange ones are considered invasive in Minnesota (google “ditch lilies” to learn more). I have some red ones that came with my house, and they are indestructible and non-invasive. I am gradually digging them out to replace with native plants, so you can have mine! (Send me a Mefi message if you want them, fall or spring, I am serious!)
Other low-maintenance, sun-loving plants that are often free/cheap: sedum, coneflower/echinacea, Siberian iris, peonies, catmint/nepeta, Russian sage, monarda, black eyed susan/rudbeckia (though I just discovered that mine are actually “orange coneflowers”). And hosta for shady spots, of course.
You will always have volunteer raspberries popping up in your yard if you have a raspberry bed (or if your neighbors do). They are easy to pull up/chop down once you decide exactly where your raspberry plant boundaries are.
Now’s a good time to overseed your grass with clover seed, if you’re interested in making a less labor intensive, more bee-friendly yard. You can get a pound of clover seed for about $10 at a lot of local garden stores. The U of MN bee lawn project website is worth perusing!
Weed trees are the worst - you can either enlist strong young people, paint on some very targeted herbicide, or rent a sort of weed winch tool from the hardware store or the Twin Cities Tool Library (they have a location in NE MPLS).
Let me know if you have any local questions! I’m not a master gardener but definitely a DIY garden nerd.
posted by Maarika at 9:51 AM on August 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
If you go for day lilies, the orange ones are considered invasive in Minnesota (google “ditch lilies” to learn more). I have some red ones that came with my house, and they are indestructible and non-invasive. I am gradually digging them out to replace with native plants, so you can have mine! (Send me a Mefi message if you want them, fall or spring, I am serious!)
Other low-maintenance, sun-loving plants that are often free/cheap: sedum, coneflower/echinacea, Siberian iris, peonies, catmint/nepeta, Russian sage, monarda, black eyed susan/rudbeckia (though I just discovered that mine are actually “orange coneflowers”). And hosta for shady spots, of course.
You will always have volunteer raspberries popping up in your yard if you have a raspberry bed (or if your neighbors do). They are easy to pull up/chop down once you decide exactly where your raspberry plant boundaries are.
Now’s a good time to overseed your grass with clover seed, if you’re interested in making a less labor intensive, more bee-friendly yard. You can get a pound of clover seed for about $10 at a lot of local garden stores. The U of MN bee lawn project website is worth perusing!
Weed trees are the worst - you can either enlist strong young people, paint on some very targeted herbicide, or rent a sort of weed winch tool from the hardware store or the Twin Cities Tool Library (they have a location in NE MPLS).
Let me know if you have any local questions! I’m not a master gardener but definitely a DIY garden nerd.
posted by Maarika at 9:51 AM on August 28, 2019 [7 favorites]
Nobody's mentioned ChipDrop yet - it allows you to sign up for arborists to drop wood chips in your driveway. You will get a *lot* of wood chips, but they're free, which is helpful for putting down enough to keep weeds down. I'd put down a layer or two of old boxes as a base layer for smothering. Sections of newspaper (i.e., many layers of newsprint) can work, too, there used to be concerns about dye toxicity, but those dyes aren't used anymore. I'd focus on beating back the weeds before you add a lot of new plants.
Weed trees you will probably need to get out the shovel to get as much of the root as possible out. Look around and see if the trees are actually sprouting from the roots of a nearby mature tree - if so, this will be a recurring problem and the mature tree may be entering decline.
Glyphosate / Roundup is a relatively safe chemical option to cut back on manual labor, read the label and don't spray on/near actual blooming flowers and the pollinators should be fine. Your Extension office and/or Soil and Water Conservation District will probably have advice on the best ways to apply and whether adding an adjuvant (oil, "sticker", "spreader") will help control tough weeds like ivy.
posted by momus_window at 1:45 PM on August 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Weed trees you will probably need to get out the shovel to get as much of the root as possible out. Look around and see if the trees are actually sprouting from the roots of a nearby mature tree - if so, this will be a recurring problem and the mature tree may be entering decline.
Glyphosate / Roundup is a relatively safe chemical option to cut back on manual labor, read the label and don't spray on/near actual blooming flowers and the pollinators should be fine. Your Extension office and/or Soil and Water Conservation District will probably have advice on the best ways to apply and whether adding an adjuvant (oil, "sticker", "spreader") will help control tough weeds like ivy.
posted by momus_window at 1:45 PM on August 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Plant your new grass in the fall. It's much easier to start gass in the fall than the spring.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:22 PM on August 28, 2019
posted by SemiSalt at 5:22 PM on August 28, 2019
I'd be cautious about using Roundup. It's been implicated in Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia. Surely there are non-toxic methods to clear weed beds! I successfully poured boiling water on them, albeit a little at a time. Non-toxic though.
posted by citygirl at 5:30 PM on August 28, 2019
posted by citygirl at 5:30 PM on August 28, 2019
If your library has this book on organic no-till it might be worth reading, oddly - it’s written by and for market gardeners, but with the goal of reducing labor and spending little money. Buncha interviews with different places that have settled on their particular affordable mulch with local timing.
Also, It calls the cardboard-under-chips approach occultation because of a French Canadian example.
A landscape that wants to be a forest - you could let just enough trees grow to shade out the competition and have a bosky yard.
posted by clew at 7:10 PM on August 28, 2019
Also, It calls the cardboard-under-chips approach occultation because of a French Canadian example.
A landscape that wants to be a forest - you could let just enough trees grow to shade out the competition and have a bosky yard.
posted by clew at 7:10 PM on August 28, 2019
I liberally salt my gravel walkways where I don't want anything to grow. Works great and is reasonably non toxic. Maybe this around and under the wheel chair ramp?
And as suggested above, I also use paper and cardboard under wood chips, it works reasonably well for me.
As far as the raspberries, just cut them into a tame looking shape and call it a berry patch.
Once you get the weed trees up frequent mowing will keep them from coming back. Maybe a neighbour or neighbour kid would help out for a reasonable fee?
posted by fshgrl at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2019
And as suggested above, I also use paper and cardboard under wood chips, it works reasonably well for me.
As far as the raspberries, just cut them into a tame looking shape and call it a berry patch.
Once you get the weed trees up frequent mowing will keep them from coming back. Maybe a neighbour or neighbour kid would help out for a reasonable fee?
posted by fshgrl at 10:29 PM on August 28, 2019
Many raspberries fruit on two-year-old wood, so a labor-saving approach is to have two beds, which are cut to the ground and heavily mulched in alternate years. Weeding in the interim is a plus but you can do the heavy maintenance when there aren’t thorny canes there.
posted by clew at 11:22 AM on August 29, 2019
posted by clew at 11:22 AM on August 29, 2019
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