Your backyard can be your relaxing haven in a busy neighborhood or even your own slice of paradise that you can retreat to after a stressful day at work. As they say, a tidy room is a tidy mind, and the same can definitely be said for the backyard.
You’re very unlikely to want to spend some time in your backyard if it’s full of trash or cluttered with dead leaves and weeds. If this sounds like anything like your backyard, then what better time than now to finally get it cleaned up?
If your backyard seems like too big of a job to start, then don’t worry, we have got you covered. We have provided some easy steps for you to follow to get it looking clean and healthy again so you can get back out there to relax and unwind in no time.
Get Prepared
First things first, you need to prepare yourself for cleaning up your backyard and getting stuck into some landscape maintenance.
Free up some time in your day, preferably on the weekend if you can. Make sure you allow yourself plenty of time so that you aren’t rushing around.
Cleaning your backyard doesn’t need to be a chore, and it certainly doesn’t have to be stressful. Turn it into something fun that you can look forward to. Get some headphones with your favorite music to give you extra motivation. Who says you can’t dance and mow the lawn at the same time?
Make sure you have plenty of water, some protective gardening gloves, towels to clean yourself up and wear appropriate clothes for the weather. Don’t forget your sunscreen.
Clean up the garden shed
The first step for cleaning the garden shed is emptying it completely. Find out if it is necessary to do a renovation or not. Adding shelves on the wall is a good idea if you have a lot of items to keep in it.
Place cleaning liquids in the easy accessible places of your garden shed to use it in every moment when it is urgently needed.
Clear the area
If you have grass in your garden, then the chances are that it has become somewhat overgrown at this point. But don’t reach for the mower just yet. First of all, you will have to clear the area and make sure that it’s ready to be mowed on.
Take some time to clear out any trash that is in your backyard.
Take a garbage bag around with you and remove large pieces of debris and waste that you find lying around.
This may take some time depending on how large your garden area is and how accumulated with debris it has become. If you have a lot of trees surrounding your backyard, then you may find a whole lot of dead leaves lying around.
The best way to deal with this is to get yourself a leaf blower and accumulate the leaves into one big pile in the corner of your yard. That way, they can be used as compost or mulch.
If your garden is small or if you don’t mind a bit of manual work, then a rake will do just fine.
TIP: Make sure you make three separate piles. One for general waste, one for recyclables, and one for compost – we can use this later.
Whack the Weeds
Time to get rid of those pesky weeds – the bane of all gardener’s lives. The best way to whack the weeds is to use a weed trimmer. This will pull them up at the roots and should hopefully stop them from growing back any time soon.
If you don’t have too many weeds in your backyard then you can easily do this by hand – be sure to wear some protective gloves.
A third option is to purchase some weed killer and apply it to the weeds in your yard. This will usually give the best results and should stop them from coming back altogether – be careful not to add too much and make sure you don’t kill any of your flowers or plants.
Mow the Lawn
Now it’s finally time to get down to it and mow the lawn. Take your mower and give it a quick service before you use it. Especially if it has been locked up in the garage for a long time. Make sure the blades are sharp; otherwise, the job will be much harder than it needs to be.
To mow your lawn correctly, you need to adjust the height of your cut accordingly. Grass care experts suggest that you should cut your grass to no less than 2.5 to 3 inches at any given time. Any more than that and you could be doing more harm than good to your lawn.
TIP: Add the grass trimmings to your compost pile instead of throwing them away.
Fertilize
If you followed the steps above, then you should already have a considerable compost pile to get started with.
First, you will need to create a compost pit out of the pile that you have collected – this will contain the compost in one, neat area. You can dig one a pit yourself in the corner of your garden, or you can buy a ready-made compost converter to make your life easier.
Add all the contents from the pile to your pit, and make sure you break up any large sticks and branches. Add water to keep it moist and make sure you introduce some fertilizer every once in a while, too.
Soon you can use this compost to fertilize your garden. This will give your plants the valuable and nutrient-rich food source they need to thrive.
TIP: You can add organic waste from your home to your compost pit. Feel free to throw in food scraps and other kitchen waste, such as coffee scraps and eggshells.
