The Backyard, Part One

When we bought the house two years ago, our backyard was completely barren.  We had been told that the previous owner had worked to clear all of the blackberry bushes and weeds out of the yard.  He even planted some new plants on the east slope and along the west fence.  One of the reasons we liked this house so much was that the backyard presented such potential. Courtney and I, having such green thumbs, proceeded to disregard the backyard for the next two years.

Back in the day, circa August 2006

We made it through a pregnancy, childbirth, and six months with Diana.  In that time, the weeds and blackberry bushes were plotting their revenge.  In mid-July, our backyard looked like this:

Eventually, we want the backyard to be a place where Diana can run around, play on the newly constructed putting green, and engage in general merriment.  A patio might be nice, too.  Or a helipad.  We probably have room for it all.  All we need to do is get rid of the weeds.  My first thought was napalm, but Courtney was concerned about the long-term health implications of backyard chemical warfare.  Luckily, a friend suggested looking into cardboard as a sheet mulching technique.  I spent approximately 42 hours researching cardboard-based sheet mulching on the internet, and it turns out that random people on the internet claim that laying cardboard down on your yard will kill weeds and even blackberry bushes.  Seven different people on the internet can't be wrong, so that's what I decided to do.  

Step one: clear everything out.  It turns out that we can leave the cut grass under the cardboard, but I need to cut everything down as far as possible first.

After day one

After day two

I needed some serious help, and when one needs serious help, they usually turn to their younger brother.  Hey, at least this time I didn't ask him to help us move :)