A Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park

A Season's Worth (At Least) of Weeds

October's weather here in Toronto has been unusually warm and dry, making working outside for a person like me very enjoyable. Even weeding two large garden beds, as shown in this post, was almost enjoyable.

It was a straightforward project: The clients who live in the mid-town Toronto area called Sherwood Park hired me to tidy up the two backyard garden beds they inherited by having them weeded and mulched. Being tenants, they have no interest in buying new plants but instead the directive was to make things look respectable (I paraphrase but that was the underlying message.)

And who can blame them? If you were looking at the beds as shown in these "before" pictures all summer, you'd likely feel the same:

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before 

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park Before

Afterwards...

The clients chose the black-dyed shredded wood mulch that's commonly seen in many neighbourhoods. It is a relatively inexpensive product found in most home improvement stores and like any mulch, by spreading a 3 inch layer on the bare soil surface, it should suppress weed seeds from germinating.  This is an important function as these clients lead very busy lives.

So if you're ready to see a lot (a sea?) of black mulch, here you go...

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After

Sherwood Park Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup After
 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After 

Toronto Backyard Garden Cleanup in Sherwood Park After

Not a spectacular garden makeover, I agree, but this post shows you what I usually do throughout the working season.

From Weedy to Wonderful?

A Front Garden Renovation in East York

Performing garden makeovers (miracles?) seem to be my specialty as I've done more than a few this season. Although the actual weeding can be tiring, it's very gratifying to see order emerging out of the chaos due to my two hands (and strong back, for now.) 

I recently was invited to renovate a small front garden in the Toronto neighbourhood of East York.  Take a look at this "before" picture of the main central bed in front of the house, looking down from the porch:

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation Before 

As the saying goes, the space has "a lot of potential" which is a euphemism for "a lot of physical work is involved"  in getting the garden back to a clean slate. Given the amount of weeds which have grown unimpeded all season, this means methodical hand digging in order to remove all the weeds by their roots. (I don't use herbicides so weeding for me involves a long handled shovel.)

Our immediate goals (after discussing with the client) were to make the main front street bed presentable by removing the weeds, planting a few dozen daffodil, grape hyacinth and allium bulbs for next spring and laying down some cedar mulch.

After a long day, both beds next to the path leading to the front door were weed-free and ready to accept the new bulbs and future perennials. Lastly, I spread a layer of mulch in order to reduce weeding and watering requirements. 

Here are more before and after pictures of the small project from various angles around the sidewalk and front porch:

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation After 

By the way, I left the bulb packaging on the beds so that the client can take some pictures or notes and have an idea what bulbs will emerge in what locations next April.

 Toronto Front Garden Makeover in East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Makeover in East York After

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York After 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York Before 

 Toronto Front Garden Renovation East York After 

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation Before 

East York Toronto Front Garden Renovation After

East York Toronto Front Garden Makeover Before 

East York Toronto Front Garden Makeover After 

I'll provide the homeowner a plant shopping list so that during next spring, she can get the perennials and fill up this prominently visible garden with lots of colour and form. So, yes, I'm hopeful that we can go from weedy to wonderful in a few seasons, now that the mundane but necessary task of clearing out the gardens of mature weeds is out of the way.