Garden Muses: A Small Toronto Gardening Services Company Blog: front garden cleanup

Showing posts with label front garden cleanup. Show all posts

18.7.22

A Front Tiered Garden Cleanup in Parkdale

When You Can't See the Retaining Walls from the Vines

I can't believe it's the middle of summer already here in Toronto. I'm in the midst of another busy work season but vacation time is in sight! Until then, the weeding and pruning continue unabated.

I'm taking you to the west Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale in this post to go over a recent cleanup of a two tiered front garden. At first glance, as the "before" pictures below suggest, you may not even be aware of the second upper retaining wall, given the heavy growth:

Parkdale Toronto Front Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto Front Garden Cleanup in Parkdale Before

Toronto Parkdale Front Garden Cleanup Before

Retaining Walls Revealed!

I don't know when the shrubs were last pruned or the raised beds weeded (neither do the new homeowners when I innocently asked) but obviously things were a little out of control!

So I imposed some "control" and "discipline" by pruning the spirea shrubs hard, removing a dead juniper and weed tree saplings, cutting away the wild grape vine and Boston Ivy to expose the retaining wall faces, among other tasks.

Quite a difference, it's safe to say.

Parkdale Toronto Front Garden Cleanup After

Toronto Front Garden Cleanup in Parkdale After

Toronto Parkdale Front Garden Cleanup After

21.6.22

A Riverdale Summer Garden Cleanup

Summertime and the weeding is(n't) easy

It's the first day of summer and it actually feels like summer! High temperatures and humidity make it hard working outside, especially when weeding gardens which haven't been tended to since...whenever?

From past experience, I know that any garden cleanup I do now involves a ton of weeds which have grown unimpeded. So when I was hired to tidy up this Riverdale, Toronto back and front garden, I was expecting some serious weed growth and I wasn't disappointed!

Here are some "before" pictures from the back and front yards. I knew it was going to be a long day ahead of me!

The backyard looking down from the deck:

Riverdale Garden Cleanup Before

Toronto Riverdale Garden Cleanup Before

And the front beds from various angles:

Toronto Riverdale Front Garden Cleanup Before

Riverdale Front Garden Cleanup Before

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, as the saying goes. How do you weed gardens in such conditions? One square foot at a time.

You'll go crazy otherwise.

Five hours later....

Riverdale Garden Cleanup After

Toronto Riverdale Garden Cleanup After

Riverdale Front Garden Cleanup After

Toronto Riverdale Front Garden Cleanup After

Similar scenes will be repeated undoubtedly throughout the summer in even hotter weather!

9.10.21

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.

17.8.15

Leslieville front garden summer clean up

Helping another Leslieville client with a front yard summer clean up

It's late summer and the weeds haven't stopped growing!

Here are some before and after pictures of a small front garden in Leslieville that needed some TLC. The mulch under the spruce helped but weeds like plantain and quack grass were problematic near the sidewalk, path and driveway. I asked the client to apply some more mulch to keep these weeds at bay.