Creating a peaceful oasis in your own backyard takes work! We have a few tasks we make sure gets done every spring to get our backyard fully set up for summer enjoyment.
The breakdown of what we do to prep may not seem like a lot but it takes weeks and so much of our free time. But once it’s done, we can sit back to enjoy our the hard work we put in all summer long!
Yard Cleanup
Our yard has a lot of big, mature oak trees and with that come LEAVES all fall/winter/spring and their pollen, which are held in Catkins, that fall allll over the yard for weeks. The cleanup from all of this takes a very long and tedious time. Cleaning up the leaves is a constant task throughout the fall and winter but it’s somehow still not enough to clean it all so Spring is one last large leaf clean up and recycling yard drop off. Even in the summer, rain, storms, and wind constantly drop leaves and branches so it’s a never ending battle.
Sod
Thanks to our adorable, giant pup, we have found that putting new sod in our backyard the past 3 years is worth it compared to adding seed. We first had it sodded when we had our backyard landscaping renovated. We took out all the rocks and a huge tree to add in the walkway, fire pit, seating wall, and new landscaping including sod. After the first winter, the sod was pretty much dead and completely torn up from getting puppy Quigley that winter. We let him run around like a maniac and go to the bathroom which definitely destroyed it. We resodded all of the grass areas for 2022 summer and it looked beautiful. Last summer we tried to limit the areas where Quigley could go to the bathroom but he would still have his zoomies and run wild. By the end of fall, the area was completely torn up again. So this year we resodded it again and while it takes work, it’s looks immediately better and the money it costs to buy the sod is worth it to us. Grass seed is expensive and just a little more get you instant results. Steve and our brother in law pick up the sod from Home Depot and install it in a day.
Mulch
Once the sod is in, we get mulch for the whole yard. Last year we ordered it to have delivered but this year we just decided to pick up brown mulch bags from Home Depot. It was more cost effective this way and we didn’t mind using this kind vs ‘the really good stuff’. We had to have done this last year and must have forgot because we made the mistake to put down the mulch before the Oak trees were done dropping all of those Catkins, which we call tree snot! lol
It made a lot of extra work for us to clean out of the mulch so note to self for next year….wait a few weeks!
Flowers and Plants
Our perennial flowers and plants typically have to be cut back in the fall or early spring every year. I read up a lot on how to care for specific plants and try to remember to cut back our hydrangeas and ornamental grasses in the fall and lavender at the end of summer. The rest of our plants and bushes do not need specific work to them and just needs the typical trimming throughout the year. During the early spring, I make sure nothing needs to be cutback because it’s inevitable I miss something!
I assess the yard and see if I want any of our perennials moved or newly planted. From there, I decide what annuals I want to get for our pots and garden beds. I usually don’t go crazy so I don’t have to have a ton of upkeep but every year I am getting more comfortable with knowing how to care for annuals! Setting up my planters is my favorite! I try to keep them to a few different kinds of flowers- some basic that get very full and some that spill over like variations of petunias and then add some fun focal point flowers in there like dahlias, zinnias, cosmos, etc. I don’t do the ‘rule’ where you have a super tall grass plant in there.
This year I decided to move some plants around and add more in. We had the striped kind of hostas added in between each hydrangea when we had our landscaping done but puppy Quigley chomped them all down to the ground (literally) and they were all scrawny and uneven when they were trying to regrow the next two years. A coworker of mine was redoing their landscaping and no longer needed some of her hosta plants and lucky me, she shared them with me! I took any bits that were trying to regrow of the original hosta plants and added in these much more mature, lush green ones. I moved one of the hydrangea plants from the left side of the shed over to the row of hydrangeas on the right to fill it in a bit more. It all looks so green and calming now that it’s all blooming!
Enjoying Our Backyard
Having a backyard you want to enjoy and entertain in takes work but it’s so worth it! Once it’s all set up in the beginning of the summer, you can host parties, small gatherings, outdoor movies, and so many other cute events for Pinterest worthy backyard summer entertaining! The yard speaks for itself and all you need is some good company!
Remember to save this post for inspiration for prepping your backyard for summer!
