Choose a yard, any yard

Front yard, front-side yard, back yard, back-side yard... anyone you like... they all need help. We bought our first home in Kensington, MD this past October as a short sale. We knew it needed help, inside and out, but felt up for the task. We liked the idea that we could make the house our own home.

Fortunately and unfortunately, at the end of October, I found out I was pregnant with our second child. We are very happy about the pregnancy. However, our family is on the west coast and we moved here recently so have few friends, so all of the projects have gone from having a workforce of 2 down to 1. Still, we've made good progress on the inside of the house - we've painted, refinished or installed new hardwood floors, and tiled the entryway and we hired a contractor to put an addition on the back to expand the kitchen. Now that its spring, its time to look at the outside and its not a pretty sight. The construction did quite a bit of damage to the front and left a barren, dirt filled backyard. In someways, this is an improvement over the previous yard - crib pieces reinforcing the falling down fence and degrading cement steps. The only low-lying vegetation are two holly trees and some neglected, weedy, sick-looking azaleas. There are some beautiful mature trees on the property, but everything else is in desperate need of help. I've chronicled some of the 'joys' of our yards and the lack of landscaping on a blog - www.ugliestlandscape.blogspot.com Please help!

Front yard(s)

While the backyards probably look the ugliest and we could use help with anything, we would really like to make the front yard(s) more appealing. We live on a corner, so the house is quite visible. We would like our house to make a better impression as you enter the nice, family-friendly neighborhood. Improving our curb appeal would thus, not only be for our enjoyment, but to contribute to our new neighborhood.

There is currently no landscaping of which to speak. The house was rented by the previous two owners... and years of neglect can be seen on the few plants and landscaping that have survived.



Ruts and divots from construction work and plowing the record snows don't help the views. The snow plows not only physically damaged the lawn but it looks like they also dumped some salt on the lawn too!



Close up of some of the damage to the hill from dump trucks over the winter.



The front-side year consists of a hill with a row of sickly looking azaleas and a holly tree lined by a falling down rock wall.



The "landscaping" closer up...



As you get closer, it doesn't get any better. There is an azalea trying to survive in there.

Front yard(s) ... the accident

We do have some grass, though it mostly looks dead now (see above pictures). Even in once the season changes, it will need some major help. While we were waiting for the bank's third party approval on our offer, two cars collided in the intersection in front of the house sending one of them onto the property into and across the hill.



The car dug out a nice chunk of the hillside plus lawn and took out the rail to the stairs.



The car then skidded across the property stopping just before the neighbor's tree. The tire tracks are still visible in the side of the hill. We don't have high hopes that the lawn will recover.



Note: the pictures in this post were taken in August 2009... there was another 2 months of landscape neglect before we moved in.

Backyard ... aka dirt patch

The barren dirt patch that is our backyard has plenty of room to be a great playplace for our two year old and our new baby. Currently, it is a wasteland in the process of being 'cleaned' up by our contractor. Even with the cement and brick debris removed (hopefully this week), its not the perfect place (or even a place) for us to relax and for the kids to play. The only upside to the space is that it is a good blank slate begging for a creative person.

Blank slate in front of the new addition.



Dirt... not the best place to play but we'll take advantage of the good weather any way we can.



The view on the otherside of the slide isn't much better than the dirt. Some sad looking grass and a falling down fence. The ivy is slowly (or not so slowly) tearing the fence apart.



Some of the fence is being held up with twine and rope.



View of the backyard from the small deck on the addition - a barren, UGLY landscape.



Another view of the backyard highlighting the debris and sad general state of the yard.

Side yard

The side yard harbors a shed, more dirt, more sad looking grass, and some termite infested wood. While it may look like we've just left a lot of garbage in the yards, we've already filled up three Bagsters and part of a full size dumpster (contractor's) with trash from the yard!



The pile of wood next to the small shed is the remnants of a previous dilapidated shed that literally blew over the fence into the neighbor's yard during a windy day in December. We tried to move the pile but it has been so consumed by termites that it just falls apart in your hands.



Our soccer net just looks lonely and out of place without a lawn to play on.



The only attempt from the previous owner to landscape was to plant what we think is lily turf along the house.

Please help!

Our house is desperate for your help to turn it from the neighborhood eyesore into a place that our family can enjoy. We're desperate for some help, but also willing to do some heavy lifting ourselves. Please help us.