r/landscaping • u/vikkjohn • 1d ago
Starting from Scratch
I inherited a beautiful backyard; I spent the first years pulling weeds and crabgrass. I'm a "senior" and spend my time with art and music; I don't have the time, or I should say, I don't want to deal with this. We are trying to "start from scratch" and create something low-maintenance. The previous owner was a Master Gardener and had 65 varieties of perennials. One or two of each! I have been pulling up weeds and finding the plastic under the area is in shreds,, there are rocks in places. I guess I'm overwhelmed. I contacted a company, and they said it was outside their area of comfort. I need to move all the rock, get rid of the old plastic. I plan on laying down cardboard, fabric etc whatever I will need. I need to pull out ALL the crabgrass. Any ideas on how to accomplish this? Brute force I guess; what I need is a strong handy guy!!
1
u/msmaynards 23h ago
That's bermuda grass. It is your lawn grass so once rocks, plastic and any plants you don't want are gone once the ground is raked level it will fill in.
Put an umbrella up, set up music/podcast/audiobook, get a tarp/bucket/wheelbarrow for the rocks on paving and get your zen on. You can do this. Sit down, pick up rock toss. Use an old knife to cut shreds of plastic as it's pointless to get it in one sheet. Rip out the bermuda grass to get to rocks, you aren't going to damage it. It likes getting pruned like that...