Grass cleanup: Before and After

I wrote a few days ago, and made the Grass video, about the overgrown grass that was taking over the front garden. Today, I spent about a half hour focusing on one section of those paths. Applying my 10-minute Gardener methodology (LAUGH) I selected just one small section to attack today. I wasn’t going to try and do everything, just this one small part of the pathways. This served me well as I was able to see a big difference with just a little work.

In the past, I have used my Loop Hoe to remove the grass, but today I found that using my hands seemed to work best. This may have been because the grass clumps were so big. I was able to grab a large section of it and work it back and forth to get it out, roots and all. In some cases, I was able to get my fingers under the large mat of roots and roll it up, almost like you were rolling up sod from a lawn.

I was able to combine this project with one other, too. I have meaning to pull the flagstones from these paths for years. They aren’t really needed and tend to disappear under the leaf mold. As I pull the grass from each section, I am also pulling up these flagstones to be used elsewhere in the garden. I plan on refurbishing the short walls in the back garden (which were made from discarded concrete refuse) and I think topping it with the flags might dress it up a bit.

Looking at the pictures below, I think you will see that this cleanup was pretty effective. I will most likely proceed the same way with the rest of the paths. Looking over how much I cleared today, though, I probably have another 8-10 hours of work ahead of me — unless I can get the wife and boy to lend a hand.

Click for large images