Remove shrubs blocking view, much them, dig out roots and plant a garden.

Thinking of buying a new home, investment property or perhaps a foreclosure but the landscape projects seem to be daunting? Are you worried you won’t get any return on your investment? With a little vision and some sweat equity you can turn a property into a paradise increasing the value and making it more appealing for resale. See how!

BEFORE AND AFTER!

All you need is vision, persistence and a little elbow grease to transform this jungle into a yard.

I first saw this property in the dead of winter with tons of snow on the ground. I immediately saw the potential, we could make this field into “park”! As the closing approached in May, I had visions of simply installing plants in my head. It was so exciting to dream about the possibilities!

But after the closing I flew to the property and went in the back yard and was greeted by this little guy! After running in the house I looked out the window to see the massive, mostly invasive, growth covering the property. It consisted of poison ivy, grape and bittersweet vines, small trees, invasive Mulitflora Roses, weeds, rocks and more. There was one small path leading to the barely visible pond. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to clear land with my lopper shears and start my gardens. After sulking for few days, I found Travis and his brush hog! Who knew!?

Here are all the Multiflora Roses and poison ivy. Believe it or not there is a pond somewhere behind that tree.

Here is Travis, my hero, crushing it with that bad machine. We watched in amazement. After everything was cut down he left and we were now looking at all sorts of dirt, debris, stumps etc. Panic set in but Travis came back and dragged it all away.

Clear the property and plant grass seed.

So, now we were left with lots of stumps. I went around cutting them all to ground level with my trusty lopper and planted grass seed. There were many rocks I had to pull out as well. We used those for the stone walls. I found stones under the vines in this picture and proceeded to clear the vines away to begin to turn this rubble pile into a proper stone wall.