Upon moving back into my childhood home in 2013, we began the slow, but steady, transformation of our yard from bland to beautiful. We live on the major walking stretch in the Northwest Neighborhood of Everett where there is an unspoken expectation of keeping up one’s yard. Having read articles from other metro areas like Detroit about gardening in one’s front yard, and having recently lived in Bellingham, where it was common to see front yards transformed into urban farming, we were inspired to do the same.
To begin the process, a home remodeling project left us with a stack of wood. With no place to keep it in the garage, we stored it in our front yard under a bright orange tarp. A beautiful lawn decoration it was not, but what it did was. The wood and tarp helped kill the grass underneath, and grass does not yield easily!
Eventually, we moved the pile to another location and it did its magic again. Bed after bed was created, and we populated the beds with purchased plants from Sorticulture, the Snohomish Conservation District’s Plant Sale, WSU’s Master Gardener Plant Sale, the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, and gifts from friends and family members’ gardens. We created trails with multiple car-full loads of cedar chips. And, I do my best to keep ahead of the weeds.
If you want to learn about how you can take your yard from meh to wow, please join in on one of the classes hosted by the Snohomish Conservation District. More information about the lawns to lettuce program can be found here.
Related Posts:
Kari Quaas Photography - Pet, Portrait and Sunset Photography in Everett, Washington 
Good lookin lawn goodies!
Thanks!