I. NEED. HELP.

I've spent the last 3-4 days at 4-6 hour stretches weeding, raking, dumping, kicking, pulling, poking, and scratching my head cluelessly as I stare at my yard and wonder where to go from here. I know I need to work on the soil. Right now I would call it 'dirt', and depending on where you are in my yard, it could be 'muddy dirt' or 'clay-like dirt' or something in between.

Aside from calling in a landscaper (cause I can't afford one), I need either step by step instructions, or a site that has an 'idiots guide to gardening' or something along those lines. Any help offered will be appreciated. Really. Trust me, you can NOT tell me something I don't already know beyond 'you need some earth, and bulbs'. Cause that about the extent of my knowledge.

CHEERS! :)

Welcome to Garden Web, and the Ohio Valley Forum.

You are on the right track...weeding, raking, pulling, and knowing you have different kinds of 'dirt'.

If there are any plants that you might have questions about just what they are, you might try asking about them at the Name That Plant Forum linked below. They are good at naming plants with just a good description, in case you are not able to provide pics.

Where are you located? Possibly there are Garden Webbers close by, who could give you an in person assessment of your plantings. Are you by any chance in or close to Louisville? There will be several members gathering there June 7th for the 3rd Annual Plant Swap. If you are fairly close, maybe you could come join in the fun.

Continue with your weeding, and I would advise mulching well the areas you get cleared...to avoid weeds coming back quickly. I also use 'Preen'...to discourage weed seeds from germinating. Some members don't care for it, but I do.

Are there neighbors homes/landscapes that you maybe admire?.
When out and about, I am constantly assessing landscapes...with what I like and what I don't like. Maybe you could incorporate some ideas of landscapes you like.

Sue...just kinda thinking out loud here today....

There are a few plants that were here when we moved in that bloom in mid Spring that I think are beautiful but we don't know what they are. I will have to try to hit that forum at some point and find out what they are so thanks for that link. :)

It looks like my next step is going to be mulching then. I think we've done this once, but how exactly does that work? Do I just buy mulch and spread it on top of the dirt? To I mix it in? What can I do about muddy/clay dirt? I guess for now I'll focus on the dirt itself. Seems like a good place to start seeing as how the plants grow will probably have some relation to soil that they can actually grow IN. lol

Sorry for all the questions (which are totally open to any and all). As I stated, I'm pretty clueless on this whole thing.

You could also go to a website that sells plants and look at the pictures to find the ones that came with your house. I am really bad at remembering names of things, so I use plant markers and I label everything I plant so that I can remember later what it is. You can buy metal markers at the store (like in the Garden section of Walmart), or you can also cut up old mini-blinds and write on them and stick them in the ground.

Can you ask Grandma what kind of bulbs she gave the kids?

As for mulching, in general you just put it on top of the dirt, being careful not to cover over plants you already have. You can buy "living mulch" that is a combination of mulch and compost, and it will help your soil. Eventually (in theory), worms will come up from the soil into the compost and mix it all together for you.

For added weed prevention, you can also put down a thick layer of newspaper (or cardboard) under the mulch. Most weeds/grasses won't be able to grow up through it, and that will cut down on your weeding in the future. Then, to plant plants in that area, you just dig down through the mulch/compost and tear through the newspaper for each hole for each plant, so its roots can get to the soil.

If you have a large area you're working on, it'll be cheaper to buy your mulch and/or compost in bulk. There are garden centers that will sell you mulch by the cubic yard for about $30-40 (more if they deliver to your house). A small pickup truck can carry a cubic yard no problem, and you can usually spread it out in one morning. As an example, I can mulch my front flowerbeds, which run the length of my house, so about 60' long by 2' wide, with a cubic yard of mulch (although I actually use the mulch/compost mix).

Another good way to make new beds is a method called "lasagna gardening." You can search it on this website (or just google it), and learn a lot.

I wouldn't even bother with a vegetable garden if you're wanting to sell the house next year. Too much work for one year's bounty. You could grow a couple of tomato plants in with your flowers, though, and it would work out fine.

I'm thinking now that I'll try the lasagna technique, with that nice layer of mulch over top. If I'm right, I can just plant the bulbs grandma gave us right into this and it should be ok.

As for the bulbs, thankfully they are labeled. Each bucket came with 1 Elepahnt Ear (I'm excited about these and am hoping to use them to replace 2 huge bush/shrub/tree man eating plants out of my flowerbeds...they're slowly taking over and I hate them..and they hurt), 1 dhalia, 15 gladiolus, 6 tigridia, and 15 acidanthera. I'm not ENTIRELY sure about any of those, but the pictures were pretty, and at least it came with instructions and a suggested planting arrangment.

Also, I'm DEFINITELY not worrying about vegetables at this time. While I eventually want to start with those, I'm just focusing on 'prettying' up the backyard as cheaply as possible because of the pending move.