We live in a country setting just on the edge of town, and we have a woods and pond in our backyard. Through the woods, there is a clearing....but there was nowhere to get there, except going through our horse pasture, which has an electric fence. The clearing borders our fence (it's not a clearing per se, just a dip in the treeline). So early last spring, I took my pruners, and slaved away, creating a wandering path through the thick brush, to get to this clearing. My son and a friend who has spent a lot of time here LOVE it!!! They spend a lot of time back there, in what my son calls "the secret garden." You wouldn't know it's there...yet it's close enough to the house I can hear their voices, and this time of year, if I watch awhile, I can occasionally see someone's movement through the bare trees. I planted a few wildflower mixes back there last year, there were a lot of rocks, we made a planting bed with them.

The boys have been working on building a "teepee". I actually have many 8' landscape timbers, I drilled holes in one end of all of them, and intend to help them build a nice teepee, once I figure out what to use to cover it. The holes are to tie them together at the top.

The path goes over a drainage area for the pond, which is a little ditch, full of rocks. I want to build a little garden bridge there this spring, I've found plans that seem easy enough for me to do...

I have two questions. The path....if not used on a very regular basis, weeds and runners still come up along the path. Is it ok to just spray a weed killer just along that part of the path to keep them at bay? I've planted a few things along the way....woodland type plants...and plan to do a lot more work this year.

The clearing itself. Hugely overgrown. The grassy weed stuff by summer is beyond my waist! It's hard and thick, almost like sticks...not grass. There are some weedy shrubs that need to be gotten rid of. How can I take control of this place?? Just start from scratch? The boys love spending time there. They've been spending time even through the winter. So I thought it would be a good idea to think of how to tackle it before the snow melts...as I will have a fresh start for spring, before it gets hugely overgrown. My son just loves this spot...and i'd like to do something with it for him. I'd like to see him playing outside more than he does. I grew up on this chunk of land (not in this house). I played in these woods as a child. Nice to see him doing the same....

I have a link to pics I took last year...

Here is a link that might be useful: Secret Garden...well, not yet!