Destructo-Gardening - the Pool Hole Part 1

I'd mentioned a while back that I'd hired a landscaper to come and do some demo in the yard to remove the pool hole, a flower bed, and pull some fence posts. Well, that was mid-April and it's still not done but I haven't figured out how to gracefully exit the agreement since it's a family friend... So, I'm doing a lot of the work myself.

Sometimes you must destruct to build anew. Bwahaha!

Mission: Pool Hole

Once upon a time, there was an above ground pool. Grandchildren splashed and played. Then new homeowners came along and didn't clean the pool for a while. Ew. Enter myself and hubby and a house contract that includes the removal of the yucky pool. Leaving us with a sloped yard with a 25' round, level dent filled with packed sand. I had visions of a knot garden, lots of herbs, etc.

Fast forward three years, pregnancy, child, and lots of weeds.

Well, my work was cut out for me. I don't normally like to use weed killer, but sometimes it's the best option. I sprayed the whole area, let it sit for a week and a half, then on a hot Saturday during nap time I went to work.

That's a pretty intense before, huh? I considered bothering my aunt to borrow her heavy duty brush whacker, but I needed to sweat, and pulling up from the roots is better than leaving potentially viable roots in the ground. I don't know if you can tell, but most of those weeds are as tall as I am if not taller (5'1"). Lots of cattails and goldenrod. And some sort of nasty fluffy looking grass that cut the poop out of my arms.

Fast forward an hour and lots of pulling, and we have this:

That's all of the weeds, pulled up and waiting for the wheelbarrow, yay!

Another hour of raking and dumping brush (and a tree that got cut down and tossed in there) out back, followed by a pass with the lawnmower set on low... and it's a big, sandy, stubbly circle, 25' across.

Woo-hoo! Ready for phase two (aka a layer of compost and topsoil, currently being negotiated on with the farm down the street). Phase three is being designed... and will involve a garden and a swing set!