Working in our backyard is a complicated effort to establish a boundary between a nice lawn and a healthy wooded area. We love our trees and forest-y creatures, but we also want to have a lush grassy space for our family to romp around. Our fenced area is what we call our “backyard”. Beyond the back gate and over the bridge is the “way back yard” (unfenced and rough around the edges).
On the backside of our fence is about a foot or two of rocky terrain before sloping off into a dry creek bed. The creek bed is linked to a couple of storm drains, so it runs pretty full when it rains (which we love!). Right now it’s full of bush honeysuckle which, in our area, is a highly invasive underbrush species that chokes out all other plant life and is basically the worst. I’ve NEVER seen anything grow as quickly as this honeysuckle. It’s thriving in the worst way.
Anyway, back to the fence! Our fence is four feet tall with spaced pickets. We love the look of it, but the gaps have allowed for weeds and grass (and honeysuckle!) the grow out of reach of the weed trimmer. So last week, we set out to border around the fence line with a thick layer of mulch. This will help keep anything from growing up between the pickets. And, as a bonus, research shows that keeping the edges of your yard clear of brush/tall grasses and laying mulch borders can deter ticks (check this out from the CDC)!
We started off by digging ~18 inch wide, 3 inch deep trench around the perimeter and smoothing out the dirt underneath. Some areas were easier than others. The fence line in the back was full of tree roots, ivy, and rocks. We used a square shovel to keep a straight line and a pickax, when necessary, to break up tough stuff. Then, using a hand trowel, we cleared out a space underneath the pickets. If you follow us on IG, then you saw me digging during nap time on our stories! Below, you can see a before view of the fence line…
After trenching…
And then after laying the mulch!
As you can see here in this next picture, parts of our yard are pretty grungy (especially the area where landscape block island used to be!). Now that we have an established boundary, we’ll be able to clear out some of this ground cover and plant grass seed! (You can also see that Murphy loved this project because we just hung out with him in the yard all weekend- a dog’s dream!)
This is the only tree left in our fenced area!
What you just saw was the easiest part of this project. Like I said before, the back side of yard slopes down into a dry creek bed. As rain water drains off into the creek, it slowly erodes the slope, leaving washed out areas underneath the fence. We picked up a few rolls of black terrace board and plastic stakes to hold the dirt in place.
**Just a few notes- 1) cutting the terrace board requires a hacksaw or tinsnips; 2) the directions on the packaging say to install stakes every 4 feet, but in order to keep the board straight, we used stakes every 2-3 feet.
Here’s what the backside of the fence looked like before…
After installing the terrace board…
And after the mulch! Doesn’t mulch just make everything look better??
More honeysuckle take over…
And after a lot of awkward digging on a slope…
If you’ve made it all the way here, you’re a true before and after photo lover like I am! Mulch has a way of transforming even the roughest of landscapes. I think that’s why I love black mulch so much- it has a such a huge impact! I LOVE MULCH!!! Okay, Meg… It’s getting weird now…
This project was pretty tedious at points but we easily completed a couple hundred feet of fence line in 3-4 days. We LOVE how the mulch border turned out! We still have a little ways to go, so be sure to follow us on Instagram for updates! On Thursday we’ll have an update for you on our basement window situation and what we have planned! See you then!
Hi, I came upon your site because I was googling weather its a good idea to plant flowers and add mulch along a fence… I was worried it would cause the fence to rot quicker if it touches the mulch. How is your fence going now?
Hi there! Our fence is doing great! We were sure to dig the trench down far enough to allow for a one inch gap between the mulch and the pickets. You’re right- you don’t want the mulch touching any wood that’s not pressure treated! Hope your garden plans work out for you! It’s a decent amount of digging but so worth it!
This was really interesting. Thanks for taking the time to share it!