Spring Backyard To-Do List

I wish the weather would cooperate, winter seems to be cruelly hanging on this year. It’s freezing cold and snowing right now, yet again. We have a long to-do list this spring in our backyard and we need to get started. Last year we did the bare minimum to keep things going - between my pregnancy and then a newborn, we were focused on other things. This year we need to start with some serious baby proofing. By this summer, Oliver will be crawling, walking and playing outside and we have several danger areas that need to be cleaned up and fixed up first. We also have a water problem in the way back that started in August 2011 and hasn’t improved, making ¼ of our backyard unusable. Then we have a few events coming up that we’ll be hosting and I’d like to use our backyard and have it look nice.

So here’s the ugly truth of what our backyard really looks like right now.
Messy winter garden beds:

Pile of trash and more in the garage that the garbage collection won’t take, plus homeless garbage cans:

Piles of dead brush from the Fall that need to be cleaned up:

Pile of stuff homeless stuff next to the garage:

Watery Mess and dead brush in the way back:

Peeling paint all over the garage:

Here’s our Spring Cleaning To-do list for our backyard: (Updated as items are finished)

1. Clean out all the dead brush from the garden beds
   (backyard and front yard)
2. Mulch and weed the garden beds, extend garden bed to driveway gate
   (backyard and front yard)
3. Clean out the leaves and dead grass from the vegetable garden paths, fix fencing
   (This is annual maintenance, but still needs to get done)
4. Clean up and get rid of all the excess garbage
   (This will free up more room in the garage and get rid of the junk next to the fence)
5. Turn the pallets on the side of garage into a composter in the way back of our yard
   (This not only gets rid of the pallets without sending them to the dump, it will also give us a place to compost our brush and excess lawn clippings in a larger quantity)
6. Plant river birch trees along the back fence and in the right corner
   (River birches should help soak up some of the water problem we have back there as they grow. We are hoping this is a nice green solution to the problem)
7. Utilize the leftover patio pavers and move the rest
   (We paid for them so we should do something with them)
8. Re-seed the grass on the side of the garage where all the stuff was.
9. Refinish the patio furniture
   (The gel stain we used didn't hold up well to the weather and it’s peeling. We can’t use the set until it’s redone)
10. Add another coat of stain to the deck floor
    (It's peeling after 2 winters)
11. Repaint the garage, trim and garage door
    (It’s peeling and looks terrible)