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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

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Dirty Jobs

September 27, 2011

This is what 8 yards of topsoil looks like upon delivery.

Oh, yes. I love dirt.

How about next to a Jeep Patriot? Just for scale.

8 yards of dirt vs. a Jeep Patriot?

How about next to me?

8 yards of dirt vs. me?

At $15/yard, and a negotiated $40 delivery fee, it’s easily the dirtiest way I’ve spent $160. You see, I was raised in the country where soil was plentiful and free, so stomaching the cost didn’t come easily, nor did I ever really expect to have to do it (“Dad, can you just bring me a few buckets of dirt?”). But it was worth it. Add in an additional $24 in sun/shade grass seed, and I’ll call it a day (and do the hard labor myself). OK, really, I’ll call it 3 days (and counting).

Moving the dirt throughout the yard has been quite the workout. A different kind of workout than when I sledgehammered the driveway clear. More of a why-the-heck-did-you-lift-that-with-your-back kind of damaging workout.

Filling, tamping, and grass-seeding the driveway itself wasn’t even possible this weekend. I guess my goals were a little too far stretched. I spent all day (both days) weeding and carting soil to newly cleared lots in the backyard.

The backyard was neglected in this great summer of ’11. I blame the perfect ratio of sun-to-rain for the unimaginable spreading of weeds and lemon balm, of all things. The far corner of the property (behind the garage) had ended up looking like the backyard equivalent of a dumpsite. The only visible hint that I had been hoping to make this space nice again, was that I continued to maintain the edging until it finally began to remain circular.

The yard space behind the garage; a mess of firewood and lemon balm.

I spent much time over the weekend clearing the land weed by weed, and bringing fresh topsoil to the site. Load after load, it started to fill in, and while it’s not done quite yet (haven’t raked and filled topsoil over on the right yet), it’s now looking like this:

Partially filled backyard.

Post-dirty job, landscaping is something on my to-do list for the front yard, as well as the backyard now. Of course, in the interim, the dog seems very happy to have cool soil to roll around in.

Cody loves fresh dirt.

The chain link fence that separates my neighbors yard from my own had been completely coated with thick roses, unwieldy blackberry plants, and a berry-filled vine that consumes anything in its path.

Hard to tell, but there's a chain link fence beneath those plants.

We’ve begun to clear it out, trimming back the roses and berries, and almost completely removing the vines. Fresh topsoil was laid into the low garden beds lining the fence, because last summer when I did the house grading work, I had borrowed soil from other areas of the yard to make due for free. Goes hand in hand with that “Can’t make me buy dirt” mentality that I’ve finally surrendered to. With exception of the foreground of this photo, all of the beds are back up to a normal height.

More fence, fewer weeds.

An update on the dirt pile? Considerably smaller, but that’s after 3 full days of laborious activity. Dare I say we’re nearing the finish line. How about me and the dirt pile together, just for scale?

Same me, smaller pile. Standing in the same spot as I was in the earlier photo.

Progress feels good. What’d you do all weekend?

 

 

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Backyard  / Curb Appeal  / DIY  / Gardening

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

14 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
September 27, 2011 at 10:04 am
Reply

Oh my goodness. That is a lot of dirt! great progress, though!

And you’re making me realize that I really, really want to get back to working on things like the patio instead of paying to have a tree taken out.



    Emily
    September 27, 2011 at 10:14 am

    Sorry about your tree! Yes, taking out weeds is a helluva lot easier than tree roots. Good luck!

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 27, 2011 at 11:02 am

    Thanks! I’m just crossing my fingers the estimate isn’t too painful. I loved that tree, but after yesterday I just want it gone!

    And I think that all that weeding and the bee-sting incident totally have watching someone else do it beat! (Even if my bank account is cowering in fear.)

    Emily
    September 27, 2011 at 11:12 am

    I hope your car can get fixed easily too; was there damage to the roof or just the door window?

    (Re: Bee-sting – I guess I’m allergic. I’m fairly confident right now that the swelling will never decrease.)

    Cait @ Hernando House
    September 27, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    I think the roof is fine (we’ll triple-check it before it goes to the body shop), but there is a dent right below where the the driver’s window should be that Robert says isn’t in an easy/cheap place to fix. I guess we’ll be letting our insurance take care of it and cross our fingers they don’t jack our rates up, since we had to make another claim earlier this summer (not tree-related, but still.)

    Oh no! Have you taken Benadryl for it or anything? I know my granddad was sensitive to bees but not techincally allergic. I’ve never been stung, but I get some nasty welts from other types of bugs.

Matt
September 28, 2011 at 12:11 am
Reply

Definitely a project that should be sponsored by Advil :) Look forward to seeing the progress



    Emily
    September 28, 2011 at 9:34 am

    Haha, yes.

Kate
September 28, 2011 at 10:03 am
Reply

Whoa! That’s a crazy amount of dirt, lol. Way to make some progress though!



    Emily
    September 28, 2011 at 10:27 am

    The delivery guy must have thought I was crazy. They quoted me 4 yards “generously” for the driveway and I told them “Umm, make it 8 if the delivery cost is the same and I’ll find room for it”. Now I just hope it stops being drizzly so I can finish moving it :)

jeff
May 15, 2014 at 12:01 am
Reply

Very Nice job! LOL. I’m deciding how many to get. Don’t know if i want 8 yards!



fred
May 22, 2015 at 8:18 am
Reply

Sorry to say this but you got ripped off. that pile is not an ounce of 3 yards.
I worked construction for 14 years



    Emily
    May 22, 2015 at 9:59 am

    Yeah? I’m not sure the photos do it justice, it was a pretty big pile. We’ve also purchased mulch and stone of comparable quantities and it has always seemed quite even.

Chris
May 24, 2015 at 6:05 pm
Reply

Emily, Nice job. The beds look great. I hate to agree with Fred though. I’ve worked in landscaping since i was 18 (i’m 34 now) doing installation and now design work. The company that delivered the soil shorted you, BIG TIME. That pile was five yards tops! I would be upset if I was you.



    Emily
    May 25, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    Ha, OK. Everyone take note! This delivery happened years and years ago, so I’m not going to hound them about it now but I will be watchful going forward. I don’t really know any good way to verify quantity ordered vs. delivered, so if you have any suggestions please advise.

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