Regarding leaves: we also have a sloped lot with a ton of leaves. We use them as mulch for our ornamental beds and to amend our veggie garden. They break down and provide lovely, free compost for those areas as well as protection from the elements in winter. When mulching for the winter, most folks suggest 4-8 inches of mulch (whether it be leaves, wood chips etc) so you can really use A LOT of leaves. For your veggie beds, I dig the leaves under in the spring and it really fluffs up the beds nicely. You can also use leaves to mulch around your veggie plants (instead of straw) to keep moisture in the soil and prevent water from splashing onto plants etc.

Can't answer your questions about lawn because I've mostly given up on ours and kind of don't care about a nice lawn...

Regarding the overgrown beds - have you seen the yard go through an entire year yet? When we have moved in the past, we always give the yard an entire year before touching anything. We note what we want to keep and what we definitely want to trash.

With bushes and vines, unless you get the entire root system, it will likely come back. Routine pulling will get rid of it eventually, but don't expect a "one & done" experience. Some of us have been trying to rid our yards of one thing or another for a decade or more!

Suzabanana- Thank you! I did use the leaves as mulch for my veggie beds this year and as of right now I don't have much in the way of ornamental beds to mulch so the leaves are really more of a nuisance but it's good to know I did something right! I will also definitely use them to fluff up the beds when it's time to plant and use them as mulch. I always struggle with weeds in my raised beds so maybe that will help. I think leaves are going to be an ongoing battle since we live in the middle of a wooded area.

The overgrown beds did go a year before I touched them and it was all things I wanted to trash. They were either pricker bushes (who voluntarily plants these things?!?), shrubs that have been choked out by vines or bushes that never took root so they were unhealthy and scrawny looking. When we pulled them out, they were still surrounded by the potted soil :( The only thing that has been thriving are the bulb plants. Daffodils, tulips and Irises. Someone also when hosta crazy and planted them EVERYWHERE. Even in full sun. I feel so bad for the little guys.

I know I'm in for a life long battle with the vines but I'd like to get New Englanders' perspectives on best practices for managing them.

Do you guys live around a lot of trees? Or just a sloped yard?
After you use the leaves for mulch do you have extra? What do you do with them if you do? Thank you again for the advice and tips :)

What a great place! I can imagine it is both exciting and a little overwhelming. We have a smaller but similar site with lots of slopes and tons of leaves.

We approach leaves this way - any leaves in areas that can be mowed are mowed in fall to reduce the volume. Just run a regular lawn mower over them. We do this anywhere we can get the mower. A couple of areas are just mown a few times a year. We find that we can just let the shredded leaves settle into the lawn, but we are not dedicated lawn people. If we were it might make sense to bag the shredded leaves.

Leaves in "woodlands" are left where they fall. Shrubs and flower beds are left with leaves in the fall and then cleared in spring. When I'm feeling ambitious I will mow some leaves with the bagging attachment on the mower and use the shredded leaves as mulch in beds. We have lots of oaks and the leaves take a very long time to break down. It doesn't work well for us to just let them break down in place. They mat down and smother things.

I would second the suggestion to go a little slowly this year. You may find some plants that look like nothing right now turn out to be lovely. Also filling a lot of beds can be a really expensive proposition. You may find that it works better to "edit" what is there gradually. You can also learn a lot about what works well on your site and what doesn't.

Nice trees!

Biggest advice is to NOT pull things out for a year. Until you see things go through a full cycle of seasons, you don't know what has pretty flowers, what provides crucial shade when the sun is at a certain angle, etc. Lots of people have ruined their property by pulling out rare and expensive flowering shrubs in the Spring, removing privacy screens so the neighbors can stare in their windows, getting rid of shade.

Unfortunately, a lot of gardening is seasonal. Now is a good time to plant bare root trees and shrubs. Both because Spring and Fall are the best times to do this, and the things you plant now will have longer to grow. A two year old bare root tree planted now will be at least as big as a ten year old tree planted in ten years, but will be much cheaper and have a better root system.

Find out the best time to do
different things and mark them on your calendar. Mark everything that blooms as the Spring progresses. Mark sun angles and whay provides shade in the summer.

Also, don't let yourself be influenced by what you see on TV or in magazines...all gardening is local. Lots of things are filmed in LA where the plants they can grow are very different.

As Spring progresses, mark everything that blooms. In the summer, mark sun angles and see what provides desirable shade.

Decide what you want to use the yard for. Many assume it should be a decoration. That's only one use. Do you want to grow fresh vegetables? Attract birds? Provide wildlife habitat? Provide food for pollinators? Do you use the lawn? How much lawn will you actually use in practice? Do you want shade in the summer? Do you need to screen out neighbors?

Issue number 1: Too early to say. The lawn may come back by itself later in the Spring. If it doesn't, Fall is a good time to seed cool season grasses. Or you could scatter warm season grasses around now.

Issue 2:

That depends on whether there is anything in the bed that is worth keeping. This goes back to waiting a full cycle of seasons. If there are any desirable shrubs there, you have to when by hand during the growing season when you can see what things are. If it is 100% all weeds you could rent a brush hog. I like doing that in the winter when the soil is frozen...it won't sink into mud or compact the soil.

Issue 3: That's fine. Only alternative is to load it in bags and send it to the dump. Fire is dangerous in suburbia.

Katie K, welcome to the New England forum! You have a wonderful new home with so many potential projects. This site is a great place for advice (like the answers to your leaf questions, above).

I agree with others who've said it will take a year of living there to discover what's growing that you like and also to learn the sun's pattern through the seasons as it crosses your property. In the long run, the amount of sun you have will be the biggest influence on what can be grown easily.

We have lawns in the front and back yards because my dh loves the look of grass. We live on 1/3 acre in an open area that gets great sun. And sun is needed for most lawns. If you really are intent on a grass, trees may have to be removed in some areas. So you really have to think about a lawn.

My dh's best "lawn" advice is to purchase a mulching lawn mower. We've had one for 13 years and have never bagged leaves or raked lawn clippings. Grass and fall leaves get cut into small bits that work back into the ground. A mulching mower is more expensive, but he thinks it's worth it in the long run.

Suzabanana is on target about the hard work involved in removing vines and small saplings. That will take patience and time. I'd add to her advice by suggesting that you might want to begin making the yard "your own" by working on the areas closest to the house ... the deck, the gazebo and the lower patio area. Sprucing up those areas will not only give you two a part of the yard to enjoy over this first year, but it will also give you places from which to view your yard. Looking at your own yard objectively will help you decide on the eventual look you both like. Another suggestion is to drive around the neighborhoods to see what grows well in your area. You might find landscaping ideas you like.

Thank you for all of your welcome and advice.

We do have a mulching mower and we mulched the leaves that fell on the lawn last year. I thought it was the mulching that did damage to our lawn because there were sooo many leaves. We went out a couple weekends ago and laid out on a blanket in the yard and came back covered in mulched leaves! It may be that I was cutting the grass too short last year and not giving it regular deep waterings so now we have grass with short roots that come up easily according to some advice I got in the lawn section of the forums. We intend on doing a soil sample after the snow melts this week and I'll post the results for some clarification I'm sure I'll need on what I can do to help the lawn.

As far as waiting the full year cycle for the current plants, like I said- we've been there about a year and all the plants were so unhealthy. They had either been neglected too long, strangled by vines or never rooted well in their beds. The only plants that did ok were bulb plants- irises, daffodils (though not as well as neighbors and I'm assuming that's because of their shady location) and Hostas. I would like to leave the hostas as walkway borders but everything else is going to go. I'm sure we will play around with different types of local plants as we get more comfortable with the property but for now I'm just looking to clean up and get familiar with the process.

Ultimately we want a yard with nice grass that we can go out and enjoy. I love being outside and would like to have a nice yard to run around barefoot on and a good view from a nice deck. Privacy from neighbors is not a problem because we're on a hill in the woods so once the trees grow in, no one can see the house. I would like to separate the 1 acre of split apart lawn from the wooded areas with pollinating flowers to help the bees but I think that's as far as I'd like to go for adding extras.

I think my issue with feeling overwhelmed is that I'm used to large, flat yards with differing levels of shade to work with. I've never had to work within a wooded, rocky sloping area so I find the difference daunting. So far most people that have sloping yards tend to concentrate more on their beds and less on the lawn if at all and I would like to do the opposite but feel that I may be fighting a losing battle.

No, no, no! It's not a losing battle, Katie. Just a battle that needs a plan. And I just thought that other forums you could post photos and ask questions in: the Landscaping Design Forum and Lawns and Landscaping Forum, which is subdivided into areas.

I forgot to ask what you hoped to do with the former above-ground pool area.... a possible flat area of lawn?

There is a decent chance that a few weeks of warm wet weather will make those leaves disintegrate and give the grass a chance to recover.

If the things you want to preserve are bulbs, I like the idea of renting the brush hog to drive over the brushy areas while the ground is frozen. Chop down all the sapling before the bulbs start to sprout. Some will grow back...but some won't. Hopefully what grows back can be kept down with a lawn mower.

Katie - we have a sloped yard with a good amount of trees. The area that is sloped and wooded we leave be. It's not worth the energy to landscape and I'm fine with it being natural rather than designed, if that makes sense. We have leaves leftover and either throw them in the compost pile or down the slope (as goes our Xmas tree as well). We also inherited hostas everywhere (including in full sun) which I hated at first, but have come to appreciate as a maintenance-free New Englander's staple.

I will just caution that the whole "barefoot on the lawn" is a pipe dream living in a wooded area. Unless you are grooming your lawn for hours daily, your bare feet will be stepping on twigs, acorns, seeds, caterpillars and all the rest of nature's gifts that fall from your trees on a near constant basis.

Good luck! It's definitely a big undertaking, but if you approach it in pieces over several years you'll be fine. Don't kid yourself into thinking you'll get it all done in one summer!

I sympathize. Even though I have always lived perched on hillsides with lots of trees, I definately envy flat yards. This is particularly true when I am wrestling with a mower. And sun! So many lovely full sun plants, so little sun. However the topography and the trees offer privacy that I love, so there is that. I agree with Ed, give the grass a few weeks to green up before you decide the mulched leaves did it in. When I look at photos from last year my yard looked quite brown and leaf mulch-y in April and grassy green in May.

I like Molie's phrase "a battle that needs a plan." If you want a lush lawn, you need sun. Maybe some trees go. If you want a flat area, that may need to be built up and leveled off. I don't know how to get rock free here - there is a reason for all those scenic stone walls. Rocks and stones are said to be New England's best growing crop!

But you have done a really important thing. You have identified something (an area of lush lawn) that is important to you! Start crafting the battle plan. People here will cheer you on!

I would say that beds do one thing that may help - they can buffer lawn from woods. This looks nice. It also can help slow down the number of leaves that blow back in after the lawn is cleared in fall!

Moliep, I will look into the landscaping forums for more specific questions, thank you for the suggestion. Currently in the above ground pool area I have a 5X10 and a 5X5 raised garden beds. The extended goal is to put a retaining wall between this area and the yard to make the flat spot a sort of patio/ veggie garden work area. But that's low down on the list until I can get the deck and yard under control. I just took last year to put in raised beds because I didn't want to be without my garden for long.

Thank you for your input edlincoln. I'll look into what a brush hog is :p

Suzabanana, I feel like we have the same kind of yard. The wooded sloping areas either have tons of rocks or pachysandra everywhere so I'm not too worried about them, just the lawn areas and the front of the house that used to be a huge, sloped flower bed that we removed all the unhealthy plants from. All that's left is hostas, bulb plants and a hydrangea bush that I really want to try to nurse.

I removed all the hostas in full sun because they looked so fried and crispy and they were way too close to the foundation of the house.

yikes! Looks like I'll be stepping carefully of barefoot! Or just grooming a section of the yard that will be barefoot friendly!

I learned last summer that it's going to be slow going but I'm committed! Thank you all again for your viewpoints and opinions ☺️

Maisie, thank you! Yes this past weekend I discovered that the yard is lined with beds that were completely covered and over-taken by saplings, vines, years worth of leaves and garbage. I dug one out and intend on waging war on the woods for possession of the others over the course of the year. The vines are going to be the death of me, I swear.

Are they bittersweet vines? Tough as can be with weird orange roots? A big part of my yard was waist deep in them when we arrived. We have made lots of headway but it pops up regularly. Cut and pull, pull and cut . . .

Those are it! The bark on them kind of sheds off? We have to cut down two trees because of those suckers. There are also vines that bud, they almost look like the trees they're wrapping around until you look closely. All the beds are full of these vines and unfortunately the previous owner must have been trying to keep critters out of the yard because they're all wrapped around pricker bushes- at least one in every bed. Those bushy things with yellow insides. That stab you no matter how thick your gloves are

Here is your order of operations.. Your priority is to protect your trees because they are the major feature of a wooded property and expensive to remove. So even if controlling the vines is a multi-year project, commit to cutting the vines at the base of every tree right about now (before leafing out, but when new growth is beginning). Paint the cut stem immediately with brush killer. Unwrap and pull down vines that are strangling trees. Even when they are dead they can constrict the growth. Removing vines from trees may open up light. Don't worry about removing the rest of the vines and brambles yet - that's your long term goal. Your next assignment is to designate several places for leaf piles and for brush piles. (You may also want log piles.) I say several, because that way you won't have to haul stuff very far and they won't be so overwhelming. Buy tarps at Walmart - very reasonable - and use them to blow or rake leaves into, and drag to your piles. Keep your woody debris separate from your leaves and soft plant debris. The leaf mountains will settle to low mounds in one season. This is your gold that you will mine for compost and mulch. If you want to break it down faster, run your mower over it (either on the pile or pulled out onto the lawn. The brush piles are your hassle. Cut them up with loppers as compactly as you can. Rent a chipper when they become overwhelming. Get a wood burning stove or fire pit and burn them. If you do these two things, you will have your property under basic control.

Kitasei- the best part about everything you said is that we basically do everything except separating it into piles and I just learned to dab cut vines with RU today! We have a fire pit and a woodburning stove so we have the ability to be rid of the brush. We actually have a huge pile after this weekend. I will start keeping a leaf pile and soft plant debris for compost too. I've never composted- is it just a pile you throw things on? When do you use it?

I also read in the wooded forum that it's best not to try to replant in the beds you clear for a year or two. To give yourself time to clear as many vines and regrowth as possible before adding new plants. Is that true?

You can further separate your leaf piles from your soft debris and create leaf mold and compost or just combine them. Keep it as simple as you need to make it convenient but useful for your own purpose. In my case I compost soft stuff in a corner of my vegetable gardens and also pile lots of leaves there at the end if the season. All gets turned into the soil now and what a fluffy loam it is! The soil and compost forum is very informative. One word of advice about your wood. You only want to burn very dry hardwood in the stove or you will spend a lot of money cleaning your chimney and not produce much heat. Learn your trees and wood, maybe buy a $30 moisture meter and yes, sort those wood piles! The first year of managing a

property is really sbout getting your systems set up. Ice that's done you can't imagine the fun ahead. Year two and three shift to identifying, multiplying and rearranging your plant material.

Thank you very much! My boyfriend has been on the property for 3 years so he has the wood part down. Even has the moisture meter. But he's useless at yard work unless directed :) I'm excited for the potential the yard has. I'll read the compost forum today. Thank you again

Thank you NHBabs! You gave me quite a lot to think about. I will walk the property this weekend and take lots of pictures and come up with a plan.

Others have given great advice, but I have one suggestion for clearing brush and invasive vines. Get a gallon of full strength triclopyr--you can buy it on amazon. It works much more effectively than roundup (glyphosate) on woody plants. You can paint it on the stumps full strength after cutting, but the herbicide comes mixed with kerosene or another solvent, so it will eat through many kinds of plastic (learned that lesson when I put it in a dixie cup and it started leaking through so now I use a pyrex cup).

You can post pics and we can help you identify, but honestly any vines you find are more likely than not to be invasive in your area (with the exception of Virginia creeper, which is common in the northeast). Same with thorny bushes, though there are some brambles that are native to the area that I would leave in the back 40 but clear closer to the house.

"but honestly any vines you find are more likely than not to be invasive in your area" I would have to disagree with this. There are invasive vines, but there are also a fair number of native vines on my property (Clematis virginiana, Apios americana AKA groundnut, along with Virginia creeper and greenbriar) plus any vines in the beds may have been planted ornamentals or even fruit vines such as grapes and hardy kiwi. It's worth IDing them before ripping them out.

I recently moved on to a new property back in August and have been fighting the vine battle now for 7 months. According to my new neighbors the previous owner just gave up on the back yard about 15 years ago. There were multiple Oriental bittersweet with trunks as wide as a baseball bat going wild. I had to use a chainsaw to cut them off at there base. I wish I took a picture of it before I cut and killed it. It was like a giant vine curtain that went up 30 feet into my neighbors trees. I have been out cutting any new growths that have popped up as the weather has warmed.

The only advice I can give you is be diligent. Know what you are planting and what those plants look like through their different stages of growth and aggressively weeding out anything that doesn't belong in those beds. Keep asking questions.