What do you do when you want to reclaim a yard that has been taken over by aliens? Junk and debris are everywhere and everything is overgrown. When did they come? Were we sleeping? Maybe you inherited the problem when you moved in. Here are some tips and principals about tackling this herculean task.

• Hauling first involves preparation. Yard cleanup is about categorizing what you have. You may want to sell or donate things of value. It is amazing how much you can pass on to another user at freecycle.org.  The rest you will get rid of. Some paper and wood items can be safely burned depending upon requirements by your fire marshall and air quality control district. Those items that will be discarded need to be separated for recycling.
• Consider composting leaves and weeds. Conserve soil by separating the dirt from the roots. If discarding plant matter try to find a destination where these can decompose into soil, which means not putting them in a giant plastic bag and taking them to the landfill site.
• The better job you do at separation of materials, the more that is recycled and the less goes into the landfill. Each category, such as metals, often have subcategories, such as aluminum from steel, or painted or plastic clad from clean steel. Find out which classes of plastic your center recycles and separate accordingly.
• You may have a biomass site nearby that receives wood and wood debris. Clean wood can be given to someone with a stove or who camps.

Getting it done:

You will likely hire someone to help with the cleaning and with the hauling. These services can come under those provided by recommended landscape professionals, recommended handyman services, and smaller recommended hauling service companies. With each of these you can request that separated materials be properly recycled. With a refuse management company that supplies a debris box that is filled, items put in are not recycled.

When your yard is cleaned up consider where you want to take it:

• Do you want a big lawn or would you rather have a patio or deck with planted areas and pathways?
• What steps can you take now? You might regrade your yard for better drainage, create landscaping mounds or raised garden beds. You might have need of some larger trees or bushes that you want to get started now as part of an overall plan that you will implement across time.

I visited a friend yesterday who literally moved a mountain in his backyard by hiring a guy with a backhoe and dumptruck. They built terraces into the remaining hillside which were planted. His net result was a huge flat space for lawn for the family. Sometimes it pays to dream.