A good bit of work
Do you want to see something shocking? I suppose it doesn't really matter if you do or not, as you've probably already seen it -- you saw the image before you started reading:
That's a photo of my veggie beds. What, you don't see any tomatoes, kale, lettuce, or anything else that appears to be even remotely edible? You won't, because not only have these beds been fallow for the summer, but there's a curtain of weeds growing in front of them. Time to fix that!
Here are a couple of more views of the horror that is "before":
The dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) that I let grow a few years back for its pollinator attractiveness has seeded around and is a bit out of control. It looks quite nice in the fall though as the stems turn red:
Still, I'm giving no mercy right now, and everything is going!
Three wheelbarrow loads and 45 minutes later, the beds are visible again:
That's the good news. The bad news is that you can now see the decrepit fence (that was apparently being held up in spots by the woody dogbane stems).
I'll be fixing the fence soon -- I've had the materials for months.
There actually was something edible growing in there...
...some garlic cloves that I missed digging up this summer! I'm not sure if I'll be growing garlic again, as I don't think these beds get enough direct sunlight to make it worthwhile.
That wasn't too bad -- less than an hour of moderate activity for some nice, clean beds. This next task though...
...the removal of several Pennisetum 'Moudry'... is going to be a tough one I think. Will I be motivated enough to start on it today I wonder?
(Now that I think of it, I don't have very many "nice" fall gardening tasks left -- they all involve quite a bit of effort.)
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I am sure you've shared this info before, but just how big is your lot? These photos (and others you've shared) make it look absolutely huge.
I had to laugh--out of sympathy, not schadenfreude or anything. If I gardened in the same climate as yours, my veggie beds would look very similar. Fortunately, it's been so dry here this summer that very few weeds are tough enough to grow around our mostly fallow veggie beds.
Loree: Zillow lists it as 0.31 acres (13,500 sq ft). It only seems big when I have chores to do. It's a downhill lot too.
Gerhard: Better laugh than cry, right? :) I want to get my kale planted soon, but that fence isn't going to stop anything!
Rest on your laurels for now, big job you got done there!
Reminds me, I need to clear out the tomatoes. At least the summer heat is gone where you are, making the job easier. Hopefully.