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Fall Cleanup and a Giveaway

There are weeds, like you know, your run of the mill dandelion that you pull out of your garden with ease…

and then there is this beast –

A group of bushes and trees

Yeah, it’s taller than me. And in truth it isn’t exactly a weed, we had some trees chopped down after an ice storm wreaked havoc on them, and these weird leftover trees keep trying to sprout up in it’s place. I’ve been chopping them down with this all summer…

A tree being trimmed

Got to love the blisters on top of blisters I would have by the time I was done, ugh!

But no more wimpy clippers for me, check out my new Black & Decker 22″ Dual Action Blade Hedge Trimmer.

A person standing next to a tree

ARR ARR ARR! In case you couldn’t tell that was my “Tim the Tool Man Taylor” power tool grunting impression…

Home Improvement anyone?

No? Please tell me I wasn’t the only girl with the Tiger Beat poster of Jonathon Taylor Thomas (JTT for hardcore fans) plastered on my walls? ahem, ok then…

This month Ace Hardware challenged us to try something new that wasn’t our typical project. It was the perfect time to give this trimmer a try. It handled my mutant tree/shrub/un-killable weed like a champ –

Trimmed trees

I normally avoid the whole outdoor fall cleanup at all costs, so much so that I end up trying to do it too late in the spring when my new plants are shooting up and I have to try to trim the old dead stuff with a scissors…clearly my fancy new trimmer was a major upgrade!

Here’s my before – all my crazy messy dead plants leftover from summer that would normally hang out all winter-

A tree in front of a house

And after they are all chopped down and cleaned up, ready for next spring.

A tree in front of a house

I may be addicted now. I mean, it was really tempting to go all Edward Scissor Hands (how many more random 90’s references can I fit in this post?) and try to carve our boxwoods into swans or something, but the Mr. wasn’t too keen on the idea (he has no sense of adventure :)). They do look nice all trimmed up though.

A house with bushes in front

What normally would take me hours in the spring literally took me minutes this past weekend! Leaving me time for the important stuff, like testing out my new hammock.

A white hammock

Yup, if you need me, I’ll be here :)

Have some fall cleanup of your own to do? Enter using the rafflecopter below for your chance to win a $100 gift card to Ace Hardware! The giveaway will be open for 1 week and the winner will be notified via email, good luck!

Disclosure: I’m a member of the Ace Hardware Blogger Panel. Ace Hardware provided me with products and compensation for this post, but all opinions are 100 percent mine. All opinions and positions here do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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141 Comments

  2. WEEDING! My flower beds no longer look like flower beds…we’ve had lots of rain. Weeds are growing out of control along with the mosquitos. I also need to power wash my driveway…maybe Icoud use the giftcard to buy a pressure washer!

  8. Building a new home so starting from scratch. Lots of projects on the to do list….fence, sod, patio, flower beds ! Oh my.

  16. We just recently relocated to the Midwest, and we bought a new home here. The house looks fine from the street, with the exception of the roof. The roof is only 10 years old, but it has discoloration from algae(I presume). Up close, the brick and siding from our home is dingy, and the walkways all have moss stains. I tried power washing everything(except for the roof), and had decent results. For the roof I researched and found a product called Wet and Forget that is made for roofs, but also works on all of the other outdoor things I need to clean. The store locator on their site lists Ace Hardware as the only retailer in my area that sells it. Aside from that, we also have some painting projects to take care of indoors to personalize the home for us. Our kids want their own colors and we want to have the other rooms painted in colors that suit our furniture.

  18. We have some crazy weeds ourselves in the backyard that seem to be mixing in with the raised garden bed…. time to prune! As a newly married couple, having $100 to Ace would be quite the blessing.

  19. Love cleaning up and out my flower beds, a clean slate for all my spring perennials to magically appear!

  20. I’m working on putting the veggie garden to bed, so to speak! And my hydrangeas so need to be pruned….

  22. I sooo need to show some love to my front porch. It has peeling & chipping paint, and the rails are stained from the littles being chalk artists.

  27. We recently had a new deck built and need to find time to stain it, as well as putting some sort of stone underneath to create a mud free play area for us and our children. Love Ace! It’s where we get much of our painting and outdoor supplies.

  28. We are going to plant a fig tree, if it ever decides to rain in Texas!!
    Thank you and blessings to you,
    J

  30. i need to tackle pruning of the the trees and bushes to get them ready for the fall and next spring

  32. So much Fall cleanup awaits our attention. Must get going along, 1st clean up gardens and hedgerow.

  34. We have been in our house for 5 years and have only just begun being able to landscape the yard. A $100 Ace gift card would be a great help! And seeing the picture of Kelly has inspired me to lose the 10 extra lbs I’ve put on! You looks great! What is your secret?

  35. We have some trees that need to come down and I’d love to plant some new bushes!

    demureprincess7(at)gmail(dot)com

  39. um…pretty much need to tackle everything! The biggest thing on the list is a front porch and landscaping in the front. *crossing my fingers to win!*

  42. It’s simple really waiting for a cooler weekend to do this since it’ll be hard to do by my lonesome. Pull all plants out to start from scratch. And clean all those spider webs, eeew.

  43. We just had lightening strike our 75′ old oak tree and had to have half of it cut down before it fell on our house. . All of the tree removal company’s equipment really tore up our yard. We’ve got lots of clean up to do before we host a picnic for 75 people in a couple of weeks.

  45. I started my fall cleanup 2 weekends ago with pressure washing the roof, which is only half done. Next I need to trim the tree branches that are overhanging over the roof also….I actually get a thrill trimming…call me crazy!

  47. Oh gosh I so wanna win this so I can be Tim the Toolman too! Loved that show by the way :-) My husband gets to do all the trimming in the yard and I sure would like to help him with MY OWN tools :-)

  49. Oh how I dread fall & spring cleanup! Every year I attack the beds with my little hand pruner, and every year I just about kill myself. The hedge trimmer appears to be a much more efficient way to cut back all of the spent perennials, roses and shrubs.

  52. Really need to have several pine trees cut down that are way too big. If we have heavy snow, they may come down on the house…that would not be good. Thanks for the giveaway!

  54. I have the same big “weeds”. They like to call them shrubs…but I love how your flower bed turned out….great incentive for me to head on outside and get busy!

  55. I really need to do some fall plantings. We tore out a bunch of overgrown landscaping and want to fill in the bare areas so that they are already established when spring rolls around.

  56. I have a side yard that is mostly dirt with some weeds….know exactly what I want to do with it, but time and mostly money are hindering that project!

  58. I need to tackle the HIDEOUS bushes in our front yard. Outdated by about 20 years, they just need to go!

  59. We need a new chain saw to cut off the dead branches from our trees before winter comes in. Not looking forward to it but this would help tremendously.

  60. We have a really overgrown yard after a few months of neglect. We need to trim bushes, weed, cut down an invasive tree and get rid of all the fruit that dropped that we didn’t pick up in time to eat. We’d also like to add lights in the backyard so we can eat dinner out there in the fall and winter if it’s dry.

  61. We have grapevines and pruning will be here before we’re ready. Ace Hardware always comes to the rescue for tools, wire, etc.
    Thank you.

  62. Awesome job on tackling the outdoor mess! I could have used one of those when I tackled my moms yard. If I win, I will definitely be using it ASAP!!! P.S. LOVE the hammock :)

  64. We don’t have a yard (we’re in a townhouse) but we could use some outdoor furniture for our patio, and we have a ton of painting to do inside.

  65. Your yard looks good! We have a burm with tons of weeds, thick prickly stick like weeds and a dead tree.

  66. Hey there! You seriously inspire me to get out and get things accomplished! Seriously. We just removed three old, but beautiful lilac trees from our backyard. I literally cried as I watched them being taken down, but we plan to plant some beautiful trees/shrubs/flowers in their place. We need to trim out our front maple tree, as well as some of our boxwood, as well. Can you just come over and do it for me?! HAHAHA! Okay, have a nice day, off to get things done! :) -Marie

  72. I need to finish painting my deck (1/2 done :-)), clean up plant beds, & mulch. BTW, your yard looks great!

  73. We have to trim a lot of overgrown bushes. We had a very wet summer which has made all of our shrubs grow out of control!!

  78. I love power tools, and I have an area that is beginning to look like it needs me to take a power tool to it!

  80. I know this might sound crazy but I LOVE Fall cleanup!
    I still need to clean out all the flower beds & clean the front porch & then I’m ready for colder weather!!!

  81. I need to clear out the back garden, weeds are knee high! But at least I finished up the front of the house!

  84. I have just moved into a new house with a new yard and there are some killer vines that I’ve been dealing with all summer. Ready to get rid of them once and for all!!

  87. Lucky ! What normally would take me hours in the spring literally takes days now! Leaving me little time before winter….blah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  88. If there is one thing I have learned about yard work, it is that the right tools make all the difference in the world.

  96. I agree I usually not the outdoors trimming to my boyfriend. Not my thing with traditiona clippers.

  99. I have so many outdoor projects to tackle before it gets too cold! My flower beds didn’t get the care they normally do and I have several bushes to trim. I blame being very pregnant all summer for not getting all that done then and having a newborn for not getting it done now! haha

  102. I would love to stain my faded wrap around front porch! Also some fresh paint on the house! Thanks for the opportunity to win an Ace hardware gift card! Love your blog!

    [email protected]

  107. I am putting off my fall clean up for a few more weeks! I want to enjoy the warmer weather for a little longer, I think I am just in denial of summer being over!

  108. Thanks for the reminder, it’s such much easier to get the yard clean up done in the fall vs. waiting on spring.

  110. I totally get and love your 90’s references. I was also a huge JTT fan. We have these weird bush/trees growing all along our back fence. We like the privacy they give us in the summer, but not the bugs they seem to produce. I could definitely use a new trimmer!

  112. Kelly, great job. We had the same thing one summer when we lost a tree to a storm. We ended up with some volunteer tree thing and cut it down several times and it kept coming back. My husband even tried to dig it up. It was a real pain. Eventually we won, but it took a couple of summers. Looks like you got plenty of power to tackle your yard. And of course the hammock is beautiful motivation. Hope it’s facing toward a view of the lake!

  113. The same thing! We have some over grown bushes that haven’t been trimmed since the summer. And all of our potted flowers need to be pulled… I love planting them but hate pulling them out!

  115. Love, love, love your hammock. Will you tell us where you got it?please. Fall project outdoors is talking garden down. :( Oh how I’m going to miss those fresh tomatoes. Then the usual leaves clean up. Some plants I don’t cut down until early spring after frost is gone. Oh I could use Ace gift card, a lot winter projects going on inside.

  118. We have a large yard and each season we have trimming to do or transplantingM I love Ace Hardware..so helpful to find just the right tool. Hope I win! Thanks!

  123. I have to tackle my hydrangeas. Last year I let them go without an end-of- the -season pruning and got no flowers this season. So this fall I have to prune them and prepare them for the winter.

  125. We have a couple of crazy overgrown arborvitaes that would be fun to cut back with the trimmer.
    Love the hammock!

  127. Kelly, we have an ACE hardware opening in my town soon! I’m so excited! The $100 gift card would be awesome.

    Thanks!

  128. Hmmm, I have some weed/bush mutants in my yard, also. I do believe this could be the inspiration I need to go destroy them. :)

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