Brand New and Clueless

I have never picked up a gardening tool in my life. I have several ugly weeds in front of the house, with lots of hard dirt. I want to clean it up, but I am afraid there won’t be much dirt left when I am done. Is it best to pull the weeds and then cover with some new dirt from a bag to give it that “soft” look. I can’t say I am ready to plant, I think I missed the boat anyway, but would like to get the weeds taken care of.

Thank you!!

My suggestion would be to get the weeds cleared out and get some good compost going in there. Something that will break up the soil so it isn't so hard. More people will come in with more advice.

As for missing the boat, there are lots of things you can plant in the fall, such as various bulbs. What sort of lighting does your area get? What kind of watering can you do?

Where is Canby? If you're on the western side of OR where the summers are cool you can probably still get away with planting some things as long as you don't mind having to keep them watered during the summer (definitely nothing wrong with waiting either, but coastal OR summers are mild enough that you may be able to get away with planting now). If you're in eastern OR though with hot summers then it's definitely best to wait, your success rate will be much higher (and your water bill will be much lower!)

Kwanjin is right about getting the weeds out of there and then working some compost into the top layer of the soil. Then once you plant things, add some mulch around them and you're set. If you decide not to plant anything now, then you could try the lasagna gardening approach where you layer newspapers and organic material over top of the bed, that will smother your weeds and also improve the soil at the same time, and by the time fall comes you should have a nice bed ready for them. I've never done the lasagna thing, but if you search the forums here or look on Google for "lasagna gardening" you'll find tons of info.

Pull those weeds and compost, compost, compost. We have hard, red clay that feels impossible for just about everything. I got a "garden claw" last year and it's wonderful for breaking up the hard soil. Once the soil is broken up the weeds come out easier and I didn't get nearly as frustrated with chasing all the runners down.

Oh my gosh, thank you to everyone! Canby is about 25 miles south of Portland so usually the summers aren't too bad. I don't really know what compost is, other than left over fruits and vegetables. I like the lasanga idea! I will look more into that. I really just want the dirt to look nice. Right now it's full of weeds. Thanks to everyone!!! Now I am off to figure out more about what composting is.

Compost is basically any organic material that has mostly decayed...you can make your own mixing together kitchen scraps, garden clippings, etc or you can buy things like composted manure that are already made (probably easiest to do this at least when you're getting started)

Go to your local home improvement store - they have bags of compost ready to use - just be put it at least 2 inches deep - don't "save" money and scrimp on this - you won't get the best results in the end.

When I moved to my new place the first thing (gardening ) I planned was where the compost pile would be. I use a passive pile....I pile on and let nature do it's thing...turning over only when I need mulch or as I happen by. By all means grab a bag for an easy start...but think about a place to reuse what you already have. I'm on a small lot with a tight budget...and adding the boughs from last years Christmas tree saved me a fortune in mulch this year.

keep it to 3--green, brown, and other and it's simple. Green=grass clippings, garden waste etc.
Brown= woody leafy things (break down bigger twigs to speed it along) and Other= organic things..kitchen waste (No meat) coffee grounds eggshells radish tops...and if you are not big cookers keep a small bag of some type of manure (chicken, cow etc) handy to help when the pile goes dormant.

I find I always have more grass than I need but it's still nice to know I'm reusing some of it instead of just sending it to the landfill.