12 Fixes for the 'Worst Yard on the Block'

Landscaper Blake Hawthorn, builder Margo Fairchild, grammy-nominated singer & professional carpenter Jared “J Paul” Foster and lawn cleanup expert Tucker Kincaid are on a mission to hunt down some of America’s worst yards and transform them, for free, in a matter of days. From overgrown nightmares where homeowners have lost control and Mother Nature has taken over to neighborhood eyesores in desperate need of some TLC, these dynamic duos are giving homeowners a fresh start and turning their yards into the envy of the block.

Trees and tropical plants can get out of hand real quick, and for Robyn and her 89-year-old dad’s Winter Haven, Florida, home, that’s exactly what happened. From overgrown trees and cut tree stumps to random poles sticking out of the ground and toys scattered throughout the yard, the yard (and the carport) have become a mess they simply don’t have enough hours in the day to tackle.

The goal with this one was simple … in theory. Create a low-maintenance lawn with a safe seating area and family gathering space. After taming the trees and decluttering the yard, fresh turf surrounded by newly planted tropicals creates a wide-open lawn, while the new pergola offers plenty of seating and a comfortable spot for the family to gather outside.

Pro tip: Turf is always a good idea for people short on time. It doesn’t grow, you don’t have to cut it and it’s soft and easy for the kids to play on.

After nearly 50 years of living in Winter Haven, Florida, Robyn’s father Robert had amassed quite the “collection” of things, filling the carport with clutter and making the space practically unusable.

No longer a storage area, the once-cluttered carport is now a bright and inviting outdoor dining area, complete with a large table and plenty of seating, a unique chandelier and a new area rug that helps define the space.

Sometimes when you find someone with an overgrown yard, you also find someone who’s in a tough spot in life. That’s the case for Houston, Texas, homeowners Gary, who lost his job after government layoffs, and his husband Andrew, a disabled veteran. Upon arrival, the married couple had a violation notice planted in their front yard, not to mention a dead oak tree, a poisonous oleander shrub and an overgrown landscape in desperate need of some attention.

After removing the rotted oak, taming the remaining plants and trees and tearing out, leveling and replacing the driveway, the landscape began to take on new life. Complete with a new fence for both privacy for the couple and safety for their dogs, a winding paver-and-gravel walkway leads to the front door, while river rocks, new plants and mulch fill out the landscape. A new outdoor dining area gives Gary and Andrew a place to enjoy each other’s company after a long day and dine al fresco.

Teachers are notorious for working long days and spending their own resources on their students, so it can be tough to find the time to manage and maintain their own homes and yards in the process. Such is the case for sociology teacher Pam, whose Houston, Texas, yard has become completely overgrown with 3-foot-high weeds. Making matters worse, a “zombie tree” that has been dying from the inside out for the better part of five years is towering over her home.

Goodbye, zombie tree and weeds. Hello, beautiful curb appeal and a yard Pam can be proud of! After the initial weed-whacking and removing the dangerous tree hovering over the house, more than 60 plants, including ixora, Mexican heather and gardenias, were installed to bring color and personality back to this now low-maintenance landscape.

With limited time and resources to clean it up, Pam’s covered porch has sat neglected for far too long, overrun with trash and “junk.” What was once a place where Pam spent her youth playing with friends and hanging out with family is now an out-of-sight, out-of-mind storage space.

After clearing out years of clutter, nice seating and new lighting offer a comfortable place to hang out again, while the cleaned-up iron bars, hanging baskets and ferns brighten up the space and bring in some much-needed ambiance.

In Mableton, Georgia, Stephanie lives on a half-acre corner lot and has always loved plants, gardening and nature. But after a car accident and later being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, maintaining such a large property became increasingly difficult and the yard got away from her. Eventually, Stephanie decided mowing that much land was simply too much work and started scattering seeds throughout the property, embracing a style sometimes known as “chaos gardening.” Now, the massive cleanup includes clearing out the overgrowth, rescuing existing plants, mowing the grass and installing a new fence.

This “life-changing transformation,” as Stephanie put it, includes a 10-by-20-foot garden space with raised beds for her vegetables, a cozy fire pit to sit by with friends, a bubbling water feature for ambiance and an eye-catching checkerboard patio alternating turf and pavers.

Once a flourishing, self-planted garden in the middle of Lakeland, Florida, former botanist Ian and his wife Terry’s landscape has become a jungle, with palms, flowers, vines and shrubs overwhelming their property over the last 36 years.

After clearing out the brush, limbs, rubbish and other debris and trimming the tall trees, the real work on the landscape can begin.

River rocks, new plants and fresh mulch for the win! A little bit can go a long way and these simple additions give the yard renewed life, along with plenty of color and texture, as well as a clear view out to the street and surrounding neighborhood.

Working long hours as a truck driver with a fiancée and newborn at home, Atlanta native Jonathan hasn’t had much time to tackle his overgrown yard. With a driveway buried beneath dirt & debris, and a front entryway covered in so many invasive weeds that it’s difficult to walk up to the house, the property has become more than just an eyesore, as he’s facing fines from the city. With a major demolition job ahead, the curb appeal is practically nonexistent. As Jonathan puts it, “It looks so bad, it’s embarrassing and depressing.”

Layers of greenery, fresh landscaping and a natural stone retaining wall bring life and structure back to the property, while a new seating area creates a comfortable spot for Jonathan and his family to relax outside.

Home to a young couple with two little boys and full-time jobs, this overgrown yard in Plant City, Florida, has become too much for homeowners Bea and Tim to manage. With their hands full and a hard frost hitting Florida this past winter, their fruit-tree-filled yard took a backseat with overgrown weeds and plants taking over the lawn. As Bea admits, “It does sometimes make us feel a little bit ashamed or, you know, less comfortable on the block when everyone kind of has very well manicured yards.”

Once all the debris had been removed from the front of the property, newly placed plants surrounded by all-natural mulch quickly became the stars of the show, with a plant list that includes holly, pittosporum, bird of paradise, pink muhly grass, blueberry bushes, banana plants and Simpson stoppers.

More hangout space, more seating and more room for the boys to play, this yard has gone from overgrown and underused to a space to make memories, complete with a busy board and refurbished play boat for the kids to let their imaginations run wild.

Plant City is a historic district in Florida with some homes more than 100 years old. It’s also home to Amy, a mom with eight grown children and a whole host of grandchildren, whose home used to be filled with happiness and whose porch hosted parties all year round. Now, the front yard has shrubs reaching higher than the roof, hedges that haven’t been trimmed in years and is just a “neglected, overgrown mess,” as Amy so eloquently put it.

Before the team could get to work transforming the yard, the cleanout entailed clearing the hedges, trimming the tree branches and decluttering the porch. Once complete, the home’s front porch is back on full display, complete with fresh landscaping and new planter boxes that add even more life to the space.

Schuyler and Julia had a plan when they moved into their Houston, Texas, home: create a low-maintenance landscape covered in sheet mulch so they wouldn’t have a lawn to deal with or mow. However, after digging up the whole yard, they didn’t account for the weeds and the entire thing got away from them. With overgrown grass, weeds and vines that looked like they were getting ready to take over the house, Blake and Margo had their hands full with this one.

No longer an eyesore for neighbors, this landscape transformation came together thanks to some very well-placed mulch, plant life and river rocks, in addition to an all-new white picket fence, repainted front door and a freshly cleared yard that finally delivers on the couple’s original goal of a low-maintenance landscape.

Blake and Margo are on a mission to help Diane, affectionately known around her Houston, Texas, neighborhood as the local cat lady, rid her home of the invasive Mexican petunias and years of growth taking over nearly every inch of the yard. The landscape is completely overgrown, many of the plants are dying off and the busted-up concrete only adds to the mess.

First, the invasive plants were pulled out by their roots so they couldn’t come back. Then, the slippery pavers were removed and the grass was mowed to give the yard a blank canvas to work with. The finished landscape features safe, accessible walkways and patio space, a mix of cat-friendly plants, shrubs and perennials, a new cat shelter and a decorative fence that helps define the newly landscaped yard.

Pro Tip: For a yard with heavy foot traffic, you want to create soft barriers like a low hedge or a picket fence with durable vegetation near the street.

Melissa, a nonprofit worker for a local animal shelter, and Matt, a retired Houston city firefighter whose back has taken a beating over the years, are in dire need of a front yard makeover but don’t have the time or physical ability to do it themselves. With overgrown shrubs, massive trees with tons of fallen debris and loads of poison oak and poison ivy throughout the yard, Matt and Melissa are days away from massive fines from their HOA.

After clearing out the leaves, stray saplings, weeds and especially the poison ivy, the area by the front door was plowed to remove the roots and help keep them from growing back. The tree branches were then heavily trimmed before fresh gravel, new plants and a spiral herb garden were added, along with a meandering pathway through the front yard and a custom bench built around one of Melissa’s favorite trees.

In a neighborhood full of immaculate, pristine lawns, one Houston, Texas, native bucked the trend and, unfortunately, was starting to upset the neighbors. What started as a pollinator garden years ago, Micki’s landscape has since been completely taken over by dried-out goldenrod and dying boxwoods. And while you can tell she took the time to plant plenty of flowers along the way, years of dead growth have taken over much of the yard.