Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Troy-Bilt. All opinions are my own.

Last month I had the pleasure of traveling to Cleveland, Ohio, for a kick-off event with Troy-Bilt. A group of other bloggers and YouTubers and I are taking part in a fun “Flip the Yard” challenge, where were tasked with completing an outdoor project that the average person could easily finish in a weekend. I’ll show you the mini makeover we did in our back yard in a moment, but first I want to tell you about Cleveland.

I had a great time visiting the Troy-Bilt headquarters and learning about the history of the company, as well as playing around with some of their outdoor power equipment. They also took us on a trolley tour of the city, and out to some really nice dinners. The highlight of the trip, however, was a community service project we took part in. We restored the gardens at a crisis nursery called Providence House. Providence House is a shelter for children ages newborn through 12 years old who are in situations that put them at risk for neglect and abuse. What I love about it though is that they provide respite care without parents having to give up custody of their children. Parents can voluntarily bring their children there for up to 60 days, which is a godsend for folks who may be fleeing an abusive situation or seeking treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, for example. Providence House will take care of all of the childrens’ needs, including transporting them to school, allowing them to stay in their existing school district. It’s such an amazing organization and I was so happy to be a part of such an awesome project.

TROY-BILT FLIP THE YARD CHALLENGE

As for my “Flip the Yard” project, I decided to tend to an eye sore that we’ve been meaning to do something about for quite some time. Our entire yard is in serious need of attention, but we focused on the small area in front of our deck. Standing in the yard facing the house, you could see directly under the deck and it just wasn’t pretty. Here’s what it looked like before:

We opted to plant a garden bed along the entire length of the deck. As I mentioned, the challenge was to complete an outdoor project in a single weekend. The kicker: we had $250 to spend at Home Depot and had to fit everything in one cart. (In addition, Troy-Bilt provided the equipment.)

Troy-Bilt provided the Mustang Dual-Direction Rear Tine Tiller which was a beast! I loved using it. It allows you to till in counter-rotating mode for hard soil when first breaking ground, and then forward-rotating mode for softer soil once beds are established. This was perfect for us since we needed to do both.

I am clueless when it comes to landscaping and gardening, but I found the equipment easy enough to use. I was able to figure out how to use it, and if I can do it, anyone can. It also has an adjustable depth stake that allows you to achieve an even tilling depth. The power reverse is helpful for backing out of corners or tight spaces too.

Step 1:

Step 1 of the “Flip the Yard” project was to till a strip of land in front of the deck.

Step 2: Add topsoil.

After tilling the soil, we smoothed it a bit with a rake and then added in a bit of topsoil with fertilizer that we picked up from Home Depot. We raked it through, mixing it with the existing soil.

I recruited a cute helper for this part.

Step 3: Dig holes & plant.

Then we dug holes for our plants. We decided to alternate Boxwoods with Sunshine Ligustrum, and used 9 plants total. They should both fill in the space nicely as they grow, and I liked the contrast of the different shades of green.

Step 4: Add mulch.

We planted them and then added black mulch, also from Home Depot. We ended up using 9 bags of mulch total.

I decided to add some flower boxes to the deck for a little bit of added color, so I built them out of scrap wood and I will post a tutorial soon. (It’s super easy.) I just added some petunias.

I am so happy with how this project turned out, especially since we were able to complete it in one day. We could’ve spread it out over multiple days if we were short on time each day, but we knocked it out in a matter of a few hours. It made a much bigger impact than I was expecting, and I definitely regret not doing it sooner!

Here’s a reminder of what it looked like before: