Planting some side-yard bushes

This is the scrub patch after I cleared out half.
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This area was over-run with vines when I moved in. I ripped those out in 2019.

There was a tiny tree I wanted to save, but did not manage to. I should have transplanted it.

Here is the side of the weed patch I have yet to clean out.
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The weeds were pernicious and invasive.

Just clearing one side of the patch yielded four buckets for the lawn waste pickup.

At the back of the cleared patch are a medium-sized bush I transplanted in 2019, and a Ligustrum I planted from Home Depot.

There are roots, but I left that for Roundup.

Here I used a rope to dig a trench around the tree. I made a loop and used a trench shovel.

The area gets a reasonable amount of morning sun, so I hope the bushes will grow fast.

To clear the other side of the patch, I piled the weeds on a tarp and dragged to the back yard.

Now the weeds are gone, but I still need to remove the grass from around the trees.

I used the rope to define the curved edge of the landscape area.

It cut into the yard a bit. I have learned from Gary Alan that's less grass to cut every week.
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I had not cleared grass when the bushes came.

Tampa Nursery & Landscape Company installed the bushes, it was $844 total.

I paid more for 5-gallon bushes so they would grow high faster. Note the trenching shovel.

There is a lawn sprinkler here that should make the bushes grow fast.

Now to attend to the grass around the trees. That flag is for the neighbor's sprinkler.

I piled the grass onto the tarp, it went fast.

Then I used the dirt and grass to build up the area around my screen room door, as well as a French drain box for the screen room gutter.

Hard to see, but building up the French drain area will let me mow the lawn easier.

Despite all the organic material mixed with the dirt, the area compacted and is working great.

Part of the weed patch encroached on the lawn with my new border. It will grow in fast.

The black patch at right is my lawn sprinkler, which will shower the bushes twice a week.

The circle around the hazelnut tree came out great. Digging the trench defines the edge.

Now it's time to get the grass up around the crepe myrtle. More landscape, less grass to cut.

It looks great, and I will put mulch on it later in the year so the weeds stay down.

That divot in the lawn at right is my lawn sprinkler. The bushes will block the view.

I took up so much dirt with the trenches I could even pile some at the back screen room door.

This is the pile of weeds from the half of the patch too big to fit in the lawn waste buckets. I think it took two more weeks to meter this stuff into the yard waste pickup schedule

A day or two later, some animal took interest in the dirt and dug a small hole. I hope it approves of the work.

I started clearing about the 14th of October. I did the trenching on the 18th or October.  The bushes came on the 20th of October, and I finished on the 21st.

The design intent is for the bushes to grow 10 feet tall like they do on the other side of the house. Some people say Ligustrum is invasive, but this genus does not seem to be a problem in Florida, it is used all over. Thanks to Tampa Nursery & Landscape Company & Gary Alan.