My small field of stumps (most smaller than 3-4" in diameter) is being suppressed with regular stripping of new growth and the occasional addition of vinegar into holes drilled into them. They are still alive, but they are struggling. Good. That said, there are a few that are growing very well and I need to get out and make it less easy for them.
I have not rototilled and planted new grass anywhere.
I have grape vines that found their way into my yard from my neighbours and they are trying to take over. Anyone know how to get rid of vines? Because holy hell they are trying to pull down my cable/phone wires and are insanely tough to remove.
I have made good progress on my lilac tree in the back yard. I have chainsawed several other species of trees that had found their way into the middle of it and grown inside it. Think many, many trunks (of middling size) with most being lilac, but some being other invasive trees. So it's looking a bit bare at the moment as all that empty space used to be other tree trunks. I do need to trim it back (by a third, I understand) to encourage new flowering growth next year, and to reduce the size of the tree. It's a huge messy tangle of bare bark, twigs and occasional flowering branches (well, not flowering now, but a month ago).
We have started to edge the front yard, and even the most simple, least skilled edging has made a vast improvement to the aesthetic.
I have a mock orange that I nearly killed years ago by heavily trimming during the wrong time, and it has only just started flowering again. There are a ton of dead branches though that I need to remove, some covered in moss (an issue with mock oranges, I have learned). What I have learned is that the mock orange and the lilac are both about the same kind of care. Prune a third, after flowering season. Careful trimming the top as most new growth is there and trimming too much will shock it badly.
I whipper snipped the hell out of the weeds and grass growing up through my patio stones (loose walkway from driveway to front door) and it looks tidier. I need to go back and do it again as some of it is recovering.
I have a ton of branches and small logs that I need to cut up and bundle for yard waste removal. I've already done a ton so from that metric alone I've made decent progress.
I'm loving the black and decker 40v weed whacker, although until I get through a couple of seasons, the jury is tentative about the verdict.
So basically I'm still cutting, chopping, whacking, digging, pruning and trimming everything in sight. We have 2 bird baths that are getting lots of usage, so the cats and kids are loving that. the yard is still to big a mess for the baths to be a design choice. Right now they are literally there just for the functionality of providing birds some water and encouraging them to stick around.
I've done better this summer than in many previous years, yet I still feel like I'm barely keeping up with new growth. Of course this is on me. It has been a HOT summer, and I'm extremely lazy in my aging, sedentary body so willpower has been in short supply.
Still, chin up, making progress, keep at it, etc.
