The Weight of the Dumpster

Okay, I know this one will not go over to well but we were doing our spring clean up the yard and house thing, when my Mother convinced me to get a dumpster. As we had old furniture that had already been loving "antiques" of others and then repaired and used by us till they couldn't be repaired anymore without some major (by major I mean almost all) new parts and a lot of prayer that they would stay together, that I finally admitted that after being at least the second, third or even fourth family to use them, it was time to let these pieces go. The chairs had to be sat on in just the right way or else, the table and desk couldn't be bumped for fear of the legs re breaking or falling over. Wheels were missing you get the picture. I hate to throw out anything that still can be used but seeing that all this furniture not only needed to be repaired, but some really couldn't (exactly how do you re-weld steel together without special know how to make sure it holds and not burning the house down?). So after much to do I agree but warned that We're keeping the compost pile (she thought I was kidding about having one, must be doing okay there). So she then says, that a friend of hers has started a landscaping company and would be over to help get the garden back under control.
I know you're thinking how hard could the garden be, well we've been working on them since we moved in and only got one section mulched last year, no plants. To understand this you need to know that the first time I saw this house I refused to go inside because you couldn't see the house and the yard made you wonder if it was safe to go into because you might get lost as it was so overgrown. It came to my waist and we had one grapevine that grew the entire perimeter of the backyard and was working on the front from the opposite side. Now since it was .40 acre it was a lot of vine for no grapes. We had over twenty-two full grown trees and no one had thought about where they planted them as one was a holly that wasn't even a foot away from the house but as tall as it in front of the master bedroom windows. So you couldn't open them but carpenter ants loved the help getting inside. The grapevine actually about ten feet in width in the original location. So to put it mildly in the 50 years the couple lived here before us they planted but they did not maintain. I understand wanting to let nature take it's course but we still haven't gotten into the last 30 feet of the yard yet due to overgrowth.
Okay a little over done on the picture but I will let it go by saying that isn't even half of the problems we had up to this point there. I'll tell them later. So my mother sent over her helpers and I now have mulched garden around 80% of the front and side of the house Great! (not really), since I admit this is all something I'm learning as I go along they told me I had to dig out the clay, okay makes sense, but six inches down 2ft width 60 ft in length just for the side, front gardens are 4ft width 25ft each side. Anyone get the picture yet? Yes that was about 11 tons of clay that had to go some where. Only I didn't know how much it weighed till after the dumpster was taken. Did I mention our weight limit was 4 tons and we had to pay by the ton after that? So guess what I got to tell my husband right before he went to work? Honey, I need an extra $400 to pay for listening to the landscapers instead of making those raised gardens I wanted. I know they said this was the right way and that raised gardens would have cost more then the dumpster, but not that much more.
So rule to remember go with plan we feel is right not the experts unless they have so much experience and credentials that we bow in their presence.