Throw the switch on a revamped yard.

Byline: Ariel Hansen

Apr. 17--Yard looking dreary? Haphazard? Like no one has touched it all year?

If you dream of a lush, colorful backyard, a place where family and friends can gather for barbeques or garden parties, consider entering our Backyard Switch contest.

Last year, winners Ted and Lyn Carrington traded yards with Scott and Melanie Hunsaker. While the Hunsakers simply needed a well laid-out space to share with guests and their four children, the Carringtons' yard was a bigger challenge.

"It is a complete disaster offering nothing but weeds and dirt, and who wants to look at that? I know I don't," Lyn Carrington said last year, before the switch.

After the switch, the Carringtons invited friends and family to enjoy their improved landscaping. The result? "They were amazed," Ted Carrington said last week. "It just looks real nice the way they've laid it out."

The improvements, accomplished with supplies and design advice from Kimberly Nurseries and labor from the Hunsakers, had languished on Ted Carrington's to-do list.

"I don't know how long it would have taken me to get around to it, maybe another couple summers," he said. But Backyard Switch came to the rescue. "It put me maybe a couple years ahead."

Your turn

It's time again for the annual Backyard Switch. This year you could win, but only if you enter!

Entrants must live in the Times-News' eight-county circulation area -- Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka and Twin Falls counties -- and must either own their property or have written permission from the owner to landscape it.

Two winning households will trade yards long enough to create a landscaping masterpiece -- with help from the pros.

In both cases, the work must be done by a minimum of two people at least 16 years of age, although friends and family members are welcome to chip in. The two families chosen must be able to take the same two-day period between May 15 and June 12 to accomplish the landscaping. A third day may be used if additional work time is needed, if both families agree on a date, but the project must be completed with no more than three days of work.

Participants will have help with design from the professionals at Kimberly Nurseries in Twin Falls, which will also supply up to $1,000 in plants and other materials for each yard. But the homeowners will be responsible for all labor.

Pick up an application at the Times-News' downtown office or at Kimberly Nurseries. An application is also included in today's newspaper, and on the Internet at www.magicvalley.com (click "Backyard Switch"). Applications must be received by May 8.

Include photos of all angles of the area to be transformed, a photo of the exterior of the house and a photo of the would-be participants. Mail these photos and the completed application to: "Attn: Backyard Switch," Times-News, P.O. Box 548, Twin Falls, ID 83303.

Winners will be announced in the Times-News' Country Roads section on May 15. The work must be completed by June 12, and a story about the completed yards will be published in Country Roads on June 26.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business

News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.