This is your first one here =] *applauds*. This is a really, really good descriptive piece. I love the detail you use describing the plants and the house. Your voice is very clear and vivid, you get across how creepy this place is without going on and on in a boring way. I have some suggestions (don't take this as I didn't like it, this is just the way I review). If you have any Qs message me. I like the way you ended it as well, kind of a cliffhanger.

Use of the word once a lot, “once so sturdy”, “once the focal point”, “once the front lawn.”

“Involuntary shiver” -> should be involuntarily shiver.

“he backyard looks the same as the front, weedy and rotten, neglected for many years and as I walk through the overgrown garden at the back of the house I notice an old swing.” Long sentence, try splitting it maybe to “...neglected for many years. As I walk...”

“Years before, when there was happiness here, so many years ago” -> years ago and years before in the same sentence. I think you only need one.

“haven’t for years and years so what’s going on here?” -> I think you should put a comma between the second years and the so. “...years and years, so what’s going on here?”