To backtrack, when we moved into this house a year ago July, about half the backyard had grass. The other half was divided into four parts: a play area with swing set, an overgrown former vegetable garden covered in weeds, a horribly ugly greenhouse, and a weathered but functional tool shed. The greenhouse had to go. No question. So Mathew's dad came over and single-handedly tore the thing down for us. I think Gerald and Seth might have helped a little, but the greatest share of the work was Todd's. Without him, his tools, and his expertise, that ugly greenhouse would most certainly still be out there. Thank you, Todd.
As summer approached, the watering season began. That turned out to be a giant disaster because our underground sprinkler system was faulty. Former owners failed to disclose that little piece of information, even though neighbors told us it had never really worked correctly. With the unusually hot and dry summer, it was all we could do to keep the front yard watered, and we didn't fully succeed at that, though not for lack of trying; Gerald spent hours every day moving sprinklers around in attempt to keep the grass in the front yard green. But the backyard? Nope, didn't happen. All the grass died.
And then it was fall. Shulamith very much wants Swen to have a nice yard to play in next summer (Will he really be big enough to play by then??), and our backyard was anything but "nice," so she made it our project for September to fix that situation. Here is just one sad example of what it looked like:
Our first task was to pull out all the weeds. There were so many, and the ones where the vegetable garden used to be were way tall. We had to moisten the ground and then dig them out with shovels. Next, we tried to level out the ground with those same shovels because we didn't happen to have a rototiller just lying around. We did our best. Our next step was to go to Lowe's and explain our woeful lack of experience and knowledge about planting grass and beg for help.
The folks there were super nice. We told them we wanted to plant grass in our backyard and we had no idea how, but we didn't want to spend a ton of money. They suggested we get some fertilizer (can't remember what specifically) to apply first, then the seed, and then some cover dirt for over the top. Okay, got it. We bought a cheap spreader and came home excited. Well, Shulamith was excited. I was neutral by that point, and Swen was totally over the whole thing. He insisted on being held, so we took turns spreading the fertilizer, seed, and dirt.
Then the waiting began. The waiting and watering, that is. Apparently, you have to keep a newly seeded lawn moist or the grass won't grow. Also, you're not supposed to walk on it much, and you're certainly not supposed to dig holes in it. Kitty (aka Queen of Digging Holes), therefore, had to be kept inside, which of course meant one of us taking her out front on a leash every time she needed to go to the bathroom. How totally convenient.
That was about three weeks ago. For the first week, we watched close every day, hoping to see even the tiniest blade of grass peek up out of all that dirt. We were scared all this work would be for nothing. Matt's mom assured Shulamith that it can take up to two weeks to see any evidence of grass, which gave us hope, but then my friend Jane told me she tried three different times to seed her backyard, but the grass never grew. "Oh no! That's SO gonna be us."
Finally, though, about a week ago, we saw it, some tiny blades of grass. No, it wasn't a lot. Yes, it seemed to be growing in small patches, but whatever. It was grass! We grew grass. We did it. And while it's not thick and lovely yet, it's getting thicker every day. If it's not quite what we want by spring, we will throw some more seed out to fill in, but I really do think we will have a yard. A backyard for Baby Swen. And speaking of him, here's a picture in his new Halloween jammies:
Watching grass grow. Exciting? Oh yeah, it is. It totally is.
No comments:
Post a Comment