Backyard Project

And in the fourth winter Joey said, “let there be grass”, and there was grass, and it was good.  Ok, well, there is not grass yet, mainly mud… let me back up.

When we moved into the house four years ago, the backyard was all weeds.  We never minded much.  KatyDog was thrilled to have a backyard at all.  She didn’t complain about the lack of grass.  Also, since she mainly likes to find a sunny spot and lie down, she did not really put to much stress on the vegetation that was there when we moved in.  The horrific drought, on the other hand, really did a number on the lawn.  Four summers, and the “grass” just beyond our patio was toast[ed].  The ground was packed down, and when it did rain, the water just slid past without being absorbed – creating an erosion problem for us, and a run-off problem for our downhill neighbors.

Enter one very energetic lab puppy, who would really love to play in the yard.  She has much bigger paws than KatyDog, and cleaning up muddy footprints does not sound fun.  Just the motivation Joey and I needed to finally do something about the turf, or lack there of, in our backyard.

KatyDog, Elanor, and I provided moral support.  All of the actual labor was done by Joey.  Here is the run down: Rake up all the dead weeds and dog mess, weed eat the living weeds into submission, borrow a dirt rake and a spreader from Troy, use the dirt rake to loosen up the soil, water, spread fertilizer, water, spread winter rye seed, use the dirt rake to work the seed into the soil, water, and wait.  Keep watering.  Wait until you see grass beginning to grow.  I hate waiting!  KatyDog is hating the waiting as well because we won’t let her in the backyard, since it is just a big mud puddle right now.  As long as we are waiting for the grass to show up, I took a few pictures.  More when there is actual grass…

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