The grass project
Last year there was a bare spot in the sideyard, as well as my backyard, and after the grass grew in this year the spots appeared to be growing, so I asked my neighbor for advice. Everett said it needed reseeding and maybe he knew someone who could do it. I said fine, whatever it costs. Then, a couple days later he tells me, well, all we really need is to spray-kill the weeds, then rototill, rake, reseed, tamp down the soil, mulch & water. Simple.
Yeah right. So it sounds like more work than I can handle, than I've ever handled (at least outdoors), but he says since he can rent a rototiller & roller, buy the seed & then some straw for mulch, we can do it ourselves, really.
No way.
So I'm waaay skeptical, but Everett's determined & next thing I know the weeds are turning yellow & I realize he's already sprayed when I wasn't noticing. Then I hear him out there on a mild Saturday morning (5-14) working away with this brand-new mini-rototiller he got for minimal rent. It takes him 2 hours. And before I know it I'm out there too and we're both raking away.
Lunch break. After which Everett turns up with a rented roller, 5 lbs. of grass seed & a bale of straw. I feel like my father's farmer daughter for the first time in 40 years — wouldn't he be ruefully proud to see me? — sowing handfuls of seed & then straw over the ground. Then we get out our respective sprinklers & start watering.
And it's done.
A partial morning's & full afternoon's work. Done. Now all that's left is to water twice daily for as long as it takes — 10-14 days, Everett says — and we've got lawn.
And voilá, it's true, a miracle! When I watered yesterday I noticed itsy bitsy little green sprouts in places under the straw and today, from a distance, that straw seemed to have a bit of a green tint, well, a tiny bit more grass green than straw yellow. Now all I have to do is finish my flowerbed and my intro to gardening will be complete. Thanks to my do-it-yourself neighbor, Everett!
So there you have it: I grew up on a farm & have had houseplants for years, but getting out there myself & making things grow in the great outdoors? Well, that's something new, so, silly & simple as it may seem to those of you who've been doing this sort of thing for awhile, it's really a big deal for me. And so it goes....
I see where the years on the farm haven't been totally wasted. Congratulations on growing grass. You might want to try corn next.
By: Wolfie :: Mon., Jul. 4, 2005 @ 8:13 AM