Friday, April 27, 2007

Transformation

This is the before shot of the house. That sickly yellow lawn full of tall fescue was keeping me up nights, it bothered me so much. Jeff and I have always put a high priority on having, not just a good lawn-the best lawn on the block.


This lawn was only a year old, but it was a juvenile delinquent! It not only wasn't a good lawn, it wasn't fit for pasture! This black topsoil was supposed to top dress the whole project.
It didn't come close.


The excavater found more topsoil and had five of these semi-trucks brought in!



I wish I could get me one of these. This little Bobcat is wonderful and I need it around. I know Kerri's hubby has one, but we paid this guy $100/hour to spread this stuff....



This man was so nice, Jeff had to work that morning, so he helped me carry my brand new beautiful raised beds out to their spots. Then, (can you see the fancy equipment??)
He used his lazar level to get them just right! It took a long time for us to get this far. Right after we got them in place, Jeff came home with burgers and fries!! I am very spoiled by him!

We had a long way to go, after that.
That was Saturday. I spent every hour out there until church on Saturday night. Then, I started the new job on Sunday. On Monday, I did the research and decided which seed I wanted. I knew I wanted bluegrass, but it takes sooo long to germinate. Since we had invested a lot in the soil, I wanted to give it justice, you know? Make it worth it!
So....
I went to the professional turf guys in the little farm town down the road. They install for the major leagues and the parks. I talked at length with them, learned a lot and brought home $600 worth of premium grass seed and fertilizer.
My husband was freaking out when I told him how much I spent.....




But, he recovered and took the next day off of work and rented a power seeder, sometimes called a slit seeder.
The image “http://www.bluebirdintl.com/files/bluebird/PRake-In-Use_190x262.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.***not my husband, not my yard***

Well, the thing broke within an hour. So, he took it back, waited for them to fix it. An hour later, they told him they couldn't fix it. All the while, three days of slow steady rain is coming in from the west. He has to finish before the rain starts!! That seed would really be given a great start if it would rain after it was down!
He ran out to the next biggest town, DeKalb, and rented one there. It took two hours to get it back, and he worked like a crazy man!! To power seed correctly, you go east to west, then diagonally across the whole thing. This machine is a beast to handle, but Jeff made it look like he was mowing the lawn!!
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***not my husband, not my lawn***

Just as the first drops began to fall, Jeff finished. It has rained slowly and politely, ever since that evening. All those expensive little seeds are tucked into their expensive blanket now!
We are expecting sunshine and 70's for the next week.
That grass will be so good, it will make me jump for joy!!
The image “http://www.cartoonmotivators.com/images/Yes!Yes!.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.***enlarged for texture***


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4 comments:

  1. Well for one thing...I'm soooo glad that second picture is NOT your hubby!! LOL I'm giggling like crazy here! hehe When we moved to this house 29 years ago, the grass was mostly weeds, it was terrible. We put in a lot of work to get it to what it is now...it's so green and thick (well in the summer time) and we get compliments on it all the time. Good luck with yours!! xoxo

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  2. After all of that I hope that you get the lawn that you want! Right now I would settle for green and mole/vole free but I do remember having a beautiful lawn. ...sigh*

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  3. Hi Sissy,

    I'm just catching up on my blog reading. Looks like you are doing so much work in the yard! We used to live in Illinois and I had forgotten how flat it was out there. We lived in the middle of corn and soybean country so flat was good for the farmers. I'm looking forward to hearing how the new job is going.

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  4. I'm still laughing over the little video clip! So funny, and I'm so glad you got the right weather for all your grass seed.

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