Sunday, May 27

A Long But Gratifying Week


Ever since we bought our new house we have been planning and dreaming about putting in our yard. One of the reasons we bought the house was because we wanted a big yard, and our lot is 10,000 square feet. Since our house is only 1,520 square feet, that leaves quite a bit of yard! Over the last 16 months we've watch almost all of our neighbors put in their grass, shrubs, etc., and now it is our turn. Eddie took a week off from work so we would be sure to have lots of time to get it all done.


The first thing to arrive on Saturday morning was the Bobcat we rented. We knew we would never be able to finish the job if we had to move 50 yards of soil one wheelbarrowful at a time. We also had a unit of cedar chips to move and 10 yards of 3/4 minus rock to spread for an expanded driveway (we hope to concrete it in one day). As soon as the Bobcat arrived we got to work gathering up the piles of weeds and rocks (and even our Christmas tree) and moving them to our truck. We ended up removing about two tons of debris from our yard this weekend, and that's in addition to the tons we already had removed last year! We then laid rolls of weed block on areas that were going to be borders or flower beds, and then it was on to some heavier work.


The next thing to arrive was our mulch/sand mix which we used for topsoil. Our ground is nothing but clay and rocks, and though we spent hours and hours raking rocks up last year, the ground is just not suitable for growing grass in. We spent two days moving and leveling the mulch, but we got rained out on the second day. We worked for hours in the rain, but eventually the rain started coming down too hard and it was just too soggy to continue and we were totally drenched.


It rained a good portion of the next day as well, so we took most of Monday off and went geocaching and to the zoo. It was a nice break from the work, but the next day we were back to work finishing up the mulch. I was amazed at how much better our yard looked with just the new soil.




We did a few more odds and ends around the yard while we waited for the sod to be delivered Wednesday morning. It arrived right on time, 4,000 square feet of it (400 rolls), and we were eager to get started on the most gratifying portion of the yard work. It was heavy and hard work, but it was so nice to see the lawn taking shape right before our eyes. We got about 1,600 square feet laid the first day, and did the remaining sod the second day. We worked for over 12 hours on Thursday, almost to the point of exhaustion. We had to get it in the ground before it died, and so we continued to work until it was all rolled out.


It looks terrific, and I am so pleased with the result! It took lots of planning and an incredible amount of hard work, and I don't think my body can do it again. I'm just too old for so many days in a row of such strenuous work. We still have a few minor things to finish, but we're just too tired to deal with it this week. We need a bit more topsoil for a small portion of the front yard, and then we need to spread the barkdust on the borders and flowerbeds and over that small portion of the front yard. Next year we will plant some trees, shrubs, and flowers, but for this year, I think we're almost done!





7 comments:

Darcy said...

Wow! It looks great Kim!!! How exciting to have a finished backyard. I know I was sure happy just to have the area around the swingset filled in and sodded. And the areas that Steven put seed are finally starting to sprout.

Do you have to keep the kids off the grass for a week or two??

Kim said...

Yeah, the place we got the sod from said to keep off of it for a month, except to water and mow. It's supposed to be in the upper 80s and lower 90s next week, so I'm going to have to really keep it wet. We never have 90-degree weather in May!

Anonymous said...

A month??? How in the world are you going to keep the kids from walking on it to the playset?? LOL.

You better get somewhere to get a sprinkler!

Kim said...

We'll let them walk on it to the play structure, but we can't let them do any real playing on the grass.

We bought two sprinklers last week and have already put them to work quite a bit.

Unknown said...

Whew! Lots of work, huh Kim? How did the kids enjoy watching the process?

Kim said...

The kids were very excited about it all but frustrated that they couldn't run all over the grass and topsoil. We did let them run around barefoot on it for a while after we finished the backyard. It was so fun to watch them! They were giggling and having the best time.

Darcy said...

Uh, I'm not sure how that happened, but that comment from "Patty" was really from me. I must have forgotten to sign in as me after fixing something on her blog. Ooopss. LOL.

 

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