Day 1- Grass

Remember last time I grew grass and the near daily updates? Well, get ready for that again. The landlady was going to put sod down, then said no. Then she was going to put sprinklers in then said her husband doesn't have time. She said she'd just throw some seed down and we'd water it with the hose. I said no. Well, not really. I said bring me the seed and I'd do it. I care about the outcome so I'd be sure to do it right. She withheld the seed until I bugged her enough about it. I got my co-worker to put in the sprinkler system at my own expense. I called me up to find out why I was putting in sprinklers without consulting her. I assured her it was completely removable and I wanted to point out I was improving the property at my own expense but did not.

I bought lawn topping soil and fertilizer. Put it all together today, then turned the sprinklers to automatic.

First I raked lightly. I had already raked the dead stuff, sprayed the weeds, then the owners put in some more top soil. Next I used the seed spreader and put the seed down. Then the top soil by hand. I was short by about 1 bag so in that section I raked lightly again to try to cover the seeds. I think I might buy another bag or 2 tomorrow because there is still a lot of seed exposed. Don't want the birds to eat the seeds and the seeds need soil to soil contact. The last step was the fertilizer. I had extra so I was going around again when I remembered that if you use to much you can burn the area. I hope I didn't do that!

It was getting dark as I was starting, so I brought out my agility light. The neighbor showed up and commented that the owner tried this about 2 months ago but all they grew was weeds. Thank you, Mr. Positive. But really, if all they did was put seed on top of the soil and hand water, I'm not surprised. I'll show them what happens when someone with an interest in the outcome does the growing.

Once the grass is grown I wonder who will cut it? I don't have a mower...

I also bought 2 plain gopher snap traps. I'll see if I have time to set them tomorrow. The area behind the house is one huge gopher warren. Stay away from my grass! In the store I saw a device where you hook your hose up to your car tail pipe and put it down a gopher hole and kill them with the CO2. Tempting... but it just doesn't seem safe.

Grow grass grow!