Here We Go Again

Last fall's expensive attempt at calling in professional landscapers didn't seem to really help the yard. So this spring we decided to try again on our own, in earnest. Instead of going to Home Depot where we never can find knowledgeable help, we went to a local garden supply center and explained our needs. They recommended laying down garden lime in the front yard to increase alkalinity of our soil and hopefully eliminate the moss (we get plenty of sun, so the moss wasn't just due to shade). They sold us some starter fertilizer and also some grass seed better calibrated to local soil. Plus I can never leave a garden store without some pretty flowers in continuing attempts to make the garden full and colorful.

D spread two bags of lime and the starter fertilizer, making the lawn look gray and chalky. Then a few days later we got a delivery for 2 cubic yards of compost and 1 cubic yard of mulch (for the garden, not the lawn).

Time to spread it. Yay...(that's sarcasm, if you couldn't tell). You can seem some of the lime that hadn't absorbed yet, still making the ground look whitish.

After getting the compost in piles all around the lawn, we raked it into place. Then we spread the new seed. For a couple of weeks, we really couldn't see any grass at all.

Slowly, thanks to frequent watering and April rain, the compost absorbed and the grass perked up, making the lawn look less black and more green.

We have some new grass coming up from the seeds but also our old grass is looking a little happier. We're not sure how much of that is due to the compost, fertilizer, and lime and how much is just due to the fact that it's getting warmer and wetter. We have a lot of weeds and clover but honestly, at least it is green. Maybe we'll wait until fall to do some more weed and feed type stuff - it is too aggressive to be applied just after grass seed anyway, and by summer it is too hot to do much of anything outside to improve our lawn, especially because that's when we're least willing to water.

A couple of our neighbors have complimented us on our effort. So at least they see we're trying. I think that counts for a lot in the end, even if it doesn't look dramatically better. We don't want to seem like slackers.