The grass REALLY IS GREENER!

Dude.

We have a badass backyard.

WATER!

When we first moved into the house we had a pond in the back. I was so looking forward to getting it all fixed up and running and the sound of the water and the frogs and possibly fish and… no. It was just one disaster after another. First the pump died so we had somebody come out to install a new one. (Actually, something good came out of that step! We bought the shopvac which we’ve since found a ton of uses for.) Then once it was all up and running and pretty and stuff it started leaking. And just GAH! We tried to track the leak, thought maybe it was just a hole in the lining, so one Saturday afternoon we started digging to find the hole and pretty soon the hole was four feet deep and five feet wide and IS THERE AN END TO THIS DAMN HOLE! And it’s not just the digging! There’s the ROCKS! There are SO. MANY. ROCKS.

Then it sat. For probably a month it sat.

Pond Removal

We tossed around the idea of trying to fix it or just fill it up and sod over it or just throw a couple gallons of nitroglycerin in there and hope for a very strong wind to blow through and in the end sod seemed like the most logical, cost effective and dog friendly solution.

Ben spent a LOT of time over the next two or so weeks filling up the hole with trucks full of dirt, ripping out monster grass plants that were determined to stay, prepping the rock hard clay around the pond area and cussing. And buying tools. And sweating. He was dirty and sweaty and cussing and I have to admit here that a small part of me kind of liked coming home to that. heh ENOUGH OF THAT! Get your minds out of the gutter, people!

Hirsch Landfill (or for the beer lovers: black and tan)

Finally, last week he was able to switch to topsoil and finished up prepping the area so that Saturday we could lay down the sod. And we did. We laid that sod GOOD. We kicked that sod’s ASS.

And I spent the next two days laying on my back and alternating between cooling pads, the massager and heavy doses of pain killers because, dude, that sod KICKED MY ASS. Did you know that a little roll of sod weighs over 50 pounds and we moved 15 of them from the pallet to the back of the truck, then the back of the truck to a spot in the backyard, then a spot in the backyard to where they were finally laid to rest for ALL OF ETERNITY. And they really have to guesstimate the weight because the wetter they are, the more they weigh and we had a few that were REALLY wet. So with the guestimate weight and the number of times we had to move it we lifted a combined total of 2250 POUNDS OF GRASS. And if that sentence were, like, you know, about “grass” *wink wink nudge nudge* I’d probably feel all happy right now but it wasn’t, it was, you know… GRASS. So after going to pick up the 2000th pound of grass I must have lifted wrong. Or maybe it was swinging the mallet into the four inch thick tree posts, all eight of them, so that I could pull them out of the ground. Or maybe it was the way I threw myself into the chair when I took a break but whatever it was, my ass: KICKED.

I’m okay now though because WE HAVE A BADASS BACKYARD.

The Day After (sod was installed)

Ben had to go yesterday and get one final roll of sod to fill in some of the edge spots and he’s been dilligently watching over it and watering it three times a day and it looks AWESOME. He’s also pulled out some more of the crappy looking plants and “installed” a new plant where the old waterfall used to be. He did a great job of building that place back up with rock and planted some ground cover there with PINK FLOWERS that will eventually “flow over” that rock and look beautiful.

When we first moved in I was SO in love with the backyard. I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly get any better but, MAN, has it gotten better. And I love it. And it’s only going to get better. And Ben has been the driving force. And have I written lately about how much I love that man?

10 thoughts on “The grass REALLY IS GREENER!

  1. Your backyard is looking pretty bad ass I’d definitely agree. I bet it’s even better knowing you did it yourselves. I’d find that to be quite fulfilling. It’s why when we buy we want to get something that requires fixing up both for cost and “We did this” satisfaction.

  2. That looks amazing now! I would have loved the pond too, but yeah, that sounds like one huge pain in the ass haha. YAY for sod though eh? 😀

  3. The idea of the pond (or even a pool) always sounds great. But in practice, many times, the complications that come with them, along with the bill, are far more than the view or usability they bring.

  4. You guys should give tips to the guys putting down the sod on the house 3 doors down. They put it down then watered it for about 72 hours straight. It turned gray. So they decided to water it some more. Finally they pulled it up and put more down. They’ve been watering it for about 48 hours now…

    Yours looks great!

  5. We did a lot of reading about it, not sure if ours will last, hopefully, but watering is one of the most important parts, and overwatering causes the roots to rot (because they can even get going). Thanks for the compliments. Really hoping it takes off 🙂

  6. I’m glad you got it all fixed up and it really looks great. I have loads of grass in my garden and I love it. Its lovely in the summer when we can sit out.

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