Reseeding - Week 3

"Better late than never" I always say. I took this photo on week 3 just like I planned to do, yet it has somehow taken me over a month to post it! On any account, our lawn is actually growing and needing to be mown every week still (and it's now November!). We've already patched those larger holes with sod but still have a few thin patches and we are planning to patch those with seed in the spring.

Reseeding - Week 2

Well we are actually having some of our dead spots fill in this week! We still have a little ways to go before mowing and we still have some larger spots that are still challenging us but we hope to mow in about one or two more weeks, then possibly put out sod in our larger spots that need it. Regardless, our yard is looking greener and thicker than it has.

Reseeding - Week 1

Well, it's been one week since we reseeded the yard. In the photos you'll notice that our current grass has really liked the twice-a-day watering as well as the fertilizer we put out. However, while you can't really see it yet in photos there are small grasses sprouting all over the yard. Our mission now is to keep them alive! Check back next week to see how we're doing.

Compost - Day Zero

In anticipation for our reseeding project, Susan built a compost bin this week. It is 4 x 4 and the front side has hinges part way down so that we can add to the compost, stir it up and get to it when we want to use it in the spring. Today we filled it up with all of the thatch that we raked up from the yard. Check back in a few months to see if we can actually make a good compost for the flower bed.

Reseeding - Day Zero

Today we embarked on the process of reseeding our yard. First off we rented a machine called a vericutter - basically a machine that cuts shallow grooves into your yard. While it may seem as though we were just tearing our grass to bits the reason is really twofold. The first reason is to create small grooves for our new grass seed to land in and the second is to cut up the thatch layer to make it easier to remove (so the new seed can reach the dirt). After vericutting we embarked on the hard work of raking up our thatch layer and moving it out of the yard. (You can see the raked thatch in the first photo.) The second two photos are after we put out starter fertilizer and seed. Check back next Friday to see if our seed has sprouted!

Decked

One of our first major projects that we did ourselves was staining our decks. At first we thought we could do the entire project in a weekend but deck staining proved to be more involved that previously imagined. We have three decks - two in the back, plus the front porch. All of these decks had to be cleaned, dried out and then stained. After a lot of work, we did finish though and it looks pretty good - or at least better than it did. We used Behr stain from Home Depot in Cedar Naturaltone. If you'll notice in the before and after photos we also painted the doors and door frames white. We also want to paint the window trim but need to get an extension ladder to do that project.

Fenced In

As most of you know, our home did not come with a fenced backyard, which is relatively common here in Missouri. However, Sally really does need a fenced yard to run and play in so within a few weeks of moving in we called Quality Fence and had them install our new cedar privacy fence as well as haul off the delapidated swing set left by the previous owners. The backyard still needs quite a bit of work on the grass and we hope to add trees and flowerbeds this fall but we are making progress.