Our backyard is a decent size; we have a nice size pool, a large concreted area for dining and BBQ’s, a fire pit and a cute little area for grass. That cute little area of grass, well… wasn’t so cute for about a week ago. If you don’t attend to your lawn, as you should, it’s very easy for the grassy area to die, grow crab grass, burn, and over time, become patchy.

Prior to our pool, our backyard was half grass and half concrete; it was very pretty and we loved it! Unfortunately, overtime the grass area, with a dog and lack of taking care of it, became very unattractive. We were faced with replacing all of the grass or….. doing something new entirely, like getting a pool. Pulling out grass is A LOT of work. Gratefully, for us, the pool company took care of removing the grass when digging.

Prior to the pool installation, I requested that the pool be placed in an area where we would be left with a small space for some grass. Once the pool was completed and it came down to the landscaping aspect, we laid our own grass down. After a couple years of having the grass, we were once again faced with unattractive grass. We didn’t tend to it as we should have.

There really is a lot more to maintaining the beauty of your green grass other than running your sprinklers and mowing your lawn weekly. Our front yard, periodically, I will run a rake through it to catch the weeds and crab grass that try to take over my grass. I will also spread seed/fertilizer over my existing lawn to further it’s vibrant color and fullness.

All that said and done, last week, my husband ripped out the old grass from our small existing grass area. Like I said earlier, this area is fairly small; it’s roughly 140 square feet. Although this area is not that large, it is still a tough task to complete, especially when done during the Summer days. Yesterday, I spent the morning finalizing the preparation that needs to be done prior to laying new sod, and then, finally, I laid the new sod.

Because our dirt is not the greatest, what I mean by that is it’s hard, we watered the dirt for about 15-20 minutes daily for a week prior to laying the new sod. The day of laying the sod, I raked any rocks, boulders, and dirt clumps into a pile and disposed of them. I also used the rake to level the ground out as much as I possibly could. You want your ground to be even and free of any hill like areas. Imagine throwing a blanket over a bunch of stuff, it’d be anything but flat, smooth and presentable, right? It’s the same concept. After my ground was nice and leveled out and clump free, as much as possible, I used a seed dispenser to fertilize the ground. After seeding the dirt with nutrients, I ran my rake over the dirt and worked the seeds into the ground. Next, I laid out the rolls of sod. For my particular area, I used 18 rolls of sod; the sod came in 5’X16″. I started from the top of the yard, where they’re is a longer stretch of a straight line and worked myself down to to the bottom where my yard took more of a jagged edge. Once I got down to the jagged edge of the yard, I used shears to cut the excess sod. After laying the sod, I once again fertilized the new grass and then watered it.

Now it’s time for the grass to make itself at home and become attached! Let’s hope that this time, it stays green, nice and healthy and remains pretty to the T!!!