The Front Lawn

Last October, I blogged about how Trey and I worked to replant grass on our tree belt, and this spring we tackled the front lawn. The lawn was almost completey Bermuda grass (see above) which has the most unbelievable root system (see below). I hated it. It turns an ugly brown in the winter and looks like matted-down astro turf in the summer. We wanted a lovely, lush lawn, but as new home owners weren't sure the best way to go about growing one. From all the research I had done online and talking with a guy at our local nursery, the best approach seemed to be roto-tilling the lawn and then planting seed. Bermuda grass, like crab grass, has long runner roots which run below the dirt's surface, making it difficult to fully pull up and eradicate, but we were determined.

We rented a roto-tiller and then hand pulled all the grass in the front, leaving the side yard which is mostly hidden from street view as our fall project. Trey and I worked non-stop for two consecutive Saturdays tearing out the crazy root system, bagging the thatch, and then hand scattering new fescue seeds.

Unlike our fall efforts, the spring ones initially seemed unsuccessful. In October we saw the first few blades of grass within a week. This time around, it took two weeks.

But with faithful watering and a second seeding tiny little grass sproutlings began to slowly emerge.

This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

Patchy and uncertain.

And this is what it looks like today -- full, lush, weed free. Kind of like a golf green.

The lines you see in the photograph above are from the mower wheels. We finally cut it a few days ago, leaving it as long as the mower would allow to give the soft, young blades a chance to grow more hearty and choke out any weeds. I have to say there is real sense of accomplishment after such back-breaking work. We both were so sore and dirty at the end of each Saturday, but the results have been totally worth it.