Saturday, August 6, 2016

The Evolution of Our Backyard

April/August 6, 2016/ 2 Comments Edit

Yesterday evening, as we were sitting with the babies in our backyard among friends, Mike and I were reminded of just how far it has come… and we are thankful that it’s done. In the heat of buying our house and fixing it up, there were definitely moments during a project when we questioned what we were doing and if we made the right decisions. The yard was one of those projects.

When we first bought the house back in May of 2013, we weren’t even pregnant with Lily. We were living with friends, working full time jobs, then coming to the house to work until dark. The yard was our LAST priority. It was ugly. It was scary. And we didn’t know what to do with it. It was like my unruly hair on a humid day. Scoff when you see it, and try to ignore it. We didn’t have time to spend on something so trivial. Not yet anyway…

Slowly but surely we would try different things. First, we tried to water it with a sprinkler. It worked somewhat. I mean, at least there was green!

Then we tried throwing seed down. Not too shabby. It came in a little, but it still wasn’t what we were hoping for.

Finally, after much debate, we decided to buy pieces of sod and plant plugs. I remember it very clearly. It was December of 2014. We were excited to try it, Lily was 6 months, and we had visions of children running and laughing in the lush green grass. Luke and Jordan helped us, and in one day, the plugs were in the ground. I wish I had taken a picture of them all planted, but I guess I forgot. A lot went into prepping the ground for the plugs. Mike had to level the ground, till it up, install drainage and replace irrigation parts.

Just three months later, in March of 2015, the grass had been completely overtaken by clovers. We were at a loss and had just about given up. We came really close to ripping everything up and starting over, but I’m so glad we didn’t. Mike put in some serious sweat, tears and back-breaking hours over the next few months to get rid of all the weeds. I supervised since I was already pregnant with Emma at that point. I wish I could say I helped, but the truth is I only did a fraction of what Mike did.

Almost two years later, we FINALLY have the grass we always wanted. It seems silly to make it sound so dramatic, but in a way it was for us. This was a long time coming… but “good things come to those who wait” as the saying goes.