My struggles with homeownership continue. Fast-forward to my third house, I am currently living in a 1960’s house with 3-bedrooms, and 2-baths. I recently posted about my first-time homeowner lawn care experience. You can read about it here.
Lately I’ve been watering my front yard in hopes of getting a lush carpet-like lawn, like my neighbor Debbie’s, and of course, the Beautification
Award. The problem is we haven’t fertilized in a while. Or ever. The soil is light brown and there are mostly weeds, with small patches of St. Augustine grass.
I pointed out the depleted soil to my husband, and he said, “Oh yeah, I’ll fertilize it.” Um, news flash, the lawn needed more than fertilizer, it needed amendments, topsoil, stuff like that. I couldn’t imagine when he would have the time or energy to do it.
The next day, my doorbell rang. It was Jose and Francisco. They had a truckload of topsoil and wanted to fertilize my front yard. It seemed like a gift from heaven.
I thought it was a good deal. If we were to have a sod lawn, we’d first have to remove the existing weedy lawn, till the soil, add topsoil and starter fertilizer, and then lay the sod. The sod alone for a plot 60′ x 28′ would have cost more than $1,400.
Fist pump, “YESS!” and from my front porch, I watched them spread the rich, black soil and seed. It took an hour and a half. It was hard work.
“This seed costs $18 a pound, Mama,” said Jose, as he swung the seeds into the ground.
My friend Jerry came by, held his nose and said, “Whew, something smells bad!”
I didn’t notice. What I smelled was the sweet odor of receiving a Beautification
Award.
“Make sure you water it, Mama,” said Jose.
I promised I would. A half an hour later, it rained. Another gift.
Later that evening, I told my friend, Tavo, “I just got a truckload of topsoil and fertilizer spread on my front yard. I’m going for the Beautification
Award, you know.”
Tavo’s eyes widened. “I’ve been trying to get that award for years!”
My husband shook his head. “There are other people going for that award besides Nanci?”
You remember when you were in elementary school, and you vied for the shiny gold trophy that came with the Good Citizen Award? Yeah. It’s like that.
Getting back to my lawn, it rained again that night, and again the next day. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. Below is a picture of the current state of my front lawn. Wish me success!
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