The first house my husband and I bought was in February 2001 in Euless, TX. It was a 1960’s 3-bedroom, 1.5-bath house with a huge front and backyard. Unfortunately, because we bought the house during wintertime, we discovered the yard lacked an automatic sprinkler system.
By the time summer came around, I knew I was in trouble. Outside in the blistering heat, with a newborn son in one arm, and a garden hose in the other, I could only nod to drivers as they slowly passed by. They must have thought I was crazy.
Our neighbor, Jeff, although a renter, was a grass whisperer. He would carefully lay out his homemade water sprinkler system, made from PVC pipe, and water his thick, luscious, emerald green St. Augustine grass. I had a full-blown case of green grass envy.
Then I discovered that the City of Euless has an award they give out to residents and businesses to highlight the efforts of keeping Euless beautiful. Called the Beautification Award, these monthly awards are presented between May through October.
The winners get a plaque in their front yard for a month. Their name and picture of their house are displayed at the library and on the city’s website. I determined that I was going to get that award. Now I just needed to live up to it.
I planted pansies, irises, liriope, alyssum, dusty miller, lambs ear, rosemary, lavender, and lantana. I dutifully followed Jeff’s advice, even watering close to his lawn to get the runners from his yard to come over to mine.
Sometimes I’d see Jeff spread his leftover fertilizer on my front lawn, and even water it for me!
But to no avail. I had crabgrass, dandelions, dogfennel, ground ivy, henbit, you name, it, I got it. Oh yeah, and fire ants. And don’t get me started on the bamboo patch the size of Rhode Island, with briar and poison ivy along the chain link fence.
By 2010, we moved on to another house, and the yard looked like this:
Sorry.
I don’t have an excuse, except my name isn’t Jeff.
But just because I couldn’t get the award with this yard, I still plan on getting it.
So, here’s the takeaway:
- If you aren’t experienced with lawn care, buy a house with a smaller yard.
- Get an automatic sprinkler system installed.
- Hire Jeff.