Grow Already!

I have spent the last two days being sweaty and dirty. Yuck.

Our backyard is a pitiful mess that has slowly turned into nothing more than a sandy pit. Between the dog chasing squirrels and cats that tease her from the top of our 6 foot privacy fence, and the drought conditions for the past few months here in Florida, it has become a useless space.

Wednesday, I leveled out the barren wasteland and watered it down. Yesterday, I drug my little monkeys to Lowe's to buy supplies to begin my grass farming adventure. As I contemplated the million types of seed and fertilizer, they proceeded to climb on bags of topsoil, put their noses in flowers, and generally irritate me. I know they are young. I should be patient. I don't want to be the unhinged mother griping at her kids in the store--and yet, it comes to me so naturally.

I gulped down my irritation, paid for everything, and headed home $40 poorer. The boys helped me clear out some weeds in the yard and then I went to work.

I spent hours last night raking, grading, fertilizing, planting seed and watering the yard.

I have tried to repair the yard before. Once, I bought plugs of grass that you plant sporadically throughout the yard, and as they grow they spread out and complete the lawn. Shortly after spending hours putting about 40 in the yard, my dog promptly decided that they were invaders and ripped every single one of them out of the dirt. She greeted me happily, tail wagging, as I surveyed the shredded remnants strewn about the yard.

"I saved our yard from the weird, green sprouts!"she seemed to say.

Last year, we bought sod and put it in a few, key places in the yard. I watered it faithfully for a month and then went to watering it only 2-3 times a week. It promptly dried up and died.

If this doesn't work I will officially paint my thumb black.