SO much respect for landscapers!

This is where we started: dirt mounded up from re-pouring the sidewalk, dead grass, rocks all over the yard..and the random nail here and there left over from roofing and siding projects.
Pretty much a mess!

Cleared the river rock from around the house, laid my landscaping fabric, and trenched in the stones for a nice border.

Added wood mulch inside the rock border, raked up the dead grass, rocks, and junk with a steel rake, and smoothed everything out.
This picture shows the before (foreground) and after. Now the yard is a nice clean slate - hopefully the grass seed I threw down yesterday will start taking off over the next couple weeks!

So..I got myself into another project. I read about a method of organic fertilizing called compost tea - it's all of the benefits of spreading a layer of compost, but it's liquefied so it reaches the roots faster.
I bought a fish tank bubbler to aerate the water so helpful bacteria would grow during the "brewing" process. 

Ideally, you'd use a rain barrel, but I don't have one - I just used City water from the hose and let the bubbler work at it for a while.
Compost tea in practice at Haaaavaad Yaaaad ;)

Make a giant tea bag filled with compost and suspend it from the lid of the can into the bubbling water. Add molasses to feed the bacteria, and a little organic fish fertilizer if you can get it. All in all, it's a great shot of nitrogen to the soil, it helps the root system of the grass reach deeper and increases the lawns drought resistance. And it's organic - even if it doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to, there's nothing in it that's going to hurt anything. Pretty cool process!
Compost Tea

High-Tech

Late last week, I got the call I’d been waiting for.

My mower had arrived J

The week before, I decided to do a little research. I was interested in looking for a mower, but I was especially curious about the older-style reel mowers. I figured, with the size of my yard, I would sweat more yanking the cord on a pull-start, gas powered mower than I would just pushing the reel mower around. Not to mention the reel mowers are cheaper upfront and less costly to operate since I wouldn’t be buying gas, oil, etc. or hiring a mechanic to service it should something go wrong. While I may have a working knowledge of home repair, I have no knowledge of mechanical repair.

Anyway, I visited a few stores here in town before making my way to Coast to Coast Hardware and talking to the owner there. She informed me that they didn’t stock them, but could order them in and had actually just done so for someone the week before.

I opted for the wider model..I think it’s 18”? The cost was $140, which I thought was plenty – I feel like I’ve seen them online for as little as $95, but this one was local and they even put it together before calling me to come pick it up J I also know I’ll be able to take it there if I’ve got a maintenance issue.



My baby after a job well done!

Everyone has put their two cents in on this purchase. Dad thinks I’m kind of nuts, my grandpa called it “cute.” I’ve also gotten all kinds of advice – be sure to keep your blades sharp; don’t let the grass get too long. I, literally, stumbled across my own piece of advice: pick up sticks and twigs before mowing. They will completely stop you in your tracks.

All told, it took me about 10 minutes to mow my yard (including a little tuft of grass along the alley) which is about the same as it had been with the self-propelled mower. This unit is so light, it’s not as hard as I had figured it might be, and I can have a conversation with someone other than myself while I mow!

I tried it on some of the longer grass next door and it still did a decent job. I’ve found it tends to skip over dandelions and things like that, though. The grill in the front just bends them over and the blades miss them entirely. I didn’t seem to have that problem in my yard, so I think it’s just a matter of staying on top of the grass and not letting it get out of hand.

Anyway, this is my latest purchase. I’m pretty proud of it, and I actually can’t wait to mow the yard again…which is NEVER the case J