Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Insta-lawn!


A couple weeks ago, the hubby and I purchased some mulch so we could continue this process that we started earlier this year {and here too}. All was fine and dandy in the world of our new mulch beds until we had some torrential, and I mean torrential, downpours in our area recently.  We were actually thrilled for the rain {can anyone say country-wide drought??}, but the bed above our rock wall was not. 

While the rain was pouring down, we were eagerly peering out all the windows of our home.  It was a rare chance for us to truly see the pitch of our property and where the water runs, because, well…there were streams of water going everywhere!!  Luckily, everything, including our newly hardscaped backyard, was sloped perfectly and things were draining away from our home and continuing downhill in our neighborhood.

All was well in the world of water drainage, except for the aforementioned bed.  That poor thing took quite the beating because our backyard looks like this. :(


See all that dirt?  Well mix it with heavy rain and it turned into a mud river that poured over the poor mulch bed.  Yup, right through it, down the rock wall, and then down the street...in all it’s dirty, brown glory.  Shockingly, our mulch did its job and pretty much stayed put, but that muddy river poured over it in several places leaving ugly streaks.

The solution to this issue?  {Obvious answer} having a backyard that is actual grass and NOT dirt!!  Unfortunately, we know achieving a grassy backyard doesn’t happen overnight.  The hubs has been working hard at getting sections to start growing, and so far, it’s working out as well as can be expected, especially when you consider the obnoxiously warm, extremely dry summer Jersey is experiencing.  {For proof, see the brighter green grass sprouting at the bottom of the pic.}  But until we have a serious barrier of grass on our slight hill, that mud will continue to flow…so we turned to an option already used in our front yard…sod!  Ahhhh, the glorious insta-lawn!  

While we aren’t bagillionaires and cannot afford to sod our entire backyard, we can certainly afford a couple strips of it!  So we {hubby} strategically placed those strips above our rock wall bed, in hopes that it would take root and provide some much needed protection during rain storms.  




It didn’t hurt that we had enough left over to sod some areas around our new patio too! :)  {These photos were not taken on the same day as the ones above...note, the overcast-ness.  Bleh.}




Since putting the strips down, we've had another torrential downpour and they totally did their job!  The sod kept the water from rushing over the rock wall bed, and it even started taking root.  It looks like this might be our second successful venture into the world of sod.

We even added a bag of river rock to our patio steps to naturally fill in gaps left from the patio construction.



Every little bit helps us move towards a finished backyard! Anyone else tackle some outdoor stuff lately?

22 comments:

  1. Nicely done! I wish we had some rain... well, we got some sprinkles but definitely not a down pour! Some day rain will return to this country. Love the river rock addition.

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    1. Thanks Megan! We have had quite a few crazy thunderstorms lately!! It doesn't make up for the lack of rain we've had this summer, but it doesn't hurt! :)

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  2. Your yard is looking great! It's been so hot here we haven't really done much outside in the past few weeks. And it shows. Now that it seems to be cooling off a bit it's probably time I get to weeding!

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    1. Ahhh, thanks!! :) We still have a lot to do, but we have definitely come so far!

      I don't blame you...the 100+ degree temps around the country are crazy!! Hopefully things start cooling down for everyone now.

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  3. Looks great! It's always nice when you can find an easy solution like this! I'm getting a quote today on sodding our 5,000 square foot front yard. I'm really scared to see the number. We're not bagillionaires either, but we've seeded and seeded and reseeded and only have a yard of weeds to show for it. I'm ready to surrender and leave it to the experts.

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    1. Thank you!! Oh man, good luck with the quote! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys that it works out and you can move ahead with it. :)

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  4. Way to go! Problem solved :) All your hardwork (or hubby's ;) in the backyard is paying off! It looks amazing, and that back patio is really shining bright! haha wow that last line conveys how much of a cheeseball I am. :)

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    1. Thank you, Whitney! We are so thrilled with how things are coming along. Haha...I love your cheeseball-ness! :)

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  5. Nope. Ours is full of weeds and leftover building materials. :/ Yay for instant gratification - that is my fave!

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    1. That's okay because your house and decks are so dreamyyyyy. ;) And yay is right...so awesome! :)

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  6. Yay for sod! It's looking great! I'm sure the rest will fill in over time too if you keep seeding in sections. Growing grass is frustrating for sure!

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    1. Thank you, Christine! :) Yes it is...it takes a TON of patience {boooooo, hehe}.

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  7. I want to try sod for our yard so bad! All of our neighbors have amazing lawns but ours is weedy and gross.

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    1. I hear ya!! Ours was a hot, weedy mess from being neglected for years. We hired Scott's Lawn service to do several treatments and our front yard improved, but then the scorching summer hit and it looks awful again. And of course, our backyard is all dirt haha. So everything is still a major work in progress, but that's okay. One day it'll get there, I'm sure.

      Good luck tackling your weeds! We totally feel your pain! :)

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  8. Beautiful! It looks so great! Genius idea to only buy a few strips and let seeds do the rest.

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  9. Envious of all the shade in your yard. That sod looks beautiful. We need a sprinkler system badly to keep our grass alive. We're not gettig one anytime soon either.

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    1. We have a ton of trees which does give nice shade, but also makes grass growing super difficult...grrrr. Thanks! It's so awesome how lush and thick it is. We were watering our lawn in the beginning of spring/summer with this little sprinkler, but it wasn't doing anything haha. So we stopped, and our lawn burnt out like everyone elses. Blahhhhh.

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  10. We are done-zo with outdoor stuff (at least for this year). And by we I mean my husband :) Great idea adding sod to stop the mudslide! We have a mud river running off of one of our beds in the front yard...might have to look into some sod for ourselves.

    P.S. It appears I've missed your last three posts (!?!?!?) I blame my Google Next button... got some catching up to do! :)

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    1. We just planted some mums so that is probably the last thing we'll be doing {besides leaf cleanup} for the year.

      Definitely look into the sod for the mudslide issue!! It totally helped ours!

      Ahhhh, that's not good!! Go check 'em out! :)

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  11. Our yard is a disaster! We kind of gave up with the whole drought thing. Kevin tried to water our lawn, but even that wasn't helping...then our town banned all watering. Next year, next year!

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    1. I don't blame you...sometimes it's better to just accept that this year was rough on everyone's lawn and move on!! :) I'm sure it'll be much improved next year!

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