Sod in 5 hours

Lately a lot of our projects get started on accident and come down to God's funny timing. We had talked about what we'd like our backyard to look like and how someday just someday we'd like flower beds, a patio, a L shaped couch, outdoor rugs with moroccan patterns, and lush green grass that we can walk barefoot in. Our current state of affairs is quite dismal. Our grass was patchy at best and was not grass but weedy, dry crab grass (not ideal for bare feet). The yard was primarily dirt which in spring time translates to mud.  Our back yard isn't large only about 500 square feet but we wanted it that way. When shopping for the burrow we both agreed we did not want to take on a large yard at this time. Hub had lived and owned a home with a yard three times as big and lamented often over the time it took to maintain. He wanted a yard that could be mowed in less than 10 minutes. We time him now when he goes out there. It probably takes more time to get out the mower than to actually mow. As for me, up until now I hadn't been able to keep anything green alive - every plant, herb, flower, and frog died on me. I was a little apprehensive about keeping a while backyard ecosystem alive. But one happy day in April we got a sign that it was time to start the backyard reno.

As hub was going to lunch one day he saw a guy with a bunch of sod. It looked like he was going to throw the sod away. Of course hub had to ask what this atrocoity was all about. He got the story that they ordered too much and another guy was supposed to come buy it from him. He didn't show so now the sod needs to go. It probably only had a day left before it died. So hub took it off his hands. I got the call at work "hey hun I got free sod come home as soon as you can we are putting it in tonight." (This was a Monday.) So we both did our due dilegence and read as much as we could on how to install sod. The advice was not super encouraging ... plan for two weekends (crap), have the soil tests for ph levels ahead of time (crap), prepare the soil a week in advance (crap), add organic soil (ok), till the land (ok), make level (ehh), and lay the sod.

So we had to skip the first three steps and start with adding organic material. To start this project you are going to need some supplies...

Sod (free or purchased)

Turf Food 

A compost/organic material to add nutrients to the soil

A hand pushed tiller 

A lawn roller 

rakes

hose 

We poured Steer Manure Blend over the entire area, we raked it so it covered every square inch. 

We then added Rich Lawn Turf Food over the entire area, and gave the entire area a

healthy soak.

The next step is to till the land! This was my first tilling experience how exiting. And easy...well it was easy for me to watch as farmer Dave did most of the tilling work.  The tiller is extremely heavy and hard to maneuver my small self just could not handle it. You can rent a push/pull tiller from Home Depot for about $50 for four hours. It churns up the soil making the top soil loose. It also mixes in the Manure and Turf Food. 

While hub tilled I dug up tree roots and cleared the area for rocks.

When he finished we cleaned off the tiller and I ran it back to Home Depot and rented a Push/Tow Poly Lawn Roller. This was about a $40 dollar rental. This tool is used after to lay the sod to flatten to the earth so that there are no air pockets between the sod and the earth. The laying process was quite simple. Lay sod, tuck it into any adjoining sod pieces, roll, water, roll, and trim if necessary. 

We worked into the night finishing up around 10pm. Took us about 5 hours. 

We went to bed past 10, exhausted but satisfied with our hard work. When we woke up the next morning the first thing we did was run outside to look at our grass!

It has been about 2 months and our sod is green and has developed deep roots. Hub has to mow it every week but it only takes about 7 minutes. Since the sod was free this project only cost us about $200 worth of materials (manure, turf food), and tool rentals (tiller, and lawn roller).