Sod: From the Latin “Sodus” which basically translates as “to give up.”*
Beth here.
Almost three years ago (Three years, you guys! It seems like yesterday.), I seeded our back yard with much expectation for a beautiful green lawn, and ended up with what looked like a vacant lot with a few grassy weeds covered with birds, who apparently love seed. I learned many valuable lessons from the experiences of seeding a lawn and blogging about it:
- People (namely male people) take lawns very, very seriously. If you even hint that you want the tiniest bit of grass advice, you will get it in spades and vehemently.
- People (namely crazy people) are very defensive of Lisa LaPorta. And really, who can fault them? She’s adorable and can do a lot of home remodel with a couple thousand bucks, even if I do question at length where she can find some of her products/services at insanely low prices.
- If you seed a lawn that is on a slope, you will get a lot of beautiful grass…at the bottom of the slope.
- If you ignore the problem for three years, the lawn does not magically fill in.
- Seeding is not so much for me.
Enter the tax return.
Due to the many, many stairs to our backyard, we hired out this project to a neighborhood landscaper who tore up the backyard on one Saturday…
…and then made it gorgeous on the next Saturday.
(If you’re wondering, that pole in the middle is one half of the hammock-holding system. It looks much better with hammock.)
We are now watering it like crazy to get it established (the variety itself is drought-resistant, but apparently not on day one), and the dog has been sequestered on the patio and kept occupied with a butcher bone, because she’s not allowed to spend her day playing Keep-That-Squirrel-Away-From-My-Yard-at-All-Costs and other similar games.
*I made up some Latin.
solace said,
March 5, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Wow, that looks awesome guys!
We have done seed and we have done sod and sod wins out any day! And look how sunny it is in backyards with sod!
PS HGTV is nice to look at but must exist in another, cheaper universe.
Mindee said,
March 5, 2008 @ 3:11 pm
Stunning! I am very, very happy for you. Suburban cliche though it may be, a gorgeous lawn is soul calming necessity.
Reichel said,
March 5, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Wow
Landscaper did a great job! Mind emailing me his info? I’m looking for someone to do our backyard too!
Beth said,
March 5, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Solace – HGTV shops in magical stores with fanciful prices! And ha! on the sunny sodded backyard — I hadn’t noticed how it looks like even the sun approves.
Mindee – Thanks! It just calms my whole self to be out there now.
Reichel – Sure! I emailed you the information for our landscaper who’s the owner of Corn’s Landscaping. I got his name off of the Maxwell Park referral list.
Amerloc said,
March 5, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
Still looking for the made-up Latin… Talk about making a dog run in circles!
hellohahanarf said,
March 5, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
i’m lusting over your new gorgeous lawn. fabulous!
Lisa Later said,
March 6, 2008 @ 9:50 am
Cool! Now, could you fly over to Scotland and sort out my poor excuse for a lawn (which is using the excuse of being in a north-facing garden which suffers from a lack of sunlight for six months out of every twelve)?
Huh?
Oh, and hi to you guys!. You said you’d come to Scotland one day soon but WHEN??
Beth said,
March 6, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Amerloc – It’s in the title. Now go fetch!
hellohahanarf – Thanks!
Lisa – Hey! WHEN will we get to Scotland is the whine that echoes through our house. Hopefully next year, fingers crossed!
And your garden has a perfectly good excuse to play sick.
Mark said,
March 7, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
I’m from Sodus, New York, which is way upstate near Rochester. The name of the town is from a Native American word that means “Silvery Waters” (because Sodus is on the shore of Lake Ontario). So, the word isn’t Latin, but your lawn is gorgeous!
Lynn said,
March 8, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
I have often wondered why anyone would mess with seed when sod seems such a better (and more sure!) way to get a beautiful lawn. Given sod probably costs a great deal more initially, but surely the increased need of watering, fertilizing, and owner-wear-and-tear for seeding evens things out pretty quickly! Cudos in going a beautiful direction. I’ll bet even Dixie will be enjoying laying her tummy in soft grass from now on!
merideth1 said,
March 8, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
ha! Mark i love that “sodus” is a real word…as clearly beth just made up fake latin cuz she’s funny like that…i love even more that it’s from a native american word…excellent
Aimee said,
March 13, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
That looks great! I also really love the hammock thing… I have a hammock and have always wanted one of those.
Can’t wait to see what else you do with your outside space!
kyahgirl said,
March 30, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
you are so smart to get it done by someone else. we have 2.2 acres of lawn and over the years have had just about every seeding/sodding/weeding issue known to man. Your beautiful stretch of green looks like a little piece of heaven!
Kristin said,
April 15, 2008 @ 10:00 am
It looks gorgeous!