Did you ever start something you really didn't intend on starting and ended up working harder than you expected to? Well my plan for Saturday took on that theme. I'll explain later in this post.
I had a pretty good week at work. all the major purchases were complete last week. My boss and the engineering manager for the project were out most of the week. I had the opportunity to get caught up with organizing files, finances and vendor information for the project.
Friday night Gin and I drove up to Saluda for a gourmet pizza at the Purple Onion. Gin had the Mediterranean and I had the Chicken Poblano. both were 6" personal pizzas. After the pizza we drove down to Greenville for some frozen yogurt. Once we were home I loaded up the trailer for another landfill run on Saturday. The pile of debris is getting smaller as my progress toward seeing the floor in the outbuilding is getting better.
I was at the landfill by 7am Saturday and unloaded in 15 minutes. I then made a trip to Lowes for some grass seed to fill in the bare spots near the oak trees. I left the store with a 15 lbs of grass seed, 10 lbs of fertilizer, a broadcast spreader and some fire ant pellets. This is where thinking small job becomes doing a big job. I made it home and unloaded the supplies. After surveying the lawn again, I started raking the dead leaves and acorns. While raking I noticed the existing grass was the creeping type that has runners all over the place. Raking turned into thatching. I spent 2 hours raking the leaves, grass clippings and self made mulch. All this did not get all the debris up. My next move was to set up the riding mower with bag attachment and vacuum up the rest. I then started to loosen up the bare spots with the garden rake. The ground was so hard that the rake had little impact.
While I was working on the lawn, Gin was bringing the outside plants from their winter home in the house. She also had the new Flox plants to sow on the front hill beside the road. I helped with digging the holes by using a post hole digger which made short easy work for planting the Flox. We concentrated on one side of the steps that lead up from the road. We already have several Flox patches scattered across the hill, but many bare spots. We always enjoy seeing the flowers this time of year, one day the hill will be covered with blue, white and pink flowers.
Gin and I took a lunch break, then went out for some errands and to find a thatching attachment for the riding mower. I picked up a tow behind thatcher and we also bought an Eastern Red Bud tree and a Golden Rod bush.
Retuning home once again, I assembled the thatching device and was able to loosen up the hard soil around the bare spots. Gin planted the Golden Rod and moved some other plants to the front flower beds. Once the thatching was done, Gin and I planted the Red Bud tree. Next I spread the starter fertilizer, then the grass seed. I finished cutting the (onion) grass in the back, then watered the front yard. It was 6pm by the time I had everything done for the day. I thought the lawn would only take about 2 hours max, boy was I wrong.
Sunday we went to the grocery store and stopped by Lowes for 2 bales of wheat straw to cover the seeded areas. I spread the straw over the bare spots to help keep the moisture with the seeds. We had lunch at Patrick and Jessica's then played softball in their backyard. We were home by 4 and made a pot of white chili for dinner. I added the white beans after I separated Gin's portion of the batch. No beans for her, which means more for me.
P@
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