How did you spend your 2000 Memorial day weekend?
I decided that I had enough of the large barked area. Very sick
of pulling weeds and replacing the bark. So what does every
yard-loving American need? MORE LAWN!!!! YEA!!!! So I
rented myself a bobcat for the day and with the help of my good buddy
Scott, we removed all of the bark and crap. We then used the
bobcat to spread out 32 yards of fresh 3-way topsoil. Yahoo!!
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"Lou has a new toy." At least for a
day. Keep your seat belt on at all times. Keep your
arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. Remain seated until the
vehicle has come to a complete stop. |
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After receiving the bobcat and figuring out what buttons
and levels to use and which ones NOT to use, it is time to study the
mess. As you can see, it is quite a mess. What started out
as quite a lovely area, slowly depreciated into cedar clippings, sticks,
weeds, weeds, weeds, bark, and oh yes, weeds. |
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Times like this, it really pays to have a good buddy
who has driven just about every single piece of heavy equipment invented
by man. My buddy Scott came over to help. After watching him
I could see that the only way I was going to get the job done in one day
was to let him do it. Fortunately for me, Scott saw this as
entertainment and not work. He's right, it is entertainment, but
you still have to get the job done. The 2 pictures below shows
Scott scrapping and disposing of all of the bark and crap.
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Once the bark and cedar stuff was removed,
it was time to move dirt around. It takes a while to move 32 yards
of dirt. Thanks to Scott, I kind got the hang of scrapping,
scooping, and leveling. Of course, there is nothing like the pros
doing it. The long and the short of it is that I spent about 4
hours on the bobcat to Scott's 6. But the important part is the
job got done. These next 2 pictures (below) show Scott scooping
and spreading dirt. |
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Ok, so we are done right? Nope. The bobcat did the hard
work. Now it is time to finish the job. Karen and I spent
Sunday and Monday raking, raking, and raking. The area was
somewhat saturated with water, so getting all evened out was a big
challenge. Not to mention smoothing out the ruts.
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Last year I gave my friend Bob this roller used to even out dirt
after the dirt has been spread out. I told him at the time that I
never wanted to see the roller again. Well, I lied.
Its back! I used it to smooth out the dirt once all of the raking
was done. Man I was tired.
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This is 3 days after hydro-seeding. The seeds should germinate
in 2 weeks. It is important to keep them moist for the first 2
weeks. Do not water excessively. Just keep it moist.
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After 2 weeks, you can start watering normally; one inch or about one
hour per week.
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The Result
| ....and here is the result. After
just one month, Houston we have lawn. We actually had little
blades of new grass after just one week. After 2 weeks, it was
difficult to tell the difference between the old and the new lawn.
After 3 weeks, the new lawn looks a heck of a lot better then the
old. After 4 weeks, well, I'd best being going now, I have
to mow the lawn. |
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