Turf, no Surf

It's probably becoming clear that Tom and I aren't particularly patient with our home improvements. We want it finished and we want it NOW!

This was the case for most of our Next House landscaping, including the driveway, which we desperately wanted so we could park our cars in the garage. It was no different for the turfing of the backyard, but for a slightly less selfish reason. See we couldn't in all conscience have Allie come to live with us while our block was a barren muddy mess, nor while we had very young turf that needed to get established.

So, we had to get that grass down FAST!

As always, Tom had done his research, and we eventually decided to go with Palmetto grass. Believe it or not, we went and visited the turf farms, and walked around barefoot on their grass, and watched about a million youtube videos about grass. Who knew there was such a wealth of choice?!

It essentially came down to a process of elimination. Cooch or Buffalo? Cooch needs lots of sun, and our backyard only got a little bit every day, so buffalo it was. What kind of buffalo? The most widely known type, called Sir Walter would have been the obvious choice, but we tried walking on it, and were horrified at how scratchy and horrible it felt. What's the point of having lush grass if you can't stand stepping on it? So, we looked at what other buffalo options we had, and discovered Palmetto. Having found it, we have no idea why anyone buys Sir Walter, since Palmetto is just as hardy, but infinitely softer on the feet. We were sold.

So we ordered that in, and it got delivered one Monday. Don't ask me why it was a Monday, I have no idea. I left work a bit early that day to help Tom lay it down, and we spent the next 5 hours wet and muddy and itchy, many steps closer to a turfed backyard, and one step closer to having our puppy back home with us (she was still living at Mum's).

Unfortunately I was so busy laying turf that I neglected to photograph said laying, so we only have one photo that Tom took when we were finished (at about 10pm). Don't we look thrilled? The head-cams (lights on our heads) are a pretty awesome fashion statement, aren't they?

 

Then started the task of keeping the grass alive long enough to establish itself, so our water bill was pretty high that quarter! Here it is later in its life (with Allie's random toys spread out).

In retrospect, the turf-laying was one of the easiest tasks we had to do with our landscaping, being extremely uncomplicated. And so worth it, since the puppy needs her grass!

By the way, we have never regretted our choice of Palmetto, so if you too are in a position where you've got a yard that's fairly shady and you want something that's both hardy and soft under the feet, definitely look at Palmetto! Man I wish they were paying me to say that!