House Project #9: That Patch of Grass

Pre-lawn

Well this winter we finally got around to starting our lawn project. We knew we needed to figure out some way to level the ground as our back yard slopes towards the house. Since we were already working on using the existing underground watering system to put in an above ground drip system we also spent some time thinking about how to get sprinklers for the lawn installed. Eventually we came up with the plan to basically build a low raised bed for the lawn and have sprinklers come up out of the border.

Trenches dug with beams in place

Our lawn space isn't that big so we decided to go with 6" x 8" x 12' pressure treated beams to use as our border, but first we had to dig trenches to lay the water PVC pipe for the sprinklers and allow for leveling of the beams. Once the trenches were dug it was time to start piecing everything together. Luckily for us our brother-in-law is pretty handy at this sort of thing and it only took us a day to install the pipes, cut, level and brace the beams and install the sprinklers. Then we needed to refill the trenches and wait for most of the rains to end before planting the seeds.

Prepping for seeds!

Planting the seeds required digging up all the dirt again to help aerate the soil. Then it was time to mix in some lime to help with the soil pH. Our soil is pretty acidic from the giant redwood tree in the back, so we will most likely need to do a second round or more to get the pH to be more neutral in the future. Then it was time to spread the seeds (a nice mix of drought resistant), add some fertilizer, layer some top soil, add some fencing for protection, water and wait!
A month and a half later we have :

Our small patch of grass!

 Now we're just letting all those little roots take hold and trying to keep Kiwi from digging around. But this project has been so far successful and we are getting ready to start thinking about the next thing for the backyard!