I’d planned to tackle other chores, but the weather was nice so I decided to start raking the dead grass away on one side of the yard so I could seed the bald spots.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seeded or sodded the backyard. There are various reasons it hasn’t stuck from three big dogs over 17 years, trampling on it while fixing fences, and likely many user errors along the way.
I found cedar mini-fencing at the dollar store. The plan was to barricade that section off, grow some grass, and move this setup to another area of the yard. I would need to do this three times to complete the job, to keep the two beasts from doing their business on it and tearing it up in a sudden burst of zoomies.
I wouldn’t recommend the cedar roles of fencing. They are temperamental and one basically fell apart as I unwound it. Perhaps there is another use for it afterwards, but for now I guess it will do the trick. I’m not sure it will survive another section, never mind two.
Between prepping the area, spreading a bag of seed around, and tossing three bags of soil on top of it all to keep the birds away, it was a good workout. I’ll be sore tomorrow.
My wife told me I should give up. She’s probably right, but there are almost two decades of determination riding on this being the attempt that sticks.
When I completed the task, I remembered a time when the kids were little. We had just finished sodding the entire backyard. I was out and our puppy had been left outside for a bit while my first wife tended to the girls. Needless to say dogs are good at finding sod seems.