by James Wallace Harris, 10/25/24
Like I said in the first round, I don’t care about having a perfect lawn. I’m using converting my front lawn from mostly dirt to mostly anything green as a physical challenge to improve my health and stamina. Because I suffer from spinal stenosis, sciatica, neuropathy in my legs, and muscle spasms in my lower back, I can’t do much physically. However, I’m testing the theory that if I slowly do a little more, I can eventually do a lot more. It’s also a way of psyching myself out. I want to believe that I’m not too old to keep doing certain things.
This effort has worked out some. I started out wearing myself out in ten or fifteen minutes. But now, I can work up to an hour on some days. But on most days, I usually spend just twenty minutes twice a day watering the new grass. I also bought the book Back Mechanic whose author, Stuart McGill proposes that back pain is often due to weak muscles and that strengthening them will eliminate back pain. I’m hoping yard work will strengthen my core muscles.
In round two I’ve learned several new things about yardwork and about my health. Having a new challenge is good for me mentally. I dislike doing yardwork, but my body doesn’t like being sedentary. I also dislike being outdoors but being outside in my front yard is teaching me about nature, getting me to learn new skills, encouraging me to talk to my neighbors and introducing me to all the walkers, runners, roller skaters, and dog owners in the neighborhood.
Initially, I thought growing new grass would only entail spreading seeds, fertilizing, and watering twice a day for a few weeks until the grass grew in. It hasn’t been that easy.
My ground is very compact and hard. The seeds only spouted in random places. Then fall began, and leaves started covering the new grass, killing it. Damn.
I called my yard guy to come remove the leaves early. That was Monday. It’s now Friday, and the leaves are back. I’m going to need to have the leaves removed every three or four days. I can’t afford that. I bought a Worx corded leaf blower and a 100 ft. extension cord.
This morning, I tried blowing the leaves myself and made a major discovery. Besides blowing the leaves, the leaf blower blows away all the loose dirt. No wonder my ground is so hard and compact. The grass seeds struggled to pierce the smooth hard soil with their tiny roots, so I need lots of loose dirt. That means no more leaf blowing. (I did learn the leaf blower is great at cleaning off walkways, driveways, and patios, so I’ll keep it. I also imagine, if I had a thick lawn, the blower would only blow leaves.)
I need to rake the leaves manually or consider mulching them with a mower. I also need to buy several loads to topsoil and spread it over my front yard. What have I gotten myself into?
And where there aren’t bald hard dirt spots, there’s thick weeds, old crabgrass, and patches of my new grass. I’ve discovered I need to dethatch my lawn. Before I started this project, I didn’t even know that was a thing.
I bought the corded Worx leaf blower because it was cheaper and blew stronger than a battery-powered leaf blower. But I quickly learned that working with a cord is a pain. For some reason, most of the lawn geek YouTubers use corded dethatching machines. I need to research if a battery-operated dethatching machine works as well as a corded one. I’d probably only use it once or twice a year, that is if all that leaf raking doesn’t kill me first (and I give up on this project). (I also bought a 16-gauge extension cord, and it gets warm. I bet need to buy a more expensive 12-gauge cord.)
This isn’t all I’ve learned in Round 2. I’ve now bought enough garden tools and machines that I need to buy a toolshed. Maintaining a yard requires a great deal of work and a lot of equipment. I’m back to fantasizing about living in an apartment again. But then I wouldn’t have this useful purpose that helps me mentally and physically. (That’s me trying to psyche myself up.)
I’m considering trying a third seeding. My neighbor who had a groundskeeping company in his younger days, recommended I try winter rye. Can rye and tall fescue coexist? This project also involves learning a lot of new things about how nature works.
Do I have enough time before the first freeze to get some grass seeds to germinate and grow a few inches? To do it properly, I’d need run the dethatch machine with both the dethatch and scarifier blades over the lawn. Spread the seeds. Then put down some garden soil, peatmoss, or compost lightly over the seeds. And keep watering twice a day. Also do some more fertilizing. I don’t know if I have the energy for all that right now.
This is never ending. Being a lazy couch potato was so much easier.
Maybe I should put all this off until spring and see how much grass I grow from my first two seedings. It’s coming up good in some places.
I could stick to watering and raking for the rest of the year – that should be plenty of exercise and outdoor activity. Raking should loosen up the soil some, but mulching might add to the soil. I got to research that to see which is best. I can’t stop thinking about all the options. I need to AI program to help me.
I hadn’t realized how much I was killing my grass by leaving the leaves on it until Thanksgiving, and then again to Christmas.
I’ve taken a beating in round two. I’m tired, but not hurting too bad. I’m trying to figure how much should I push myself in round three. Should I just continue with what I’ve started, or push myself to a new effort level before winter comes in?
I do know that all this yardwork is draining away all my energy for doing hobbies inside the house. I wanted to believe that exercising would give me more energy, but so far that hasn’t work out.
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 