Green thumb

December 31st 2021 · 256 words, 1 minute read

When I first moved our family to our new home in Florida last year, I had a ton of ambitions as a first-time homeowner. One of them was surely going to be the biggest and most challenging of them all: maintaining a beautiful yard.

My entire childhood was spent in the Midwest. My father would rarely do anything to the yard, and very few watering sessions throughout the year. Yet, somehow, his lawn always looked great. Having lived here for almost a year now, I realize Florida has other ideas. I was super unlucky and did not know to look for a home with in-ground sprinklers or irrigation (first-time buyer mistake). Over the summer I saw my grass die. It was so helpless.
Moving into the winter I was determined to have a nice fall lawn. I went to the store, got a bunch of fertilizer, perineal rye grass seed, and hay. At this point, I was only focusing on the front yard as it is a little smaller and curb appeal was what I wanted most. I am happy to say we are having results!

About one week in to seeding, I am seeing beautiful green rye grass popping through the hay and starting to fill-in where the old sun-bleached centipede grass remained. I simply watered the new areas once-daily for about 15 minutes in the early morning.
I am excited about the lawn and even got our first lawn compliment! Now, to convince the wife to spend around $4,500 for an irrigation system. Wish me luck!