Loving Spring

Notice the spot with no grass.

Spring is definitely my favorite time of the year. I love to see the beautiful flowers and the bright greens as leaves begin to come forward. This spring is one we've looked forward to for years. Our walkout basement has always walked out onto dirt (and quite often it's mud). I've wanted to plant grass on that last section of our yard, but have had problems. Several of the problems have been:

1. When we moved in, it was only rocks and had no topsoil.
2. We needed a way to get a lawnmower to it.
3. It was not setup on the sprinkling system (it needed water).

Each year we've done work in the yard to improve it, but we still didn't have grass planted. Some of the things we've done over the years, to beautify the yard are:

1. Planted raspberries and strawberries.
2. Built steps on the east side from the area by the raspberries.
3. Removed bushes and weeds that didn't belong.
4. Put in garden boxes.
5. Built a deck.

Sprinkler and hose

Even with all those improvements, we still didn't have grass on our low patch of yard. It has been something that my loving wife and children tease me about each summer. I've thought about it for some time and worked on it at different times during the (nearly 8) years that we've lived in Payson. 

Years ago we were able to get dirt to cover the rocks. Late this winter, before spring arrived, I finalized a trail from the upper section of grass to the lower section. With the trail, we can now take a lawnmower between sections. 

WOW!!!  A VIRTUAL FOREST OF GRASS!

We had a plumber give an estimate, but he quoted several hundred dollars. We never felt like we could afford the cost. This spring I finally found the solution. I found a water timer that attaches to the water faucet. The timer cost less than thirty dollars. We also purchased a sprinkler for about fifteen dollars. About four weeks ago I planted grass seed and attached our new sprinkler to the timer.

Peach tree - grown from a peach pit

Several years ago our children decided to see if they could grow a peach tree from the pit of a peach. The first summer, nothing happened. The second summer, a few leaves broke through the ground. Last year it became quite a bush. During late fall we transplanted it from our garden to a more permanent section of our yard. This spring, our peach tree appears to be starting off very well.

One of the most exciting parts about having the grass is knowing my great family can't tease me about having a patch of dirt. I thought perhaps that would give them one less thing to tease me about. Actually, I've discovered it gave them a different thing to tease me about. Now they give me a hard time about how often I sit and watch the grass grow!!!