A Sod Story

Over spring break, we finally had the opportunity to lay sod. We figured the drought was never going to end and the beginning of spring was the right time to do it. There had been a 20% chance of rain the forecast for most of the week, but that happens often with nothing to show for it, so we thought nothing of it and ordered 4 pallets of the Zeon Zoysa sod that we’d decided on last year. The forecast increased the chances to 70%, and much to our dismay, they were right for once: it rained a lot all day Wednesday when the sod arrived. After 5 hours, we were tired and soaked, and the mud had gotten so bad that the wheelbarrow no longer functioned. Rex insisted we call it a day, so we went in and showered and spent some time with our neglected kids.

Unfortunately, after we showered, the forecast looked worse for the following day, and we still had a little more than 2 pallets left. I went back outside and pulled a ton of wood planks from the lumber pile and dragged them to the side of the house, laying them 3 across all the way down the muddy side yard to the driveway in the front. I hoped that it would be sufficient for the wheelbarrow to be pushed to the backyard. Otherwise, it would take 100 times longer to lug the sod one piece at a time to its destination. Rex dug out some rain gear that he had in his camping supplies so we wouldn’t get soaked again the next day when it was threatening to be even colder (40-ish degrees).

The wheelbarrow on the planks worked well and the rain was minuscule for most of the day so we were able to tackle most of the work. Unfortunately, one of the rotors (sprinkler heads) wasn’t turning, so I had to get another one from Home Depot, dig up the old one, and replace it, before I could put sod there. I took Isaac with me on that errand after we fed them lunch. Meanwhile, we discovered that we ordered too much sod. Not only was laying 4 heavily soaked pallets in the mud a daunting task, but we had more sod than the area for which we’d planned on laying. I had planned on planting ground cover and laying bricks for part of the yard, but since we had so much sod, we decided to cover that area with grass after all. Even at that, we knew we’d still have more sod to use, so Rex got the rototiller out again and cleared the grass further out, but it turned out to be more space than we needed and now there’s a big swath of mud down the middle of the yard that we decided we’ll have to order more sod for…in the future when we think we might be able to face the task again. Still, after 8 hours, we were so tired, we couldn’t go much further. I had slowed down to at least half my pace by the last hour or two and I finally quit when I could no longer move.

We had moved all the sod to the back porch but we still had probably ¾ of a pallet left to lay. We were so sore, I was worried we wouldn’t be physically capable of finishing the next day, but fortunately, after a good night’s sleep, our strength returned and we were able to finish it. Thankfully, the rain was minuscule for most of the day. We pulled up 2 lengths of sod from the back fence to try and stretch it to cover some of the new swath of mud created by the rototiller the previous day. It only extended it about 4 feet, but at least it was something. Those 2 lengths by the back fence will become a flower bed instead. By the end, my fingers and forearms were even sorer than my butt and thighs. It was so bad that I could hardly maneuver the knife to cut the sod anymore! Rex’s back and calves hurt, but I was glad that he mainly did the hauling and the rolling (we rented a sod roller to pack down the sod to the earth). If he’d been squatting or bent over on the ground like me, piecing the sod together, his back would have been in much worse shape afterwards. We were very relieved to be finished by noon.

The pictures below show how beautiful the finished project is. You can see I had not put a tree ring around the two ash trees (bricks cost a lot of money and I hadn't gotten to it yet). The side yard will need to be bricked/paved on one side some day while I plan to plant bushes (called "Heavenly Bamboo") on the side with the fence (although that means digging up the pop-ups and re-piping them to the other side). And the rest of the yard, not pictured, still needs grass in places, especially our swath of mud down the middle of the yard. But the areas that are pictured below were desperate for some grass, as you all who've been to our house well remember most of the bare dirt (and mud when it rained).