Green, green grass of home

We have grass.

Just six days after we planted seed, we have little shoots popping up all over our lawn.

I keep telling myself that I need to calm down, we still have to stay vigilant, we have to watch it carefully ...

But grass! I'm so excited.

I'm probably the only person in New York (judging from my office*) who can't wait for more rain. The more moist our grass stays on a consistent basis, the better off we'll be.

I didn't get a chance to take more pictures after we seeded, put down Seed Aide and hay, and got to watering last weekend, but this weekend -- if it's not raining, but it's supposed to rain all weekend, yaaaaay! -- I'll try to get some pictures up.

One thing I've noticed is that the Seed Aide and hay really do work to keep the soil in place. In the little that it's rained in the past week, the soil at the corner of our new sidewalk did not shift (as it did in other places in the neighborhood where the soil hasn't been reseeded since the township's repaving project).

Also, it's fun to watch the neon-teal Seed Aide stuff grow like sea monkeys when you water it.

I'm a child that way.

As much as I want to do it now, mulching will wait until the spring so I'm not trampling over the new lawn too much. And I plan on putting down decorative gravel and stone in the backyard as well, and planting two new trees in the front.

The cost rundown
15.5 cubic yards of soil: $480
Tiller rental: $70 for first 24 hours
150 pounds of Seed Aide: $68.85
Three bales of hay (only used one, though): $44.85
Grass seed, sun/shade stress mix, 15 pounds: $25.95
Water roller rental: $20ish (Rich may have to correct me on that)

Estimate from landscaper to redo same area of lawn: $3,500-$6,000

DIYers do it right. (Well, if they do it right.)

*Once again, it's been a busy year -- most of you already know, but I started a new job about two months ago in Manhattan. I'm copyediting for a trade publication that follows the metal markets in North America; while that might sound boring, it's not. I learn so many new things on a daily basis, I can barely keep up. It's pretty damn cool, considering the three years of Woman's World we all endured. (I'm well aware I drove everyone nuts, but come on -- I have great stories to tell at cocktail parties!)