Last year we finally took out the run that ran up the side of our upper yard and beside our house. The inside fence posts had rotted and one good wind was going to knock it over so out it came. We were left with a strip of weedy dirt, which we planned to eventually turn and add seed to.

Fast forward a year and here we are, having let the weeds and crabby grass grow. We even added a wood chopping block and some excess wood to really bring the “unkempt” look. Sure we mow or weed whack it, but we have left it neglected.

Our neighbour has been redoing their back yard and fully sodded it when it was done. He happened to have some leftover and didn’t want it to go to waste so he messaged us to see if we could use it anywhere. Lucky for us we could!

We started by weeding the patch that we were going to sod, and turned the soil to see if we would need to lay down some better stuff before putting the sod down. Lucky for us, the area was rich colouring with plenty of worms and roley -poley bugs. We decided to risk it and just lay the sod on top of that loosened soil.

We had just about enough to finish the section and we’re able to use some scrap pieces that the neighbour had cut off to finish the few spots we had. It was shocking at what a difference it made to the look of the back yard, even though it isn’t blending with our regular grass yet. Basil put her butts seal of approval on it as we worked, relishing in the feel of the new grass.

Once finished, we realized that our irrigation is setup to go along where the fence line used to be and wouldn’t hit the grass. So we devised a way to water it for now, until we can adjust the irrigation to better capture the area.

The grassy area is no wider than some of our garden beds, which are sprayed with the 180 degree irrigation heads. We had an extra connection point in the garden bed beside our back door, so I ran the line over to the fence and placed 3 sprayers along the fence. I stapled the up on the ledge so that hopefully Kurt won’t get the line when he is trimming the edges.

We turned on the system and guess what. Irrigation irrigation set in. The heads in the garden spray so far that we have to choke them way back. These ones were at a mere dribble. Argh! I traced the line to see if we had any issues and low and behold, the distribution head was leaking quite heavily resulting in low pressure to the lines. So, we swapped that out and tried again. Distribution head is good, and the spray was improved, but still low compared to the lower garden bed ones.

So, while we figure out how to make those better, Kurt has been making sure to give the grass a really good soak each night. On top of that, we have also had some nice drizzly days that have kept the grass nice and moist. We hope it takes. If not, then we will go back to our original plan of just seeding the area.