Gardening is about faith ...

... or is it hope? In any event, it's about believing that despite all evidence to the contrary you can make your garden look a certain way. Say, for example, as if has a lawn.


Easter weekend found me ripping up sod. Ripping up sod is easier when you actually have some sod to rip up. This was more about leveling. I ripped, I edged, I graded, I added lime. I did a lot of weeding in the garden beds too -- it was hard to ignore the pervasive wild strawberries.

By Tuesday I was done, but exhausted. I didn't think it would take me more than a half day, but with Easter egg hunts, cooking, spring break (for one child), and school/homework (for the other -- can't we all get on the same schedule?), it took 3 days of working a few hours a day.

Thursday finally arrived and Enfield Farm installed their Riviera Bermuda sod. I guess I had built up some high expectations. It will be beautiful! It will be instant lawn! It will transform my garden! I will feel like the most accomplished gardener!

My garden still looks like crap.


Here's where I make myself feel better: They didn't bring enough sod, so there is an unfinished area, that will look better as soon as they come back today. The grass is still dormant. I knew that it would take 4 weeks to emerge from dormancy and take root. Just give it time. It does look better than it did: it's a uniform light brown instead of a patchy green/dark brown. The green mesh (you warned me Marta!) will disappear once the lawn thickens.


I will try to have faith (or hope or patience or whatever). I will try to remember that good gardens take time. There are no quick fixes. It takes time to set down roots and transition from a dirt pit backyard to a lush, inviting garden.


I am going to water, fertilize, and concentrate on how wonderful my perennials look. I am going to enjoy the warm weather. I am going to sit with my knitting on the patio and bask in the sun before it turns humid and buggy.


And I will remind myself that it will look better soon ... right?

Is eco-sod a contradiction?

The current sorry state of affairs with our so-called lawn

This has been a protracted conflict. I have not come to this decision easily. I've had years now to attempt various strategies. I've never fought the weeds, but realized that the weeds were telling me what my soil needed. I aerated. I added lime, compost, and clover. I mowed high. I left the clippings to compost. I let the grass go dormant in the summer to save water. I created garden beds. I hardscaped. I mulched a third of the backyard for an oven area, raised veggie beds, and a play area for the kids.

And yet. I still want just a bit of grass for a little lawn. So we can play a wee bit of soccer. So we can frolick with the dog. And yes, so it can look pretty.

Grass seed never would take. We are outside in the yard too much and just couldn't give it a fighting chance. So much babying. But I hated the idea of supporting the typical sod farmer in the Richmond area whose farm is by the Chesapeake Bay. Sod Farms are exempt from the typical run-off regs for farms. They are one of the biggest polluters of the Bay (not my opinion, but my friend Joe who lobbies for The Chesapeake Bay Association). Yet I didn't want to get my sod from outside this area because of the eco-cost of transportation. I also wasn't ready to hitch my horse to the sod wagon without talking with an expert about all my options. Maybe I just hadn't met the right groundcover yet.

Enter Jerry Carter. When my friend recommended Jerry, I was prepared for the typical landscaper guy. All fescue lawn and double-shredded hardwood mulch. But I was wrong. My first email reply from him was to inform me of the many environmental issues concerning sod and who in the area was attempting organic sod. And then he asked: "do you really need sod?"

This is what won me over. Because let me tell you. Richmondians love their lawns. It takes a brave, clever, enlightened landscaper to suggest that maybe lawns are not the be all and end all of a yard.

We met. We talked. I decided. Since:

• I really do want a small lawn (I don't have the specific dimensions, but the space is about 200 square feet),
• we need it to be drought tolerant,
• we need it to be durable (dog, lots of entertaining, lots of running kids),
• and it must establish quickly (see above),

we are going to call a sod farm (in the central Va area that is experimenting with organic techniques) about some Bermuda Grass sod. I'm also going to plant some dwarf mondo grass in an area semi-covered with flagstones. I'm thrilled.

So while environmentally-friendly sod is probably not possible in the strictest sense, I'd like to think that I've found a way to solve for the lawn issue while not completely over-riding my environmentalism.