It’s nearly 11:40pm, and Jason is out watering our desert, ie. our front lawn after it was completely dug up and re-seeded earlier this past week. With the weatherman boasting 80s and 90s for the next few days, we’re pretty determined to keep our facelifted, parched little corner of the universe well-hydrated–and I’d be withholding if I didn’t tell you that our motive is entirely twofold. It’s safe to assume that we’d love to see lush green grass sometime before the season is out (we had the whole yard graded as a major effort to keep water out of the basement this summer), but what we’re not telling, is that we also like to see the neighbor across the street squirm–if only a little bit.
Ok, so let’s be honest. Jason and I are both a bit spirited when it comes to board games and races and such, but lawns and yard work? We enjoy planting and gardening and keeping things trim–I just can’t say that we’re overly competitive about the lawn. We have, however, noticed a trend that makes us laugh every weekend that’s yard work-permitting. When Jason gets the lawn mower out, our fifty-something neighbor does, too. Weed whacker? You guessed it. Pruning shears? He’ll get out two pair. And it’s always within ten minutes of us indicating any type of yard-nurturing activity.
This is somehow hilarious to me. It’s probably because I’m female, and because if the grass is green and the flowers aren’t dead, I’m happy. But really, friendly neighbor? Is it worth all of the extra energy and effort? We’re just trying to avoid the city enforcing some ordinance and citing us for having an overgrown property and such. And it’s nice every once in a while to spring for a bright flower or two to cheer up the place; but that is all. We just love our little home and want it to feel that way. We’re not terribly interested in a contest.
This weekend, when Jason was out tending to our baby lawn’s hydration needs, said neighbor made his way across the street to tell him that our landscaper “took THREE loads of dirt off [our] front lawn last week. THREE LOADS. That’s a lot of dirt.” He then proceed to inquire regarding our choice to lay grass seed. “Did you hydroseed that?,” he questioned. “Hydroseeding is really the way to go. You should probably put some hay down over that.” Thanks, friendly neighbor. So you have grass. And no, we didn’t hydroseed that. And yes, I can hardly wait til it’s lush and grown and I’m able to squish my toes into it again.
Enough about OUR lawn. YOUR turn to share. What does your ideal summer yard look like? Post a comment, a photo, a vision. And don’t forget to hydroseed. 🙂
Oh, man, between the woman next to me –garden extraordinaire– and the Hutchinson’s across the street whose house looks like a feature from “Home and Garden”, Josh and I totally feel the neighborly pressure. We’re seedlings compared to them. One day I dragged Jackson to the store when he wasn’t feeling great, pulled him through the plants at Meijer, came home with 8 plants for our window boxes, and ignored him for an hour while I frantically planted these flowers. This was MOSTLY because the Hutchinson’s were both out in gardening gloves and knee pads. I thought they deserved to look at blooming flowered instead of the skeletons that were in my window boxes, having suffered the entire winter. Why do we care???