Any yard and garden people?

MrsPteranodon

This is not CDR at all. Well I guess it is. Cause once I have grass I can put up the posts for my new clothes line. Anyway. 

We moved here in November and we put up our fence in december, now we're starting to get ready to sod. But I want to try my hand at grass seed first (Hello like 200$ cheaper!) Our yard is pretty okay sized. We have a 10x13 cement patio + side yard + 13x17 dirt area which will be grass soon. All the local sod places require 500sqft minimum. So I want to try seed and if that fails we'll go to home depot or some other buy by the sqft place. 

Anyway. We're set to have a week of 45-50 degree days + Sunshine! We don't have a tiller so I've been outback with shovels and Buddy has been "helping"  trying to break up the soil. But I've run into an issue. Its pretty much clay after 2 inches, so I read that for clay I could bring in bark mulch and then lay the grass seed. Or I could go and rent a tiller for the day (100$ kind of defeats the point of laying seed) and do sand. 

 

Either way I really don't want to miss this super nice window of time so I'm working my butt off to get it prepped.

 

Any tips?

Also Buddy found a catapillar outside and we brought it in with some sticks it was found on and put it in a jar with a coffee filter on top. Its one of those fuzzy orange and black ones. What kind of butterfly does this turn into ? I thought it was a monarch but its not.  

unaveragejane

First, be kinda careful picking up caterpillars. My mom swears one stung my older brother when he was little. I think it was one of the big puffy, fluffy ones. The skinny ones without fur never seemed to be a big deal, but she had us terrified of the fluffy kind.

Anyway, as far as the grass seed, it takes a lot of work but you can get a good yard started without having to buy sod. I will try to remember to ask DH for tips when he gets home b/c he is obsessed with grass seed. I believe he pretty much pulled up all the old grass we had, put down a layer of topsoil (I think) and sand, aerated it, then seeded it and spread hay over the top to help keep it from washing away. Since you have such a small area, you could aerate with some of those spiky shoes (or maybe some cleats?). 

YellowLily2013

Yeah we rented an aerator this fall, actually split the rental with a friend to save on costs.

Im not sure a shovel is sufficient for seeding. If it's only saving 200 less 100 to rent something. For 100 I'd say it's worth it just to do sod. Because my time is worth a lot, and see usually does better in the fall versus spring.

Sod will still take work and plenty of watering. So you'll have something to do! Plus you'll be closer to having a clothes line!! I'm dying to get one installed.

Are you using a retactable one or a free standing one? We haven't found one we love yet.

MrsPteranodon

So I went and bought a hand tiller thing and I've been out there for the last hourish doing it.  I am right at about 50$ spent right now and I should have everything to get the grass seed in. I am about 50% done with the space, and I'm SUPER annoyed right now with how much clay is out there. I'm basically pulling it out and I have huge bags of steer manure and mulch to put down.  I'm gonna try to finish it today and get the grass seed down thursday. 

 As for the caterpillar now I'm all freaked out by "red",  but he seems happy in his jar for now. 

So what we are doing for our clothes line. We are going to use retractable lines and mount them on the fence across our patio, then on the other side of the patio DH is going to install and 4x4 post with a T on top with attachments for the clothes lines. So I don't have to have it out all the time when we want to use our patio.

 

mary35699

So confused and envious and confused!?! Digging outside in Feb? Caterpillars (or any bugs) alive and active outside now!? Easy to tell someone doesn't live in Atlantic Canada. Tomorrow when we have a snow storm can I come to your house? Please, I will help with the grass.

Seriously I am so jealous right now I had to post, any ways good luck with your grass seed. Wish I could offer you some advise but I don't know anything about sod or starting grass. 

Into+the+Kitty

Can you take a picture of the caterpillar up close and upload it?

MrsPteranodon

Into+the+Kitty:

Can you take a picture of the caterpillar up close and upload it?

 Pretty sure ours died. whoops. Not sure what else I could have done with him. He had leaves and a nice big jar. whoops. I'm just going to toss him out in the bushes. 

Into+the+Kitty

Looks like a woolly bear to me. They turn into a moth. They also thankfully aren't stingers.

It sucks that it died. Next time you find them, it's best to pick them up using a stick or plant. Especially if you don't wash your hands before picking them up, they can be pretty fragile. That way you also prevent your kids from getting stung. Then bring whatever plant or leaves inside that you found them on. Caterpillars are actually super fussy about what the eat. To the point that a lot of them would rather starve and die than eat something that they don't normally eat.