Well I learned something new about living in Idaho. There are things called grubs and they can destroy your yard if you don’t treat for them.
This year my yard started off well, and then part way through the summer noticed some yellowing areas. Being from AZ I assumed it was lack of water. So, I upped the water a little. That didn’t help. Then I thought that my old sprinklers were the issue and I started replacing my sprinkler heads (I did all the front and some of the back). But the yellow area in the back yard kept getting bigger and bigger. Well, I didn’t know what was going on. Then I noticed my neighbor had some yellow patches in his yard and that he was removing them and replacing that grass. So, I went and asked.
He looked right at me and said, “Well if the grass pulls out with no roots you had grubs.” That was exactly what was happening in my backyard and in a couple spots in my front yard. I asked him more about grubs and he told me that he always treats his yard a couple times a year for grubs and fungus. Because if you don’t then you lose your yard; like I was having happen at my house. Well, I came home and looked into grub killer. I found some locally and then a few days later I treated my entire yard with 24 hour grub killer and a grub shield. One kills the larger grubs the other kills the little ones and the eggs. I did that on a Monday and on the Friday I started ripping out my yard that had died.
Oh boy was that hard. I got it out, but then I had to turn up the soil and get topsoil to put down and then get sod to put in to hopefully take before the ground freezes. But the local nurseries and garden stores all agreed that sod was the best thing to do if I could get it in by the middle of October. Well, I had already started taking out the yard that was affected and now I just had to get it ready for sod and get sod – A LOT OF SOD. I had to till the soil by hand since I don’t hav a rototiller, my father-in-law is in Arizona with his, I called everyone I know here and none of them had one either, and I wasn’t going to spend $200 on a rototiller. So, I did it by hand.
The below picture is the first 25 rolls of sod I picked up on Saturday, and then on Monday it was another 10 rolls.
I spent all my open time from Friday through Monday working on the yard. I don’t know how many hours I spent, but that was ok. I had to remove some soil from my yard and replace it with new topsoil, and then try my best to flatten it all out for the sod. I ended up with way too much topsoil but only 1 extra roll of sod when all was said and done. I have to figure out what to do with all the extra dirt I have now, but that will be for another day. My back and arms are sore, but my arms aren’t as sore as I was expecting.
And it looks fine. It isn’t great, but I am happy with it.
