Archive | June, 2026

To Turf or Not to Turf

7 Jun

To Turf or Not to Turf

Ken, my next-door neighbor, installed some artificial turf in his backyard and I began to think this might look good in my front yard.  It might also be easier to keep neat as the long pine needles from two big trees drop them at the slightest hint of a breeze, to say nothing of pine cones.  It’s impossible to keep clean as the needles get stuck in the lava rocks and have been there for years.

I had a crew come out to see what they could do and give me an estimate.  We struck a deal and my next step was to get HOA approval.  That proved to be like pulling hen’s teeth.  I submitted the application in February and work finally began in May.  (part of that was due to HOA delay and then weather.  The crew doesn’t work when the weather is cold because they can’t stretch the fabric just right)

Rather a ham here, but the red lava rocks to be taken out are on the right side of the photo. (photo by R.D.Schmidt)
Step One was to shovel the rocks into a wheelbarrow and move them to their trailer or take them to my neighbor’s back yard.
All the red lava rocks at the neighbor’s house.  He’s going to build a radio-controlled car course and feels he needs them all.  This saved the crew time and money by not taking the rocks to the dump.
They did have to load the white rocks on the trailer.  How did he go up that skinny board without veering off? He was pushing more than 100 pounds!
  The bare yard before removing the original weed barrier.
The next step was to place a pipe from the house downspout to near the street.  The crew built a French drain to take runoff water down to the collection spot.  We discovered it really worked when we had a light rain.
Dumping a DG (Decomposed Granite) layer
The curb making machine (aka the poop machine) They shovel mixed concrete into the machine and the curb comes out in the desired form.
The finished curb around the island. A similar curb was installed all around the turf.
The DG is tamped down solidly by this machine.
Ready to roll out the turf!
Rollin’ out up and over the rock.
How they worked around the big rocks in the yard
Working hard
Making it just right
Matching seams
Ready to trim and tack down
Tools for tacking down the turf
Tacking down the details. Note the nice stones around the pine tree.
     THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

I love how fresh and colorful it looks. There has been some wind the past couple of days and the pine needles and cones are on the lawn. BUT! I have found I really can blow the debris into a pile that can be raked. It will take some effort, but it will look so much nicer than before. My humongous thanks to the crew that worked so hard through cold wind at times and then very hot days that tested their endurance but also made the turf stretch out nicely.