It has been a month since I wrote my last column about my lawn and garden.

Sorry to say not much has been physically accomplished in that time.

Oh, I’ve been doing the research and I have received a lot of advice. I’ve just been sorting through it all, reading books, magazines and web sites, and talking to the folks at the Fayette County Extension Service.

The problem is all of the answers that I have found have prompted a big question to be asked.

The question is, do I want to re-sod my entire lawn and can I afford it? The answers are maybe and not really. Nicholas Ray walked me through what I would have to do and, after expanding my knowledge through reading up on lawn care, I understood most of what he was saying.

First he told me to use Round-Up and kill off all of the weeds that were haunting my lawn. One reader suggested going organic and I found that a lot of people recommended corn gluten to eliminate weeds. I still haven’t decided which way to go and I’m waiting on a walk through with a master gardener to get their informed opinion before deciding.

Secondly, he recommended tillng the area and then getting some river sand and spreading that throughout the area where I would be laying down sod. To do this, I would need to get a truck to deliver a large amount to my house and then I would spread this around the area until I had between an inch and an inch and a half layed down.

After that, I lay down the sod and I could do that in a number of different ways, although tearing it up into a lot of pieces sounded like it would be the easiest way to go.

I’m very tempted to start small and maybe do my front yard, but again I have to look at the cost. Sod can cost around between 30 and 60 cents a square foot and I have a lot of sqaure feet in my yard. Plus, enough river sand to cover my yard could cost close to $400.

After mowing my lawn a twice over the past month, I’ve found it doesn’t look too bad, especially in the front. After talking things over with my wife, we’re planning on listening to a master gardener who specializes in lawns and then working on the front yard, while trying to get the back yard under control.

I am still planning on working on a border with the new neighbor’s yard and am looking into building a living fence. Several years ago some friends of ours were on a show on HGTV and a living fence was one of the projects. We have the epsiode Tivo’ed and will likely go back and watch it in the coming weeks. I think I can convince my in-laws to help with the project when they come at the end of the month for my son’s first birthday.

I think we will also work on planting some shrubs, getting our vegetable garden going again and possibly planting some flowers in both the front and the back.

While the project may have shrunk in scope, I expected that would happen after starting my research. Many publications suggested that I dream big and then whittle it down after reality hits.

By next month I expect that I will have a story about my living fence project, what the master gardener said and pictures.

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