How To Lay Sod

The Masters concluded yesterday in dramatic fashion, and it has left us wanting to do two things:  play golf and make our yards look as good as Augusta National.

Few of us can achieve excellent golf and pristine lawns, but we sure try.  I can’t help you with the golf, but I can help you with the lawn.*

Today is tax day, so if you got some refund from Uncle Sam, then you might want to invest in your home landscaping.  Last year I decided to lay sod down in my yard.  I have some advice to anyone who wants to do it:  hire someone to do it for you.

No, it wasn’t that bad, and it wasn’t as expensive as I thought to do it myself.  So if you are looking to lay sod this spring, here are some friendly pieces of advice from someone who had no experience doing that sort of thing this time a year ago:

Step 1:  Research

There will be several times you want to say the Hell with it all, and this will be one of those times.  It isn’t fun.  The first thing to do is get a soil sample, and this will tell you what types of fertilizer you need.  Go to your local Cooperative Extension Office and get the kit from your county agent.  They will send it off to UGA and get you a report back in about a week.

I spent several hours painstakingly looking up different types and varieties of grasses.  I knew I didn’t want St. Augustine as that was what was already in my yard.  My county agent recommended St. Augustine, Ucheedawg recommended Bermuda, I wanted Zoysia.  I played golf in Missouri one time and the fairways were Zoysia, and I was impressed with its lushness.  I knew I wanted to go to Supersod in Perry (there are Supersod outlets all over).  After comparing drought and shade tolerance, and making lists comparing all types and the price, I finally settled on Zenith Zoysia.

There is a ton of information out there on the web, just use Google.  I found that the Supersod and the Walter Reeves’ sites were the most helpful.

This has to be your decision, as no two yards are alike.  But I had good success with my Zoysia, and I have been pleased with it thus far.

Step 2:  Prep work

Laying the sod is relatively easy.  Prepping the ground for it is a royal pain in the ass.  No better way to say it.

Different places will tell you different things, but here is a general outline.  First, spray Round-Up on the old grass and weeds to kill everything.  Give it about a week (I waited closer to 10 days) before you even think about laying the sod.  This is important.

After you spray everything with the Round-Up, you then have to get the ground ready.

A tiller is required; my dad had one in Rome but we couldn’t get it down here in time so I just went to Home Depot and rented one.  This was cheaper than having to drive halfway across the state and back to get it, anyway.  I think it cost like $50 to rent one for a half day.  I was able to till up everything in my yard in about 3 hours, but I have a very small yard.  If you have a bigger yard you might want to rent one for a full day.

Once you till up all the old grass, you then have to rake it off and get the dirt nice and flat.  You also want to have the dirt lower than your sidewalk.  You are going to fill up several yard trash bags full of sticks, roots, dead grass, dirt and other yard debris.  Macon is fortunate where the city comes by weekly and picks up yard trash; if you city or county doesn’t do that, then you will have to plan what to do with it all.

Your yard should look something like this, before and after, when you are finished:

All the debris in bags:

Before it was all leveled off:

After everything was leveled off:

 

Step 3:  Installation

The actual installation is the easy part.  It comes in rolls, and you just roll it off.  Order it about a week in advance, so they can have it ready.  I opted to save $50 and drive down to Supersod and pick it up myself. I ordered two pallets (covers about 1,000 sq. ft…I needed just a little more and you can go later and buy individual rolls).  Definitely get it from a farm; getting it from Home Depot or Lowes will significantly increase your costs.  All told, I spent about $350 bucks on the sod for about a 1,000 sq. ft.

I made a very bad calculation.  They said that one pallet will fit in the back of a pick-up truck.  So I got Uchee to meet me there in his truck so we could make one trip.  I didn’t account that my 1995 Chevy 1500 is a step-side with a narrow bed.  So the pallet wouldn’t fit in my truck.  So we had to come all the way back to Macon, unload his truck, and then go all the way back down there again.

This was aggravating because we had to take down each individual roll and sit on my sidewalk, cover it with a sheet, and put the water hose on it so it wouldn’t die.  Then I had to go all the way back down to Perry again.  Just pay the $50 and have them deliver it to you.  Even if you have enough trucks and friends to make on trip, having to take off each individual roll takes a lot of time and effort.  Letting them just sit a whole pallet down on your sidewalk or yard will be much easier.

The actual installation is easy.  Just follow the directions and lay it like a brick wall where the ends are staggered on different levels.

Here is the finished product after installation:

Step 4:  Maintenance

Initially, you are going to spend some money watering your lawn, especially if the drought conditions persist again.  I watered my grass so much, the Macon Water Authority called and asked if we had a leak due to an unusual increase in activity.  Our water bill went from $40 a month to $180 in the summer.  I probably water too much, but after all that hard work I was damn sure going to make sure it lived and got established.  Once the grass gets established you can back off some.  Don’t wait so late to install; I installed the last week of May right after Memorial Day (did all the prep work with the tiller on Memorial Day), and that was about as late as you want to do it. Now is the time to start the prep work.

Also, when you mow, a lawnmower with a bag is nice. My mower broke, so I had to buy a new one.  I didn’t want to spend the extra $50 on a push mower with a bag, and I wish I had.  It will take about a month to get established, so it may look like it is dying at first.  Don’t worry, just keep watering it and you’ll be fine.  I highly suggest you use a sprinkler system, but a sprinkler on a water hose can work OK.

Follow the directions for fertilizer and pre-emerge.  I screwed around and didn’t do the pre-emerge in the fall, and my lawn was ate up with weeds this winter.  It is simple remedy to just spray some 2-4-D out there, but it could have been avoided with some pre-emergent.

I had never laid down any sod before, and I was able to do it successfully.  Good luck if you do it, and if you get confused with anything, there is a ton of help on the internet to answer your questions.

Corbindawg

*If you completely mess up, it isn’t my fault.  Also, I didn’t get paid to pump up Supersod.  I just had a positive experience with them.

This Day in Georgia History

39 years ago on April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron blast home run number 715 and beat Babe Ruth’s home run record. 

Aaron would go on to hit a total of 755 homers, a MLB  record that would last until Barry Bonds broke it in 2007 and finished with 762 HR.  Although to me and many others out there, Hank Aaron will always be the home run king in baseball.

Corbindawg

Lewis Would Be Proud

Lewis would have been happy to see Gen. Sherman get his comeuppance.

Yesterday, Conan O’Brien finally got revenge on the war criminal.

Corbindawg

Mike Slive Needs to Grow A Pair

I have said it before and I’ll say it again:  the SEC needs a uniform drug policy.

You have some schools, like UGA and Kentucky, who are strict. 

I am so sick and tired about hearing from the media that Richt runs a loose ship.  Funny, too, how you don’t hear these reports about how much the team lacks discipline when there aren’t any arrests. 

College kids are going to smoke weed, regular or the synthetic variety.  You cannot tell me that the players at UGA are smoking weed at a significantly higher rate than those at other schools.  The difference, as we all know, are the policies in place.  Perception is reality.

Then you have the allegations against Auburn.  The problem with this is, why would you expect a school and a coach to do the right thing if you aren’t forced to?  The only rule they have is the rule themselves made.  Who in the SEC office cares if Dakota Mosley failed 7 consecutive weekly drug tests?  No one.  And that is the problem.

Look at Coach Richt. UGA has finishes of #3 and #2 under Coach Richt’s tenure, and last year was a mere 5 yards short of playing in the National Title game aka winning the National Title.  UGA went toe to toe with the mighty Alabama and Nick Saban.  It was a heavyweight fight to the very end. 

Many other sites and blogs question the strict policies of UGA as a barrier to greatness.  I won’t argue that.  But they are the rules the athletic administration put in place.  And we stick to them. 

Auburn fans probably would gladly trade that one glorious season of 2010 for the next 40 years of wandering in the desert.  I can rest easy knowing that as long as this regime is in Athens, there might be some bad press about players doing stupid things and “boys being boys”, but there won’t ever be anything of this magnitude reported. 

What is more important to us, as fans-winning it all under nefarious means or damn near winning it all by doing it the right way?  That is something everyone will have to answer for themselves, but for me, I’m happy with the consistency of the status quo if it means we won’t be embarrassed and faced with NCAA sanctions. 

However, all this would not be an issue if Mike Slive and the SEC office would grow a pair and make the drug testing policies uniform across the conference.  Clearly schools like Auburn can’t be trusted to do the right thing.

Corbindawg

Wearing Black and Gold

I was raised in a small rural Georgia town. I still live in a small rural Georgia town. This is by choice. I love my hometown, just as many of you love your hometown. There’s something about “home.” Small rural Georgia towns offer things that larger cities don’t. For better or for worse, if you love your small rural Georgia town, you think it’s the greatest place on earth. My friends here at TGT and I have a lot of fun with this. They don’t find my small town to be quite as delightful as I do. For some reason, Corbin doesn’t like the fact that our high school football stadium overlooks the Dollar General. But he never turns down a meal at Scott’s BBQ.

Something I think is fairly unique to a small rural Georgia town is the intimate sense of community. Everybody knows everybody, and for the most part loves everybody, even if you don’t like everyone. Kind of like family- you can talk about your own, but nobody else can. Country music songs are written about small rural Georgia towns. You’re also proud of your own. Very proud. When somebody does something good from your hometown, everyone shares in the sense of accomplishment. High school sports are HUGE in the small Georgia towns that dot the rural countryside. Not saying they aren’t huge in the larger cities- clearly they are- but it’s just different. If you’re from a small rural Georgia town, you know what I mean.

Right now, Cochran, Georgia is Wichita State Country. Native son Carl Hall and his Shockers have made an amazing run through the NCAA Tournament. Businesses around town have signs out front encouraging and congratulating Carl. You can’t go anywhere without someone bringing up the topic of Carl and his Wichita State team. For a small town like Cochran (Bleckley County has a population of less than 12,000; Cochran less than 6,000) it’s a really big deal to have a hometown kid to be playing in the Final 4. It’s a huge deal. That kind of thing doesn’t happen often to small rural Georgia towns. Kids from Atlanta play in the Final 4 every year. They play in BCS National Championship games and in all of the major professional leagues. But towns like Cochran don’t have this opportunity very often. That’s why, when it happens, it’s a really big deal. Again, if you’re from a small rural Georgia town, you know what I mean.

Tomorrow night, everyone in Cochran will be tuned in to watch Carl Hall and his team take on Louisville. This is the biggest stage, and Cochran is sharing in Carl’s success. It’s fun, and it gives us all a sense of pride. To many, this is just an exciting Final 4 game. For the community of Cochran, it’s more than that. It’s a chance to see one of our own do something incredible. We’re proud of Carl and are having a great time watching him play on national television. This is the kind of thing that unites small towns and brings everyone together.

We’re wishing Carl and his team all the best as they get ready for the biggest game of their lives. Win or lose, we’re proud of you Carl!

Go Shockers!

ucheedawg

City of Atlanta is Flawed

Last week,  I got to go to one of the three Boys and Girl’s Clubs in Atlanta operated by the Salvation Army.  The difference between this Boys and Girls Club and others is this one is being run by the Salvation Army, so they can infuse Christian messages into their programming. 

I spent the afternoon there, and they are truly doing God’s work.  Kids come in after school, and they have a safe place to go play games and do their homework.  Outside of being hustled by a 2nd grader at bumper pool, it was positive experience.

Our group of all WASP yuppies went and spent an afternoon and played basketball, pool, board games and helped the kids with their homework.  I was helping a boy do his subtraction homework (didn’t really need my help), and he opened a bag of Cheetos and shared them with the other kids at his table.  His sister, who was just one grade ahead of him, wasn’t as nice.  But this little boy was very sweet to share his afternoon snack.

Go to the AJC and read the headlines.  Today there are many articles about the cheating scandal with the public schools.  Atlanta ranks 3rd in the country as having the most roaches.  Traffic and infrastructure problems plague the city. 

While the City of Atlanta hosts several high profile sporting events at the Georgia Dome-Final Fours, Superbowls, SEC Championship Games, Wrestlemania, bowl games, etc., the city leadership thinks it is wise to invest money into a new facility, when the current one is very adequate. 

Now, I know the City’s commitment is relatively small.  But it is just bad PR and comes across as insensitive. 

Arthur Blank has a foundation and its mission statement is:

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation promotes positive change in peoples’ lives and builds and enhances the communities in which they live. We seek innovative solutions that enable young people, families and communities to achieve results beyond what seems possible today.

With all the problems facing Atlanta, how can a $1 billion stadium help improve the community and lives?  I wish that Mr. Blank spent some time driving around the city so he would see that Atlanta has more problems than an old Georgia Dome.  And while a new Dome would might create an economic boom, I think a better way to help in economic development would be to help the children like the ones I met at the Boys and Girls club get out of the chains of poverty

Maddux and Glavine Were Prophetic

How does a team strike out 16 times and still score 9 runs? 

The long ball. 

The Braves have 6 round trippers already this season, 2 from Justin Upton.  The Braves finished in the middle of the pack for HR in the NL last year, and near the bottom of all the MLB.  They kept company with Houston, the Mets and Seattle.  This Braves lineup presents no easy outs (except B.J. Upton and maybe Dan Uggla).  There is legitimate power up and down. 

After the 1990s when the Braves were built on solid pitching, could we be turning to the long ball*?  After all, chick do dig the long ball.

*Not saying the Braves pitching is not good now. Paul Maholm turned out an excellent outing last night.