baby grass and a yard update

I figured it was about time to give you a little update on our yard. We laid sod in the front part of the yard earlier this year, and if you’ve never laid sod then you just can’t fully realize what a difference some sod and a couple hours can make. It really made our place look like a completely different house!

Well, with the size of our lot we didn’t have the money to lay sod everywhere at once, so we figured we would seed the bigger of our two side yards this Fall.

One week

Mike prepped the whole area by leveling out the existing dirt, ordering top soil, and spreading the seed starter. Once all the prep work was done he spread the grass seed and covered it with some peat moss (which helps the seeds stay moist) and then all that's left is for us to keep the soil damp and watch and wait.

That happened about a month ago, and then unfortunately the weather turned and the poor little baby grass has been struggling to thrive in the chilly weather ever since.

Four weeks

If we had been able to seed just two weeks earlier I think the pictures would show a much bigger difference, but it's still pretty exciting to see the baby grass poking through the soil a little more everyday.
I walked out to rake the front lawn a couple days ago and the bright green baby grass spreading over the side yard caught me a little by surprise. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the spring!

As people that have experience both with laying sod and spreading grass seed, the jury is still out on which is better. Obviously laying sod is more expensive, but when you spread grass seed you don't get the same instant gratification, and does the price difference really make it worth it? Both methods take about the same amount of work, just the prep is different.

Have you laid sod or planted grass seed? Which do you think is better?