Out with the old...…

     The old lawn is gone, and the new one is on the way.  First my neighbor plowed the ground, then I rototilled it.  Notice in the last photos that the new lawn will be reduced by 35-40%.

The back lawn looked awful.  Good!

     In the last few years, my back lawn had a terrible infestation of both broadleaf and grassy weeds, and it was very thin in many areas.  I am so happy--as it gave me the impetus to tear it out.  That led to reducing its size by a third--and adding lots of new planting areas.  Planning it out makes me feel like a kid in a candy store--so exciting!
     The first four photos shows me laying out the size of the new, reduced-size lawn, leaving lots of room for other plantings.  The third photo shows me standing on the shade-tolerant grass, Poa supina.  It is a paler green than the main grass, Poa pratensis, or Kentucky Bluegrass, a main reason I decided to plant ground covers and perennials in that area, instead.
     The last three photos are actually of the moss garden from my previous post, showing its installation.  I was not able to post them earlier.

Before and after

     Three years ago, I built this small moss garden.  I used some rocks I brought back from my friend's house in Cottonwood, Arizona.  The moss I used was Thuidium delacatulum.  Big mistake, as I built it directly under my neighbor's Norway Spruce tree, so lots of needles fell into the moss, which was almost impossible to remove.  So, a month ago I replaced the moss with another moss, Anomodon rostratus, which is much easier from which to remove the needles.  I think the whole garden is prettier.