New landscaping (and a tiny John Deere)

So last Saturday, Metro Greenery brought the whole crew out and installed our new 'feature,' as well as two pallets of sod. Jackie Simpson, the owner, was extremely helpful in keeping the cost down while still improving our curb appeal. If you compare these photos to the ones after the storm, you'll see what a big improvement it is!

We decided we really have to have one more pallet of sod. It'll come next week.

And the new plants and grass mean that we have to water. And water. Twice a day for a few weeks, which just kills me, but not as much as paying for all this then letting it die. So we water. We have a sprinkler irrigation system that we haven't used, literally, since we bought the house in 1996. Surprise! It doesn't work!

Metro Greenery didn't have time to investigate, so I got in touch with Aaron Weldon of Well Done Landscaping (which I think is such a great name). I know him from a networking group. He came out himself, then brought his expert by, and they both declared our system to be beyond rescue. I had explained our situation (Rich got laid off, fixing up the house in case we have to sell, can't spend too much) and reiterated that we just couldn't afford to have a new system installed. Aaron suggested we get a traveling sprinkler as our best low-cost solution. I had never even heard of them before, but he explained that you lay out the hose in the area you want watered, and this sprinkler follows it, watering as it goes. Aaron not only pointed us toward the solution we needed, he also very graciously didn't charge anything to come out — twice. Very nice guy, and if we end up staying in this house (I hope!), we'll definitely be calling him to install a new system. Thanks again, Aaron!

So anyway, we got the sprinkler. Lowe's carries the John Deere brand version of it. So we have a tiny little John Deere, and it's the gosh darn cutest thing you've ever seen!

I still have to go out and deal with it (laying out the hose) twice a day for a while, but it's much easier (and the sprinkler is nice and low, i.e., more efficient) than a regular sprinkler. And, really, it's so cute!