It's Spring!!

And I've got my annual hankering to fix the lawn bug. So far, nothing has happened with the lawn out of the 3 years that we've lived here. We mostly go by the, ignore it and it will go away, philosophy. Since that really hasn't work, but instead has created what I refer to as the jungle in the back yard and white trash land in the front yard, I'm hoping this will be the year we actually get it under control. Part of the problem is this stupid tree we have in our front yard. It's a sycamore tree that is about 70 ft tall and sheds it's leaves every fall. There are so many leaves that they usually end up all over our yard as well as 6 or 7 houses down on each side of us. We usually end up filling around 20 large outdoor garbage bags each fall full of leaves from that tree. But, the biggest problem really is that the tree is taking over our yard. It's much too big for our tiny yard and the roots are tearing up the driveway and make it impossible to sod. The tree has to go. But, cutting down trees isn't cheap, hence why it's still there. I'm hoping this will be the year that the tree comes down. We will have to plant another smaller tree in it's place thanks to Matthew's education on the environment. He has taken to telling me that he loves that tree and doesn't want it cut down because it will hurt the environment.

Emily and I got out into the backyard this morning and had fun raking leaves and picking up sticks. I had no idea how many bugs there were on my patio. It was really gross and even right now, I still feel things crawling all over me. Shudder. I was really surprised at how much Emily liked being out there. She even touched an earthworm. So, that's sort of my incentive for getting the backyard cleaned up and ready for the kids to have a place to play. Does anyone have any good ideas for killing an entire backyard full of weeds? I've been doing some research and if we are going to sod it, I think the proper course of action is to kill all the existing weeds, till it, add some fertilizer, lay the sod, roll over it with a sod roller, and water the heck out of it. Does anyone have any other tips or pointers? Like maybe how to talk John into this project? Or what kind of grass to use for a partially shady area and sandy soil?