The Greening of 3283

I posted earlier today. And shortly after I did, Mervin and the crew from the Aesthetic Gardener showed up here at 3283. Their first task was to slightly re grade and prepare the site for lawn and flower/shrub beds. Bobbie and Mervin walked the edges of the lawn and decided on the final shape of the bed-line. Then the crew began spreading shredded bark on the bed areas. Meanwhile Mervin was on hid ford tractor smoothing out the top soil where the sod would be placed.

The bed area along the north side of the lawn is being defined.

A large trailer full of shredded bark was delivered.

The crew began covering the beds with bark while waiting for the sod.

The recent months in West Michigan have not been favorable for sod production. We had waited a few weeks to see if good quality sod could be obtained locally. But that was not to be. AAA Turf, headquartered in Hudsonville, MI was our supplier of choice. They couldn't promise local sod but were able to ship in sod from their farm in Indiana. Given that our daughter is an alumna of Indiana University I guess it is appropriate that the 3283 legacy is incorporating Hoosier turf.

A large truck delivered nine pallets of sod around 1:30 this afternoon. They were quickly unloaded and the guys went to work installing instant lawn.  No need for any captions on the following pictures. Bobbie spent a lot of time behind the camera today and her work tells the story of The Greening of 3283.

It has been nearly six months since the yard surrounding the cottage was stripped of grass, top soil [and snow] and became a construction site. Amazing transformations have taken place to the cottage structure and its mechanical/electrical systems. But it still sat in a sandy, dusty, dirty -- construction site. Until today. Today much of the feeling I've had for this place came back as the lawn where four generations of kids have played was returned. There is still a lot to be done: much more inside work and eventually more landscaping. But with green returned to 3283 it looks "right" again.