Seeding in the Wind
It has been too windy to seed the lawn all week. The first minute it was calm, early Friday morning, we quickly grabbed the chance and started sowing seed. Our luck didn’t hold, within two hours the winds were blowing harder than any other time during the week! We were horrified to see seed and topsoil become airborne! To gain some control over the blowing seed dust, we watered, and watered, and watered all day long. By evening the well soaked top soil seemed to hold the seed in place. Unfortunately, the prior hours of wind seed mayhem had taken its toll. Some areas are completely bare and other areas the seed is stacked up in clumps. What a mess! It is beginning to look like establishing lawn will be a major challenge.
Today it is calm, so we raked and re-seeded the obvious bare spots. Time will show us the truth. In 21 days we will see either a carpet of green, or tufty patches of green surrounded by big areas of brown dirt. It has been eight or nine years since we put in a new lawn, and we both forgot how much work it takes. Right now our enthusiasm for this project is dimming just a bit.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
