My front yard has looked subpar like hell for quite a while now. The row of flowers in front of the deck has lost its fight with entropy and now looks more like weeds. Sure, the occasional tulip or poppy makes an appearance for a few days, but it’s just sad.

The lawn has large bare spots through some combination of too much shade cast by the maple trees and not enough water.

For a while, I’ve been thinking about doing something about it. Now, with this year’s drought in full force, Genae suggested we remove the lawn and put in rock. Since that was pretty much exactly what I was thinking, I seized the moment.

I had my sprinkler guy cap off all the existing sprinkler heads and run a line for drip irrigation. We picked out some granite that’s gray and black with some red highlights. I did my calculations and ordered 7.5 tons, along with some edging material and weed barrier fabric. The tough part, for me, is picking out plants. I tried a few years ago, and nothing I planted made it to the next year. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

The rock came off the truck looking a dull, uniform gray. I was thinking maybe they’d delivered the wrong stuff until I washed a handful of it off. It was just covered with mud. When I finished putting the rock down, I was sure I looked a bit odd watering it. “Hey, Dave! That rock won’t grow no matter how much you water it!”

More work to come in the back yard soon…