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by Mark Martinho

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Mark Martinho ~ November 23, 2009

Just Slapping some S**t Down in Redwood City

I really enjoy gardening when I have time and my wife and I are quite proud of our yard in our Redwood City home. We know that there are far more impressive yards in Edgewood Park and in surrounding areas, but this is our little piece of dirt and we personally labored to achieve, what in our opinion, are beautiful results.

In the summer of 2008, I stopped watering the front yard and allowed the old lawn to die. The months passed and my wife finally gave me that gentle nudge, “when will the yard get done?” Also, by now my children were calling the dead front yard an abomination, although it looked good for Halloween. The time had come.

Part of the reason for redoing the yard was to better grade the soil away from the house. Anyway, decisions needed to be made; what was the new layout going to look like, what plants, new fence, were we going to add new soil, etc?

My wife and I decided what shape to create for the grass area and to add new plants in batches. The grass came and I rolled it in place. Now we needed plants. I was already out on an errand near a nursery and I decided to go see what they had in stock. As I walked into this nursery, here is what occurred:
Within seconds a lady wearing the nursery’s apron approaches and the conversation begins LADY (friendly voice): Hi, can I help you? ME: (happy voice) Yes, I’m looking for your ground cover area? LADY (helpful voice): What are you trying to do? ME (innocently sharing): Well, I’m landscaping my front yard and I just put the grass down, so now I need some plants. LADY (judgmental voice): Well, that’s all wrong! You don’t put the grass down first then put in your plants. ME (trying to be amusing): That might be the case, but we are, where we are and I’m not pulling the grass up. LADY (serious): What’s your theme? ME (confused): Theme? Green. It’s a garden. LADY (astounded that I was even able drive myself there): Well, it has to have a theme. What style house do you have? ME (trying to escape): The kind that likes ground cover? LADY (angry): Look, I’m trying to give you some great advice regarding which plants to buy. People pay me a great deal of moeny for design advice and you're getting it free. ME (trying to lighten the mood): Listen, I’m just trying to have some fun with my garden. I really do not want to over think it and make it a chore. LADY (rolling eyes): Well, what plants do you think you need for what you're putting together? ME (not knowing what I was saying): I was just going to buy a little ground cover and some cyclamens and plant them. Then stare at it and decide what else would look good in the empty spaces. LADY (loud and incredulous): Oh, so you’re just going to slap some st down and see how it looks! ME (can’t believe what I heard): Goodbye. Anyway, I left and went to Wegman's to purchase my plants and along with my wife completed our garden. I’m quite proud of it and my friends, who of course heard the story, love to comment that “for just slapping some st down, my front yard doesn’t look too bad!” Happy gardening everyone!

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