We’ve all been impatient with our significant other’s lack of taking care of household items in a timely manner. Well, this is a cautionary tale while in quarantine.

While at home during New York on Pause, New York State’s shutdown during this COVID-19 pandemic, I had a list of projects I wanted/needed to get done. One of them included ridding my world of weeds! I had asked my husband, Erik, to do something about the dandelions and crabgrass that had taken over our lawn. Every time I was outside playing with the kids on our lawn or even if I just looked out the window, I would get so irritated at seeing those weeds! It seemed like every yard in my neighborhood had lush green grass and NO DANDELIONS! So why did we? What were they doing that we weren’t?

And then we saw it! While watching the news one night, a commercial came on for Scott’s Turf Builder Weed & Feed. I went out and bought a bag that week. Then, it sat in the garage for THREE WEEKS! I got tired of nagging him about it, so one night, after we put the kids to bed, and Erik was busy working on a project for work, I was determined that I was going exterminate those weeds once and for all!

I’ve always prided myself at being able to take on new tasks with great results, without reading directions. Maybe I was just lucky. So, without a word (because I knew he’d try to talk me out of it) I went to the garage, filled up our new lawn dispenser with the Turf Builder, and ran all over most of the yard with the seed/fertilizer dispenser. I reviewed my work. I needed more. So I went back to the garage, refilled and repeated the process. That should do it.

I went back in and for some reason, then read the directions. I was supposed to wet the grass first. Check. We had watered the lawn earlier that day. Then I was supposed to water it the next day. I could do that. What I didn’t do was measure it out and set the seed/fertilizer dispenser to a specific setting. The reviews for this product revealed customers whose grass had died when they used it. Fearing I used too much, I ran outside and watered the heck out of the grass, hoping to wash it away or dilute it.

The next morning, the dandelions and crabgrass were dying – so was the grass but it wasn’t bad. I watered the grass again. I didn’t make it back out to the front yard for a couple of days because, you know… we weren’t going anywhere due to COVID and spent much of our time in the backyard with the kids or in the house. When I finally went back out to the front yard again, most of it looked like it had been burned in a fire. It was all gone. I didn’t say anything to Erik. I knew he had seen it. When I finally brought it up days later, he was a better man than me and didn’t rub it in. He just nonchalantly said, “Well, it did it’s job… and then some.”

Shortly afterward, I noticed he was outside spreading grass seed around the yard. Two weeks later, the new grass was growing in full, green and without dandelions or crabgrass!

My first thought was next time, I’ll just be stay in my lane and leave the grass to Erik. But then again, our backyard is pretty bad with the dandelions… and I did ask my husband to work on it two weeks ago…

“Burn it,” my mom advised. Mother knows best.

Tip: If you decide to “burn it”, make sure you rake up the dry grass and aerate before putting down new seeds.