One of the first things that I noticed when we came back to my parents' home in the Philippines was that the front yard had been infested with moss. It's okay during hot, sunny days because they dry out, but it is dangerously slippery since we're now in the rainy season. My dad had issues with his hand (had to be operated on that's why I also went home) while my mom had a stroke 4 years back and is not as she used to be. They are not able to upkeep the place.
I am not going to wait until someone gets hurt before I do something about it. Hence I decided to embark on what I called The "Lumot" (Moss) Project.
I thought day in and day out how I would deal with these pesky moss. Maybe I could just splash water across the lawn and then I would just sweep the water off with a broomstick. Arrh, that's too much. Right, Choco?
Choco, my sister's dog that also badly needs grooming seems to be pointing me towards the stairs that lead to our front gate.
Would you look at that?! The way the moss has accumulated, one would think nobody lives in our house. Lol. One cannot be too careless when passing through here-- there's another set of stairs that lead to our garage so my parents rarely pass here. But now that I'm here, I do!
Anyway, the moss is too thick on this spot that I had to scrape most of them off using a blunt knife.
Ideas, Ideas! 💡
Out of viable options, I also contemplated what if I just cover the areas where rainwater accumulates with soil and plant some carabao grass on it. Then I would get some flat slabs of stones that would serve as steps from the gate to the house.
It's pretty much a new garden landscape. Nahhh, my wallet won't be too happy even if I plan to DIY it. 😅 Besides, I don't think this would be safe since adding soil might just collect the water and destroy the cement over time. Oh, did I say that our garage is under this lawn? Yep, directly under that spot where the puddle is.
Kill it!
So I started to search online on how I can kill these moss. Some of the options were to pour baking soda onto the moss --not cost-efficient for me; pour hot water - which meant I would have to boil a lot of water. Then I found this - put bleach. So environment advocates, I am deeply sorry that I even chose this:
I bought a dozen of 1-liter bottles of bleach.
My sister even commented that it seemed that I was to clean up a crime scene. Lol.
Then another idea I had was to check where we could rent that jet spray used in a car wash. I told my dad about the idea and he said that my aunt has this pressure pump that they used to clean pig pens.
We went to her house and found the machine lying there unused for several years already. Being stuck for so long, we had to replace the motor oil, plug, some levers, and the hose.
We were finally able to begin my "lumot" project the day after we got the pump. The pressure was so strong that I didn't have to use much of the bleach that I bought. The moss just got washed off. I also have to warn you that this high-pressure spray is very dangerous, it should not be pointed directly at someone. I accidentally prayed on my foot, it got black and blue afterward.
Anyway, my dad enjoyed "playing" with the hose, I had to cry so he would let me use it. Haha.
It took me two (2) days of scrubbing, bleaching (some areas) and spraying to be able to achieve this:
It's a lot better, don't you agree? I can now be more confident that our lawn is not slippery anymore and my parents (and us) can walk around without the fear of breaking a limb.
The challenge now is maintaining this. Especially after I leave.
