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I’m about to make an important decision.

I think I’m going to quit grass.

Lately, I’ve become disheartened.

If I want to look out across a lush, green lawn this summer, I regret to say that I have to turn sideways and look toward my neighbor’s yard.

His name is Sedberry. He has a lawn service, and it shows.

Unlike my yard, his grass is green. And it covers all the areas grass is supposed to cover.

I don’t know how they do it, but the men from his lawn service spread pine straw in such a way that it looks like each pine needle has been neatly tucked and folded, giving the appearance of a reddish-brown blanket atop a well-made bed around each of his natural areas.

As for my lawn, think “Amityville Horror.”

What’s so disheartening is that I really tried this year.

I’ve planted seed. I’ve watered. I’ve fertilized.

And in February, I took the advice of a reader who read my column on crabgrass last fall. He said I should cover my entire yard in crabgrass preventer in February. The advice was spot on. I spread, and it worked. No more crabgrass.

The trouble is now I have a bare spot the size of a billiard table where the crabgrass used to be. And it’s right in the middle of my front yard. I’ve tried twice to reseed new grass there, but so far nothing has sprouted.

Part of the problem is that I have an enormous oak tree that covers most of my front yard. In the summer, it acts like a giant umbrella shielding my grass from sun and moisture.

The rest of the front yard has no shade, so this time of year the sun cooks it until it becomes bare and dry like my own miniature desert. My own little Sahara on Arbordale.

My other problem is financial. I’d like to talk to Sedberry and hire the same service he uses. How great would it be to have my yard look as good as his and without all the time and effort?

But I have a daughter going to college next year, so a lawn care service is out of the question.

I kept a saltwater aquarium years ago. I had live coral, clown fish that swam in and out of anemones — the works. I loved it.

Then in 2002 or 2003, when we had that big ice storm, my house lost power for four days. It killed everything. I tried to restart the tank, but it was never the same again.

I had problems that I’d never had before the ice storm. Hair algae started growing everywhere. Red slime algae. The more money I poured into the tank, the worse it seemed to look. It got to the point where every time I walked past the tank, I could feel my blood pressure rising.

One day, I decided I’d had enough.

I feel like my lawn and I have reached the same point. Every time I pull into the driveway, I can feel my blood pressure rising, just like with the fish tank.

I can’t help thinking of all the effort, time and money I’ve put into this lawn, only to have it look so terrible.

So this is why I’m thinking I may just give up on grass entirely.

I know, I know. This is a big step. I’ve been raised my whole life to be a good-lawn person. Keeping a good lawn is part of being an American, right? Or at least Southern.

My problem is: How exactly does one quit grass? What will go in its place? Ivy? Mulch? Is there a support group for former lawn mowers?

What will I do with my Saturday mornings if I’m not out pushing a mower around over my bare spots and weeds?

Whatever I replace it with, it will have to be lower maintenance than grass.

I’m so disgusted at this point, I’m thinking maybe a colored gravel might look nice ... like the kind they use in aquariums.

Contact Mac Lane at maclane@northstate.net