Bought a house a couple years ago. Front yard was pretty much 1/3 dirt, 1/3 weeds, and 1/3 grass. I planted a couple trees and some shrubs, but I need to get the grass growing. I planned on just re sodding it, but to dig up the old stuff, level it, and plant new sod is about $1k. With all the other projects my house needs, money would be better spent elsewhere. Anyways, does anyone have a suggestion on attempting to bring back the lawn without new sod? I tried a weed and feed but it did nothing. I aerated it already, so that should help some, but not enough to really make a difference alone.
What kind of grass? I guess you could always try seed. It's going to need water and you probably should do it soon. If you go this route I would lay down a good layer of topsoil first
Improve that soil no matter what you do. I'd look at stuff other than st aug as well. St aug wants a lot of water and I don't think it grows easily from seed
Also, stay away from weed and feed. If you put that down recently I wouldn't bother doing anything. Try and go all organic, you will be better off in the long term
yeah, im reading that st aug doesnt do well from seeds or that seeds from st aug are rare... i cant find them online. Lawn is full sun.
any folk on CF that are lawn care specialists? my folks are looking for some help with the lawn...send me a PM...
Not cutting too short is big for St. Augustine. Remember, it typically spreads above ground and cutting too much can damage it. As much of a pain as it is, the best way to get rid of weeds (especially crab grass as it is in the same family as St. Augustine and fertilizing will only help them spread) is to get on your hands and knees and pull them 1 by 1.
"Feed your lawn...feed it..." Seriously this stuff kicks ass. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed. EDIT: I changed the pic this is more the stuff for Houston.
what is this stuff??? seeds? ive tried some brands before, but the summer burned a patch of our lawn...looks gross...can seeds be used to help regrow the patch or does new palates of grass need to be placed?
The best thing you can do is treat it like a lawn. Mow it regularly, feed and water it. This will prompt the grass you have to flourish and spread.
I put out some bermuda grass seeds last weekend. Its not st augustine but a cheaper alterative. One little fun fact is bermuda grass is actutly a weed. You have to be carefull what type of weed and feed you put on it so you don't kill it.
This is good advice. Just feed, water, and mow on regular basis and it will come back. If you have bare spots aerate the area and around it and cut at highest level for now.
The Bonus S (I changed my pic in my original post) is probably better for Houston...it changed our disaster lawn (after a tough drought) into a perfect carpet looking lawn in only a few months. It was awesome.
Post a picture of your lawn. I need to know how much work needs to be put into spreading the grass out. You probably have areas of decent Saint Augustine grass, yes? Spoiler Get a good 100% slow release fertilizer and spread according to the directions across your entire lawn. Mow high (at least 3" -3.5"of grass height above the ground when freshly mowed) and water the spots of Saint Augustine you have. Within a month you will have total green coverage, and probably by the end of the summer, the grass will choke out all the weeds on it's own. This is crap (60% slow release I think) and expensive. Plus the atrazine isn't good for you or needed. Go to John Deere Landscapes and get a 50 pound bag for the same price. Not only will it be 5 times the fertilizer for the same price, it will also be much higher quality. Another plus is your are not buying a bag of poison.
Meh, well it worked great for our lawn...I was pretty impressed, but then again I don't spend tons of time trying to make my lawn perty...I spend as little time as possible on it.
