Certain areas of my lawn aren't as lush as I would like. I already did some topdressing and now I want to reseed/overseed in hopes of getting a thick, lush lawn. The only issue is that I am not sure what kind of grass I have. I know for sure that it isn't St. Augustine but it does look like there are a couple of different species in there. The predominant grass I have consist of skinny soft blades but I can't pinpoint the species. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I get a "mix" seed bag and use that?
My guess is that you have Bermuda grass. Bermuda grass does not grow well in Houston. You may hate St. Augustine, but it arguably grows the best among the species to choose from. See if you can get modified version of it that better suits your needs.
Thanks for your input. I actually prefer St. Augustine but I don't want to spend a lot of money ripping up my lawn and then installing pallets of the St. Augustine. As far as I know, you can't really seed for St. Augustine, right?
Truegreen it.....lil $$$$ but results are awsome...been usun truegreen for 3 yrs...i use to blow money on scotts n crap not really gettn results i wanted...neighbors push truegreen onto me. Best thing eva....
God I loathe St Augustine. I had my yard dug up and had Zoysia put in instead as it doesn't need the heavy watering and maintenance as St. Augustine and it tolerates heat and drought MUCH better. I also no longer have to have it mowed every week and the weeds that used to sprout up every week have vanished.
^ :grin: OP, that seems to be St. Augustine and you forgot to water it or feed it properly. You can still salvage it, though, by the looks of all that green you have. Bermuda is a lot thinner. But what do I know, I didn't install my own grass, I paid someone to do it.
Looks like some good watering may help. My front lawn looks like that, I'm focusing in on it this week. Hopefully it goes from crispy to green.
Pallets were cheap about two or three weeks ago... not anymore... but you still aren't going to drop $2k. It's a lot less. You'd pay that if you're lazy enough to have someone do it for you. Save some money and do it yourself, yo. Do some research.
Shotgun shells with seeds for your lawn walking around blasting a shotgun into ur lawn would probably freak out ur neighbors
I'm not installing no f-ing lawn myself. Screw that. Just removing the existing lawn would be a major pain in the ass. I'm not a lawn guy and I have enough crap on my plate already than to go doing all this lawn bs. I don't just sit around hoping to install new lawns all day long. It's a big job. I've seen all the work that goes into it. I've seen big crews take two days to do it. I'm going to do all that myself? Yea right. If it were as simple as ordering a few pallets and laying it down, then yea I could do it myself. But, in my case, it's not.
:grin: DUDE. You don't need to remove the existing lawn, just kill it and wait until the method that kills it is absolutely gone. RESEARCH it, man. I hope I don't have to give more 'lawn advice' here because it's a lot easier than what you think it is and how mad it's making you.
Seriously your going to have to get in gear if you want a nice yard. You can make St Augustine look good. Better invest in a sprinkler system are you going to be watering your ass off every other day. Fertilyzer, water and keep it cut right and it can happen. Takes a bit of dedication though. Work with it show it love and it will come alive.
Uh, you not only need to dig out the dead grass once you kill it, you need to dig about 4 inches below it to till the soil. Then throw some topsoil down, make it level and throw sod or seed down. It is a huge job for one person. Not sure what you are talking about...if you are implying that you just poison the hell out of it, you have to do something about the chemicals that you used to poison the grass that would be on the soil surface.
I've had companies out to discuss the process and give me bids. You are correct. They remove the lawn and till the soil to 4 inches, add a soil-manure mixture, grade the property, lay the sod, and roll the sod so it makes good contact with the new soil. However, the companies tend to dig up the existing lawn versus use poison then remove it...as they are trying to do the job more quickly. It's not a small job and I think it's ridiculous to imply it is. But, whatever. It's not that big of a deal to me as I hate lawn snobs anyway. Most of them don't even do their own yard work. In fact, almost no one does their own yard work in my neighborhood. They hire it all out. I never do and do all my own hedge trimming, etc. . And, I have a ton of hedges in front and back. That in itself is a butt load of work to keep manicured. I'm definitely not lazy. The issue with my front yard is I had two very large trees and too much shade. I had one tree removed recently and I still have a large oak providing lots of shade. So, the grass just doesn't do well as not enough sun. I may run into the same issues even with new sod. It's mostly st Augustine grass with some Bermuda as it is now but it's in poor shape with spotty coverage mainly under the tree canopy. The best solution would be to have the last tree removed and then do a new lawn. But, right now, I'm not in a hurry to throw away money on it. I just do the best with what I have for now. It will fill in some as the summer comes. It looks worse from winter into spring. Also, the original owners installed all these baby trees in front and back. Then, put a pool in the back surrounded by these trees. Well...that's great when they were small. Now, these trees are maturing and taking over. I've already had two removed and I have two more I need removed. I dunno what they were thinking putting in these trees. I'm sure it was great when these trees were in their infancy but it was a piss poor decision ten to fifteen years later. lol
I stopped reading there because that's your problem. You're calling companies... instead of getting off your butt and doing it yourself. There are a lot more ways to kill grass than with chemicals. Suit yourself. Continue to call "companies"... drop $2k. Good luck!