Mixing Bermuda grass with St Augustine for one continuous lawn

10 years ago

First of all, this is my first post and I'm a total lawn care newbie, so please excuse any ignorance.

We just bought a house with a small backyard lawn that continuously flows into the two side lawns on each side of the house. The builder installed bermuda grass, which seems like the popular choice down here in Houston (St Augustine being the other popular one).

Problem is, the side lawns are essentially narrow walkways from the front yard to the back yard and are each in between the side of the house and our wooden fence, therefore it is heavily shaded. As you can probably guess, after 4 years of little care by the previous homeowner, the bermuda grass is pretty much mostly gone now, and the only vegetation there is a large variety of weeds. Thankfully, the weeds are keeping the dirt in place and prevent erosion, at least.

My question is, since Bermuda seems like a poor choice here on the side lawns with the shade, can I mix in another type of grass on the side lawns that handles shade better (such as St Augustine?), while maintaining my decent-looking front/back with Bermuda? Would there be any adverse cross-germination to be concerned about? If we really don't mind the aesthetics of the two looking very different, could I work towards maintaining the two grass types such that they coexist happily? I know the areas where one grass type meets the other would look really hideous, but we feel like this is truly the best low-cost option.

Again, I have no idea whether the different grass types require different maintenance, so if this is a dumb question, please excuse me. My wife and I just want to install something on the side lawns that's going to survive the low sunlight conditions, while keeping the bermuda in the front/back. It'd be great to still have grass on all sides of the house another 4 years from now.

Thanks in advance!

Featured Answer

dchall_san_antonio

10 years ago

Oh yeah, St Aug will absolutely take over if you water weekly, mow it at the highest setting, and only fertilize 3x per year. I absolutely rely on that fact in my back yard. We got some bermuda in it a few years ago during a drought period when I was not home to water right. The St Aug died from the drought and common bermuda filled right in. Two years after that, with some TLC, it's all St Augustine again. Now we have a new puppy so all bets are off. One area will be mulched so he's not a muddy mess all summer, but we're hoping to keep the sunny area green with St Aug.

If you inset the stepping stones enough to keep them below the mower, then you will be good.

Many years ago my dog wore a path from our back deck to the garage. I had a local decking guy build a wooden walkway, deck style, following the curving dog path. It turned out beautiful, much better than we pictured at first, and lasted 15 years until we remodeled the yard again. The dog was very happy to walk on the wood, too, so everyone was happy.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

dchall_san_antonio
10 years ago
St Aug should work and do exactly what you're suggesting...look ugly where they meet. St Augustine likes to be mowed at the mower's highest setting while bermuda likes to be mowed at the lowest setting. Bermuda likes monthly fertilizer while St Aug needs it only in the late spring and 2x in the fall. Both like the same deep and infrequent watering, but the side yards will probably need it even less often due to the shade and wind protection.

If you walk along the sides, St Aug will develop a path look very quickly. Would you consider using several inches of mulch along the sides instead of grass?
edd13chen
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the reply.

It's an interesting proposal to use mulch instead of grass where we will be stepping frequently, but my wife simply wants the green look of grass, so don't think that'll work. Would there be any other mostly-grass-and-still-mowable "pathway" solutions like this mulch approach? Thought about stepping stones in the middle of the grass, but I'm guessing that'll ruin my mower.

What about st Aug overtaking my existing Bermuda lawn in the long run, is that a real risk? I watched a pretty convincing youtube video of a landscaper that shows evidence of this. We still prefer the Bermuda look so hate to see it get killed off by SA, if that's even possible.
Related Discussions
Replace bermuda lawn with St. Augustine grass
Q
Comments (9)
I'm not sure the real answer has been written yet. We really need to know: Where you live (at least the city especially if you live in SoCal). Do you have any watering restrictions? Do you have any shade on the lawn? Are you willing to mow 2x per week? As TW has said, if you want to kill the bermuda, wait until summer (June depending on where you live). If you want to keep the bermuda and level the lawn, also wait until June. If you want to mix bermuda with St Aug, that can be done, too. You do not have to have a monoculture. One minor problem with that is that they each thrive under different conditions. If you mow high and water once a month in the cool weather and once a week in the heat, the St Augustine will tend to overrun, but not eliminate, the bermuda. If you mow low and don't water, then the bermuda will overrun the St Augustine. If you have any shade, the bermuda will die out and St Augustine will move in.
...See More
Bermuda grass vs. St Augustine grass
Q
Comments (3)
My soil and light are different from yours but I used to play games with the bermuda and St Aug that invaded my stone driveway. One year I would not water and watch the bermuda take over. Then next year I would water once a week and mow it high and watch the St Aug take over. I did that for about 10 years playing them back and forth. Now I'm doing that with some zoysia and bermuda. Infrequent watering and mowing high has kept all the grassy weeds out of the sunniest parts of my lawn for years. I have had the occasional bermuda, nutgrass, and wildflowers (that thing everyone calls wild onion) but they have all gone away. Weeds I cannot control with water and mowing are broadleafed weeds like henbit, oxalis and chickweed. Where do you live?
...See More
How to Deal with a St. Augustine / Marathon Grass Mix?
Q
Comments (2)
I used to live off of Aviation Blvd in Hawthorne. Wish I knew then what I know now. I would have bought every house on the block. My fertilizer recommendation would be ordinary corn meal bought at a feed store, but I realize you are more synthetic oriented. If you were thinking of a chemical fertilizer, I can't help you with names. You can probably use anything that does not say "Weed and feed" but does say "Safe for St Augustine." Weed and feed is a general no-no around here (you didn't ask so I won't get into it). Just buy a St Aug-safe granular fertilizer and you should be okay. If you are interested in an easy, effective, and inexpensive organic program, go to the Organic Gardening forum, find the FAQ, and look for the one on Organic Lawn Care. If you keep the turf irrigated (no more than once a week, but deeply each time) and mowed at your mower's highest setting, your St Augustine will crowd out almost all the grasses and weeds. It will have trouble with clovers, dichondra, dollar weed, oxalis, and some other broadleafed weeds. Those will have to be spot sprayed or hand pulled as soon as you see them. If you pick a spray, be sure it is safe for St Aug. St Augustine should grow and fill a 10 food diameter area each season. A few strategically placed flats of sod should cover a lawn in one season. Most growth is in the spring where it gets summer heat, but 3 miles from the Pacific is pretty mild. You may get growth all summer.
...See More
Bermuda + St. Augustine + Fescue = Lawn Cornucopia
Q
Comments (4)
Bermuda Bible, which says that common varieties can be mowed to between 1-1/2 and 2 inches. At those heights, will the same 2-3 times per week frequency be required? No. The rule of thumb for mowing any grass type is to never remove than 1/3 blade length. Many if not most of the Bermuda hybrids and even some of the improved common varieties can be maintained at 1/2 and less with some of the dwarf varieties. If kept that short requires mowing every other day. Bermuda grass very fast, so fast under the right conditions you can dang near see and hear it grow. When kept at say 1.5 inches you would be looking to mow every 5 to 7 days, and under some conditions, wet and warm, every 3 to 4 days. What results from less mowing? Seed heads? Thinning? Correct. Bermuda has a unique characteristic in that it can be trained to do something no other grass can do. Some expert says it is self defense. When kept short and mowed frequently the blades learn to lay low and grow horizontally to avoid the blade. When this happens the grass interweaves into a tight dense mat of carpet. It forms a barrier weeds have difficulty breaching. As the maintenance height is raised allows the grass to grow more vertically, which loosens up the density and opens the canopy so to speak. It begins to thin out which opens up more opportunities for weeds to invade. I don't mind the fertilization schedule. I'll be going the organic route, so I'm thinking soybean meal, CGM, or alfalfa pellets once per month. Any opinions about which one of those will be best for Bermuda? Also, given my organic care leanings, will general good Bermuda practices eventually crowd out the fescue? If you are going to go the organic route for economic-technical reasons I would suggest Milorganite over the feed-grains. Of the three you listed Soy Bean Meal would be #1 choice. CGM is great but very expensive and SBM has about the same protein content. Alfalfa pellets are uselees on Bermuda, as is corn meal. FYI Bermuda is a nitrogen hog, and many if not most of the organic alternatives cannot supply enough nitrogen fast enough to meet the demand early on and may take a season or two to build up the soil microbes to digest the food grains. However Milorganite works pretty much just like commercial fertilizers. IT has slow release nitrogen but not painfully slow and has some iron in it which is welcomed in any lawn. Now with all that said consider this. For the first season to kick start the Bermuda growing use a commercial slow release urea fertilizer for the next 2 months. Then 1 half application commercial urea, and half organic choice.
...See More
Carol Woolf
7 years ago
Oddly, in Florida, mixtures of st Augustine and Bermuda together make a very dense deep mat with st Augustine usually topping out the mix. Most people in Texas never consider that. It works.
Tom Powell
6 years ago
My back yard is in bad shape. I just cleared out a patch and plated Bermuda seed and it's coming up nicely. I have other places in the yard that has pretty healthy St. Augustine. If I want to mix the two, do I plug or buy sod and place it randomly in the Bermuda mix?
TS Garp
6 years ago
If you are OK with how the Bermuda and SA grasses look when they are mixed (which I can't stand), then just seed the Bermuda where you need grass and from there just follow proper lawn care practices. If both grasses are cared for properly then I would predict that eventually the sunny areas will be dominated by Bermuda, and shady areas by saint Augustine, with some mixing in the other areas.
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
Tom, where do you live? Unless you live in the desert Southwest, South Texas, or South Florida, it is not hot enough yet to plant bermuda seed. You might be growing crabgrass.

What benefit do you think you will get by mixing the two grasses? They have different nutrient and mowing demands and have different growing characteristics.
Erin K
5 years ago
I am jumping on this thread because we recently moved in a house that has Bermuda and St. Augustine but mostly Bermuda. I would like for the St Augustine to take over more, so we have been cutting high and about to fertilize for the first time. I am curious as to what type of fertilizer to use. Should I use one that is for St Augustine grass? And if so, will this damage our Bermuda? (We live in Central Texas)
dchall_san_antonio
5 years ago
My yard was 99.9% weeds in Bandera in 2014 when I moved in. On the east side of the house and paved walkways was some St Augustine. I have nurtured the St Augustine and managed to increase it to about 2,000 square feet.
- I don't water anything but the St Augustine.
- I don't fertilize anything but the St Augustine.
- I mow the St Augustine at the mower's highest setting and the weeds at the lowest setting. Tall St Augustine will provide shade on the other grasses and tend to dominate - including bermuda.

Mixing Bermuda grass with St Augustine for one continuous lawn

dchall_san_antonio

Comments (9)

dchall_san_antonio

edd13chen
Original Author

Related Discussions

Carol Woolf

Tom Powell

TS Garp

dchall_san_antonio

Erin K

dchall_san_antonio

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Mixing Bermuda grass with St Augustine for one continuous lawn

Comments (9)

edd13chenOriginal Author

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

edd13chen
Original Author