A lawn master named morpheuspa is caring for two lawns - his and his mother's. His is all improved Elite cultivars. His mother's is contractor grade. The mother's lawn is gorgeous due to his care. I believe he has demonstrated that even contractor grade Kentucky bluegrass can be the best lawn on the block if you get the soil tuned up and follow proper care. In fact here is a pic of his mother's lawn... If you want the best lawn in the neighborhood, then the Logan Labs soil test is necessary. New seed may not be necessary. I would see what you can accomplish this summer and, about mid-August, decide whether you need different grass. Renovating is a lot of work followed by a lot of stress waiting for the seed to come in. Then you are faced with a 3-year wait as the grass plants mature. If you already have mature grass, I would just make the very best of it first before jumping into the pool of renovation. But also necessary is mastering the basics of lawn care as follows... Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in Las Vegas your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too little is better than too much. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. It is too late to fertilize with chemical fertilizers this summer; however, you can still fertilize with organics all summer long. You can start with organics before you get your soil test back - you will always have a nitrogen deficiency. Between the basic lawn care (water and mowing), organic ferts, and the corrections to micro nutrients prescribed by the soil test, your lawn should look amazing by August. You can introduce yourself to organic lawn care by applying alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. No, you won't be overrun by rabbits. They only eat rabbit food when confined and fed nothing else. Get the alfalfa pellets at any feed store. Check prices between rabbit chow and alfalfa pellets. They are the same product but sometimes there is a difference from brown bag to brown bag. Spray the soap and molasses and you are officially on your way.

Since you're in Cumming Ga, I thought you might want to check out one of the better landscaping companies in the State, who just happens to be right down the road from you. I'm not affiliated, but just wanted to pass them on as they do excellent work. As for your soil, it is typical of GA soil in that it has a very low exchange capacity. This means that it won't hold nutrients very well, which can be offset by using slow-release fertilizers, or by improving the soil with the addition of compost. My soil supplier is on the south side of Atlanta, but I'm sure SEL could recommend someone local if you're doing the work yourself. Also, it's been a closely held belief for years that Centipede doesn't perform well in a pH above 6 (I shared this opinion for 15 years). Texas A&M shed some new light on this a few years back with a mass-cultivar study in which they grew every cultivar of Centipede at a pH of 8.0. The trick was that they supplemented with chelated iron, otherwise the grass would have lost all color. The study proved that the issue was that iron tends to be less exchangeable as the pH increases, this leads to chlorosis (iron loss), which Centipede is very sensitive to. However the root systems in the higher pH levels grew much deeper. The lessen there was that with a pH that's just slightly acidic, like yours, you can actually have a more drought tolerant stand, but you will need to supplement with iron during the growing season (part of a normal centipede program anyway). The ideal pH recommended by most extension agents (Texas A&M included) is still 5 to 6, but again that is based on iron uptake. Here is a link that might be useful: South Eastern Landscape Contractors

Awww, c'mon morph! Already we know they're newbs. We can help right now. First of all, spring is not the time to get your lawn in shape if you live in the north. Fall is the time, so pull up your gardening panties and get ready. It's practically July so you've got all of July and probably all of August to get ready for the big project. A full renovation involves spraying to kill the grass, then watering to encourage new weeds from seed, then spraying again to kill the new weed sprouts. Then you rake up the chaff and put down the seed. Don't worry about aerating, rototilling, digging, or anything. It's pretty simple. Then you water (to be explained later if you decide on full reno). Then you mow and start backing way off on the watering frequency and going up on the amount. Or if you don't want to do a full reno and just want to see what happens, you can kill the broadleaf weeds with Weed-B-Gone Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis killer. Spray with a hose end sprayer. That stuff targets only broad leaf weeds like dandelions, thistle, clover, chickweed, oxalis, and most others. It does not kill grassy weeds that might be mixed in with your turf. Once you get the broadleaf weeds killed off, you can evaluate the remaining grass. I have a new house and new lawn, too. Remember this: even mowed weeds looks better than wild weeds. I mow every week just like it was a showplace. Here is something to have on hand. Actually you can start with this right now. Practice proper lawn care so when you do whatever you're going to do in the fall, you'll have some good habits. Here it is. Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. 1. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. 2. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. 3. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it (unless you use organics in which case you may overdo it without fear of hurting anything). At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. If the lawn has been ignored for some time, it would be a very good idea to get the biology back up to normal. Start by spraying the yard with any clear shampoo. Spray at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Then water about 1/2 to a full inch to work the shampoo down into the soil. This has multiple effects - all good. Then I would apply any organic fertilizer at a half rate. My favorites are alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) and ordinary corn meal. These are available at most feed stores. Morph likes Milorganite and/or soybean meal. Those might be more available to you where you live. Get whatever is inexpensive to start with. Apply at 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet for the first dose. Once you do that, 3 weeks later your yard should look considerably better in color, growth, and density. That will signal that your biology is back and your soil will be much healthier. Don't worry about chemical fertilizer all summer. Wait until early fall for that. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Okay then good news about the top dressing. It could be so old that it was never graded properly the first time. Or it could be optical illusions. My inlaws in El Monte had a perfectly flat lawn where the soil met the concrete at the driveway and sidewalk with no bulges, so in that respect it was perfect. They didn't water, so it was a mess, but... Yes, dig for grubs just for your own edification. You might find as much as a few per square feet. That's fine up to a dozen per square feet. If you find it squishy with hundreds of grubs, then you should have treated it in July. Treating now is like closing the door after the horses are out. They have stopped feeding for this year. Hot? Okay here's the watering schedule broken down by temperatures. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. If once every 5 days works in Phoenix at 115 degrees, then 2x per week would never be right for the San Gabriel Valley. It is likely, too, that 1/2 hour is not enough to get an inch. Here's another tip: spray the yard with any clear shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet followed by 1/2 into to 1 inch of irrigation or rain. That will help the soil absorb the water much deeper. j4 is a non-believer in corn meal. I don't know if he's tried it, but it has worked for me every year for the past 14. I have never let my lawn get as bad as your mother's is. It does look dead. I have recovered a dead lawn, but it was from the outside in and required serious patience. Mine was in the Texas (almost) desert and caused by a broken sprinkler system before I moved in. St Aug only spreads when temps are in the 70s, so fixing it in the heat took a little longer than I had hoped. I fixed it with deep and infrequent watering. You might be surprised to see new grass popping up in the middle of the dead. Or not. Just because everyone is mowing short in the area, that won't make mowing short the right thing to do. St Aug will absolutely thrive at 32 inches tall. Here's a picture of my dog walking through my semidesert St Aug. You can see her tail and ears. That grass was never fertilized (or mowed) in the 2.5 years I lived there. When the grass grows up tall it grows deeper roots which can get moisture and nutrients from much deeper in the soil. These roots were in uncharted territory picking up nutrients from way deep down. As it turns out you don't have to water nearly as frequently when the grass is up tall like that. I had one spot that grew up to 32 inches quickly. I never watered that area in 30 months through a full year of drought and then some rains. This hyperinfrequent watering was the point of growing the grass that tall.