volunteer, the first step is to be aware of the "political" environment. The municipality which fertilizes the park does so according to a very structured routine. You may not agree with what they do but it will not be easy to change. It is likely that they use products which will not fit into an organic program. Then there is usually some sort of "Advisory" body - a group of citizens who share a concern for the park, environment, or similar platform. Egos and emotions can rule the roost here. Then there might be local regulations which will impact your proposals; check carefully. I write all this because if the transition from one system to the other is not handled well, the benefits which you are trying to achieve (and all of us should) can be jeopardized. You wish to adopt an organic approach and I would suggest that a good start is to critically evaluate present practices. Take mowing as an example. What type of turf and what is its purpose? This will determine the height of cut. From these the frequency (10? 7? or 3 days?). (The 1/3 concept). Are the mulching attachments in place and functioning correctly? The grass clippings have to be of the right size for effective mulching. Changing the direction of mowing and cross-mowing will improve the turf. Blade sharpening and balancing, efficiency and rpm of the mower engine are related indirectly to the organic approach. I am sure that there are other considerations of relevance and importance to mowing alone; much more when you go on to consider fertilization, weed and pest control and irrigation practices. You are embarking for a very noble and desirable cruise. Sometimes you will have to rock the boat. Please do not sink the ship.

This upcoming year, I am probably going to overdo it again based on my excitement and desire to try different things. However, here is my tentative plan: March: I am going to get soil tests in two places: 1) where my grass is going great 2) the two spots where the grass is shaky April 1: I am going with a chemical preemergent. I just feel like I have to break the weed cycle for a year to give the grass a chance to fill in. I will also drop some corn meal gluten at that time. I will spray my first round of compost tea. May 1: I am going to go with some corn meal, not corn meal gluten, since I have had some fungus problems. I will continue with a light spray of compost tea. I am obsessed with getting the right bacteria/fungi situation going on my lawn - hence the compost tea and corn meal. June 1: Once again, I am going with a light sprinkling of corn meal as well as some compost tea. August 15: Alfalfa September 1: Compost, Overseed, Milorganite. October 1: Milorganite or soy bean meal, along with some compost tea. November 15: Cockadoodledoodoo chicken fertilizer. As you can see, I am going with a few different things because not only do I find this all fun, but also I am not sure what will - or won't - work. Here are my reasons: 1) corn meal gluten: They say it takes a couple years before it truly works. So, while I am working it into the soil, I am going to give it one last shot of synthetic preemergent. 2) corn meal: I have a hunch that I have some fungus issues. 3) Alfalfa: I am doing this for the phosphorus that will be needed two weeks later for the overseeding. 4) Milorganite: I like Milorganite. I have liked the results thus far. 5) Cockadoodledoodoo: My uncle uses it, and his house is the first in his neighborhood to green up. Also, the organic company that services my neighborhood uses something like it exclusively (all applications), and their lawns are always as green as the chemically treated ones.

Scrapbookheaven- I like the red, too! That's Andi's kitchen, but the red is so cheerful :) Pay it forward- Thank you. I really love the plan, it has everything we could possibly want. That being said, I finally talked to my contractor today and while we could probably do the bigger plan, it is going to be much more difficult to add on the bedroom wing to the exisiting house. So, I'm rethinking my slightly smaller plan, which is also very cute, but a little more compact. That being said, if anyone can use any ideas from this bigger plan, please feel free to do so! It's a lovely plan, but I've been rethinking the size...and the upkeep. Plus, a smaller/less expensive home would mean more money and energy for my gardens! LOL Summerfield- You are amazing and I NEVER would have gotten this far, without all your help. You are a wonderful person and I want you to know how much I appreciate your patience, ideas and talent. My contractor is completely smitten with your software and wants to know when/if it will be available, to the public :)

I'm familiar with the Phoenix brick wall yard. Do you or your neighbors have any trees that cast a shadow over your yard? And which direction does the back of the house face? The reason I ask is a friend of mine in Gilbert fought with his sissoo tree trying to grow bermuda for years. He finally went with St Augustine and is very happy. Contrary to what you're thinking, it isn't that hard to keep grass green in Phoenix, even St Augustine. During the heat wave y'all had last August (115 in the shade) he was watering the St Aug once every 4 days. Here's a picture of his back under the sissoo. - taken last March 2015. That's a west wall to the right so from mid morning on his yard is shade. St Aug is a lot easier to care for than bermuda, so you might consider going with that. Tell me about your shade and I'll help you get prepped. I'm not worried about the slope, so that's good. You do not need any more soil, though, so get that out of your mind. You just need to fix the soil you have. That's easier than your plan. Generally grass seed goes down on top of the soil and should not be buried. What you do is press it down either with a heavy roller or with your feet. If you go with bermuda seed, get a mix of Sahara, Princess, and Yukon. First you need to get the soil as settled and level as possible. Get the sprinkler on it and water it deep. Apply at least 1/2 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans out and time how long it takes to fill the cans. That's 1 inch. That will be your watering time from now on, so memorize it. My time is 8 hours for my water pressure, hose, and oscillator sprinkler. That's a nice gentle rain. But then I don't water again for at least a week. The soil needs to dry out completely before watering again...but I'm getting ahead of myself. Water the ground until it's pretty wet. Then don't walk on it or you could compact it. Let it dry for a couple days and see where the low spots have developed. If you have a low spot in the center you should pull soil up from a spot that is supposed to be lower into the center to raise it up. There should be a slight crown in the center so the water will drain away from there - but not toward the house. If you need more soil I suggest a relatively coarse, gritty sand. Gritty like aquarium sand with sharp edges, but not nearly that huge of a particle. The bermuda will grow up through the sand just fine, and sand is easy to move around to get it level. Level the soil/sand with a long board and/or a home made drag. Drag it level, water to settle, and reevaluate whether you need more sand for the new low spots. Keep watering every few days to settle the soil. This will also sprout as many weed seeds as you can. Once you have it level it should be the end of this month. Then spray the new weeds with Round Up to kill them. Keep watering to sprout more weeds. A week later spray out the new weeds. Then you're ready to seed. Scatter the seed, walk on it to press it into the surface of the soil. Water 3x per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for just long enough to moisten the soil - not saturate it. It should never be soggy. Do that until you get 80% germination. Then start backing off on watering frequency and going up on the time. We have plenty of time to cover that detail. Note that this is completely different from the plan you came in here with. If you would like me to go through your plan, step by step, and explain why this is different, I can do that. So here's my problem with bermuda, especially for new folks. If you really want it to look good, it needs FULL sun for at least 6 hours per day. This means that the grass that is north, east, or west of a building, brick wall, tree, or shrub will be thin and ugly. You can reseed every year and pull out all the stops, but it won't grow there. Secondly Bermuda is a nitrogen hog. If you want it to look good it needs to be fertilized with a high N fertilizer once a month. Thirdly it needs to be mowed at the mower's lowest setting 2x to 3x per week depending on how fast it's growing. If you have any holes for the mower wheels to fall into, it will scalp the grass. The good thing about bermuda is that if you stop watering it for 6 months, it will come back with the first rain. St Augustine, on the other hand, only needs fertilizer 3x per year, mowing at the highest setting every other week, and is shade tolerant. It is a little more expensive to get started because it does not come as a seed. It will die in Phoenix if you don't water it for a month in 115 degree temps. But it should go 3 weeks and recover with water. This is probably generating lots of questions. I'm happy to explain anything I've said. I'll addressing proper watering or you can search this forum for "deep and infrequent".