"The material order was by the LA. Money between us has not been disucussed." While, of course, laws vary from state to state, basic contract principles are fairly uniform across state lines and in Ohio, and LIKELY Missouri as well, this would indicate the LA/nursery relationship as one of general contractor/subcontractor. Though the nursery is still entitled to payment for the labor and materials it supplied thus far (usually, payment would come from the GC, but you have indicated that the contract provides for direct payment from you), the relationship between the LA and the nursery, in essence, makes the LA responsible for all aspects of the work. For instance, if the problem you are having arose out of faulty installation by the nursery (i.e., deviation from the LAÂs design), your recourse would still be against the LA and not the nursery (and the LA, but not you, in turn, would have recourse against the nursery). From your perspective, if the actual cause is undetermined (e.g., bad design vs. poor workmanship by the nursery), this makes it easier because it alleviates the need to specifically identify the cause of the problem. Either way, it is up to the LA to fix the problem and eat the additional costs associated with remedying the problem. By way of example, if the LA refused to fix it at no additional cost to you and you had to spend money to have another LA come in for a redo and you sued the original LA as a result, if you prevailed, you would be entitled to recover the additional sums that you expended (including money for additional materials and labor) to remedy the problem. Your rights are the same at this stage and you are justified in exercising them and asking the LA to cure the defect without you having to pay twice. If the LA agrees, hopefully, much of the materials can be re-used and the LAÂs only additional outlay would be the labor costs incurred to reinstall the materials. If the LA insists on some additional payment from you, consider it carefully. While your rights are what they are, legal disputes can be very costly (and mentally draining for the parties) and in most cases, it is beneficial for both sides to meet somewhere in the middle and reach an amicable resolution without resorting to litigation even if that means each side giving up some of their actual or perceived rights.

So I take it that if the fescue is dead, then its dead. I can't revive it without re-seeding, correct? Bah. Yep when it is dead it is done and has to be reseeded. Bermuda on the other hand goes dormant when it does not receive enough water, and comes back with water. However it will not wait forever and will also eventually die. Question about bermuda - the bermuda I've seen around Las Vegas needs to be trimmed very short. Its almost like a carpet. I have doubts as to whether my mower can actually mow that short. Yes Bermuda is kept very short. That is why I mentioned it has to be mowed at least twice a week if irrigated and fed. However not all Bermuda grass is alike as their are many varieties all requiring different maintenance techniques. 1. Most of the common types from seed are used for pasture hay and erosion control and those are not mowed but rather cut once or twice a year to harvest hay. They are rarely ever fertilized except once in the spring and never irrigated. Not something you would want for a turf grass 2. Improved common seeded types for turf grass and the quality varies quite a bit in leaf size and cutting height. Some like Princess (aka P77) are near golf coarse quality requiring to be kept very short of 1 inch or less, fertilizing every 30 days during growing season, regular irrigation to maintain color. The there are several varieties which are medium quality than can be maintained around 1 to 2 inches which is probable the best fit for you. They still require frequent fertilizing and irrigation to maintain color, but you can have a decent looking stand using a push mower set for 1-1/2 inches. 3. Then there are the hybrids varieties. These are from sod, plug, or sprigs only. No seed available for hybrids. These are the high quality varities and they fall into two classes semi-dwarf, and dwarf. I will not go into dwarf varieties because they are stickily professional care used for golf greens and very wealthy people who have full time pros maintaining it. What you likely see around town and on all golf coarse fairways and tee boxes is a semi-dwarf hybrid variety. The two most common varieties used and widely grown by sod farms is Tifway-I (aka 419), and TifSport. In most states where Bermuda grass is grown Tifway-I is the default choice of all builders and landscapers. TifSport is gaining popularity as it is a little finer grain, denser, and better cold tolerance than Tifway-I. Either way they are both fairly high input grasses and best maintained at 1-inch or less with a reel type mower. However many and I would say most maintain them with a rotary mower between 1 and 2 inches. However those that do use a rotary mower do so because that came with there home and they just do not know better. It works, but not optimal. As to watering I split a different way than David recommends. Normally I would agree once a week with a deep soaking is the best method as a rule of thumb. But not for out here. Unless you are blessed and top soil was shipped in to your yard, or in a flood plain where soil is carried in from flooding, you do not have soil. You have rubble and coarse granite/quarts sand eroded from the surrounding mountains of LV. There is nothing in it to hold water and coupled with bone dry 10% or less humidity and searing temps you have to water much more frequently than most folks do. In summer once a day is the normal practice out here. At least in Prescott and Phoenix it is. Maybe Vegas is different, but I doubt it as the soil and climate are very much alike except Vegas is a little cooler than Phoenix. You guys only get up to 110, where Phoenix 115 is long sleeve shirt weather in summer. Now with that said I can say you are watering too frequently at 3 times a day for a few minutes each time. To be honest I do not know exactly what to recommend, other than when you do water, do so very early in the morning, and only once in a day. I imagine during cooler months once about every 3 or 4 days. During the blistering summer days it will take watering every day in the mornings. A lot is going to depend on which grass type you choose and actual soil conditions. I suggest you go around to a few nurseries and landscape companies to seek advice, maybe even visit a golf course and talk to a supt. You should be able to get a pretty good idea if you do that. Or if you have a neighbor with an impressive yard, stop by and ask them as most people will be flattered and tell you exactly what they do unless they pay someone to do it for them. I know from visiting Vegas often and now living in AZ, yards are rare even in the upper class neighborhoods. Just takes too much WATER to maintain them. That is why I mention Buffalo grass to be considered.

Of course it has limits. The assumption of your experts is that no measurable soil will be added through in situ conversion of substrate (e.g. regolith) to soil during a generation of agricultural use. So the depth of available soil will determine how long arability will last against soil loss under ag management. The maximum recommended figure you mention, 11 t/ha (5 T/A), is something like 4.5 pounds per square foot, which is something like an inch or two off the top a year. This is not a sustainable rate, obviously. Back to my mining analogy. Plants can convert subsoils to top soils but not very well under continual surface disturbance of agriculture and not at the rate of soil loss. No-till agriculture protects the upper soil much better than tillage does. Remember my previous post where I mentioned ag land as an area of dirt capable of holding up a plant while the ag. manager applies water and nutrients and protects the plants with pesticides. In the past, plowing (and in an earlier age, burning) not only loosened the soil for planting but got rid of the trash. Now the value of previous crop is recognized as protection against excessive erosion. A byproduct of this practice is adding or perserving organic matter and incorporated nutrients to the soil. Another byproduct of no-till is that the soil increases water permeability and water hold capacity. Wayne, thanks for the link. I hadn't read that piece since graduate school.

Effectiveness of diatomaceous earth against earthworms, if any, is at best transient. Probably a waste of good money. Most earthworms prefer soils of neutral to slightly acidic pH (6.0-9.0), although some prefer more acidic conditions. As I understand it, mosses prefer growing on firmly packed acidic soils with a pH between 5.0 and 5.5. Perhaps you can make a moss garden less attractive by creating an "island" of more acidic soil, optimum for mosses but less so for earthworms. However, acidiying the soil for the mosses/earthworms may be detrimental to other plants in that spot (e.g., the tree your mosses are growing under). There are no magic bullets. Gathering earthworms by hand and removing them, poisoning them, etc., is going to be a lot of work/expensive with no result in the long run. If the environment is desirable for the worms, their population will grow to the sites carrying capacity. If you can modify the environment so it is less desirable for earthworms but good for what you are trying to grow, then you have a chance. If you are in the northeast, the worms you may be struggling with aren't the introduced european lumbricids, but asian earthworms. These are very different beasts. They overwinter in the northeast as eggs that hatch out in the spring, develop to maturity and die in the winter. You can recognize them by having the clitellum (the swollen ring of segments on adults) further forward than on lumbricids, and they are EXTREMELY active -- they can flip right out of your hand if you pick them up. They tend not to burrow into the mineral soil, but burrow through and decompose the organic/litter layer. In Pennsylvania, there are reports of them hurting nursery operations by getting into containers of perennial plants and literally eating up the soilless potting media. No know solution.