Hi dchall_san_antonio, thanks for the follow-up post. You are spot on with regards to the unevenness of sod. I did my front yard last season and was instantly dissatisfied with the results with regard to the undulations. So I had to spend more time and more effort to get a result that I wanted from the outset. Hence my obsession was born with having a perfectly level yard. I searched the internet determined to get a better result. I read about sprigging, but found almost zero info on how the regular Joe could do it at home. I took bits of info from golf green construction, sport fields, bowling greens and then applied this to what would work at home for me using everyday tools and non-specialized products. The cost was also significantly less than buying sod for the entire project which is quite expensive in Australia (around A$9.00m2) I will try by best to answer the questions that you have put forth; My patio area faces roughly east, so the sun passes directly over the yard in summer. In winter it moves to the north (the left hand side looking from patio). Long shadows do cast to the south, however more so in winter as the sun is lower in sky. I cultivated the soil using a rotary hoe or a gas powered tiller to till the soil to a depth of around 6 inches. I then made a contraption of 4 x 6 foot pieces of timber set parallel with 4 x braces running perpendicular to the long pieces. I attached a rope to this and then spent the next few days dragging this contraption back and forth, round and round, up and down until it was as level as I could make it. I let it settle for about 2 weeks, then spent another weekend with my new wooden friend. I got the idea from this video; Leveling yard After this I brought in around 2 cubic meters of builders sand for final grade. I built a smaller version of the wood , this time using aluminum and a handle that you use like a rake to move the soil around. I then watered this to the point of runoff and let it dry. I used the lawn level again to level out any minor undulations and watered it again. Finally I used a long piece of timber to check for grade and undulations. At this point I was satisfied. The high tech tools used to cut up the sod was a pair of garden shears and a pair of HD sissors! No wonder my hands were dead after about 6 hours. I put the cut sprigs into a big container of water for about an hour, then put them in a old wet sheet in the shade until I was ready to broadcast them. I made sure I had enough to cover one irrigation zone before I spread them such that i could irrigate immediately after planting. Once I realised that this method was not going to work I borrowed a leaf shredder and put smaller pieces of sod through the hopper. At first I was concerned that I cut them too small and they would not root, but they did take, however at a slower rate than compared with the larger pieces. I did this in October, which is mid-spring here. Funnily enough we had a really mild spring which didn't really help with the grow-in. When temps got above 25C you could literally watch it grow! This is not common practise for establishing home lawns in Australia. Some turf suppliers do offer what they call 'shredded turf' but these companies are not in my state. The methods these companies advocate could not be translated the method I used. Next time I would try and actually source the sprigs, rather than cutting up sod. It is so time consuming and very messy. Other than that I am really happy with how it has come up. I said to my wifey that if I ever plant another lawn I will be stolonizing it. The real reason I wanted to spend the time doing this post is purely for the fact that I have learned so much from this forum (even as a lurker) and I wanted to take the time and give something back to other forum members who have taken the time with their experiences. In particular David's thread which I used to level my front yard. Here are some pics of that project if anyone is interested; Front This is disc roller below; PS I will work on my photography skills This post was edited by SimonR on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 0:35

Is there any chance the lawn is yellow from not getting any water since the last rain? If so then you should water it first before mowing again. Bermuda is one of very few exceptions to the rule about mowing at the highest setting. Bermuda can be mowed at the very lowest setting on a rotary mower. If you have a reel mower, some varieties of bermuda thrive when mowed at 1/16 inch high. What happened when you mowed at the highest setting is that you allowed the seed and grass stalks to get taller. Then you mowed off all the green leaves and left the grass and seed stalks. They have a dry sheath around them that is "yellow" (really straw) colored. If you were to gradually bring your mower down to the lowest setting, your stalks would be shorter and the plants would adapt the leaves to break at the shorter height. When you mow lower still (like you can with a reel mower), there comes a point where the plant will stop sending vertical stalks up and concentrate on growing short leaves straight off the stolons cutting across the surface of the soil. This dense, horizontal growth pattern is what you see on the golf greens around San Antonio. If you want to move from the highest to lowest setting on your mower, you can mow twice a week at one setting and lower it a notch for the next week's double mowing. Keep lowering it one notch per week and mowing twice until you get to the lowest setting. If you start that now, the bermuda will be just about dormant by the time you get it to the lowest setting. I have bermuda growing in my (formerly) crushed rock driveway. We have let it grow in just to have a soft spot to park the car. I only get home to mow it every other week and I mow it at the lowest setting each time. Being bermuda, it bounces back fast and doesn't look nasty for very long. What part of town are you in? If you are interested I can direct you to the best garden shops on your side of town. Also on Saturday morning, listen to Bob Webster on KTSA 550 AM from about 6:30 to 9:00. He's got the best gardening show on the radio. He's on again on Sunday morning but I don't know the hours. Or you can listen to him on the radio station's Internet site.

Those leaves must be fairly well digested and in the leaves there must have been mixed some roots from Bermuda grass for it to be growing there. Mixing them up, several times, will eventually kill the grass roots.

If bermuda grass is the only weed you have then I suppose just a vertical barrier may work. Tho that will not keep it from growing in the walkways. For me, I don't want bermuda grass or any other weeds growing near my beds or in my walkways if possible. So for me it's a combination of prevention and constant maintenance. I also avoid the use of most chemicals near or on anything I will put in my mouth. Right now I have some bugs eating some leaves and things don't look picture perfect but they are not bothering the fruit - so be it. I use dish or hand soap mixed with rainwater in a spray bottle. "Your garden is the only place you will know just what chemicals were sprayed on things". ~ Gumby WANT TO KILL BERMUDA GRASS? A few options may work, but not for everyone.