It is hard to know the options without knowing the size of the space you have to work with, how high the mound is, the systems design, or what regulations govern what you can do. Here is one option which you may or may not be able to do. Retain the back side of the mound between it and the house. That space could be relatively flat and at a "normal grade (crowned to drian toward the side lot lines. It would have a sunken courtyard affect. You could have a nice walk, a small patio (greeting area), and plant lots of nice colorful plants in it. The area between the road an the wall can be graded to slope toward the road. That could be simply a sloped lawn or a more contoured berm. In either case the retaining wall should be just behind the new ridge that you would create. I've done some designs for fully walled systems. One was a Zen Garden within the walls with an Asian inspired rock garden bermed up against the wall to reduce the amount of wall exposed. - not sure if this has been built yet, the design was while the house was in permitting. I've hidden them with hedges. I have designed some free standing mounds with shallow rooted native plants. These were not out in front yards though. If the aesthetics work, it is safest to use turf grass (at least up here with our cool season grasses) because a lot of shrubs will put their roots down deep. Be careful of deep rooted grasses like American Beach Grass or others that run deep with their roots. If you use turf grass (a regular lawn) have 4-6" of organic soil for the roots to live in. I know that a lot of areas down there have very sany soil (as do I) and that some of your turf grass will grow directly in it (St. Augustine's?), but it would be safer to use a grass whose roots will likely stay in that organic soil layer.

Hey Daniel. Your landscaper might have been talking about a watering plan to get the sod established. Once it is established, you can cut waaaaaaay back on watering. I have been watering once a week starting a month ago. Before that I was watering every other week. If you are watering daily, you will have to wean the roots off the water. Start by not watering tomorrow but water for twice as long the next day. Then leave it alone for two days but look carefully for signs of dryness. Water on the third day for that same "twice as long" time. The idea is to get water deeper into the soil and then let the grass roots go looking for it. They will. And the reason for not watering daily is that grass and weed seeds need daily moisture to germinate. When you deprive the weed seeds of that necessary moisture, they cannot germinate. Regarding your organic fertilizer, you cannot hurt the lawn by using double or triple the recommended rate. You might hurt it at quadruple but then it would be because you smothered the grass. I have written an Organic Lawn Care FAQ if you are interested in reading more about it. I agree with Lou that it looks to short, too. In fact I'm not sure the browning problem is not related to scalping. I would raise the mower one notch every week until you reach the highest setting. Then WELD the mower adjuster in place so some well meaning friend or relative does not borrow it and readjust it for you. There is never any reason to mow St Augustine at anything but the mower's highest setting. Tall St Aug resists weeds and chokes out most grassy weeds. It also takes less water because the soil is shaded and has less evaporation. And tall grass grows deeper roots. Okay I just thought of something else. Your brown spots might be a disease exacerbated by the rain. You can use some fertilizer anyway so I'm going to suggest that this time you use ordinary corn meal (NOT corn GLUTEN meal). Use it at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and cover the entire lawn. You can find ordinary corn meal at a feed store and possibly at John Dromgoole's nursery. Call first to be sure they have some. If they do not, ask them who might. I'm not that far south of you and I can get it everywhere. Corn meal works biologically to kill fungal disease. You don't have to diagnose the disease first, just use the corn meal. The lawn should be looking great (at 3-4 inches high) in 3 weeks.

I have been on a septic system for 22 years and it is 38 years old. We get it pumped out every 7-10 years just as a precaution. They, the septic companies, recommend every 3-5 years (to make money). We have never had a back up or problem with ours. I use to use powder laundry soap but for the last 10 or so years I have used liquid. Never had a problem with either one. We have been using bar soap for the last 22 years and no problem with that either. I buy cheap toliet paper, don't like the expensive stuff, so it must dissolve alright. Nothing else gets flushed, no kleenex tissues or feminine products or anything else, only TP and human by-products. I have a couple of compost heaps so don't have a garbage disposal unit so no food goes down the drain. I don't use a lot of bleach or harsh chemicals. Most of the cleaners I use are natural or biodegradable. Clare

"They guy thats got two fields with a d box/valve and is going to see how long he goes just cracks me up, you go buddy, it's only gonna cost you thousands in the long run. " once you have wrecked on of the fields it is just that, not suitable for use every again (unless you want to try and dig it out and replace it). Once solids pass into the field (or waste that did not sit in the tank long enough) the field is wrecked. It will NOT recover.