> Im just growing for fresh veggies for my little family of 3 and of > course the love of watching things grow :) Dont want too little and > certainly not an over abundance either i was thinking where i already > have 10 tomato plants to continue that pattern and just do 10 of each > veggie if that works. How big of a space would i need? Danger, danger! One pumpkin can take up as much space as ten tomatoes. :) My opinion: - Ten tomatoes: Assuming that they all live and thrive, that's a whole lot of tomatoes, far more than you're likely to need for fresh eating, but, hey, there's always sauce. I'd recommend giving each tomato a minimum of an eighteen inch by eighteen inch square. - Peppers: I'd give them at least a foot by a foot. They're much less productive than tomatoes; ten plants would be fine. - Ten healthy successful cucumber plants will feed Nebraska. OK, maybe that's an overstatement, but I wouldn't grow that many. My plan for my garden this year is to prepare three spots for vining cucumbers, plant three seeds in each spot, and then thin to one plant per spot when they're all up and healthy, for a total of three plants. - Ten healthy successfun pumpkin plants will cover Nebraska with leaves. OK, I'm really exaggerating, but pumpkins sprawl over a _lot_ of space. On the other hand, if you're not overprotective of your lawn you can plant the pumpkins near the edge of the vegetable garden and let them crawl over the lawn. But i still wouldn't plant more than five, and I say five only because it's always upsetting when you plant only two or so, and one of them dies. - Ten corn plants, on the other hand, isn't quite enough. The customary minimum recommendation for corn is a four-plant by four-plant block, sixteen plants total. The block planting increases the chances of good pollination. I plant my corn at eighteen inches; many people plant it much closer. This post was edited by chickenfreak on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 0:57

I strongly agree with the recommendations to smother & WAIT. Think of this as a long-term project. Immediate results are not likely to be the best results in the long run. In my experience, weeds are one thing -- grass weeds are another beast altogether. I like the idea of using natural fiber carpet rather than plastic b/c the water can still get through. Otherwise, you can have runoff issues. If you start this in the summer, you'll have an even better chance of killing off everything. I know it's been several weeks since you started this thread, but in Dallas, we're in the middle of a run of triple digit weather, so its the perfect time for us to smother.

Use the spring and summer to learn and practice good grass management habits. Sometimes well cared for weeds will look very nice for a season. 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. One of their problems is they write for local readers. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. This should work for most of the US of A. 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 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. 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 much is better than too little*. 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. * This used to read, "Too little is better than too much." Recent test results show that you cannot get too much organic fertilizer unless you bury the grass in it.</i>

If you have more patience than money, St Augustine can be very inexpensive. I'll get back to that. We usually talk about leveling, but what we're really talking about is profiling the yard. It could have big hills in it and we would still talk about leveling it. Getting the bumps and holes out - that's what we want. You have a perfect opportunity for that since your lawn is in such poor shape. The tool for doing that is called a drag. You see them at baseball games or rodeos. They pull the drag behind a tractor to smooth out the surface and "level" it. You can buy one or make one out of a 2x4 and some chain link fencing. For an area your size you could pull it around by hand or pull it behind a riding mower. Is your soil mostly sandy? If so then the drag should be enough. If you have a more firm soil than straight up sand, then you could bring in bags of sand to fill the low spots. The drag will take the tops off the hills and fill the holes. There are many videos on YouTube about dragging to level the soil. I've listened to a lot of them. Mostly the commentary is inane and sometimes dead wrong, so turn the sound off and just watch. I've done it. It is not hard to do. Here's the basic drill: fill (if necessary) with sand, level, water it down to see if new low spots develop, fill again to fill the new low spots, level, water it down again. If you still get low spots, which is not uncommon, then continue filling, leveling, and watering until you are happy. People who do this once often do it again because it works so well. They get the bug and really want perfection. As for the inexpensive way to grow St Aug: find the 10 shadiest spots in the yard and drop a flat of St Aug down. Cost is $10 or so. Water them daily very lightly until the roots knit down into the underlying soil. When that happens start backing off on the frequency of watering. The new flats will eventually start to send out runners across the yard. They will go several inches per week in all directions. Starting them in the shade helps keep them cool in the heat of the sun. They spread faster when at temps around 70. I have been doing this since 2014 with my new yard of weeds. As for the weeds, I would leave them for now because they are green. I do things to encourage the St Aug to spread like fertilize only the real grass and the runners, and I try to water only the real grass, not the weeds. If you spray with atrazine, spray only the areas where the St Aug is established. That will keep the weeds in the wild areas, give the green appearance, and keep the mud out of the house. Plus it doesn't make sense to turn the yard brown when the target grass is not ready to move in there yet. Water the established grass with an oscillator (turbo type) sprinkler. When the entire lawn is established, then you can worry about an in-ground system.