This is a funny post. I am laughing with you LawnNoob, Not At you. Hope you donÂt mind a response from a former pot smoking flower child of the 60Âs, who happens to love the crawlers and bugs hopping around in his mostly organic lawn. Now then, lets see if I can find enough neurons in my head to continue. First off, I will put your mind at ease about insects and worms. Certain insects and worms in the SOIL are good. You will hardly be aware of them, and will probably see no more of them with an organic lawn than you do with any other nice lawn. If you are going to cut your grass yourself, obviously you are going to need a lawn mower. Highly recommended that you do that yourself. It will be done so much better and you will have ultimate control over the task. Most lawn service companies that weed and feed use chemicals (that you could buy and put down yourself) and do a pretty poor job. Organic fertilizers are readily available at Lowes, Home Depot and others. Many choose to use grains such as soy bean meal, corn meal and corn gluten meal. They are available from farm feed outlets. You will need to purchase a spreader. Although it is heresy to say this here and I might get pummeled, I think the best approach for you is to control you weeds with chemicals until next summer. Start with weed-be-gone, for broadleaf. Pre-emergant crabgrass control in the spring for crabgrass. In the meantime keep reading posts here and in the Lawn forum (link organic lawn forum near the top of page) Take a look at the organic lawn care FAQ. Also advise us please what kind of grass or grasses you think you have in your lawn. Good luck with your new home, lawn and gardens. Bill Hill

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Lawn Care FAQ

Well I was trying to be funny not offensive so laugh away.

Thanks for the reply and the FAQ link.

I'm pretty sure It's a hybrid bermuda grass. I was told it's Bermuda by a family member and most of the lawns in this city are sod. As far as a lawnmower goes I have borrowed one that I may purchase from a friend. Good quality mower but it's a front thrower and I'm reading that we want to keep grass clippings on the lawn. (it throws clippings forward into a big metal basket on the front of the mower to be carried out to be dumped in the trash) Is this a good mower for my grass or should I find something else? I am also reading that keeping the bermuda short is the way to go so I'll have to work on slowly cutting it down as it has already gotten to about 2 or 3 inches in a month of neglect.

Reading through the FAQ I see that I already have problems with my watering. Right now it goes on a short amount of time in the morning and evening every day. It's crazy hot in this area though, we just finished 2 weeks of around 100 degree weather and I'm worried that watering only once a week for an hour will make the grass dry out and die.

My first day of yard work is tomorrow morning so I think I'm going to plan on cutting the grass down with this mower I borrowed, adjusting the sprinkler timings, and spraying or pulling all the funky grass that's popped up and the crab grass that's spreading.

Be careful with what you spray. Read the label carefully. Not everything can be used on Bermuda. Many products cannot be used if daytime temps are above 80 or 90. We have some Bermuda experts who may chime in to help you. Is that lawn mower a reel type, as opposed to rotary type. And is it a non gas powered, push reel mower, just wondering. DonÂt be to anxious to pitch it out. Here is what a great Bermuda lawn can look like, by a member of this forum.
Great Bermuda

Oh yes, I saw his pictures earlier and that's the kind of lawn I want! Beautiful!

The mower is a gas powered trimmer brand reel mower. I was told it was purchased years ago at about $1200 so the quality is probably very good. Can I just take the bucket off the front and let it throw the clippings forward to stay on the grass? The mower is old but it's well taken care of and though it has a small oil leak I doubt it would be costly to have that fixed.

Welcome to the forum!

I'll chime in here, and say "yes" you can simply remove that grass catcher from the front of that front-throw powered reel mower you have. That's exactly how I mow my lawn. Mine came with a catcher also, but it just hangs on the wall in the shed. :) That Trimmer mower is a very good machine. You'll get the best results if you mow often (I mow mine every 3rd day) and keep it short & with your bermuda you can also begin to back off on your watering frequency. You definitely don't need to water it daily. Bermudagrass grows very deep roots & is likely the most drought resistant turfgrass on the planet. So, you can water weekly, but make sure you water at least 1" of irrigation. To know how much that is, set out a couple empty tuna cans & water til they get full. Depending on your system, that may take a couple hours. Deep, infrequent watering will not only be better for your lawn, driving the roots deeper into the soil and lessen the chance of any fungus type diseases, but will also allow the top layer of soil to dry out completely between waterings, which will help control weeds.

Good luck to you & congrats on the new home/lawn/garden!

Dan

Thanks Dan, I saw the pictures of your lawn and it looks great. I hope I can get mine half as good as yours. Getting ready to go out and do some work now. I'll get some pictures.

Off subject but I have to stake my claim as buffalograss being the most drought tolerant grass I've ever seen. I have around 1000sqft of it established on a hill exposed to full sun and we had a period of time in june-july where we got about half an inch of rain (no irrigation for it) over a period of about 40 days and had actually expanded over areas of bare ground. Helps when the supposed root depth can reach over 6'!