Honestly, I feel so bad for folks in HOAs that need to maintain a monoculture grass. It is really hard to do in Florida. There are so many microconditions in a yard that create all kinds of issues (sun/shade, wet/well drained, competition, etc). I must have 1/2 dozen different grasses in my yard. The nice thing about Florida is all kinds of stuff will grow, so I just mow it all to grass height, and voila! A yard! I have all kinds of funky stuff - ground peanut, betony, bahia, beggartick, wild lilies, GOBS of wildflowers I can't identify, milkpea, etc. Yeah, if I dont stay on top of the mowing, it grows out unevenly, but otherwise, I always have a groundcover. Some spots even rotate winter/summer covers just based on what is there (chickweed becomes common in winter eg). Some of it is pretty, and some is even edible! Great deal! The only downside I see is sandburs.

I’ll let you know. We are in zone 7B, and this area is often tricky in the winter. Was driving home from Texas and stopped at Lowe’s and picked up a couple yards. Put it in a very difficult spot which was just dirt. We watered spot, added some topsoil, put it down, added compost all around and are watering the heck out of it. Know it will flourish this summer, the question is winter. Going to cover with mulch, keep it watered and hope for the best.

You can get more complicated but your results won't be much better. Here we go Water deeply and infrequently. More on this later. I realize you live in FL where everyone wants to water shallow and frequently, but you will really do yourself a favor by deep and infrequent watering. Mulch mow every week or 2 (or 3) at your mower's highest setting. Preferably mow the day before you water. If you have one of the newer hybrid St Augustines, you may need a new mower. They are pretty dense in the full sun. Fertilize with organic fertilizer every time to keep your soil's organic matter going. With your soil you need it every time. I would recommend using alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) from the local feed store. If the cost is more than $15 for 50 pounds, let me know and I'll have other suggestions. The application rate is 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Apply on Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Organic fertilizers take 3 weeks to see the effect, but if you follow this schedule, then you should not really see an effect, because the lawn will just be green all the time. Spot spray weeds with an atrazine product in mid April and after the summer heat breaks. Second app is only if you need it. Don't expect immediate results. It takes 3 weeks and "suddenly" the weeds are gone. Herbicide sprays are foliar mists, not soil drenches. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

Dan, you know hot to hit a nerve. I'm going into soapbox mode, so if you've already read my reaction, you can skip this. Cornmeal is only a myth in the eyes of that nut in Oregon and the organiphobes at TAMU. I should keep a file of those posts on various forums who thank me for helping them. It has worked for me every year since 2002. I firmly believe that TAMU does not want people to believe it works. They flat refuse to give it a try. How can it work for so many of us and not work at their school? Having said that, I have plenty of reports of it not working, too. Looking at those more closely, they seem to come from people with cool season grasses like KBG and fescue. I have stopped suggesting corn meal for northern tier lawns and stick strictly to St Augustine. If you have the St Augustine fungal spot disease that looks like this......then cornmeal will work. It takes 3 full weeks to see new grass with no spots on it. The first time I tried it was on what I thought was dead grass. I had resodded the area twice, and the disease continued with each new sod. Corn meal was a last resort. Three weeks later the grass was all coming back. As for Chalker-Scott's denial that it works against black spot on roses, that is her myth, not mine. That's where I started with corn meal. It does not cure black spot if it has started, but if you pick off the tainted leaves and dust the soil with corn meal, the black spot stops and does not return. My roses looked horrible for 10 years before I tried the corn meal. Then for the next 15 years they looked great. Call it an anecdote if you like but anyone can try it for ten cents and without any possibility of harming anything. I don't see why the universities are so adamantly resistant to trying it. For those who see this fungus in Floratam, the Floratam will live through having the disease and not die out. That is Floratam in the picture. Other varieties are not so hardy and will look brown and dead. But if you want to get rid of the spots in Floratam, then you need the corn meal.