1. Get a soil test. Call your nearest county extension service for a test kit and details. It will likely take two weeks for results. If you need to apply sulfur, lime, or any other amendment per test recommendation (that is not applied in Step 6), you can do it after seeding if you don't get results back in time. 2. Apply that "R" word stuff and again one week after the first application. You can seed the lawn one week after the second app. 3. Scalp it down 4. Rake it up 5. Core aerate (or cheat with Nitron A-35) 6. Fertilize 7. Sow seeds 8. Topdress 1/4 inch layer compost, peat moss, or clean straw (weed-free). 9. Irrigation schedule water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week. Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accommodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out. Baby the grass for the rest of year. Once the seeds begin to sprout, don't walk on it if at all possible. First mowing is when the new grass reaches two inches. Remove 1/3 of the grass blade, then allow to grow to 4 inches. Cut it back to 2.5 inches and maintain 2.5 inches mowing height.

St. Augustine is not recommended for us in N. MS, but it's grown in the lower South. I wanted Zoysia, but the builder had a good deal on Bermuda sod. The Zoysia would have cost more than twice as much, this is an acre and a half of sod, so I just didn't need the extra expence at that time. Moving to a new place is expensive! The Bermuda is invading my flower beds, and I have many of them. I bird and butterfly garden. I've done just about everything I can think of to defeat it. It's winning! And it's the toughest stuff to pull out of all weeds! I've smohered it with newspaper, ringed all beds with round-up, pulled and pulled and pulled! Send the cold and rain our way please!!! We are suffering the worst drought on record. We had a drought in spring, which is unheard of in this area. Spring and fall are supposed to be wet. And now we're headed into July an August. My water bill was three hundred dollars, which is a lot for me. Looking into getting rain barrels (no chlorine in the water better for plants, too, and frogs!!!). The thing is to be of any use I'd have to have about 8 of them. We use a tremendous amount of water in the summer. Thanks for all the helpful answers. Michele_1

The short answer is that your patio was improperly installed and needs to be ripped out and re-installed right this time with a exterior installation system that allows for water drainage, unless you do not want to do it right and go through this exact same problem every few years when the expansion forces of water and ice tear it apart again. Read this article on Essential Water Management in Exterior Tile Installations. Schulter Systems offers the following products that can help: Ditra Troba Dilex Bara Of course you can simply repair the tile but that isnt addressing the underlying concerns or issues causing the problem. To simply repair the tile without addressing the underlying cause of the problem to help prevent it from happening in the future, all you need a latex-modified thinset mortar.

Limestone is a very soft, porous stone. I would be very careful cleaning the stone as cleaners can be harsh. A pressure washer can do damage also. I would wait a year before sealing I'm not familiar with Harbour gray limestone, but I can tell you our experience with Indiana limestone. We have been using it for many years on coping and patios/walkways. A traditional mortar bed of typical sand and gray portland will "bleed" through the stone for about a year and then the natural coloring of the stone will be more consistent. If a white portland cement and yellow mason sand are used, you will not have any bleed. This procedure is actually stated on the Indiana Limestone site. Carefully clean and apply a sealer for this stone. Some sealers may change the stone's coloring, so be aware of that. Some efflorescence may occur along the way which is a naturally occurring event. The bucket stains may not come out-just sloppy work unfortunately.