gsweater... Turns out that I had measured incorrectly and it will cost me about $850 to have sod installed...plus I don't like the installer's approach who want to till in everything (including the existing weeds) with the soil ammendments. I have also looked at the sun situation and get at least 5 or more hours of sun on most of the area and since I already have perennial rye on my front lawn (from oregon turf and trees), I think I will stay with that... This coming weekend is supposed to be nice so I am thinking of tackling the project then. So here is my plan: 1. Kill weeds--any sugestions on a good weed killer I can spray with my garden hose? I have nothing in the way that needs to be protected. 2.For soil preparation, I am going to add a mix of 35% sandy loam, 45% garden compost,5% super mulch, 5% mushroom compost, 10% and horticultural pumice. Based on what I have read around here I am thinking about adding around 2 inches, so about 5 yards. Do you recommend I scrape off the exisiting bark dust or leave it? 3. Since I have decided to go with seed (it will be just me doing the job) and since I have a good amount of sun, I will go to ace and order some PRG. Any other thoughts or anything I have missed that I need to consider before getting started ordering materials? Thanks!

Recommendations will depend in part on what you have already seeded. You are going to want something that is compatable. (color, growth rate, etc.) It will also depend on what you want to accomplish and how much additional work/cost you are willing to incur.

...."Trimming trees is always recommended." YES! This is, in my opinion, the most overlooked solution to lawn problems caused by shade. 'thinning' a tree might be a better term, but it amounts to taking out a branch here, a branch there, but you still have a magnificent tree standing there. Because you thinned the tree, some sunlight gets through to the lawn. If you had not thinned the tree, no sunlight would get through, and, of course, the lawn will not grow. This also comes up, every few years, with successful, but confused, subdivision-dwellers. Now subdivision-dwellers are a curious bunch: they recognize that the kids will grow. They recognize that the lawn will grow. They do not, however, recognize that over the last five years, their trees, and their neighbors trees, grew. Matured. Filled out. Filled in. Have a LOT more branches and leaves than those trees used to have. (..."Gee, my lawn in this little enclosed meadow was fine, when we moved in here, but over the last five years, the lawn got thinner, and thinner....") Oh yeah? You used to have four fifteen year old trees. Now you have four twenty year old trees, eh? Do you think that the twenty year old trees might have bigger, more leafy, branches, a little higher up? Provide a little more shade? You don't need to hack down the tree. But you do need to call in a tree service, or an arborist, to examine the trees for you. Arborists, as opposed to tree services, seem to be on a mission of love. In my experience, you can call an arborist, who will drive all the way over there, and warn you 'hey, i'm going to charge you for an hour's worth of work', and then charge you thirty dollars. What a bargain! But that person really, really, wants you to have a magnificent tree, and will recommend which branch to take out, and which branch to stay, and the tree will remain, and the lawn will grow. Call a tree service, or even better, call an arborist. With a little trim on those trees, the lawn will do just fine.

1) Do you mean it gets sun from sunrise through early afternoon? In that case, KBG would do OK. Although I might want to use a mix of KBG and TTTF just to be sure. 2) Ditto, if it's sun from noon through sunset, that's fine, but again, perhaps a mix. 3) Ditto again, although this one is probably just fine for KBG. The lap-running dog might be a bit of a wear problem, so that could cause issues. That's true with any grass, however. I don't usually recommend a specific company, but Becky mentioned Hogan in another post: " I have called the Hogan Company and had a long discussion with Mr. Hogan who was very knowledgeable." That statement is extremely, totally true. :-)