iforgotitsonevermind I think you have a misunderstanding of how long Bermuda and Zoysia is green and productive in this region of the country. Normally Bermuda and Zoysia is green from mid April to around Halloween. Fescue can be grown in the area in question, but it really needs trees to protect it from the sun and a ton of water which presents the next problem of fungal diseases. When I converted the family farm from cash grain crops to sod some 30 years ago I had tall Fescue, it almost cost me the farm literally. On the farm we could grow it because we have the very sandy loam which drains well, the irrigation to keep it alive in the summer, but the users/customers did not. So we almost went broke replacing all we sold under guarantee. The summers around here are just too hot, dry, and brutal for the cool season grasses to survive the summer. They have to be replanted every fall around here. I agree with you overall most folks think TTF and KBG has better eye appeal over all if conditions are right for it. But using my cynical sense of humor that some donÂt understand, you donÂt fight Mother Nature. Bermuda grass is the most dominant around these parts and the most popular choice.

You picked a doozy of a topic to reference. I don't think I've ever seen so many people piggybacking onto one thread. The spots you see on your grass are the same as those I posted in that other topic. The corn meal should help. Give it 3 full weeks. This is not a shade issue or a watering issue. St Aug will be thinner in the shade but it should be healthy looking with zero spots or yellow blades. Here's a picture of my lawn in San Antonio growing in deeper shade than you had. The point of this picture is 1) no spots, and 2) lots of shade. I took this picture to illustrate chlorosis in St Augustine caused by too much rain. The yellow blades in the center are from the rain. The point you cannot see is that this area looked horrible a month earlier from disease. You could see the soil, leaves, stolons, and spots on the few living blades of grass. Note that you can still see through the turf a little to the stolons underneath. If this was in full sun it would be so packed in the blades would be growing straight up. I'll get a picture of my new lawn in Bandera looking straight down. It's very hard to push a mower through that stuff. Okay I have to comment on the TAMU pamphlet on growing St Augustine. Generally when I see something from TAMU I read it and do the opposite. Truth! Here's my experience this year. I live in Bandera now, so think Texas Hill Country. Our temps ran in the mid to high 90s this year. We got our first rain on Memorial Day and it nearly washed my belongings out of the garage. It was 11 inches in 3 days with most coming the first night. That's too much rain so I was expecting to get some disease. I did but only about 1 square foot was affected. But since Memorial Day I have watering the actual grass one time. Fortunately we got some rain relief last week, so from June 1 to Aug 19 I did not water. Had I followed TAMU I would have watered it every 5 days. Had I followed my own advice (below) I would have watered it every 7 days. What the TAMU people did was over simplify watering, but then they went into too much detail on how to achieve the simple watering. Watering is slightly harder than they suggest but setting it up is easier than they suggest. Here's my take on watering after reading and moderating lawn forums for 10 years. 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. I guess I should add that if it rains 11 inches, reset your calendar back by a month at least. Mowing height. If you read the topic you referenced you saw pix of my dog in the tall grass. (We found her and she's up at the new house in Bandera). From those pictures you can see that tall St Aug is pretty healthy. I seriously did not water, mow, fertilize, or weed that lawn from October 2011 through Feb of 2015. All it got was rainfall. 2011 and 2013 were drought years, and it thrived. Point is keep your st Aug as tall as you can stand it. Set the mower to the highest setting and weld it in place. Contrary to what TAMU says, mowing it low does not make a better turf. Fertilizing. If I was on a rigorous fertilizer schedule I would use organics 5x per year following the federal holiday schedule (Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving). If I was on a casual schedule I would fertilize on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. If you decide not to use organic fertilizer, I would still strongly suggest you use it at least once a year in addition to, or in lieu of, one of your fertilizer apps. The general experience of the universe of lawn care websites is that lawns that get no organics for 10 years or so will develop issues where the chemical fertilizer seems to not be effective. One dose of organics will reset the soil biology and the chemical fertilizers will work again. I think you can avoid that issue by preempting it. Organic fertilizer is much less expensive per 1,000 square feet than compost. The fertilizer is also much easier to apply than compost.

i have an interesting thought. my layout is 42 then 24 corner then 42 again, if i ask the kitchen store to make my corner a 27. i take off 3 inches from 42 plus put a 3 inch filler on either side of the corner. I would get my open cabinet, and just "lose 6 inches for fillers" all togther, but i would have the accessibiltiy i want, is this cutting off my nose ot spite my face or can this actually work? and how would this look next to 21 doors?

Your lawn fertilizer guy is hilarious. Fire him now. The problem is you. You're overwatering. See all those circles of dead grass? Those are typical of fungal disease caused by overwatering. When the disease shows up with circles like that, it is referred to as fairy ring. Your lawn fertilizer guy should know that, so since he doesn't, fire him. He's incompetent and should be in another business. If he's part of a large business, the business is inept in their training. I'm guessing they have already fertilized your yard once this year. If they have, be sure to fire them. They should have waited until the end of May to fertilize. You can recover right now by using a fungicide. I don't use fungicides so I can't help you select one for your area, but I can help you with proper watering. Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. Deep means 1 inch all at one time, not spread out over a week. Put out some tuna or cat food cans and turn on your sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That will be your watering time, every time you water, from now on. My oscillator sprinkler on full sweep takes 8 hours to fill the cans. High flow inground systems take as little as 15 to 20 minutes to fill all the cans. You'll have to determine the time for your setup. As for frequency of watering, that depends (mostly) on the daytime high temperature. Of course Mother Nature will deliver Her dose of water, so you should be able to skip watering for at least a week after a soaking rain. There have been a few years recently when I did not water until June or July because of some well timed rain storms. This year is different for us. The ponds all around us are full, but my little area has been skipped over. Anyway, with temps below 70, deep water once a month. Rain almost always takes care of this. With temps between 70 and 80, water once every 3 weeks. With temps between 80 and 90, water once every 2 weeks. With temps from 90 to 100, water once a week. That should work. If you see the grass drying out at day 6 in the summer, set it for a 6-day schedule instead of 7 days. In NO case should you ever water established turf every day. Also make sure you are mowing the grass at the highest setting. Correcting the watering and setting the mower up will fix your issues. So the problem with the appearance was caused by you (overwatering). There's nobody else to blame as much as I would love to blame the lawn fertilizer guy.