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First time Homeowner seeking lawn advice (Bermuda)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hello,

I'm a young first time home owner and I have no experience at growing or maintaining a lawn of any sort. I recently purchased a house in Greenville, SC with a .56 acre lawn that is a pot luck of grass and about 80% weeds (mostly clover and some dandelion). I am not very good at identifying grass but what little bit is there seems to be different types of fescue (oddly different colors).

I would like to plant Bermuda grass due to its invasive nature and ability to survive the South Carolina heat. We have a lot of golf courses in the area with Bermuda and it looks nice to me.

The advice I'm seeking is basically how do I get started? Should I try to seed my existing lawn and hope the Bermuda chokes out everything or till up everything to dirt and start over? I have read up on the procedures to overseed existing Bermuda lawns but I don't really know how to get started on a lawn that is basically wild grass and weeds.

Thanks for any info!

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Comments (2)

t_d_harvey
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Depends on what type of Bermuda you are looking for. You can sod hybrid Bermuda which is a better variety than common. There are some improved varieties of common Bermuda seed that you can use as well. Do you have any Bermuda in the yard already? If so, do not overseed as it is probably a sodded hybrid Bermuda. Proper care can help the Bermuda fill-in. Google the Bermuda bible if so and it will help you 10-fold.

If you choose to seed, first you will either need to scalp or use round-up to kill the existing grass. Do you have any leveling issues? This would be a good time to take care of those if so. When you do seed the Bermuda, all you need is a little bit to germinate and it will spread like wild fire if properly cared for.

After seeding, make sure you water enough to keep the soil moist, but not saturated. It will vary with irrigation systems, but I personally watered 4 times a day for 3-5 min. depending on the area of the yard and how it held moisture. You will have time monitor it for a few days to see how well each area of your yard retains moisture.

Sod is definitely the easier/better way to go, but if your budget doesn't allow, seeding is a decent option imo. Just be ware that you will still have to deal with weeds and baby the grass until it thickens up.

Hope that helps as a start...I can answer more questions if you have any.
dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
Any of the southern turf grasses can stand the heat where you are. Bermuda is the most high maintenance of them all. If you want it to look good bermuda needs to be mowed low 2-3x per week and fertilized with a high N fertilizer monthly. It will take an inch of water every week but all grasses need that in the summer, so that's not really a factor...unless you think bermuda can grow on just rainwater. On the other hand, St Augustine is the lowest maintenance of the southern lawns. It can go 2-3 weeks without mowing in the summer (it slows down growing in the heat) and only need fertilizer 3x per year. Ask yourself how committed you are to the lawn.
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