Hi dchall_san_antonio, thanks for the follow-up post. You are spot on with regards to the unevenness of sod. I did my front yard last season and was instantly dissatisfied with the results with regard to the undulations. So I had to spend more time and more effort to get a result that I wanted from the outset. Hence my obsession was born with having a perfectly level yard. I searched the internet determined to get a better result. I read about sprigging, but found almost zero info on how the regular Joe could do it at home. I took bits of info from golf green construction, sport fields, bowling greens and then applied this to what would work at home for me using everyday tools and non-specialized products. The cost was also significantly less than buying sod for the entire project which is quite expensive in Australia (around A$9.00m2) I will try by best to answer the questions that you have put forth; My patio area faces roughly east, so the sun passes directly over the yard in summer. In winter it moves to the north (the left hand side looking from patio). Long shadows do cast to the south, however more so in winter as the sun is lower in sky. I cultivated the soil using a rotary hoe or a gas powered tiller to till the soil to a depth of around 6 inches. I then made a contraption of 4 x 6 foot pieces of timber set parallel with 4 x braces running perpendicular to the long pieces. I attached a rope to this and then spent the next few days dragging this contraption back and forth, round and round, up and down until it was as level as I could make it. I let it settle for about 2 weeks, then spent another weekend with my new wooden friend. I got the idea from this video; Leveling yard After this I brought in around 2 cubic meters of builders sand for final grade. I built a smaller version of the wood , this time using aluminum and a handle that you use like a rake to move the soil around. I then watered this to the point of runoff and let it dry. I used the lawn level again to level out any minor undulations and watered it again. Finally I used a long piece of timber to check for grade and undulations. At this point I was satisfied. The high tech tools used to cut up the sod was a pair of garden shears and a pair of HD sissors! No wonder my hands were dead after about 6 hours. I put the cut sprigs into a big container of water for about an hour, then put them in a old wet sheet in the shade until I was ready to broadcast them. I made sure I had enough to cover one irrigation zone before I spread them such that i could irrigate immediately after planting. Once I realised that this method was not going to work I borrowed a leaf shredder and put smaller pieces of sod through the hopper. At first I was concerned that I cut them too small and they would not root, but they did take, however at a slower rate than compared with the larger pieces. I did this in October, which is mid-spring here. Funnily enough we had a really mild spring which didn't really help with the grow-in. When temps got above 25C you could literally watch it grow! This is not common practise for establishing home lawns in Australia. Some turf suppliers do offer what they call 'shredded turf' but these companies are not in my state. The methods these companies advocate could not be translated the method I used. Next time I would try and actually source the sprigs, rather than cutting up sod. It is so time consuming and very messy. Other than that I am really happy with how it has come up. I said to my wifey that if I ever plant another lawn I will be stolonizing it. The real reason I wanted to spend the time doing this post is purely for the fact that I have learned so much from this forum (even as a lurker) and I wanted to take the time and give something back to other forum members who have taken the time with their experiences. In particular David's thread which I used to level my front yard. Here are some pics of that project if anyone is interested; Front This is disc roller below; PS I will work on my photography skills This post was edited by SimonR on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 0:35

Part of the problem with crabgrass in bermuda is they both love the same conditions. The advantage you have is in withholding moisture, especially in the spring. The crabgrass will die at first frost. The bermuda will slow down and go dormant about the same time. No advantage yet. Whatever you do, do not over seed with rye grass to keep your lawn green over the winter. There are several reasons for this, but one is so you can get the earliest green up of the bermuda possible. You want every sun ray to hit the grass and bring it out of dormancy. Over the winter you should be watering once per month. When the temps rise into the 70s, you can move to once every 3 weeks. Temps in the 80s you can go to once every 2 weeks. Above ninety and go to weekly watering. Crabgrass needs continual moisture to germinate. If you withhold moisture, the soil will be dry most of the time and the crabgrass seed will not germinate. If you have a very dense turf, the crabgrass will not move in.

Thanks, MrLike! So this Stapelia thing isn't a cactus, can't handle a lot of direct sun? And I was googling - this is what is referred to as carrion flower? Not sure this is suitable for a mini garden. How long until my little plant looks like the 2nd one down? Months, years, a decade? Is the sideways growth what these usually do? What does fire sticks do that is nasty? Thanks, Kathi!! That was all green when I got it in Jan. Had I known it would turn purple, I might have gotten two. Have since seen that it propagates very easily and there are a few babies around here already. If it hadn't been so cold lately, I'd rinse the pollen off of it. Not getting anybody wet right now.

I just found your blog while doing my initial research on pool builder (found it in your Yelp review). I loved reading about your experience and seeing the pics along the way! Thank you so much for the wonderful insight. I have to say that your pool installation has made me so excited to pull the trigger on our own, and now when I need a break at work, I go to your blog -- my new "Happy Place".