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

It has been over 90 degrees for most of the day lately here, so unless we get a cold snap, it is probably too hot to apply herbicide for the Spring. It has not been spring since April. Welcome to Texas. What happens if I apply it when it is over the recommended temp? Is it just less effective, or a total loss? If its just weaker, it might make sense to try it...at least its less likely to do harm. If you apply when it is too hot, the grass dies. Also, I hadn't thought about keeping it short so the weeds are at a disadvantage. That totally makes sense. I don't know if I can mow two or three times per week, but I can at least try to keep it up as long as I can. With the starter fertilizer, it about needs mowing that often anyway. This could be your biggest problem. 2x to 3x per week is normal for a good looking bermuda lawn. If you mow less often it will be shaggy with seed heads before the week is up. Or, I might have the mower set too high. I've got it at 3", and I've been bagging the clippings because I don't want to be spreading weed seeds. Is that correct? You did not find the Bermuda Bible and memorize it, did you!? As you lower the mowing height you will find the lawn getting a scalped, stemmy look. That is normal. In fact when you get down to your mower's lowest setting, you might want to rent a mower that goes down even lower and get it down to 3/4 inch for at least one mowing/scalping. If you could take this to the limit and mow at about 1/4 inch, you would find the bermuda stems start to grow horizontally and you get a bunch of blades growing off the stem. That is nirvana for bermuda. You need a reel mower for that and you need to mow 2x to 3x per week. Also no need to bag clippings. The way this thread is going it doesn't sound like you have the huevos to really do the right thing with bermuda. It is a demanding grass to grow if you wan it to look nice. It needs deep weekly waterings, 2x weekly mowing and monthly feeding with a high nitrogen fertilizer. No other turf grass needs that much work. It looks good on the golf course and other sports venues but they can pay their employees to keep it up. If you want to deviate from that script, you can have an okay lawn but you will have poor color, poor density (and associated weeds), and a shaggy look. Can you post pictures of your weeds? I'm thinking your clover is not clover but oxalis or black medic. I'm thinking your crabgrass is St Augustine. And there are a couple possibilities for the weed with the little yellow flower but most popular is horse herb.

Schmoo- What about long term effect? The last picture was a wrong one. Supposed to be a 3rd different NBs but oh well. I don't remember what the weather was like when they applied herbicide. In fact, I didn't even know that it was going to be done. HOA lied to me saying that Topchoice pesticide would be used so whatever... I just wished HOA would have gone with different one with better reputation at least. I KNOW Trugreen will spray during rain or extreme windy days because they have quota to fill before the day is over so quality is not the #1 on the list. I've seen someone spray something during high winds across the street from mine (facing west) but the park is south of me and i get strong south wind so 2,4-d could cause damage to my shantung maple from what I;ve read is sensitive to 2,4-d drift. I suppose I'll have to wait and see if that happens or not. From a website - This durable, attractive, and seldom planted maple is an excellent selection for Oklahoma gardeners. It tolerates âÂÂwet and dryâ conditions, heat, and drying winds better than most other species of maple. WARNING: This maple is very sensitive to 2,4-D herbicides. If you are a devotee of chemically-induced weed-free lawns you should look elsewhere for a shade tree." Do I report to it TDA if that happens? I don't know who's really responsible. HOA doesn't care that much about it apparently. I did tell the president that it would happen. Never heard back from him.

Hank, With a new lasagna bed, I tend to just pile stuff on the first couple of years and don't start using a cover crop until all the lasagna ingredients have broken down and mixed together over time. However, if you have any reason to think that your bed is nutrient-deficient or is deficient in organic material, you can plant the cover crop of your choice. It might be difficult, though, to have a cover crop and to add the manured hay.....and if I had to choose one over the other, I would choose the 6" of manured hay! You also can pile up leaves on top of the hay.....the more the better, and the leaves will help keep winter weeds from sprouting in the manured hay. Around here, winter grasses and broadleaf weeds begin sprouting in late September. They remain quite small, especially the broadleaf ones which tend to form small rosettes of leaves down close to the ground. Then, all of a sudden, one winter day you will discover they have suddenly skyrocketed in size and become monsters. Thus, anything you do in the fall to keep down the weeds in your garden beds will make life easier later on. I like to shred the leaves by running over them with the lawn mower and catching them in the grasscatcher bag. Then I pour them over the beds and wet them down with the water hose so they won't blow around. The leaves break down fairly fast over the course of the winter, if shredded, and add organic material to your beds too. I don't know where you get garlic in OKC to plant at this time of the year, but most likely you would find it at any of the full-service nurseries. Or, if you can find organically grown garlic in any grocery store, you can plant it. Organic garlic should NOT have been sprayed with a chemical to keep it from sprouting, so it ought to sprout just fine. I also have planted plain, old, non-organic, cheap garlic from the Wal-Mart grocery dept., and it has sprouted just fine. (If if sprouts if left in the pantry too long, why wouldn't it sprout in the ground?) You can plant any of the cool-season annuals you want for winter color: pansies, violas, dianthus, snapdragons, ornamental cabbage and kale, etc. I usually wait until it cools down enough so that they high temps are only in the 80s before planting them. Or, if you want autumn color like mums or asters, which are usually perennial here, you can plant them now. It also is a good time to scatter seeds of early spring bloomers like poppies or larkspur that sprout in the fall or winter and bloom in early spring. It is a great time to purchase tulip or daffodil bulbs as soon as you see them in the stores. By the way, tulips will need to be pre-chilled in your fridge before planting. Dawn