HELP! I need advice for my bedroom...Lost 1st Time Homeowner
Amie N
6 years ago
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1st time home owner in need of help - half dead yard
Comments (5)Ok, wow. I mean WOW! You're getting the wrong advice on every front. St Aug would THRIVE in that shade. The grass died because they didn't water it. Actually it might have died the first time from a disease left to run out of control, but in any case, the solution now is new sod (NOT SEED) and water. That cheap builder grade bermuda is only one notch below the very best bermuda grass you can buy at any price. The reason it is cheap and "builder grade" is that it is easy to grow and every grower in Texas grows it. The supply of that stuff is inexhaustible, but you cannot get a better turf grass without paying through the nose. The name of it is TIF 419 or TifTurf, or something like that. It has been around for 40 years or more and is very popular. The more expensive TIF varieties are only used in professional sports stadiums. I should note that ALL seeded varieties of bermuda are basically common bermuda, not the TIF hybrid. Thus if you start with a TIF lawn, you should never reseed bermuda into it. The common bermuda looks like a weed in a hybrid turf. Here is a picture of common bermuda invading a TIF turf. Note the common is bluer in color, coarser, and has a different growth habit. It's a mess once you have them mingled. If you have already seeded with common bermuda, I would not attempt to install a hybrid (sod) lawn without a lot of prep to kill the common. June is the time to take on that project. Whatever you do, do not fall into the trap of watching all the golf TV where they are urging you to get out and do something to the lawn. Bermuda needs hot soil to do much of anything to it. The reason your neighborhood lawns might look cheap is because they don't know how to care for them. Bermuda needs a LOT of maintenance to keep it nice. It should be mowed to about 1 inch high, 2x per week and 3x per week during the spring flush of new growth. It also needs heavy fertilizer applied monthly all season long. Most people are unwilling to do what it takes to make bermuda look great. Having said all that, I still prefer a St Aug lawn if you can keep it watered. All lawns need exactly the same amount of water to keep them looking nice through the summer. That amount is one inch per week, applied all at one time. The problem with St Aug is if you fail to water it for 3-5 weeks, it can die on you. Other grasses will go dormant first, but St Aug just dies. That's what happened in your yard. Bermuda would never grow in your shade, but St Aug should do fine. In fact, St Aug will take over your yard even if you have bermuda now. You would have to keep the St Aug mowed at the mower's highest setting and allow it to invade the bermuda. Bermuda cannot invade into tall St Aug because the tall St Aug provides too much shade for bermuda. But if you mow the grass at the lowest setting, then the bermuda can invade just fine and will give you a mess. Absolutely DO NOT rototill the soil in prep for a lawn. You might want to rototill for a vegie garden but never for a lawn. The tilled soil will take 3 years to settle, and it will settle unevenly. There is hardly anything worse than mowing a bumpy lawn....See More1st time growing tomatos from seed, advice needed on potting up
Comments (5)Thank you both for responding (digdirt - thanks for responding multiple times on different posts)! I had a few hours of free time Monday night and I transplanted all 10 plants. I may have waited a bit too long as the roots had grown through the bottom of the cut paper towel tubes they were originally planted in. I was able to keep the soil together for 5 of them, the soil fell off the first one I transplanted and the two tubes with the multiple plants. I handled them carefully by the leaves (not the stem) and managed to keep the roots very intact. They seem to be doing well, most have visibly grown since Tuesday morning. Anything else I should do or look out for? Thanks again for helping me out with my new passion....See More1st time homeowner desperate for advice
Comments (7)Before you let Scotts come. True gardenrs feed the soil, not the plants. I pass on the chemicals. I use liquid fish emulshion..nothing else. After you expand your flower bed (skin and remove the "sod"), rake your lawn hard, plant some seed, rake it in, water every day.....you'll do better than Scotts....their chemicals will kill your garden....for fertilizer, buy one of those miracle grow sprinklers, toss out their powder, and fill with about 2 inches of the fish emulsion, and then spray on lawn and garden once a week, and watch those plants grow like crazy! RAke and shred your old mulch. Bring in some good rich organic soil. Now's the best time to change the shape...check out a few books (I peruse them at Lowe's all the time) and take a chalk spray out and apray a shape you like....run it along the driveway up to your walkway....nice curved shape....more bed=less lawn=more nature and beauty to your yard. Raise the bed, 6-12 inches, and till the first layer-some good black cow for Lowe's may help) before you build it up....Then, get new edging. Look at your site, sun-shade....morning-evening....abd try to select a mix of flowers and a couple of host plants/shrubs if you can....really brings the butterflies.....look back at those books and the garden center, pick some flowers you really like, draw a list and see if they like your area (sun-shade, water etc.) and then remember you have 3 blooming seasons...spring, summer, fall. Try for plants that hit all 3, a couple clusters of bulbs/iris rhyzomes for spring, coneflower/redebeckias for summer, sages for summer and fall. Perhaps a new mailbox, with a wooden post, and a nice climber can co up (Clematis), honeysucke, or better if you want the prettiest butterflies, try a Dutchman's pipevine there as you have some shade) and you'll get some nice pipevine swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs on it (don't remove the caterpillars when they eat the leaves, those are your butterflies!) If it's really shady there, your tall plants could be foxgloves, which will reseed every year.....perhaps some hostas, or calla lillies...plant them in nice clusters so they're a real showstopper....Get some butterfly weed (Asclepias currasavica) or another kind, and you'll have visiting monarchs and some caterpillars you can watch as well. Sneak a small cluster of parsley plants under your tree, or against the house, and remember not to pick the green striped caterpillars that suddenly appear (you can use fennel or dill as well) and soon you'll be the envy of the block with dozens of black swallowtails around your yard... Use the color wheel....shades of the same color go well, as do opposites. Yellow and purple are stunning together, pink and purple go well together, yellow and pink do not. Tall in the middle, shore on the borders, where your bed comes up your driveway to yourr walk, maybe you loop it out to be able to fit a real showstopper, like Mexican bush sage for the fall etc..... When you build your beds up, 12-18" is best, with nice soft mixed soil, then get some old newspapers, remove the glossies, and spread on top of the whole thing, in layers 5-6 sheets think, water with a hose sprayer as you go, and they will stick.....HAve mulch handy, as soon as you've covered up your nice soft beds with newspapers (your neighbors will think you're crazy) cover with about 3" of mulch.....water the mulch again, and let the whole thing rest for about 3-5 days (this will be hard....but it's a good time to be picking plants and setting them out on the bed to get an idea what it will look like) your bed needs to settle during this period..now why the newspapers? It's called the lasagna method, and it's guaranteed to cut your weedpulling time by 99%, and it enriches your soul by attracting earthworms...you'll re-do every yr or every other yr....then from the ceter, dig your holes, plant, and watch your miracle grow! You'll be the envy of the neighborhood......See More1st time homeowner and need to replace HVAC. Advice?
Comments (69)See there. Learn something everyday. This proprietary jargon is getting ahead of me. Good deal. You are getting one fine system that should give you years of good service as well as comfort and savings compared to that oversized system you have now. A little knowledge goes a long way. IMO Here is a link that might be useful: Evolution Connex Controller...See MoreAmie N
6 years agoer612
6 years agoamykath
6 years agol pinkmountain
6 years ago
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