I'm not sure why it is people resist telling us where they live. It's like pulling teeth sometimes. You're just prolonging the agony. If you live in Inyokern, that's what we need to know. Boron? Who knows? Trust me, we won't show up on your doorstep. In fact, with that area, it would help to know whether you are in the hills or on the flats. I would get a soil test if I lived north of Edwards. Boron is a necessary micronutrient, but you have it in abundance. Too much boron and your soil will become unproductive for most plant life. There is a reason why Boron is located where it is. And there is a reason only certain plants will grow (stunted) in the wild around there. Honestly, the best expert at growing grass in your area is the greenskeeper at Boron High School. Call him and ask what kind of grass he grows and how does he keep it green? How does he keep the high boron levels from killing it? Search Google Maps for Boron, CA and find the high school. It's not hard to find with the aerial view. It is the only green grass in the 100-mile region. Fescue still will not turn brown with your freezing weather. Annual weeds like crabgrass will die off completely in the winter. Grasses like bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, bermuda grass, and St Augustine will turn brown in the winter. Fescue only will go dormant under survival conditions. At this point I would stop dethatching, send in a soil sample to be tested (Logan Labs), and forget about seeding until you see the results of the soil test.

I had something else prepared and then I realized it was disjointed. It seems like you have one major issue that is leading you all around for a solution. The problem is your water costs. Is that a fair statement? Then the solution is how to limit your watering and still have a presentable lawn. This was the situation bpgreen faced. Unless he posts a picture, you'll have to trust me that his lawn is more than presentable. Far and away the best thing you can do and still have a lawn is to plant the native grasses that bpgreen will suggest. As far as I know most of those grasses will easily survive in Brea as long as they are not under a tree canopy. In your area, with the late night and early morning fog, you may never ever need to water the lawn. I would suggest you could seed these grasses into your current lawn, water to get them up and growing, and then stop watering completely to let Nature take Her course. The time to do the seeding would be in late August or when the summer night temps start to fall from their highs. Until then you have to live through this growing season. Here's what you can do to limit your watering needs. Compost Compost is an organic material made from decayed food and animal manure. Excellent compost smells very fresh. You could hold a heaping double handful up to your nose and not be repulsed by it at all. Even year-old horse manure smells fresh as a daisy. Compost is a rich organic material that has the rare ability to hold moisture. Morning dew is captured by compost and used to manage soil moisture. This ability was discovered by a Soviet soil scientist a long time ago and suppressed during The Cold War. His papers are on the Internet if you can read Russian, but I digress. The app rate for compost is no more than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet of lawn. Sweep it down into the turf with a push broom or rake. The broom is less back breaking. Compost is the most expensive thing you can apply to your lawn, so use it carefully. In my area it costs $40 per cubic yard plus delivery charges. Where do you get compost in Brea? Probably not at Armstrongs. Really good compost does not come in bags. Check this map for suggestions. Municipal compost is not usually the best (by a long shot). Excellent compost has certain features. It smells wonderful, it is room temp (not hot), and it is made of unrecognizable pieces of organic material. If it has twigs and sticks in it, pass and get something better. Water properly It seems you have the hang of this. Deep and infrequent is the mantra. Once a week, all at once. Do not let runoff to occur. If you get runoff, then stop immediately and let the water soak in. Then resume watering after 15-30 minutes. Mow high Tall grass uses less water than short grass. There are several reasons but the most obvious is the tall grass shades the soil and lowers the soil temp. Lower soil temp means less transpiration/evaporation. Fertilize Your grass is thin. If you fertilize it the grass will become more dense. Dense grass provides more shade as discussed above. If you are still worried about your soil being hard and low water penetration, forget about aerating and top soiling. That is far too much hassle. And I say that not as an Armstrong sales guy, but as a person interested in soil and a forum participant for about 10 years. It might have other benefits but alone, it will not give you much improvement in hardness. I know and respect many people who swear by it, but they have unlimited water. Spray your lawn with soap and see how you like that. I guarantee that if it does not work for you, I will personally be sympathetic to your plight ;-) But I really think it will work. The guy I learned it from, and the guy who seconded the suggestion, are very (VERY) serious lawn nuts in the Northeast. They use a much more complicated recipe but it amounts to home made shampoo made in a 5-gallon bucket. Based on their suggestion I tried it and immediately dropped a method I developed several years ago. Soap is better. Jerry Baker was right about soap. If you are interested in a low cost/low hassle organic program for your lawn, flip over to the organic gardening forum and look at the FAQ. Near the bottom of the list is the Organic Lawn Care FAQ. That FAQ has been downloaded tens of thousands of times and has convinced a LOT of people to give the organic approach a try. You won't read about it in any book or even magazine. It is based on science from the 1990s and early 2000s. Plus it is so simple that about all you could write about it would be a pamphlet. The biggest problem with it, especially in California, is finding fertilizer materials. Generally you get the stuff at a feed store. Inside a metro area like yours, my first choice would be alfalfa pellets. For some reason you can always find rabbit food in a 50-pound bag. Your first thought would be, "Where would I find a feed store in Brea, CA?" Here is a map to your local feed stores. We've run the costs in this forum many times. It comes out very much the same as a synthetic chemical program. By the way your soil looks just like our soil in Riverside when I was growing up. Wish I knew then what I know now.

If your thatchy area dries out faster than the rest, I'm taking that as proof you don't have any roots underground. For some reason the soil is not getting any moisture. Is it possible you have a different kind of soil in that area? You might consider running an aerator over that area (did I just say that out loud???). I would run it heavily to ensure the water (and roots) have a place to go. Leave the cores right there within the thatchy area. (Seriously, was that ME suggesting an aerator??? In Florida???) As a last resort I would run a power rake to physically slice the runners, roots, and whatever is in there. This will leave your turf pretty well ruined right there. I would wait until spring when the grass is leaping out of the ground. auteck: you were asking for trouble when you said that Floratam was as ugly as crabgrass. Suck it up. I was willing to ignore it because your other suggestions were way out of the ordinary.

>>Topsoil depth guesstimate is about 6" nearest foundation and drops gradually over next 10 feet-this area will be for bedding plants. Topsoil depth guesstimate for lawn starting 10' out from foundation: 4" That's extremely deep and would invalidate the Logan test. Four inches covers most of the feeder root depth for grasses. So although the tests here are good for the rest of the lawn, the top soil area is an unknown. Wait and see if it ends up that deep, it does seem like an awful lot of top soil. The results of the test: Total Exchange Capacity 8.15: Consistent with the soil test. While optimal is 10 to 15, this is not a problem in the slightest. Soil ph 7.5: It's good we recommended no lime as it would be exactly the wrong response in this soil. Your pH is already thrown somewhat high, although this is no barrier to a gorgeous lawn. But let's not throw it out of whack any further than it already is. % Organic Matter 4.13: In the Good range, but with the lower EC and high pH, I'd recommend adding OM slowly over the next few years. That will tend to raise the EC somewhat and make the pH matter less. ANIONS Sulfur: p.p.m 14: Perfect. Phosphorus lbs/acre 133: A little low. I recommended starter fertilizer below. CATIONS Calcium 2528 (desired 2216) Magnesium 242 (desired 234) Potassium 272 (desired 254) Sodium 72 (pounds per acre) >>I don't report on these directly, I use them as a basis for adjusting soils. Base Saturation % Calcium 77.55 (60 to 70%): In perfect range, although on the high side of it. Excess Ca isn't a problem. Magnesium 12.37 (10-20%): In perfect range. Potassium 4.28 (2 to 5%): In perfect range (which is rare for K). Sodium 1.91 (.5-3%): High. This, in combination with your otherwise perfect cations above, is sending the pH too high. At this time, I'm not going to change it. Let's see if it leaches out. Other Bases 3.90 (variable): Everything else. This is pretty normal. Exchangable Hydrogen 0.00 (10 to 15%)**: Zero because of your high pH. Trace Elements Boron p.p.m. 0.23: Low. Boron's critical for photosynthesis and meristem development and differentiation. Recommendations below. Iron p.p.m. 167.0: Technically OK, but this won't produce good color in the lawn. Use Milorganite as desired to raise this and raise the OM at the same time. Manganese p.p.m. 16.0 Copper p.p.m. 3.97 Zinc p.p.m. 3.4 Aluminum p.p.m 678.0 These four are fine (Al isn't used, it's actually toxic, but not available until pH drops into the low-5 range). Zn is technically out of whack when compared to the others, but I'm not inclined to fiddle with it. Recommendations: May 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 15: Apply 3 tablespoons per thousand square feet of 20 Mule Team borax (use Milorganite as a carrier to even the distribution and get this tiny amount down). September 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 3 tablespoons per thousand square feet of 20 Mule Team borax.