I've been trying to mow about twice a week. If there is one thing I've learned over the past couple of months it's that waiting too long between mowing is one of the worst things you can do with bermuda. Most of my neighbors pay people to mow their yards, so it's always done at most once a week, or once every two weeks so their yards always look scalped and brown. I'm really looking forward to the leveling next year because I know that the lower I mow the thicker the grass will become. I was talking to my next door neighbor a few weeks ago and he said that the guy who lived in my house before it foreclosed hardly ever mowed the grass and never did any kind of lawn maintenance. This would explain why the grass was so patchy and thin and also why there were two large areas in the yard that had no grass which resulted in serious erosion of the top layer of clay/soil and I have a brown driveway to show for it. BTW samlawn, I noticed that we live in the same part of Cobb Co. :)

Ok, so I get it, I missed seeding in the fall and now I am stuck. Fine. But why can't we stop being so negative. Surely there must be a way of planting grass in the spring and succeeding. There has to be. Sure, it may be hard, it may be risky, but life is a risk. There has to be a way to win this! Do you all just roll over and give up when you have a challenge? Is this the true American spirit? COME ON! Let's turn this around and come up with a solid bulletproof plan to get me some grass!! I will do all the work and spend the money, just direct me! So far I have this: 1 dethatch "scrape" ground to remove any dead grass 2 treat pre-emerge with Tenacity 3 plant TTTF seed What about starter fertilizer? I will run the hoses so I get good coverage with sprinklers.

Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. 1. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. 2. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. 3. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it (unless you use organics in which case you may overdo it without fear of hurting anything). At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide. More on Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

The new ring gear comes in package w/ the fasteners and the starter gear IE the kit. The tapered tooth on the the starter gear goes upward and the ring will only fit one way. I'm not aware of an aftermarket kit, but if you didn't use the regular Briggs starter gear then buy one and install it. If the white pinion gear shows edge wear, replace the pinion kit rather than just the gear.