You can't know how much trouble you saved yourself by writing in here before doing anything else. Your worst problem is you have dallisgrass, not crabgrass. Crabgrass would die normally at the first frost, but not dallisgrass. It is a perennial and will take over quickly if you don't stop it. Since it is a grass, anything you use to kill it will also kill your bermuda. But since you have bermuda, it will grow back without doing anything else. Your second worst problem is the St Augustine weed. It, too, will take over under certain conditions. You don't have to do those, but unless you go the extra mile, a properly cared for bermuda lawn infested with St Aug will always look weedy. Possibly the easiest way to get rid of it is to make it sick. That's easy because all you have to do is cover it with some newspaper and wet it down every night. Leave the paper on for about a week and you should start to see lesions on the grass blades that look like the spots on this grass. Once you see that you can peel the paper off and let Nature take its course. The disease will spread throughout the St Aug and wipe it out. Since it does not come back from seed, once it's gone, it's gone. Bermuda might get the disease, but St Aug gets it fast and furious. It will die out in a month or so. If you get a freeze before it all dies out this year, the disease will come back next spring to get the rest of it. The bermuda will fill in as fast as the St Augustine dies out. Now the problem you don't know you have, and the problem that could easily become your biggest problem, is seeding into your existing bermuda. DO NOT DO THAT. Bermuda needs no seed. Once you have it, you practically have it for life. The problem with seeding into it is that the seed is very nearly a different species of plant from the grass you already have. What you have is a very good hybrid called Tif 419. What you get in seed is a variety of common bermuda seeds. The two plants do not mix well together. And I happen to have a picture of that, too. The fine bladed grass is Tif 419. The coarse bladed stuff running over top of the Tif is an invasion of common bermuda. As with St Augustine, once you have a mix of Tif with common, it always looks weedy. Find the Bermuda Bible online and memorize it. There are things you should be doing all the time. I can summarize: Every month: fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer Every week: water deeply 2x per week: mow But get the BB, it will explain when not to do those things. For your shady area you do want St Augustine. If you get a dwarf variety you can mow at the same height as the bermuda. If you cannot get a dwarf, then it is best to mow St Aug at the mower's highest setting (4 inches). St Aug is much less intensive to care for: Memorial Day: fertilize with a regular fertilizer (not weed-n-feed) Every week after the temps get high: water once, deeply, and mulch mow high Labor Day: fertilize with a regular fertilizer Thanksgiving: fertilize with a regular fertilizer By the way, centipede grass is out of the question in Dallas' alkaline soils.

Neil, I am not sure you grasp the point I was trying to make. Not a big deal, just an attempt on my part to suggest that your seedlings are not directly an offspring of President. Your supplier (trader) simply misidentified the seed parent for the reason state earlier. Since we have no clue as to the real parent we cannot even guess what the seedlings will produce in the way of bloom, foliage etc. ThatÂs the fun of growing from seed. With a little luck you will know in a few days the general leaf color and with time the seedlings should bloom. Be sure to give the new seedlings plenty of sun. You apparently have a couple of months before you will be able to move them to outside. Seedlings grown indoors tend to get leggy if they do not get enough sunlight. This is especially true with elevated temperatures and insufficient sunlight. Before you ultimately transplant the seedlings outside, be sure to harden them off to prevent stress. Kent

Well, regarding the tree-rats if you are willing to experiment: Buy a couple bottles of original formula Pine-Sol and a package of small shallow disposable bowls. Take them into the attic and place a bowl filled with undiluted PineSol so that the bowl itself cannot be reached by children or pets (in a secured cardboard box is usually okay) every 20 feet along the perimeter and near any vents. Check every couple weeks and refill as needed. I make no promises but this has worked well for me and for several acquaintances, used in tool sheds as well as in garages, attics and crawlspaces. I'm guessing that the aroma is a deterrent, but in the past 30+ years the only times I've been invaded by critters is when I've forgotten to refill. BTW, if you have heat ducts nearby and any have a pinhole leak, the smell WILL transmit through you house! Just open windows to air it out - after you find and fix the leak.

I don't know if there is a "rule" but a 1/2" baseboard dying into a 3/4" casing, even allowing for a casing edge profile, looks nice.