The best way to start a new lawn in the south is with sod. St Augustine seed is not available so it has to be sodded. Hybrid bermuda is only available in sod. There is improved common bermuda seed available but it is still common. If you don't have to have a putting green quality lawn, then bermuda seed will work in the full sun. The problem with mixing bermuda with St Augustine is they each prefer different care. Bermuda needs fertilizer every month and mowing low twice a week in the summer. St Augustine only needs fertilizer 3x per season and likes to be mowed at 4 inches or higher only once a week. If you mow a mixed lawn low it will look weedy because the St Augustine stolon is much thicker than the bermuda stolons. If you mow it high it looks weedy for awhile because the bermuda seed head sticks up before you mow again. St Aug does not need to be watered every week unless you are not watering long enough. If you water it deeply enough, it will grow deep roots that resist the heat. Also when you water deeply and let the surface of the soil dry out, then your weed seeds will not germinate - and that is the subject you asked about. If you just water what you have now, and water it infrequently but deeply, then your weed pressure will fall off. Your lawn will spread because both grasses are the spreading type. If you mulch mow high every week, it will look like St Augustine. If you mow low it will look like bermuda with coarse weeds (St Augustine).

Quack grass is a very invasive grass that spreads by both seed and rhizomes. There is some indication that Quack grass has become immune to the glyphosates. The only method of control I have found effective is to dig out all of the rhizomes and place good barriers between where that grass is and where I don't want it to be. Janet Macunovich, in her book Caring For Perennials, suggests using that plastic carpet runner as a barrier, Many other plants we call "weeds" seed in quite prolifically and will need constant attention no matter what we do. Mulches help some, but are not the complete answer some seem to make it appear, since many of those unwanted plants will germinate and grow in the best mulch. Recognize what the unwanted plant looks like quite early in its growth and get rid of it then, but constant attention is necessary to keep these plants under control.

Hi, If you want to get exact identifications(like I know # 1 is a spurge weed, but I don't exact species), I recommend reposting over on the Name That Plant forum. Lots of people look at the forum. This one doesn't get much traffic. Remy

schoolhouse - great to 'see' you again :-) Spring has been cooler - and drier! - than normal here. We had about half our average April rainfall and May is shaping up to be the same or lower! So weeds have not been too bad here. But about a year ago we had started using garden helpers to work with us for spring and fall clean-up. With the shutdown here re the virus, they were not allowed to operate until this month. So we had to do most of the spring clean-up ourselves. We left the last bit - digging out shrubs in the south alley - until last week when the garden help folk could come to do that - younger, stronger backs were required.... I'm a few years younger than you but 2 hrs. is about my limit too! DH is a bit older than me and healthier - but needs supervision :-) Last year I started the process of simplifying the garden as much as possible in preparation for aging-in-place as long as we can. Hence the digging out of shrubs in the south alley - replaced with 'Biokovo' perennial geraniums to be a groundcover next to the house. We need to remove a redbud tree that has started to fall over - but will wait until after it blooms. By that time hopefully the ash tree will have started to leaf out so we can assess whether to treat it again or just have it taken down. Removing the ash would eliminate a lot of the fall clean-up work! Have you made any changes relating to keeping the garden a viable activity while aging?