Tag: St. Augustine

It’s been two months since I got the front lawn fertilized. While July was wretchedly hot, historically, the month of August is the driest month in North Texas. Despite some surprising rain downpours, slightly cooler temperatures, and even some mushrooms growing in the lawn, the rain was not a drought-buster.

For those academics out there, there are drought intensities from none, abnormally dry, moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought, and exceptional drought. North Texas is suffering from severe drought conditions.

I wasn’t able to get the two pallets of sod installed due to lack of funds, so I had to be content to watch the runners spread. All in all, I was satisfied with the progress.

I’m still daydreaming about planting something other than grass in the front yard. There’s a six foot swath of soil near the walkway to the front door because the house causes a shadow and grass doesn’t seem to grow well there. I’m thinking of planting some annuals, like pansies.

True story: one time I asked the nursery gal where I could find the asylum instead of the alyssum. We both had a big laugh over that.

August 19^th front lawn

Hopefully, in September I will show you more filled in grass and some colorful flowers.

It’s been one month since I got the front lawn enriched with soil. You can read about it here. This post shows the progress of the lawn. I’m pleased with it and I have learned the following about how to care for a St. Augustine grass lawn:

First, St. Augustine grass is never grown from seed. It comes in either sod or plugs. So, the $18/lb. seed that Jose spread was useless. My helpful neighbor planted a few runners in part of the lawn, but they didn’t take because they were too exposed.

Second, the crabgrass (probably lying dormant) took advantage of the fertilizer and proceeded to sprout everywhere. Every day I weeded out the crabgrass. Crabgrass is easy to distinguish from St. Augustine, and it comes out easily. Crabgrass is a grayish green and configures in a star-shaped pattern, whereas St. Augustine configures as a runner.

Third, St. Augustine grass does best when watered between 1:00-3:00 am. Hooray for automatic sprinkler systems!

The weather was HOT! I’m talking days upon days of from 100 to 109-degree heat that broke 90-year old records. I watered every day. Antonio, a landscaper who regularly mows some of my neighbors’ lawns said that in this kind of weather, he waters his lawn every day for 20 minutes. His water bill last month was $275. Yikes! Antonio recommended that I have 2 pallets of sod installed to cover the exposed areas.

June 19^th fertilizing of the front lawn

July 19^th front lawn

So, there you have it. The lawn is filling in nicely, I got my daily dosage of sunshine, vitamin D, and I got to mingle with my neighbors.

My struggles with homeownership continue. Fast-forward to my third house, I am currently living in a 1960’s house with 3-bedrooms, and 2-baths. I recently posted about my first-time homeowner lawn care experience. You can read about it here.

Lately I’ve been watering my front yard in hopes of getting a lush carpet-like lawn, like my neighbor Debbie’s, and of course, the Beautification
Award. The problem is we haven’t fertilized in a while. Or ever. The soil is light brown and there are mostly weeds, with small patches of St. Augustine grass.

I pointed out the depleted soil to my husband, and he said, “Oh yeah, I’ll fertilize it.” Um, news flash, the lawn needed more than fertilizer, it needed amendments, topsoil, stuff like that. I couldn’t imagine when he would have the time or energy to do it.

The next day, my doorbell rang. It was Jose and Francisco. They had a truckload of topsoil and wanted to fertilize my front yard. It seemed like a gift from heaven.

I thought it was a good deal. If we were to have a sod lawn, we’d first have to remove the existing weedy lawn, till the soil, add topsoil and starter fertilizer, and then lay the sod. The sod alone for a plot 60′ x 28′ would have cost more than $1,400.

Fist pump, “YESS!” and from my front porch, I watched them spread the rich, black soil and seed. It took an hour and a half. It was hard work.

“This seed costs $18 a pound, Mama,” said Jose, as he swung the seeds into the ground.

My friend Jerry came by, held his nose and said, “Whew, something smells bad!”

I didn’t notice. What I smelled was the sweet odor of receiving a Beautification
Award.

“Make sure you water it, Mama,” said Jose.

I promised I would. A half an hour later, it rained. Another gift.

Later that evening, I told my friend, Tavo, “I just got a truckload of topsoil and fertilizer spread on my front yard. I’m going for the Beautification
Award, you know.”

Tavo’s eyes widened. “I’ve been trying to get that award for years!”

My husband shook his head. “There are other people going for that award besides Nanci?”

You remember when you were in elementary school, and you vied for the shiny gold trophy that came with the Good Citizen Award? Yeah. It’s like that.

Getting back to my lawn, it rained again that night, and again the next day. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. Below is a picture of the current state of my front lawn. Wish me success!