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PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:31 pm 
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Location: Haslet,TEXAS
I've recently discontinued my conventional lawn service which involved spraying herbicides and fertilizer. I have mostly Bermuda Grass. When I first moved into the house, the area between my house and my neighbor's house was lush and beautiful. Today, it is an eyesore. You can see from the photo that I have a lot of bare spots where grass doesn't grow...nothing grows. I am resurrecting the landscape beds you see by planting some Loropetalum and a Needlepoint holly. While digging the holes, I did come across some grubs. I do have Junebugs at night. My basic question is how do I re-establish the lawn in this area? It gets sun from about 3pm-6pm each day and like I said, it formally looked beautiful. I should add that I've tried spreading grass seed there twice and nothing ever grew.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:55 pm 
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It may be getting more shade now (trees growing overhead) than when you first moved in, or the lawn was newer possibly. Three hours for bermuda is not enough sun, in my opinion. Why not put stepping stones and ground cover that can take late afternoon sun? That way you cut down on watering, fertilizing and mowing.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:27 pm 
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That's a great idea, but my neighbor would have to buy in too. I'm not sure if he would. Plus, who designs such things?

Chris


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 1:13 am 
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The only way bermuda ever looked good in between two buildings was immediately after new sod was installed. It can look decent for many months after sodding.

St Augustine would grow there as would Shadow Turf (a variety of zoysia).

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 7:51 am 
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I put in a number of St. Augustine plugs about 5 weeks ago. They didn't grow at all until I put down a few bags of composted cow manure. It's helped. The area is looking better, but still a long way of where it should be. I also put down some organic fertilizer. The thing is, the soil is pretty lifeless-hardly any bugs. Any additional ideas would help.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:58 am 
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If the soil is lifeless then you need to add life.

You may want to get a hose-end aerator and go over the area just to get the soil breathing (they make mechanical aerators but I'd imagine it would be very expensive for such a small area - unless you plan to aerate your entire lawn).

Whether or not you aerate, the next step would be to put down a thin layer of good compost and use dry molasses in the amount recommended to stimulate the existing biological activity in the soil. You might also want to try one of the thrive products. It is my understanding that though the labels mention different products (tomato, vegetable, flower) the product in the bottle is the same, a boost of mycorrhizal fungi that also stimulates the good biological activity in the soil.

Am amendment like lava sand will help your soil hold more water if drying out is a problem (in addition to not enough light).

Good luck with that.

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 2:14 pm 
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Organic fertilizer, water, and grass roots will be all you need to improve the soil. If that doesn't work, then I would try compost. Although for that small an area, a small bag of compost would be plenty, so that in combination with organics and water should get the St Aug spreading. I had given up on my back yard for this year (we have a new puppy). My wife has managed to give him something else to do during the day other than terrorize the garden and it is looking very good. The worst area is in full shade all day long, so I expect it to come in slowly.

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