Austin Gardening - St Augustine and Shade

Author

St Augustine and Shade

MrClean

2007-11-13, 9:25 pm

We leased a house and before we moved in, the landlord resodded the
entire back yard with St. Augustine.

There are lots of trees and it is a 2-story house so it does not get
much sun at all. Most of the yard died and I don't know what to do.
I don't want to leave him with a dead yard. I trimmed back a bunch of
the hackberries and it gets more sun but is this too late to re-sod?

What can I do before next spring, when my lease is up, in order to have
a good lawn when we move?

Omelet

2007-11-13, 9:25 pm

In article <MPG.21a41d1884f2cff19896f0@news-server.austin.rr.com>,
MrClean <mrclean@p&g.com> wrote:

> We leased a house and before we moved in, the landlord resodded the
> entire back yard with St. Augustine.
>
> There are lots of trees and it is a 2-story house so it does not get
> much sun at all. Most of the yard died and I don't know what to do.
> I don't want to leave him with a dead yard. I trimmed back a bunch of
> the hackberries and it gets more sun but is this too late to re-sod?
>
> What can I do before next spring, when my lease is up, in order to have
> a good lawn when we move?

Winter rye...

if you leave before the heat hits. ;-)
--
Peace, Om

Remove - (dash) to validate gmail.

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down." -- Steve Rothstein

Joe Doe

2007-11-14, 1:25 pm

In article <omp_omelet-A49B00.20491513112007@news.giganews.com>,
Omelet <omp_omelet@gmail.com> wrote:

> In article <MPG.21a41d1884f2cff19896f0@news-server.austin.rr.com>,
> MrClean <mrclean@p&g.com> wrote:
>
>
> Winter rye...
>
> if you leave before the heat hits. ;-)

I second that rye will look really good. The downside is you will
probably have to mow all winter.

I like adding winter rye from the point of view of letting the clippings
improve the soil. Skip Richter (county extension agent and guru on KLRU
gardening show) recommends against winter rye - he claims that the rye
and normal grass are in competition during spring when the native grass
is just emerging and so weakens the lawn. If the native grass is dead
this is a moot point.

Wait for sometime when they predict a week of reasonable rain and then
overseed. If it rains like crazy however it might wash away the seed.
If you choose to overseed when there is no natural precipitation you
will have to keep the germinating grass moist (light watering 4-5 times
a day).

Roland

Cliff

2007-11-14, 1:25 pm

Why did the original sod expire? Did it get regular water? I don't think
that even in complete shade that it would all die. Was the sod rolled after
it was put down? You might want to see if you can find out why it was
necessary to put sod down when you moved in. What happened to the original
grass?

If you don't want to leave with a dead yard then over seeding with rye is
not the answer as that will die as soon as it gets a bit warm. To answer
your other question, it is never to late to put down sod. It may not green
up during the cool weather but if it is properly installed and not allowed
to dry out it should establish a good root system during the winter and be
ready for a burst of growth in the spring. Good Luck.

Cliff

"Joe Doe" <None@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:None-8A46A6.11540014112007@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
> In article <omp_omelet-A49B00.20491513112007@news.giganews.com>,
> Omelet <omp_omelet@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I second that rye will look really good. The downside is you will
> probably have to mow all winter.
>
> I like adding winter rye from the point of view of letting the clippings
> improve the soil. Skip Richter (county extension agent and guru on KLRU
> gardening show) recommends against winter rye - he claims that the rye
> and normal grass are in competition during spring when the native grass
> is just emerging and so weakens the lawn. If the native grass is dead
> this is a moot point.
>
> Wait for sometime when they predict a week of reasonable rain and then
> overseed. If it rains like crazy however it might wash away the seed.
> If you choose to overseed when there is no natural precipitation you
> will have to keep the germinating grass moist (light watering 4-5 times
> a day).
>
> Roland

Dioclese

2007-11-14, 8:25 pm

3rd that vote depending on your location. If you never get cold enough, the
winter rye won't germinate.

--
Dave
Profound is we're here due to a chance arrangement
of chemicals in the ocean billions of years ago.
More profound is we made it to the top of the food
chain per our reasoning abilities.
Most profound is the denial of why we may
be on the way out.
"Joe Doe" <None@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:None-8A46A6.11540014112007@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
> In article <omp_omelet-A49B00.20491513112007@news.giganews.com>,
> Omelet <omp_omelet@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I second that rye will look really good. The downside is you will
> probably have to mow all winter.
>
> I like adding winter rye from the point of view of letting the clippings
> improve the soil. Skip Richter (county extension agent and guru on KLRU
> gardening show) recommends against winter rye - he claims that the rye
> and normal grass are in competition during spring when the native grass
> is just emerging and so weakens the lawn. If the native grass is dead
> this is a moot point.
>
> Wait for sometime when they predict a week of reasonable rain and then
> overseed. If it rains like crazy however it might wash away the seed.
> If you choose to overseed when there is no natural precipitation you
> will have to keep the germinating grass moist (light watering 4-5 times
> a day).
>
> Roland

MrClean

2007-11-19, 9:25 am

In article <WEH_i.20720$Pv2.7156@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net>,
cwbsatx@swbell.net says...
> Why did the original sod expire? Did it get regular water? I don't think
> that even in complete shade that it would all die. Was the sod rolled after
> it was put down? You might want to see if you can find out why it was
> necessary to put sod down when you moved in. What happened to the original
> grass?
>
> If you don't want to leave with a dead yard then over seeding with rye is
> not the answer as that will die as soon as it gets a bit warm. To answer
> your other question, it is never to late to put down sod. It may not green
> up during the cool weather but if it is properly installed and not allowed
> to dry out it should establish a good root system during the winter and be
> ready for a burst of growth in the spring. Good Luck.
>

The previous tenant had big dogs. They sodded it before the June/July
rains so we didn't have to water it. I don't know if it was rolled, most
likely not.

Can I checkerboard it and expect it to fill in pretty good or should I
just re-sod the entire yard? I have trimmed back the trees quite a bit.

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