Help...my yard has become a wasteland

Bob Wills

Bob Wills

500+ Posts
Any best practices to share with a new homeowner in Austin? I have quite a few bare patches with no grass, miniature wheat fields that pop back up every two weeks, and what appears to be three different types/colors of grass. I've been cutting it every 14 days or so, watering every zone for about 20 minutes twice a week, and have yet to lay down any sort of turf builder or weed killer. In a nutshell, it looks like crap.

Any words of wisdom? Is it too late to spread out some turf builder/fertilizer?
 
How much land? Is it irrigated? Does it make sense to put down new turf or to xeroscape (natural landscape) it? Are there a bunch of shaded areas where grass won't grow well?
 
First, get a better source. Go to the library and check out some Texas-specific home gardening or landscaping books. Or at least find a good website. Figure out what you have in your yard, and what parts are salvageable. You also need a source that'll tell you what to do at different times of year. There's not much you can do in the middle of the summer except water when needed.

In the future, consider reducing lawn space. Lawn is hard to upkeep and uses a ton of water. Look at replacing sections with shrubs, garden beds, or ground cover.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Property size is about a half acre, the house uses up about 2500 sqft, and I'd guess about 80% of the yard is grass while the rest is heavily populated with oak, cedar, elm, sycamore, pecan trees, and a smattering of shrubs that line most of the front. I am lucky to have a sprinkler system which I can confirm hits most of the grass as I spent quite a bit of time getting everything pointed and rotating properly. I've considered running each zone for longer than 20 minutes, but it already takes 3 hours to hit all 9 zones in one evening. As for the shaded areas, I'll probably create beds there eventually, but it's the grass that gets plenty of sun that is making me scratch my head. Those pesky "wheat field weeds" always bring joy to my heart when I get home from work as well.

At this point in Summer, I think I'll continue to keep doing what I'm doing (essentially just watering and mowing every other week) and plan for the following year.
 
I was in the same boat last year. I chose to start over instead of reviving. Mostly because I had a lot of weeds and dead spots that I didn't care to WAIT for results. Last summer I tore up and replaced the front. This April/May, I did the back.

The front was bermuda: I killed w/ roundup (three coverings), tilled it up ( a REAL PITA), raked, put down a 3-in-1 base (sand, soil and compost) and graded to taste, then laid down palmetto st. augustine. I have gotten so many compliments. The back was raleigh st. augustine, and there I killed w/ roundup and put down the 3-in-1 over the dead grass and laid down floratam st. augustine. Even in this heat, the floratam has done great. I would agree that watering is key - esp. new grass.

Good luck.
 
.5 acres is a pretty big lot, in terms of starting from scratch. However, if your lawn is more weeds than grass, it may be the best option. Or if let's say the back is salvageable, just sod the front.

You could spend a year or more trying to seed in places and remove all the weeds. And, I don't know your financial situation but sod isn't that expensive.

The bigger issue is timing: If you are going to sod, summer is not the best time. You are going to need to wait until it cools down.

Anyway, without pics it is kind of hard to tell you what is the best course of action as far as repairing or starting from scratch. I would recommend you bring a landscaper in and ask him. Hornfans is always good for ideas, but I wouldn't rely on it.
 
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