Question
In May I had Palmetto sod laid over soil that had been tilled.  I watered soon and often and have not had good results.  Many of the pieces look dead with very little grass growing.  How can I improve this?

Answer
It depends upon what you mean by soon and often. The sod job is always watered in immediately after completion. Some operators water in as each pallet is laid. The job is watered twice a day for the first 14 days and then once a day for the next 14 days. It is carefully examined every 3 days to look for browning along the edges of the sod pieces and curling up of the corners of the sod pieces. These are indications of moisture stress and must be corrected as soon as they are seen.
One of the advantages of St. Augustine grass is that it sends out runners which can rapidly cover bare ground. To encourage this I recommend that you apply a thin layer of topsoil or similar organic manure-like product around the patches of green that are surviving. Water the whole lawn once a day in the morning and do not increase the interval until you are sure that those runners are up and running, if you will please pardon the pun.