Question
QUESTION: Hi, thanks in advance for your help.  I will really appreciate it.
MY GOAL:  want to make a beautiful lawn out of a neglected large fenced backyard -- but looking for products that will be safe for three cats who hang out there and it would be hard to keep indoors for long.  
LOCATION:  San Jose, California.  No shade trees so yard is mostly in sun, except two strips along two edges get shadow from house and fence.
YARD SIZE: about 10 yards x 7 yards plus adjoining rectangle about 5 yards by 2 yards.  Also long narrow walkway beside the house maybe 10 or 12 yards long and 2 yards wide, which may have been a dog run for previous tenants.  
CONDITION OF LAWN:  Pretty bad!  I'd guess yard is dominated with at least 50% weeds (many thick clumps with different appearances, some branching and twisting above the ground), 25% dirt spots, 25% grass. In two corners the weeds, if not removed, even grow into huge green bushes 3 or 4 feet tall. The "dog run" area is almost all dirt and moist earth with some green clover-type plants and weeds.

WHAT I HAVE DONE:  Not much.  Grass and weeds were 2-3 feet high so I mowed it and cut and pulled out some weeds but the majority of weeds are very hard to pull out.

At a clerk's suggestion at Orchard's Supply Hardware I bought a bottle of Scott's Liquid Turf Builder with Plus 2 Weed Control.  Supposed to attach the thing on the top of the bottle to the hose and spread it around that way.  The clerk said if I use this before work in the morning and keep the cats inside all day, then let them back out when I come home, it should be safe for them.
I really want to make this yard look rich and green (but again with pet-friendly products).  Could you help?  I would like the simplest way possible.  Any more questions I will gladly respond.  Thanks for your time!!
Susan

ANSWER: I think you will find it much easier to do an overhaul on this plot with thick, Green Bermudagrass all over it.

Bermudagrass is the most popular Grass in your region.  98 percent of the world's Bermudagrass grows in Southern California and Arizona.  There are scores of different cultivars, but they all share Bermudagrass traits: Vigor, Drought and Heat Tolerance.  If there's anything you need there in San Jose, it's VIGOR, DROUGHT and HEAT tolerance.  Bermuda LOVES scorching heat - the kind that will fry eggs.  Walk outside some morning, very early, and tell your Lawn there's going to be a heat wave that day; if you listen carefully, the Grass will be cheering.

So get your hands on some high quality Bermudagrass selected for your region.  There are some very new breeds of Bermuda available, just like there are some terrific new types of Kentucky Bluegrass and other Grasses, better than anything you could buy even 10 years ago.  

In the semi-shade spots you described, don't bother trying.  Think GROUNDCOVER.  Bermudagrass fizzles not from heat and drought but from shade.

You plant Bermuda right now, in MARCH.  This is determined by experts and I think it is basically written in stone so get started.

What is the condition of your Soil?

You don't know!

Because you DID NOT get your Soil tested.  You did not mention the results of your Soil Test, so I figure you have no idea what they're for.  Let me explain why you NEED one of these.

Yes, I know, you're thinking, What a WASTE of money!  Who needs to test their DIRT?

Susan my friend, that soil sample will SAVE YOU MONEY.

It will tell you what you HAVE in your Soil that you DO NOT NEED TO ADD!

Good, right?

Lucky you.  California is the state with the Soil Testers of all Soil Tests, because the population sets trends in everything from soup to nuts.  So you have several sites with specializations that no one else in the country has:

Soil Control Lab, Inc., 42 Hangar Way Watsonville, 831-724-5422, Frank Shields [email protected].  These people are Compost specialists.

The Soil and Plant Lab, 352 Mathew Street Santa Clara, 408-727-0330.  They do Soil Tests and Compost analysis:

www.soilandplantlaboratory.com

Wallace Laboratories, 365 Coral Circle, El Segundo, 310-615-0116.  They do Soil testing and Compost analysis:

www.bettersoils.com

Timberleaf Soil Testingk, 39648 Old Spring Road Murrieta, 951-677-7510:

www.timberleafsoiltesting.com

The Basic Soil Test includes base saturation/CEC, estimated nitrogen release, available nutrients, pH, and soluble salts. Optional tests exist for organic matter, trace minerals, and composts/greenhouse media.

Pay close attention to the instructions for getting your sample.  It is vital that you collect your Soil carefully so that you get good results.  Garbage in, garbage out.

One more thing: Avoid anything called 'Weed And Feed'.

Because the Chemicals in that powder will totally ruin your Soil.  You
cannot grow great Grass in bad dirt.  You can put all the Nitrogen,
Phosphorous and Potash down that you want, you can dust with Lime and mow
faithfully and water all Summer.  But Megan, if you have bad dirt,
nothing good will ever grow there.

Sure, you want to get Weeds under control first.  Right now, the Weeds
are waiting to spring forth and multiply.  So get out your credit card
and run down to the garden center for some Corn Gluten Meal preemergent
Weed killer.  This stuff is the best thing since sliced bread.  It
stops annual Weeds from growing and it turns into fertilizer and feeds the
grass all Summer long.  It's not expensive and it's 100 percent
organic.  Your pets will be fine.

If you give me a zipcode I will tell you where to buy it.

Now, I have to know this.  Do you think you have a lawnmower and a
spreader?  Hoses and sprinklers?  Just checking.

Back to your Weed And Feed: Darryl, This is one of those things I NEVER
recommend.  It's a pesticide, and it's probably made by Scotts.  There
are ALWAYS better ways to get rid of weeds than turning your yard into
a Superfund site.

You have children?

You like to hang out in your yard?  With the dogs?

Maybe you have friends over for a bbq?

You want to breathe and maybe work out there?  Mow, prune, fertilize?

Keep away from ALL things with a Scotts label.  People who work in the
factories making this stuff get very sick.  They have shorter
lifespans.  Their children are not well. They get weird diseases.  Like people
who make a living out of cleaning swimming pools, who make a living out
of putting that stuff on people's lawns, these people are dieing proof
that those weed killers (which kill everythingin the soil including
butterflies and earthworms, while deforming the birds that live in your
trees) are not something you really want to play with.

When you get your soil analysis back, tell me what they found.  We'll
go over the results step by step.  I'll explain everything.

But get that soil tested.  Thanks for writing.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much for your response.  I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge so freely.  

Here is my starting plan, what do you think?

1) return Scott's Liquid Turf Builder with the built-in weed control stuff to Orchard's Supply.

2) look at website of the Santa Clara soil lab (it's closest) for instructions on soil collecting and get it analyzed.  Actually I'll check the others in case they're much cheaper.

3) find high-quality Bermuda grass made for this region.  My ZIP is 95130 if you could be so kind as to suggest where to look.

4) get corn gluten meal pre-emergent weed killer.

TOOLS YOU ASKED ABOUT:  

MOWER -- Yes, I have a good-quality push lawn mower (even though my ex calls it a toy mower).  I kind of enjoy it and would not be comfortable messing with anything gas-powered etc.  Even though when the grass was so high, I had to repeatedly go back and forth over the same spot. I really don't mind.  

SPREADER -- None. If it's necessary, could you tell me the cheapest kind you recommend.  

HOSE AND SPRINKLER:  I do have a hose and just bought a little sprinkler that moves back and forth across the lawn in arcs which you can change the angle and whether it sprays right, left or both sides.  Covers the whole width of the yard in one setting, though I have to move it to cover the length.

I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS:

#1 -- should I spread the Bermuda grass right now? (you said experts say it must be March) or wait for soil test results? or put the gluten weed killer on first?

#2 -- I wonder if the owner has previously used one of the unhealthy weed killers you mentioned that kills butterflies and everything, because I saw almost NO bugs in mowing the whole lawn and pulling weeds -- in fact I thought their absence was striking.  Should I ask him?  Or will the soil analysis tell everything I need to know?

I am really looking forward to "greening the land" here now that I have your help!!  Assuming the costs for the soil testing and Bermuda grass aren't prohibitive, I'll be starting right away.  I'm just renting and hope to keep costs as low as possible.

THANKS!!!!!  :-) :-) :-)
Susan  

Answer
Looks like this answer was corrupted somewhere along the line.  Good reason to shorten my answers.  Hard to do nevertheless.

Bermuda is not a Grass you would plant as Seed MOST of the time, but there are varieties you can Seed.  The hybrids by and large are sterile, so you must use plugs and Seed won't be available.  I would skip the Corn Gluten Meal this Spring and remove the biggest, baddest Weeds, amend with Manure and/or Humus and/or Compost, then install your plugs.  Be sure to irrigate reliably; young Grass is prone to fatal drying out.  Healthy Bermuda is incredibly thick.

Only a costly Soil Analysis, which you have in spades all over California, will identify the chemicals (if any) still in your Soil.  What's done is done.  You can ask, and you might get an answer, but the cure will still be the same: be kind to the food chain from the ground up.

Since you brought up the subject of money, let me point out the bottom line here:  A Soil Test will save you money.  Why go out and buy fertilizer that you don't need?  (Anyway, it's bad for the Soil, which means it's bad for your Grass.)  If you know what you have, you can focus on what you don't have.  People spend extra money for instance on fertilizer 'x with Iron' when their Soil has PLENTY of Iron.  (Iron deficiencies turn up when you over load the Soil with too much of the wrong fertilizer.)  Soil testing will give you information to be efficient.

All that said, my biggest concern here is not chemicals, or Grass, or Sun, but your lack of rain.  How is the Rain in San Jose?  Do you have enough water to grow Grass successfully (and responsibly)?

Many thanks for your generous rating.  Made my day.