Question
We have been getting tons of rain so far this year in North Texas. However, in less then a week after it stops raining im finding alot of cracking in the soil of my yard where the St, Augustine is not growing. How can i fix this and promote growth in those areas? I can sod those areas if needed.

Answer
Hi Mike;
You will save yourself a lot of grief and labor if you just till a lot of bark mulch into that caly and loosen it enough that grass will grow.
That hard clay we have in North Texas won't let any roots get through it except weeds.
To loosen your soil about 8 inches deep, put 4 inches of bark mulch down ( cedar is best), and till it into the top 4 inches of that clay.
Till a total of 8 inches and you will have 8 inches of soil grass can grow in.
Cedar bark is best because it takes 2 years for it to compost, so it gives you one more year of time for a good organic program to loosen that clay further down, which it will do.
Hardwood bark mulch composts in only 1 year, and that pine bark mulch they sell is not worth taking home.
Cedar also repels a ton of insects, including fleas, ticks, and termites.
To plant roses and other shrubs, and trees, you will have to dig larger holes to plant them in, and make a l;arger area and deeper of good loose soil to give them a good start, but 8 inches of soil will allow grass roopts to grow, and will give enough room for the soil to drain enough to not drown the roots.
After that, you want to water deeply, to a depth of at least 6 inches, and yoy will only have to water like that once a eek until the temps get over 100, then you may have to water every 5 doays or so.
When you water deeply, you encourage a deep root system and that proteces from heat, cold and drought damage, and it prevents thatch.
If you want to give your grass a faster start, you could put dow  some alfalfa meal, and/or Texas green sand , lava sand, and sugar, and till it all in together.
the sugar does nothing but nourish micro-organisms that will work round the clock, enriching and improving your soil. the alfalfa mea, lava sand, and green sand are all chocked full of nutrients.
I put sugar down and water it in every spring, fall, and mid-summer at the rqate of 4 to 5 pounds per 1000 sq,ft.
Alfalfa meal about 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft, the same amount of coverage, but it will weigh more of either of the sands or both.
Sorry, I don't know what those bags of sand weigh. My hubby picks them up and I just fill a bucket as full as I can carry, which isn't much, and don't pay attention to how much it weight.
When I put the sugar and alfalfa meal down, it is sprinkled about as heavy as you would sprinkle sugar on a sugar cookie.
With organics, if you put too much, or more than is needed, it won't damage your grass like chemicals do.
If you put it down too hevy or spill a blob somewhere, all the harm you do is waste some sugar etc.
Since I have been on the organic program, I have the lawn I always wanted with a fraction of the work and money spent.
Here is the program I use.
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You will constantly improve your soil if you go on a totally organic program, and don't use any chemicals at all.
I have beenm on such a program for the last 9 to 10 years, after breaking my back and ruining my body trying to maintain a decent lawn, with only mediocre results.
the organics has freed me from about 90% of the physical work, about that much of the expense, and the results are a think, beautiful yard with no weeds or harmful insects.
Man!!! Wish I had known all this 50 years ago !
The corn clutem meal is an organic product.
If you use organics, and then use chemicals, you will cancel out the organics.
Chemical fertilizers kill all the beneficial microbes, nematodes and other beneficial insects and critters that work around the clock improving your soil.
Beneficial microbes enrich the soil. Chemicls do NOT.
If you put a little too muchj chemical products on the lawn, it will burn your grass, and do a lot of other damage.
If you put too much organics on it, all you do is waste a little time and money.
Sugar does absolutely nothing but nourish the beneficial micrebes. THEY do the work.
Weeds will not grow in rich soil. If they cme up, they will start to die out right away.
The first time I use sugar was in the spring. I had not put any chemicals on the yard since the fall feeding, so they were all worn out of the soil.
I had a lawn about 50% full of dandelions, crabgrass, johnson grass, clover, dollar weed and some other shallow rooted weeds like chickweed etc.
a couple of weeks after I put down the sugar and watered it in, I had about half as many weeds. Nobody had pulled a weed or anything. My husband had just mowed.
I went nuts, like a school of sharks in a feeding frenzy, and ran out and bought more sugar, put it down and waterewd it in.
A couple more mowings, and there were so few weeds. In a few more werks they were all gone.
The next spring about half as many weeds as before came up, but in a few weeks they were gone.
All I had done was the sugar in the spring, and I did that again in the fall.
I used baking soda disolved in water for black spot on my roses and powdery mildew n my crepe mytrtles. That works much better then the chemical fungicides I had used before.
I started getting a nice herd of lizards, toads and grass snakes in my yard.
I had a BIG grub problem every year. I haven't had that since, nor do I have those nasty tent catapillars dropping on my head from the trees.
I see lizards running in the trees and along the fence. I never see the grass snakjes, which is fine with me. I seldon see a toad, but they are all there.
Sugar; I use 4 or 5 pounds per 1000 sq.ft. I just broadcast it by hand, and water it in well. If you spill a blob in one spot, no problem. No burning or other damage.

Watering; I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches. Deep watering like that encourages a deep root growth. That protects from heat, cold and drought damage, and prevents thatch. I water with soaker hoses, and run them till the water is close to the edge and is about to start running off the yard. then I turn it off and wait an hour or so for it to soak in, and turn it on again. I keep doing that until it is wet down to a depth of 6 inches at least. Even here in our Texas heat, I water only once a week, unless it stays well above 100 for a week or more, which it sometimes does. then I look at the grass, and if my St. Augustine is folded up, lengthwise, I know it needs water. It folds the blades up to reduce the area exposed to evaporation. Burmuda, when it gets thirsty, bends it's little blades a little, like it is bowing.
My earthworms and cock roaches etc tunnel through the soil, and that keeps it aerated. Their castings add nourishment. Cockroaches are beneficial. They normally live in the soil and feed on other harmful insects. We put down pesticides, and kill their food supply, so they come in our houses to get food and hide from the pesticides.
I use fresh rosemary to keep them out of my house.

Baking soda disolved in water, about 2 TABLESPOONS per gallon of water, sprayed on top and underneath all the leaves, prevent molds and fungus on plants. You can also use it for fungus in the soil, or you can apply agricultural corn meal and water that in. About 10 pounds per 1000 sq.ft.

Corn gluten meal is an organic fertilizer and weed killer.
It won't interfere with the sugar.
None of the organics calcel each other out.
Alfalfa meal is another good food to add. Just sprinkle it on in about the same thickness the sugar goes on, and water. It is full of nutrients. So is lava sand. Yopu can add it to the top of the soil, dig it into the soil, or add it when you are adding soil, or putting soil in a comntainer for a plant.
Alfalfa meal, as well as generally nourishing the soil, helps promote larger and more blooms in blooming plants and house plants.
You can also make a tea of it for foliar feeding or for watering house plants.
Put 1 cup alfalfa meal in 5 gallons of water and let steep overnight. Still and use to water plants, or strain it and put it in a garden sprayer for foliar feeding.  Be sure, if you strain it, to dump the dregs on the soil somewhere, it is still full of nutrients.
You probably won't need more fertilizert than that. I didn't use anything but sugar for about 8 or 9 years, and last spring, I leartned about the alfalfa meal and lava sand, so I use them.
If you have more questions, write to me.
I am very happy to share what I have learned, and am learning.
Charlotte