Question
-thank you
but lost i have centgrass not st august
i will try the sugur idea ------------------------
Followup To
Question -
we mmove in to a house that has
centipedegrass with
crabgrass and dallisgrass
a friend said to use baking
soda in the dirt to get rid
of weeeds and help flowers grow
is this true
Answer -
Hi Laura;
You would be surprised what things you have around the hous do for your gardening.
I never heard of baking soda doing away with weeds, but I use baking soda disolved in  water for a fungicide.
I sprasy everything that is susceptab;e to fungus or molds, and spray underneath as well as on top of the leaves. It works better than the chemical fungicides I used to use.
Since I switched to organics, I don't have weeds.
See, the thing about weeds is, they like poor soil. They don't thrive in rich soil.
Fertilizers, weed killers etc kill beneficial microbes that enrich the soil. I put sugar on my soil. If you put fertilizer, then put down sugar and water them both in together. this helps keep most of those microbes alive. These microbes work round the clock, round the year, enriching the soil.
When the soil is rich enough, the weeds won't even vother to come up.
the first time i pur dugar on my lawn, in about 2 weeks I noticed about half the weeds were just gone. a couple more mowings, and no weeds. The next spring some came back, but about half as many as before, and the third year there were very few weeds. The fourth year, no weeds even came up. My neighbors had weeds though.The weeds I always got were, crabgrass, johnson grass, dandelions, dollar weed, chickweed, clover, and a slew of little weeds I never could identify.
I have put nothing but sugar on my lawn for 6 or 7 years except sugar each spring and fall.
I put 1 pound per 250-300 sq.ft of lawn. I just broadcast it by hand, like you would sow seeds. If you get too much in one spot, it doesn't burn your grass like fertilizer will.
I have St. Augustine and Burmuda, and my grass is thick, dark green and weed free.
It stays green longer in the fall, and greens up sooner in the spring, than my neighbors that refuse to get on my sugar wagon.
All we do is put down sugar in the spring and fall, mow and leave the clippings to feed the soil, edge and water.
I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches, and rewater when the top 2 inches of soil are dry.
St. augustime will tell you when it is thirsty. the blades fold up to expose less surface to the drying sun and wind.
When the blades start to fold up, I get out the soaker hoses and give it a good deep drink.
The deep watering encourages a deep root system. This helps protect the roots from heat, cold and drought damage, and prevents a thatch buildup.
I had to dethatch when we bought his house, 39 years ago, have always watered deep, and have never had to dethatch since.
Hope this helps.
Write anytime.
Charlotte  

Answer
Hi again Laura;
Same difference.
Isn't Centipede grass a broad bladed grass like St. Augustine?
I don't think I have ever seen any of it, just pictures, but seems to me it looks much like st. Augusrine.
I pur sugar in my back alley, where poison ivy was sprouting yp. It did away with that and the other weeds in the alley.
Weeds just won't grow in rich soil.
Sugar makes the soil rich, because it feeds those beneficial microbes, and all grasses love rich soil.
However, the little tree seeds that blow into your yard WILL sprout.
Trees love rich soil too, and those little suckers really spring up there.
the only downside to the sugar I have found is, there were also wild violets growing in my yard. I love them, but they are a weed, and the sugar did away with them too.
The only thing we ever have to pull or dig up are the little trees that get seeded into the yard. I am too old and feeble to dig stuff up, so I wrap some black plastic around them, and in a few days in the heat and they are cooked and dead. Then in a week or so, when the tap root has rotted away, I just pluck them out.
I don't use insecticides either. I make a healthy enviornment for my toads, lizards and grass snakes, and they keep the bad bugs away better than insecticides ever did.
Also, I have asthma, and since I am no longer using all those chemicals I seldom have an asthma attack, and when I have one, it is mild.
I grow all my herbs for cooking, and a sprig of fresh Rosemary about 2 inches long on each pantry and cabinet shelf, and a sprig about 3 inches long under the bottom cabinets, washer and dryer, and fridge, and other appliances, keep the cockroaches out of my house. I have tons og them in my soil. they tunnel through and aerate it, just like the earthworms do, but I never see them.
Charlotte