Question
We are ready to put some effort into our yard, which appears to contain a variety of grasses and weeds, and would like to get your insight on how to proceed. Our one-acre lot backs up to a cement quarry in Midlothian and has lots of cedar trees on it. We have never fertilized or watered since the house was built in 1989 - just kept everything mowed down to a presentable level as required:)

Please help us get going in the right direction towards an economical, low-maintenance solution for our yard. We are very open-minded to any and all suggestions that would add some "curb-appeal" to our "highway median" look that we currently have.

CMC  

Answer
Hi Chris;
You are close to me. I live in Irving.
Got the solution for you.
check to see if you are blessed with some of our tight, hard to deal with clay. If so. Dump in a bunch of stuff to loosen it up.
this is how I loosened ours.
I put 1 part peat moss, 2 parts humus (or compost) and anout 4 ro 5 parts cedar bark mulch, and made this deep enough to equal about 1 part this mix and 1 part soil that was there, and tilled it in. till at least 6 inces deep. This will make soil loose enough to grow some grass.
Now, throw down your grass seed,I would use Burmuda, unless you want to do the whole area with St. augustine.
You can plug in st. augustine if you want to end up with that. It wil eventually spread and crowd out the burmuda, but you will have a good lawn while it is spreading.
Fertilizers kill beneficial microbes that enrich soil. Putting dry molasses or sugar down, and watering it in will keep them alive. They will work round the year, enriching the soil. Use 1 pound sugar per 300 sq.ft of lawn.
If you do fertilize, put it down, then throw down the sugar and water them in together. The sugar will counter the killing of the microbes.
Weeds will come up for a few years till the soil is really rich, fewer each year, until in 3 or 4 years, no weeds will come up.
The reason I use cedar bark mulch is because it repels many insects, including termites, and it takes 2 years to compost, where pine bark takes 1 year. They cost about the same, and the cedar does much more.
Leave the grass clippings when you mow, to feed future grass,
If you don't want to tackle the whole acre at once, section it off and do what you want. Beg all your neighbors leaves in the fall, and till them in where you want to start next year. that will help loosen that part up some.
You can also get some gypsom. I like the granualted, because the powdered gypsum blows with the wind. Gypsum will work down as it is watered in and loosen up that clay, but it takes it a few years to do it. I have tried the pelleted gypsum, and it didn't do diddly. The granulated and powdered is white, the pelleted is grey.
If you put down about 1 inch of gypsum where you have tilled, it will just work in and loosen that part up more.
I haven't had to fertilize since I started using sugar. My soil is rich enough with those little microbes doing their thing. My yard is already starting to green up. It stsys green longer in the fall too.
This is our complete maintenance for our grass.
Sugar in the spring and fall, mowing, watering, edging, and every couple of years, top dressing with ccompost.
No weeds!!! No fertilizer or weed killers or insecticides to buy.
I only go to Calloways for plants and occasionally bark mulch.
I have dogs, so I put about 1/2 inch of cedar bark mulch down in the spring and later in the summer to repel the fleas and ticks. I also put an inch wide strip of cedar bark around the foundation of the house when it is time for termites to swarm. we NEVER have to call an exterminator.
I use NO poisons, and have NO insects in the house, nor any I don't want in the yard.
My lawn livestock takes care of them. I have lizards, toads and grass snakes.
I have millions of roaches in my yard, but never see them in the house. They are great in the yard. they tunnel through the soil and aerate better than the earthworms do,I want them there, but I can't stand to see one in my house. Don't like spiders or silverfish either.
I have NO fire ants, and neighborhood kitties don't use my flowed beds for a litter box.
If you want all these natural remedies for these pests, write me, I am happy to share.
Charlotte