Question
Please forgive me but I've never had a lawn and I am terrible with plants. So, how often should I water the grass and under what conditions, if in fact my lawn is st. augustine?

Answer
Oh, susan;
I am going to start you off right!
you are not going to fall into the pitfalls of sore knees, and frustration that I labored with for so many years.LOl
All the organic gardening materials I read sounded like you had to spend so much more money, and settle for an inferior lawn.
I wish I had known then, what I know now!
Since I started an organic program, I spend way less money, and time and labor, and i have a much more idealic lawn and garden.
I did some searching, and in the Austin/San antonio area there are more grasses than I thought.
there is St. Augustine, Centipede, Kentucky bluegrass, Zoysia, fescues, and burmuda.
It really is pretty important to identify which kind you have, but not totally necessary.
St. Augustine and Centipede are similar, I think. not sure I have ever seen Centipede, but I think it has a wide blade too.
Fescues and bluegrass and Burmuda are slender bladed grasses, and Aoysia is a sort of funny looking grass. I think it looks more like moss.LOl
I have only seen pictures of Zoysia, and it looks dull to me. I don't think I would like it.
I like a dark green, shinier grass. I like burmuda because it isnaturally darker green, if it is healthy, but St. augustine spreads so fast, and when the soil is nice and rick, it has a darker green color too.
When my st. augustine gets a little pale, i apply a little chelated iron, and it turns a lush dark green.
Too much iron and it will look almost black. So be careful with chelated iron.
The best rule of thumb for watering fits all types of grass.
Water to a depth of at least 6 inches. Rewater when tey top 2 inches of soil are dry.
I water with soaker hoses. sprayers that spray into the air, waste water. In our hot Texas summers, half or more can evaporate in the air, and to get a well soaked lawn, you have to use twice as many gallons,(on the meter).
I lay out the soaker hoses in a pattern that will soak a pattern about 3 or 4 ft.wide . i water until it starts to run off the lawn onto the sidewalks or the street. then i turn it off for about an hour to let it soak in, then turn it back on again. I just leave it on for an hour at a time, to let it all soak into the grass instead of watering the street.
Then I move the hoses and do the next area. My front yard is 65X about 40 ft, plus a little longer side yard. I usually water in 2 or 4 patterns. I have 3 soaker hoses (because one long hose is too heavy to drag around, and takes too much time. I leave each section rolled up uinder a shrub or somewhere out of sight when I am not using it (also to keep it out of the way when my husband mows). I lay out my pattern, hook it up to the next section, and when I have them all hooked up, i bring the 25 ft section of garden hose from the faucet to the first connection. that way i get more area covered with a minimum of dragging hoses.
Deep watering makes the root system go deep into the soil. this helps protect from heat, cold and draught damage. shalow watering makes the roots come close to the surface to get water, and when the ground gets dry, the roots dry out and the grass suffers or even dies. The hbopt soil literally bakes the roots, same with the cold in winter.
When we go several weeks without a drop of rain, and we are on water rationing, my grass doesn't suffer as much as neighbors who water every 3 or 4 days, and just soak down a few inches. If we want to go away for a week or two, I water it thoroughly before we go, and there is litle or no damage when we get back, just taller grass.
I set the lawn mower bl;ades to 2 inches in the spring. the closer mowing stimulates the runners so the will grow more roots and spread more to thicken .
As soon as the temp pases 80 degrees, I set the blades up to 3 inches (the maximum on my mower) The taller blades help shade the roots and soil from the hot sun.
In the early spring, as soon as the grass starts to green up, I buy sugar, like the kind you put in your tea. I apply it by broadcasting it by hand. I use 1 pound sugar per 250 to 300 sq.ft. of soil. I do this aging in early fall.
Fertilizers kill beneficial microbes that enrich the soil. Dry molasses or sugar keeps them alive. Water it in well, to disolve it and not attract ants, and to get it into the soil.
I have tried both, and I like the resulta I get with sugar better, and i can buy it when I shop for groceries. the sugar bags are easier to carry around than the 40 lb. bags of dry molasses.
I use NO insecticides or weed killers on my yard. I have a large herd of lawn livestock. Grass snakes, lizards, and toads. they keep the bad bugs out better than insecticides do, and I no longer get aphid damage on my roses.
I don't let anyone put anything down that will harm my lil critters. I don't wat to socialize with them or pet them, but I sure protect them, and they serve me well.
You know how Texas is for cockroaches!
I can't stand them in my house, or near me, but I love them in my soil. they are the best little aerators around. Maybe even better than earthworms (which I also want in my soil).go to the nursery and get a few rosemary plants. Rosemary makes a nice shrub that is evergreen in my area and further south. It is also the same rosemary you use in cooking. Grow fresh herbs for cooking and for insect control.
Once a month, i put a little piece of rosemary about 2 inches long on each pantry and cabinet shelf, a piece about 4 to 6 inches long under the appliances where roaches might come in or hide. Where the pipes come into the walls, unser the sinks etc, I stick a little piece of rosemary in that space beside the pipe. You never see a roach in my house.
Leave the grass clippings. If they are too long and look like short hay, go over the area again with the mower (if you don't have a mulching mower) and it will chop it up fine, and compost and feed the soil.I also run the mower over the leaves when they start to fall, untill there are just too many, then we rake them up and put them in the compost pile behind the garage.
I put all my fresh kitchen vegetable scraps in the compost pile,coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, fruit peels, anything that is vegetable matter, NO animal matter. No dog or cat droppings, cooked vegetable scraps, if butter or any fat of any kind has been added. this attracts unhealthy parasites to the compost pile.
In early spring, when it gets close to time for termites to swarm, buy cedar bark mulch (not the large decorative bark), and scatter it all over the lawn. It desn't take a thick layer of it, just scatter so there is the scent of cedar all over. I use about 3 large bags for the front yard, and about 4 for the back yard, because it is much bigger. I put a little trail of it, about 2 inches wide and 1 inch high right up against the foundation of the house, all around. this will keep the termites away from your house. Cedar also repels fleas and ticks, and a lot of other insects.
I use baking soda disolved in water to spray all my shrubs. this keeps down powdery mildew on any shrubs that are prone to it, and black spot off the roses. It works better than the chemical fungicides I used to use. Be sure to spray the tops and underneath the leaves well.
If you feel you want to use fertilizer until you get your plantings started well, put down the fertilizer, then put down the sugar, then water them both in well, together. That will feed the plants and grass, and keep the microbes alive.
If your grass hasn't turned brown yet, let the last mowing go. the longer grass blades will help protect from a freeze etc. Insulates the ground some.
If you don't have rain or snow for a month, or a little more, water the lawn. Grass and plants can dry out in the winter when they are dormant and die of thirst.
Lemmee see, that is about all I can think of right now. I will think of more after I post this.LOl
For now, just send me any questions you can think of.
I am very glad to share anything I have learned in all these years of trial and error, and reading gardening articles. I love to garden, and having a beautiful lawn and garden that I have created is very satisfying, but man, all dem sore knees and aching muscles just were never necessary. Now, since I started on the organic program, i spend time enjoying my lawn and garden, instead of working in it.
I love growing roses. My neighbor calls me the rose queen.LOl
I finally got an area that is shady enough to grow a lot of varieties of fern. When I don't have flowers blooming to cut bouquets from,I buy the budget bunches of flowers at the supermarket,I get them 3 bunches for $10.00 ,take them home and split them up, cut fern fronds from several ferns and make 4 or 5 arrangements that look like they came from a florist. When I have roses blooming, and other flowers that are good to cut, I make arangements of them.
I love fresh flowers in the house.
Write anytime you can think of anything, and if I don't know the answer, I will look it up.
I have a new computer and haven't copied all my favorite sites to this one yet. when I get them copied to this puter, I will send you the URl for some of them.
I don't usually give out my email address, but if you like, you can email me at
[email protected]
I would be glad to hear from you, and can read your questions sooner. sometimes i don't get messages that a question is waiting in here for me.
Charlotte

PS>
This was way too long to read and edit, so I hope I don't have any typos. I tried to check them as I was typing.
Just going to send it as is.LOL


















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