Originally Posted by kevinm55 (Post 2273512)

Hi all. The front lawn consisting of St Augustine grass at our villa looks terrible and also has weeds. We water regularly and pay for treatment every other month from a company called zoysia green (obviously not happy with their service)….

In short, I am considering having all grass torn out, fresh soil added and then either seed or sod put down. I would be interested in hearing any and all suggestions from those who have done the same or similar. Also interested to learn if there is a particular time of year that is suggested for best results.

Any recommendations for trustworthy landscapers to do this job will also be appreciated. I love the Villages and want to make my lawn look great and think I need to start my lawn over! Thx in advance

Originally Posted by Rich Iwaszko (Post 2273851)

I have ridden around a lot of the Villages and none have good grass. No matter the species, zoysia or St Augustine. At any time of the year, at best 60% of the grass is green.
The other 40 is some shade of brown. The reality here is that the weather and the bugs are never going to allow you to have a northern lawn, 90% green.

I saw a couple of really good lawns 80% green, I was impressed, what did they do? 3 months later they were back to 60% green. Its just the nature of the beast, what you are fighting is not being 25% green.

The less lawn you have the better, turn it into something else, rock, ground cover. A villa is ideal for that. Everyone else larger than that will just have to suffer with the 60% green.

Don't look at a lawn from a distance, stand on it, you will see the brown. Its just the nature of the beast here.

Now, if someone says I have a great lawn, go and look at it and see for yourself. There are no great lawns here. People have just gotten acclimated to the 40% brown. More brown in the winter and less brown in the spring summer. And all of these services do the same thing, BUT, they too cannot fight nature either, they just try to keep the 60% from becoming less.

Really, take a good look around and you will see, any lawn you can eliminate is good. The rest you can settle with 60% green, like everyo:thumbup:ne else.

Originally Posted by Teemotay (Post 2273850)

It’s difficult to advise you on the proper way to fix this yourself without more info, although many have done just that.

Your question was for trustworthy landscapers to give you a fresh start. I can’t help you there, however if you want to give it a shot yourself then you need to educate yourself on several issues concerning growing healthy St Augustine grass.

Weeds have been a big problem this year and especially since we’ve been in a bit of a drought for a while now. Without adequate water the grass weakens and the weeds come in. You said that you water regularly but what does that mean? You could be watering every day for 10 minutes and not getting enough water for your grass to thrive. First, understand how much water your grass needs and then test to be sure it’s getting it from your irrigation.

You should also do a soil test to better understand what what is lacking in it. The grass needs nutrients and proper water to thrive. A soil test will tell you what fertilizer to apply so that you’re feeding your grass what it needs.

As far as weeds are concerned, you need to know what they are so that you know how to control/eradicate them. One size definitely doesn’t fit all when it comes to fertilizer and weed control.

Your grass is not dormant now, contrary to another comment in this thread. We’ve been having temps in the 80’s and healthy St Augustine is still growing enough to need mowing. If you’re mowing it then it’s not dormant.

I do my own lawn mowing and treatment. I’ve attached a picture of how it looks this morning. Definitely not dormant.

The University of Florida extension service has great info on growing a healthy St Augustine lawn. Good luck with your lawn!

Originally Posted by 1009 wilder (Post 2291737)

be carefull i was turned in to the villages by nabors and was fined not the happyest home town

Originally Posted by Breitsd (Post 2291675)

I have noticed in my yard and in the neighborhood that lawn services are not at all effective in dealing with weeds. I have been hand-pulling mine and now they are rare and my lawn looks great. I recently learned that I have Parkinson’s Disease and I would like some feedback: Would you consider making a donation to either the Parkinson’s Foundation or Michael J Fox Foundation in exchange for me hand-pulling your weeds? Yes, it’s hard work, but it’s good for me to stay active and I know that it’s effective. Please let me know your thoughts or suggestions.

Originally Posted by La lamy (Post 2273782)

I have a patch of dead grass that I would like to replace. Is there a store that sells pieces of sod at this time of year?

Originally Posted by ryoungs (Post 2273858)

My lawn is going bad also. Mine is because the guy I hired to mow does me third in a series of six or so houses and has brought weeds from the houses before mine into my yard. The weed is a Spurge, and it spreads rapidly. I told my mower guy I would get him a ramp to drive up on so that he could use my hose to wash the bottom of his mower (he refused, and that is understandable), and so I asked him to mow my lawn first and clean his mower at home before coming out (again, he refused). At first, he was running his machine so fast that he was rutting my lawn and destroying sprinkler heads and landscaping lights, but I asked him to slow down and not run his mower at full throttle. That helped a little, but not with the weed problem. I recently hired a landscaping company to remove the weeds, plug the patches with sod, and spray the lawn with a "weed and feed" type chemical once a month. It is expensive, but they are certain they can get the lawn back to how it looked a few months ago.

Now, here is my question for you -- does my St. Agustine grass need to be mowed weekly during the winter months (my lawn mowing guy mowed it short last time and wants to mow it every other week during the winter months), and do you think I could find somebody in the area to mow using my own riding mower and gas. If so, how often should the job be done?

By the way, my lawn here looks a lot better than at my home in Illinois where my soil is hard clay. Up there, my lawn is mostly "creeping Charlie" and tree roots (I built in a forest).