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Starting this journal to further solidify myself as a lawn nerd.
Location: St. Louis, MO - Transition Zone - HOT summers, mild winters w/ occasional snow
Current turfgrass: Mix of PRG, KBG, and GCI/Mountain View Seed TTTF cultivars
Direction: Front yard faces south, back yard faces north
Size: 4.5k sqft
Shade: Only on the east/west sides of the house between mine and the neighbors
Irrigation: Kind of - I use these for most of the yard: LG3HE In-Ground Impact Sprinkler | Rain Bird
* Hint: Look on Amazon as you can usually buy them far cheaper there
Background: We will have owned the home for 2 years this June. It's a cool season lawn that checks out mid summer - especially in the front - with no shade and brutal heat/humidity. The prior owners sodded the yard 5 years ago but did nothing to maintain it so I've done 2 fall overseeds to date to bring it back a bit. I also have typical new construction soil that was essentially all clay so I've got to improve that as well.
Plan: Convert to hybrid bermuda - either Iron Cutter or Tahoma 31 - via sprigging. The sides between houses may just stay PRG/KBG/TTTF as they do alright there and will fair better than any warm season with shade.
Dilemma: Iron Cutter Bermuda (by Mountain View) is available early June and local. Tahoma31 is the only other local bermudagrass available, but it's new to the sod farm and won't be ready here until mid-late July. My concern is if I wait for Tahoma31, it may not establish well enough before dormancy - I have a test plot in the front hell strip with plugs and they went dormant in mid-September after planting them on 7/5. And if I'm being honest - I just don't want to wait that long to convert the yard. They're both great cultivars with improved cold tolerance so I don't think I can go wrong. Any input from experts would be appreciated. I'm probably going to do just the front for now because that's what everyone sees and I'm trying to keep the costs to a dull roar while we also get bids to finish our basement.
For now, here's some photos of the yard from last fall.
![Cloud Sky Building Plant Window]()
![Sky Cloud Atmosphere Plant Daytime]()
![Sky Plant Natural landscape Land lot Grass]()
![Plant Window Land lot Building Grass]()
Location: St. Louis, MO - Transition Zone - HOT summers, mild winters w/ occasional snow
Current turfgrass: Mix of PRG, KBG, and GCI/Mountain View Seed TTTF cultivars
Direction: Front yard faces south, back yard faces north
Size: 4.5k sqft
Shade: Only on the east/west sides of the house between mine and the neighbors
Irrigation: Kind of - I use these for most of the yard: LG3HE In-Ground Impact Sprinkler | Rain Bird
* Hint: Look on Amazon as you can usually buy them far cheaper there
Background: We will have owned the home for 2 years this June. It's a cool season lawn that checks out mid summer - especially in the front - with no shade and brutal heat/humidity. The prior owners sodded the yard 5 years ago but did nothing to maintain it so I've done 2 fall overseeds to date to bring it back a bit. I also have typical new construction soil that was essentially all clay so I've got to improve that as well.
Plan: Convert to hybrid bermuda - either Iron Cutter or Tahoma 31 - via sprigging. The sides between houses may just stay PRG/KBG/TTTF as they do alright there and will fair better than any warm season with shade.
Dilemma: Iron Cutter Bermuda (by Mountain View) is available early June and local. Tahoma31 is the only other local bermudagrass available, but it's new to the sod farm and won't be ready here until mid-late July. My concern is if I wait for Tahoma31, it may not establish well enough before dormancy - I have a test plot in the front hell strip with plugs and they went dormant in mid-September after planting them on 7/5. And if I'm being honest - I just don't want to wait that long to convert the yard. They're both great cultivars with improved cold tolerance so I don't think I can go wrong. Any input from experts would be appreciated. I'm probably going to do just the front for now because that's what everyone sees and I'm trying to keep the costs to a dull roar while we also get bids to finish our basement.
For now, here's some photos of the yard from last fall.
