New to the forum (at least as a member but I've been using it as a reference for months) and love all the insight. Long story short, my wife and I moved to Nashville last August with our dogs and love it (we were in the NYC area for 18 years). We bought a new-build near downtown with three separate yard areas (front, back and rear) -- each of which are relatively small. As with most new construction the yard was sodded with garbage TF. I overseeded the front last fall with some Home Depot southern mix and it became the best yard in the neighborhood from the fall through early summer this year -- in fact I inspired five neighbors to resod their front yards in the spring. In the meantime, I completely ripped apart the backyard and sodded it with Latitude 36 in late May. The Latitude 36 looks amazing and is perfect for the dogs. Unfortunately the front got burned out by the Nashville heat despite frequent watering (seems like we've been in the 90s since May), probably some fertilizing mistakes (but I'll blame the heat) and inferior seed. Accordingly, I ripped apart the front and rear yards last week and was intending to resod with Blumuda (or Bluemuda depending on where you look), with the hope that the visible yard areas would stay green year round. Unfortunately, the sod farm I used for the Latitude 36 ran out of Blumuda. I'm now considering either RTF (Fescue) and/or HGT (KBG) sod. I'm thinking of using HGT in the front (direct sun most of the day) and RTF in the rear (sun late in the day behind a detached garage). I was also thinking of using RTF in heavily shaded areas and combining with HGT in areas with more sun. Again, my goal is to have year-round green for the visible areas of the house. I probably have to make this decision in the next few days and thought I would bounce it off the experts on TLF. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Nashvillerookie
There is a new guy here named DocV and I would PM him. Check out his profile. He is also from Nashville and he seems to know a bit more than the rest of us.
A lot depends on hours of direct sunlight. It's hot and humid. But how much direct sunlight does your lawn get? 2 hrs? 4 hrs? Bermuda (6 hours) or Zoyisa (4 hours) or fescue (2 hours)?
I'm in Chattanooga and welcome to summers in the South. Hot, humid, and hazy. Until September 21 (thank you Earth, Wind and Fire).
A lot depends on hours of direct sunlight. It's hot and humid. But how much direct sunlight does your lawn get? 2 hrs? 4 hrs? Bermuda (6 hours) or Zoyisa (4 hours) or fescue (2 hours)?
I'm in Chattanooga and welcome to summers in the South. Hot, humid, and hazy. Until September 21 (thank you Earth, Wind and Fire).
Thanks for the responses. I have to go with sod right now because the front and rear are completely ripped up. To reiterate, I was planning on sodded Blumuda but the farm ran out. My only options at this point (since my back is against the wall) is the RTF fescue (seems interesting since it grows by rhizomes) or the HGT blue grass. I will absolutely reach out to DocV -- thanks for the reference. The front gets well over 6 hours, the rear probably gets 2 to 4 hours (in between our houses gets far less). I thought about creating my own Blumuda but my backyard requires a lot of work to maintain (Latitude 36) and I don't have the time or equipment to property blend (and it seems the jury is still out on whether it's the best of both worlds or the worse). It's my understanding I can get the HGT to stay green year-round and possibly the RTF. Here's a couple pictures of my backyard with Latitude 36 -- sodded in May and current (along with a landing strip messing around with my new mower after a few beers).
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
