The Grass Doctor

How can I make my west Texas "lawn" look decent?

I have some sparse grass. If you're from any sandy areas, I'm sure you're familiar with the yellow, seemingly dead grass that sprouts randomly, but leaves huge spots of sand. I'm not expecting the Kentucky bluegrass I grew so fond of up north, but I'd like something that looks nice. This yard once had grass, but I seem to have a yellow thumb (where things grow, but nothing turns green)! Any ideas? I've come to terms with our huge backyard being so sandy and patchy (dogs running), but the front yard could use some TLC.

Public Comments

1. All you need is water and fertilizer. Mow every 4 days in the summer. Apply pre-emergent is the spring and fall. Hire a professional company if you can't do it on time or don't know what to do. Its not expensive and works. Now go drink a beer and relax
2. I live in Alabama and had the same problem with soil, I used pensacola bahia grass seeds and in less than a year I have good grass, I would put some lime on it and fertilize with triple 13. The seeds came out in 2 weeks and then started to spread all over the place in 2 months I lightly fertilized, I planted last summer and now I have a great looking yard
3. If you don't want to fool around with so much care, plant some bushes or trees that thrive in your area. It's hard to get some nice grass going in Texas, used to live there.
4. I also live in a sandy soil area in texas and feel your pain...BUT there is hope. We planted a bermuda grass (f1) called world feeder on our ranch to help feed the horses. World feeder lives and thrives in about any soil all the way to the salty soil of the gulf coast. It takes very little water and fertilizer and can also live in a drought due to the deep (15'-20') roots once they are established. If you don't mind mowing, fertilize with a high potash fertilizer and start your lawn mower. The runners will spread out about 4" per day. I am discing my grass fields now ( to thicken it even more) and could probably ship some sprigs (root sections) to you if you didn't need very many. Each sprig should be planted about 1' apart and about 3"-4" deep then watered in well. If this sounds like something you might be interested in I would suggest you GOOGLE it and do some reserch. If you think you are interested just e-mail me at epfarms1@yahoo.com