The Grass Doctor

what type of grass should i plant?

after my home was destoryed in a fire and i had it torn down which the contractor destroyed my front yard in the process i decided to relandscape it. i got some roses to grown along side the driveway and tried to plant grass in the yard. i was going to put sod down but the cost is more than i can afford at the present time. i tried a varity of seed but no luck. i followed the directions and did everything like i read but the only thing that grows is weeds. i live in central florida and use well water for the plants. any suggestions on what i can do that will not cost me a arm and leg just to get some green back into my yard. i have about 1200 square feet of space in the front to cover.

Public Comments

1. Hey Mah, Seeding, sprigging, sodding, and plugging are 4 methods of starting a new lawn. In FL, you need a Southern Turfgrass, and only a few may be started with seeding. St. Augustine has varieties that you can start with seed, and Centipede would be the easiest. Zoysia can be started with plugs. Sprigging is used for grass with stolons. In sprigging you use sod but break it up planting the stolons using a machine, so it cost less than sodding. You ruled out sodding for expense. So, Sprigging Plugs, or Seeding are your options. You may have failed with seeding because you need to keep the young seeds moist - 10 to 20 minutes of watering each day in the morning - or they will dry out - most especially at the critical time of cracking open. Since you asked, I thought you might like to read some more about this, so, below is a link to the Clemson Extension Master Gardener of South Carolina turf grass lectures and information. This will be an outstanding source for you to decide what type of grass you want also - very important is the selection of the type - you have shade, sunny, high traffic, low traffic, thick, thin, high maintenance, low maintenance etc. to think about too. Might as well think about it now, while you are starting over.