I bought my house last year and the previous owner had already moved to their new house months ago, so lawn was not in good shape at the beginning.

During summer time, most broadleaf weed just blend in with my St. Augustine lawn so not too obvious, there are some dead spots in my backyard but it's not front yard so I'm not in a hurry to fix. I purchased and applied some top sellers weed & feed from HD and Lowes and applied to my lawn about three times during the past year, including last week.

However, there're still lots of weed in my lawn, especially the ugly broadleaf hairy bittercress. I try to get rid of weed and fix the dead spots, where should I start? Can I buy Bermuda seeds to put them into the St. Augustine lawn? I like Bermuda or Zoysia better.

Also, if I carefully spray the round-up in the edge of my flower beds to kill weed, will that damage my shrub & trees?

1st... carefully applied Roundup will not hurt what it doesn't touch. As soon as it touches the soil is neutralized. Spray carefully, use newspaper or a folder as a shield, or apply with a paint brush.

2nd... I'm not a huge fan of weed and feed products. I prefer to just fertilize with an appropriate product for your region and time of year. I wouldn't worry about seeding. Rake out any dead grass and excessive thatch buildup then mow tall and often. The St Augustine will thrive and spread prolifically especially in the warm spring months. I've seen St Augustine spread in my back yard as much as 6 ft in a single year.

To add... once the turf is healthy it'll choke out the weeds. Most of the weeds you see now are seasonal and will die off as it warms. If the turf is dense at the start of winter, they won't punch through next year.

Thanks so much for the reply.

Wow those roots...

I'll let others chime in, but you might need to add some topsoil before laying sod.

I opened this thread as soon as I got to "lawn full of weed..."

Should've read more.

Does that area at least get some sun?

When we moved into our house it had a pecan tree that wouldnt allow the St Aug to grow and fill in underneath it. Previous owners neglected the tree and it was severely over grown and not letting enough light in. End of last summer we had tree trimmers come and properly trim it and thin out the canopy a bit. After that it was night and day. Even in the fall months the grass really started to spread and thicken up.

Pale Rider said:

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Does that area at least get some sun?

When we moved into our house it had a pecan tree that wouldnt allow the St Aug to grow and fill in underneath it. Previous owners neglected the tree and it was severely over grown and not letting enough light in. End of last summer we had tree trimmers come and properly trim it and thin out the canopy a bit. After that it was night and day. Even in the fall months the grass really started to spread and thicken up.

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Yes, it does actually. But I got a lawn company to have a look at it today the owner told me to trim the tree and give some more sunshine. I got a quote for installing two pallets of St. Augustine for $800 I feel a little bit too much. Indeed miss my college apartment life, completely hassle free...

LoveAussie said:

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Pale Rider said:

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Does that area at least get some sun?

When we moved into our house it had a pecan tree that wouldnt allow the St Aug to grow and fill in underneath it. Previous owners neglected the tree and it was severely over grown and not letting enough light in. End of last summer we had tree trimmers come and properly trim it and thin out the canopy a bit. After that it was night and day. Even in the fall months the grass really started to spread and thicken up.

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Yes, it does actually. But I got a lawn company to have a look at it today the owner told me to trim the tree and give some more sunshine. I got a quote for installing two pallets of St. Augustine for $800 I feel a little bit too much. Indeed miss my college apartment life, completely hassle free...

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Considering that I can get a pallet of SA for about $155 each, $800 for 2 pallets of SA installed is down right ridiculious to say the least...

I still think as high as those roots protrude, you'll need to add top soul before laying any sod.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I still think as high as those roots protrude, you'll need to add top soul before laying any sod.

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Yes that's what I was told too. Adding 3 cu yard of top soil for $85 per cu yard. That I think I can do it by myself to save some money... However, my tree is on a slope, last time I put two bags of top soil to cover the root and they were gone after the rain.

So I guess I need to install the sod immediately after putting the top soil down.

$85 /yd of soil seems very high. I can get a yd for around $40 from local suppliers. That's and easy do it yourself job as long as you have a truck/wheelbarrow/shovel and rake.(even easier if you can back your truck up to the spot and shovel directly out of bed)

Grass is s poor erosion preventer in my opinion. It seems to just sink with the ground rather than hold it together. You may need to find a way to divert water or prevent erosion better before investing all the )$

I agree with SoulSlaveAg2005, $85 per cubic yd of soil seems very high. I can get a cubic yard for about $25-$28 from local suppliers.

Interested in knowing where abouts you are located LoveAussie as either you're living in a really high cost area or someone's trying to take advantage of you for both top soil and sod?

I would assume the quotes include the labor cost of the company??? But that is a hell of a markup to double costs for labor! Especially when spreading the soil can be done in under 1.5hrs and laying 2 pallets of sod can probably be done in 2-3 hrs, by 1 person. That's a hell of an hourly rate for yard work!

Gary79Ag said:

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I agree with SoulSlaveAg2005, $85 per cubic yd of soil seems very high. I can get a cubic yard for about $25-$28 from local suppliers.

Interested in knowing where abouts you are located LoveAussie as either you're living in a really high cost area or someone's trying to take advantage of you for both top soil and sod?

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I'm located in DFW area, the cost of living should be cheaper than east/west coast...

I talked to several friends, they all told me the price for installing one pallet of st augustine should be around $300, and for zoysia it would be $400/pallet, now I'm contacting other companies to have more quote.

Definitely get more quotes... always a good idea when dealing with lawn and garden.

SoulSlaveAG2005 said:

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Definitely get more quotes... always a good idea when dealing with lawn and garden.

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Yes LoveAussie, that's why I commented as those prices that definitely seemed high to what I'm accustomed to and I live just 60 miles north of you in Sherman. Not sure what the labor costs are for installing SA as I do it myself and I also have a trailer so I don't get charged the $50 delivery charge either.

As SoulSlaveAg noted, definitely get more quotes!