Everyone on here has been extremely helpful in my new homeowner journey I've been on since April, so I thought I might just post a mega-thread about my yard.

Here's the situation:

- Multiple grass types but mostly St. Augustine
- Not much of a weed problem
- Way too much shade in certain areas
- Compacted soil in some low-lying areas
- Extremely sandy soil in part of the backyard and along one side of the house, grass won't even grow in these areas

So based on that and reading a lot on the web, I know there are a few things I need to do. I need to trim up the trees to get more sunlight to the ground, I need to bring in some top soil for the sandy parts, I should probably aerate the yard, it's almost the time to hit it with some pre-emergent, etc.

But I thought I'd get y'alls opinions on where I should start. Like what should my top priority be and that sort of thing. I know I could probably hire aggieland green or someone to just take care of all of it, but I'd like to do it myself.

We'd also like to plant some shrubs along the side of the house instead of the current... let's be nice and say "assorted plant beds," seems like October is a good time to do that? Anyone have any local nurseries they like?

Bob-good to see you again. It's been a while since I've seen your posts on the college b-ball boards. Try spreading some peat moss as a top dressing on top of that st Augustine. Man, they sure like it. They will get super thick. As for shrubs, if you sent me a picture I could probably tell you the type of shrubs you should be planting as we just re-landscaped our entire front yard as well. Ligustrum are good shrubs as are boxwood and encore Azalea if you'd like some color.

Ligustrum are popular in CS, but I have to say that too many people plant them too close to the foundation. They can develop fairly thick roots and as a precautionary measure, if I was planting them alongside a house I would either create a barrier or make certain to measure distance based on their finished growth and not the little shrubs brought home from the nursery.

I've been back a while, I just basically stay on the hoops board here. Sometimes I venture over to here or the Aggieland board.

I can try and get some photos for the shrub areas along the house, but we could potentially move those also.

Really just kind of starting at square one with the yard and trying to see what y'all would tackle first. Don't want to waste money/effort.