Help with our Yard Please (St. Augustine: house, neighborhoods, organic)

[JasminD]

We bought a house about a year ago. The backyard has a septic tank mound thats currently all sand and weeds. Behind the mound theres about a foot and a half of space, on the sides of the mound its just a steep slope. We want to get rid of the weeds and grow some grass. How should we do this? I was thinking the most economical way would be to kill the weeds, put down some topsoil and then bahia grass seed (most drought resistant). Maybe plant some shrubs on the sides since its just a slope. Also thought about sod, but my husband thinks that the seed will be less expensive. Its a small yard too.

If anyone has any ideas. We are desparate to get something going with the yard. Our little pugs are constantly getting stickers in their little paws

Thanks for all your help,
Jasmin

[Ryde41]

The Pugs should not be living in sub par conditions; call a landscape architect ASAP.

[SlickP]

I'm not an expert but let me say this, I do not like St. Augustine Grass. It's very delicate and costs a fortune to maintain. I would go with a good Bermunda Grass Sod. To me, the only drawback with Bermunda is the fact that it will "run" into your flower beds quickly. It spreads fast but it's very drought tolerant and loves the heat. That is why it's used on most golf courses here in the south. Good Luck!

[riveree]

Lots of ideas swimming in my head on this one !

First I'll say, sod is cheaper than you'd think . If all you're doing is covering a septic mound, you should be able to do that for under $200...maybe even less.

I totally agree with Slick though, St. Augustine grass sure sucks up a lot of resources .

Growing grass from seed is very difficult in Florida. As you well know from your description, if there's an open spot of dirt, weeds will move right in.

So my thought is to skip the idea of growing any typical grass on the mound at all...who wants to do all that mowing anyway?

I'd look to either:

1) native grasses

2) groundcover

You could plant some gamma grass or muhly grass and have a beautiful native florida look. You could even intersperse blanket flower for a wildflower look. Once established, these plants will need little to nothing from you - no mowing, no watering, no fertilizing, and as a bonus, you'll support our native wildlife.

A groundcover could give you a less wild look. Creeping fig is beautiful, a small dark leaf that will densely fill an area. There is also a small leaf jasmine with a glossy dark green leaf that would do the same thing....you see this under old live oak trees in a lot of nicely manicured neighborhoods. Both of these can be trimmed with a weedwacker from time to time.

A small shrub/groundcover that grows like a weed is lantana. It will grow to be a mounding shape no more than 3 feet high and covered in flowers. Once established, lantana basically needs nothing from you as well. I just planted some purple ones and they are taking off really well and it's barely been a week!

To learn more about these and other options, check out Floridata, they have good pictures of all the plant life that grows here:

Welcome to Floridata

[JasminD]

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. I was thinking of putting ground cover but our yard is really small. So that would cut out most of the area that the little pugs can play in. I think we are gonna kill off the weeds, put down some topsoil and get sod. We do need to get topsoil for the sod to grow right? Currently its 2 or so feet of pure sand. Also the mound is in direct sunlight all day.

Thanks again everyone.
Jasmin

[riveree]

Originally Posted by JasminD

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. I was thinking of putting ground cover but our yard is really small. So that would cut out most of the area that the little pugs can play in. I think we are gonna kill off the weeds, put down some topsoil and get sod. We do need to get topsoil for the sod to grow right? Currently its 2 or so feet of pure sand. Also the mound is in direct sunlight all day.

Thanks again everyone.
Jasmin

The sod comes with it's own layer of soil attached. There's no need to supplement the sand unless you really want to.

I know some people will add lime to "sweeten" the soil (change the ph) or add topsoil or organic matter to try and improve the soil.

Personally, I would not bother. St. Augustine grass (which is most likely what you'll be getting if you are going the sod route) does really well in sandy soil. Just follow the directions for watering and fertilizing to ensure a good start and deep roots and you'll be fine .