I am not one of the experts here and hope it's ok for me to answer.

Did you just want something for the cool season?

I think that your lawn is probably a perfect candidate for Saint Augustine, I would think. You get rain in the summer, right?

I would be tempted to topdress with fine compost just to help with water retention and soil activity. I grow a small lawn of SA on very sandy soil in north Texas. It goes dormant in the winter for a couple of months but the sod is still there preventing the bare spots from being a problem. It doesn't do well with deep shade though.

pkponder, don't be afraid to give advice even though you are not an "expert". The more options the person has the better. BTW, your advice is spot on as far as I am concerned as St. Augustine is a perfect low maintenance grass for Florida. Rye grass will NOT survive down in the FL heat.

Jane, you can also go with bermuda, zoysia or seashore paspalum. It just all depends on what you want out of your lawn and how much work you are willing to put into it.

Thanks for the encouragement Mightyquinn1!

Jane, oscillating sprinklers that connect to your water hose do a good job of watering and cover a large area so you don't need to stand out there with the hose. I wish that I had a sprinkler system, but have used the oscillating sprinklers for years, I just move them from zone to zone and it helps to have one for the front and one for the back so that you can turn them both on (assuming that you have faucets in both locations).

No problem pkponder, we are all here to learn!!!

You could also add a timer to your hose spigot so you could pre place them the night before and if you are handy you could make your own sprinkler like the one in the link below. They are cheap and cover more area and are adjustable too!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Home made rotor sprinkler!

Thanks for all the good advice. No experts required!

I think my lawn is St. Augustine but is getting really bare patches in the backyard. Small yard and the land seems to be just bare sand. It was green until the weather turned cool. I realized it was just weeds with a few patches of grass.

I read on this forum about planting Rye grass to carry through the cool weather so the 'real grass' can fill in. That was why I asked.

I'm not going to do anything major. If it were up to me, I'd fill the whole area with wood chips or some type of ground cover.

I do have oscillating sprinklers and drag them around the front and back.

So should I just plant St. Augustine seed over the sand? I could do that. I just thought this grass needed hot weather to germinate.

Thanks so much again,
Jane

This pic shows what the 'lawn' looks like. No lawn, just weeds and my beautiful grand daughters and the dogs. Sorry, don't have just a pic of the lawn by itself.

Jane,

How many hours of sun does that area get and how big is it?
What part of FL are you in?

One of the reasons you don't want to add rye grass is because it will just become a weed after you have the grass that you want. Why add one more thing you have to worry about if you don't have to.

Lovely grand daughters and pups!

I also get bare spots from my big dog tearing around the back yard and have resorted in the past to annual rye grass just to have a 'green' lawn in winter, but it's really ugly growing in during the spring. Just when your St Augustine starts to look great, the rye starts dying off in the heat and turns yellow and brown. It's not bare spots though.

My lawn has really improved/thickened with applications of alfalfa pellets during the growing season, but it will not grow well if it's too shady.

I just caught what you said about St Augustine seed, it grows only from sod or plugs, to my knowledge.

This post was edited by pkponder on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 18:19

Thanks for all the help and advice. I took a few shots of the back to give you an idea. The area where the dogs/kids was is the narrowest. The tree shades part of the lawn in the afternoon.

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This gives you an idea. There's virtually no grass, just weeds and sand. The front of my house still has lawn (at least it looks like lawn).

Thanks so much again,
Jane

Is sod in the budget? You're right, I don't see much St Augustine in your pictures.

When you state that you would have to hand water does that mean you want something that doesn't require water other than by mother nature? Is there any 'soil' under the sand at 4-10 inches deep? Or just sand? If you have some soil down deep you could train the roots to get down there and then would require less frequent but longer watering times.If nothing but sand then you will need to water more often to maintain a lawn.

I use a sprinkler (see first pic.), the type that goes back and forth. I drag it around. Would mixing rye grass with St. Augustine work? We could not afford to sod the whole area.

Jane

I'm just catching up but I have a few questions...

What is your watering schedule? How long and how often?
Do you have pets on the yard?

It looks like you are mowing too low. St Aug should be mowed at the highest setting. Beyond that, I mow at the highest setting but I only mow every 2 or 3 weeks, to let it get even taller. Taller grass develops deeper roots, which is exactly what you need in sugar sand.

You can develop your sand into a pretty good base for St Aug. I bring sand in when I need to fill, and the best grass I have is on the deepest sandy areas. I've used nothing but organic fertilizers since 2002 and the soil looks pretty black when you look at it. But as soon as you toss some into a jar of water, the white sand sinks to the bottom and the black organic matter floats to the top. There is nothing in between. So with that I am going to second the notion of using alfalfa pellets to fertilize. I would use them at least 3 times per year. First of the three would be late spring, second would be late summer, and third would be around Thanksgiving. If you want to really improve things fast, then use it every other month. The application rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

I love my oscillator sprinklers, but I have graduated to the "turbo" model oscillators. They cost only a few $$ more, but they work much better, more reliable, and more even coverage. I think they start around $20.

If you would answer the questions above, we can help you a little more.