Here are some pictures of the lawn.

http://sohailhameed.com/lawn/IMAG0015.jpg
http://sohailhameed.com/lawn/IMAG0012.jpg
http://sohailhameed.com/lawn/IMAG0014.jpg
http://sohailhameed.com/lawn/IMAG0013.jpg

I'd talk to my neighbor and compare our lawn care strategies.

Of course, if I'm imagining what I'm seeing, forget that I said anything. :)

Thanks for the response. No you are right, there is a distinct line between my lawn and my neighbor's. I haven't talked to them lately, but I will ask them. In the past we have been doing that same things, and have been getting good lawns every season. I don't know what's wrong this time around.

Yes you should change your watering to what Lou mentioned.

And yes you can lose your tree to rot at the base if you don't pull the mulch away from the bottom. You should be able to see where the roots flare out away from the trunk. If you want to mulch it, make it look like the crater of the volcano with the tree in the middle and the root flare exposed. That works great.

So what you have is bermuda that has not fully awakened. Search the Internet for the Bermuda Bible and read it. Memorize it. You'll have the best looking lawn on the block.

Regarding the volcanic mulch, that's something new that I never heard of. Everyone here has that kind of mulching. In any case, for now thats least of my concerns. I will concentrate on fixing the lawn for now.

dchall: Thanks for the pictures. By the way, it is St. Augustine grass. However I used winter grass for the winter. Is there any book for St Augustine as well?

For now I have changed the settings for the front side zone to 30 min and have changed the schedule for 2 times a week. I will change it to once a week a little later. Is that a good approach, or just go ahead and change it to one hour and once a week? I am thinking that if the soil is already very dry I should gradually go from three times to two times and then finally to once a week.

One thing you have to watch for is runoff. If the water starts to run off, then you are wasting it. Stop immediately and let the soil soak up what it has for 15 to 30 minutes. Then resume watering until you get to the 1 hour mark.

Also consider the 1 hour mark to be a starting point. Watch your lawn and determine whether you need to water longer or less.

If you overseeded with something for the winter, that explains everything. 15 square foot penalty for withholding information ;-) David_tx had it right. If it were my lawn I would hit it heavily with alfalfa pellets (monthly) to bring it back. If you absolutely refuse to use organic fertilizer, then there is not much you can do to really hit it hard. The summer heat will work against you for fertilizing with chemicals. If you have not fertilized this year, do it NOW and again on Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Next season, instead of overseeding, simply continue to water it weekly and it might remain green all winter. I tried that in 2008 or 09 and it worked fine. It was only an experiment I tried because my neighbors had green lawns all year. It worked. And when you continue organic fertilizer all year, you will have to mow it all year. Pretty cool.

It also looks like you have some bermuda mixed in.

I got lazy last year and used chemical fertilizers for the first time in years. I also had problems I hadn't seen in years. I'm back to organics this year. I highly recommend it.

One inch of water is 600 gallons per 1000 sqft needed to throughly saturate 6-8 inches of clay soil. Moisture will stay there deeper for longer time because it is cooler there. The top will dry out fast. That's why shallow watering doesn't work and is a waste of water.

As for watering, it's supposed to be one inch of water per week, so watering one hour a week sound about right. If you feel want to conserve water, you can probably track the amount of rain fall in your area and adjust your sprinkler accordingly. If it rains 1 inch for example, you can turn off your sprinkler for that week.

Paul

I have found a neighborhood store that carries this kind of stuff.

Thanks for all your help.

Aah! One more thing. HOw long do you think it would take for the grass to bounce back (turn green again) if everything is done properly? Any idea?

It will take 3 full weeks to see the effects of organic fertilizer. The reason is the fertilizer is food for the soil microbes. The soil microbes process the fertilizer and the result is plant food. That biological process takes three weeks to complete.

So what if I start with alfalfa? I can put that in and if it works that's great. If it doesn't then I can arrange for compost. Would it be ok to put compost on top of alfalfa? I am thinking it should be ok. I plan on putting compost anyway, but if alfalfa alone works, I don't have to rush on it. Please advice.

I went to local nursery and they have Organic Peat Humus, a 40 lb bag for $3. Do you think that will work? Is it the same as compost or a kind of compost?

Peat Humus is not compost. Don't try to get too scientific with this. Dump a few bags around the lawn and rake it in with the back side of a bow rake. Throw the alfalfa pellets around in a random fashion. One of the beauties of organic fertilization is that you don't have to be precise. Throw the stuff around, get a healthy microherd going, and the microbes will take care of the rest.

You have to be more careful with manure compost. Who knows how well it's processed. If the stuff smells like earth, it's probably OK. If it spells like crap, well it's not finish and will probably burn your lawn. Animal manure may also contain solutable salt which might build up in your lawn.

Paul

Other than that, unless you have a pick up truck, you'd have to pay someone to dump a few cubic yards of fine compost on your driveway. That usually costs 30-50 dollars per cubic yard plus delivery fee. Houston is a huge city so not sure where exactly you live. Try Living Earth Technology or look around in your area for bulk compost that is well compost and fine enough to fall in between grass blades. It's a cubic yard per 1000 sqft.