Before the sewer line break, I had a lush St. Augustine lawn, afterwards the yard was reduced to a muddy mess. Muddy, because DFW has experienced one of the wettest Springs in recent years. Yes, all this rain is great for the area lakes but bad news for my exposed, naked, sloped yard. Without grass to hold the soil the backyard is basically washing away.

At the first hint of sunshine, I made plans for my next project, sod.

To start, I needed St Augustine grass. I tried several of the local “chain” home improvement stores, no luck. I called my favorite nursery, Covington’s in Rowlett. Great news, they currently had 200 pieces in stock. Thrilled, I jumped in my Jeep and headed to the nursery 40-minutes away.  When I arrived, I was informed they had just sold the remaining grass, less than 15 minutes earlier. Disappointed, I smiled politely, thanked the staff and walked away. A nice young man quietly followed me out of the shed and gave me the name of the nursery’s turf supplier, a family-owned business A & W Turf, located less than 10 minutes away. 🙂  With a grateful smile and a handshake, I was on the road once again.  The grass was super healthy, lush, and harvested the day before from a local farm. They loaded my trusty old Grand Cherokee with as much as it could hold without blocking the back window, 64 pieces in all.

http://www.covingtonnursery.com.     www.awturfgrass.com

Because the backyard was still super saturated and muddy. I decided to haul the sod from the Jeep to the backyard via a direct route through my house.
No joke, that’s exactly what I did.

Once the sod was unloaded, I placed the sections out across the yard in the areas I planned to cover. I didn’t buy enough sod to blanket the yard, so my plan was to use the checkerboard approach. Cut each piece into 4 pieces, place each piece apart staggering each row, like a checkerboard. Once the St. Augustine takes root, the grass should fill in, within 3 to 6 months depending on weather conditions.

Repairing a yard can be a slow process. The ground should be moist before you begin. Remove any rocks and debris. Dig a section of ground, loosen/till the surrounding soil, amend the loosened dirt with “soil builder”, plant the grass plug and cover the edges with soil. Once you’ve completed an area, it’s important to water it in. Walk on or tamp the sod into the ground so it will make good contact with the soil underneath.  This procedure is for repairing areas. To sod a complete yard. The process varies slightly.

This project took a total of 6 days to complete. The first day I spent 4 hours on the pathway that leads from the front gate to the back and then the area along the bottom of the dry creek bed. Throughout the week, after work, I spent the last 2 hours of daylight sodding the center of the yard. Finally when Saturday rolled around I was able to finish the center and filled in random bald spots in the yard with the leftover scraps.

Next comes the fun part, watering every day. The information I found online indicates you should water in the mornings, daily for 10 days. Followed by three times a week for several weeks then you should be able to begin a normal watering routine. My yard is so waterlogged, it’s a delicate balance. I water the top of the grass very lightly, so the surface is slightly damp. The yard stays wet from day-to-day, so a good soaking is not currently required. The grass is still green and I’m watching for dead spots. The Dallas area has seen it’s share of rain for the past couple of days and the forecast indicates continued rain for the next 7 days. This is a mixed blessing. The ground is too muddy for the grass to take root, but the rain has nutrients to help the growing process.  Only time will tell if my sod will take, grow, spread and flourish.