What should I be doing with my lawn?

i have no idea i just dont care and let it do its own thing

from what i see others do its mainly using weed and feed stuff to clear out weeds and promote the healthy grass to grow


the experts around here will show up soon but you should post some pictures of what you got going on so they can give you more specific and accurate advice

Lot of work ahead for you. Looks like you have a little St Augustine in there but not much. What’s the sun situation in the backyard. Full shade, partial shade, ...? Yard hold water or drains well after heavy rains? Is re-sodding out of the question having sunk $ in the new house?

Not sure how much new sod costs.

Partial shade from the huge pine tree above; I’d say it’s probably shading 50% of the yard.

Yard holds moisture, I’ve noticed when we moved in the ground being “spongy” if that makes sense.

Where you located, assuming LA, what parish? I think it might be good to see if one of the LSU AgCenter extension agents could visit you to look at your yard, sun situation, drainage, discuss with you and provide some recommendations. Extension agents used to do this on the regular, but I can’t say today with personnel reductions, etc over the past decade. I think extension agents still try to do this in less populace parishes as their work schedule permits, but they really can’t make any/many personal home visits in major populous metro areas. But I can provide some contacts with the AgCenter depending on where you live.

I’d personally be reticent on suggesting you spend $$$ on a significant amount of sod without knowing more about your yard. You are too shady for centipede and Bermudagrass. You might be OK for St Augustine and some cultivars of Zoysia. St Augustine is in the $250-260 range per pallet (450 sq ft).

Obviously you can improve dramatically the situation of your lawn, it’s just determining where to start based on your photos. Doesn’t seem to be a lot of good lawn grass to work with, unless your pics depict the worst area(s).

Bump for the morning crew

On a positive note you have a blank canvas for the most part. Besides deciding whether to take out a few smaller trees or not you can pretty much do what you want. Keep in mind that not everything has to be grass. Can do landscape beds, citrus tree area, rock areas, etc. Your best bet would be to get someone to come look at it in person and talk through your options including what Craw mentioned things such as drainage and shade will be huge determining factors. There is not point in sodding an area with grass that needs sun in an area that holds water and is in the shade. It will take a good bit of work and some money but once you do it once it is just maintenance after that.

I'd consider taking out the pine. If that is too much of a hassle I'd remove a lot of the smaller trees you have growing around your property.

Pull a soil sample and send it to A&M. Some folks say that pine needles don't change the ph of the soil but here we are with a huge bare area around a pine.

Probably not the answer that you want but that is where I would start.