I have some bare spots in my back yard due to too much tree coverage. I have recently had the trees trimmed back so I'm hoping the increased sunlight will support the grass. If I lay some sod is it as simple as just dropping the squares down? Will the area where I lay the sod be a few inches higher than the areas where grass already grows? What about planting some plugs? Is this a better option? It's about an 8ft x 15ft area.
Any advice would be much appreciated. I am in dallas and have st. augustine btw.
Sod is better than plugs. Once you sod, it's done. With plugs, you plug and then start nursing the area until it spreads.
Clear the area to be sodded of all growth. It needs to be bare soil. Spread a scattered amount of Expanded Shale (1 bag for every 1/8 pallet) and compost down. Then begin laying sod.
The Expanded Shale will help keep the soil from compacting, retains moisture, and provides drought tolerance.
It's not always "shade" that causes grass to recede, especially with St Augustine. St Augustine will grow in shade under trees. What happens so often is people try to water these areas just like they do they completely open areas that get tons of direct sun. So the shady spots become incubators for fungus and disease, which causes recession of St Augustine.
So let your direct sun zones ride at 15-20 mins a clip, but keep the shady zones on a shorter time, such as 5-10 minutes.
I can sell you expanded shale or you can also get it from Calloways. I can also sell you compost, but that's also sold a various retail nurseries. Let me know if you need my help in that way.
You will need to dig out where the new sod will meet your existing turf so it will be a seemless transition instead of an abrupt one.
