Grass

[gja1000]

What kind of grass do you want Jessica? Is your backyard shady or sunny? If very shady, about the only grass you can plant is St. Augustine. If part sunny/shady, you can plant zoysia or St. Augustine. Zoysia and St. Augustine can't be seeded, it has to be planted in squares or plugs. If it is totally sunny, you'd be best to go with bermuda or buffalo grass. Bermuda can be seeded, I'm not sure about buffalo. Buffalo grass is the best and requires much less water and mowing. You CANNOT keep bermuda out of flower beds, it is very invasive and I hate it, but bermuda and buffalo are about the only choices if your backyard is sunny. Also, anything you plant right now is going to need lots of water for the rest of the summer as it will die if not watered at least twice a week (more frequently when you first plant or seed it).

If the backyard is hard dirt, then you will need to amend the soil before planting any type of grass. You may need to have it tilled up (plowed) and definitely need to have some compost worked into or tilled into the soil. If the soil is loose and easily dug up, then it will probably be OK to put grass in without amending the soil - but it will need to be tilled or loosened before putting in grass.