Mixing Bermuda grass with St Augustine for one continuous lawn

12 years ago

First of all, this is my first post and I'm a total lawn care newbie, so please excuse any ignorance.

We just bought a house with a small backyard lawn that continuously flows into the two side lawns on each side of the house. The builder installed bermuda grass, which seems like the popular choice down here in Houston (St Augustine being the other popular one).

Problem is, the side lawns are essentially narrow walkways from the front yard to the back yard and are each in between the side of the house and our wooden fence, therefore it is heavily shaded. As you can probably guess, after 4 years of little care by the previous homeowner, the bermuda grass is pretty much mostly gone now, and the only vegetation there is a large variety of weeds. Thankfully, the weeds are keeping the dirt in place and prevent erosion, at least.

My question is, since Bermuda seems like a poor choice here on the side lawns with the shade, can I mix in another type of grass on the side lawns that handles shade better (such as St Augustine?), while maintaining my decent-looking front/back with Bermuda? Would there be any adverse cross-germination to be concerned about? If we really don't mind the aesthetics of the two looking very different, could I work towards maintaining the two grass types such that they coexist happily? I know the areas where one grass type meets the other would look really hideous, but we feel like this is truly the best low-cost option.

Again, I have no idea whether the different grass types require different maintenance, so if this is a dumb question, please excuse me. My wife and I just want to install something on the side lawns that's going to survive the low sunlight conditions, while keeping the bermuda in the front/back. It'd be great to still have grass on all sides of the house another 4 years from now.

Thanks in advance!

Featured Answer

dchall_san_antonio

12 years ago

Oh yeah, St Aug will absolutely take over if you water weekly, mow it at the highest setting, and only fertilize 3x per year. I absolutely rely on that fact in my back yard. We got some bermuda in it a few years ago during a drought period when I was not home to water right. The St Aug died from the drought and common bermuda filled right in. Two years after that, with some TLC, it's all St Augustine again. Now we have a new puppy so all bets are off. One area will be mulched so he's not a muddy mess all summer, but we're hoping to keep the sunny area green with St Aug.

If you inset the stepping stones enough to keep them below the mower, then you will be good.

Many years ago my dog wore a path from our back deck to the garage. I had a local decking guy build a wooden walkway, deck style, following the curving dog path. It turned out beautiful, much better than we pictured at first, and lasted 15 years until we remodeled the yard again. The dog was very happy to walk on the wood, too, so everyone was happy.

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Comments (9)

dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
St Aug should work and do exactly what you're suggesting...look ugly where they meet. St Augustine likes to be mowed at the mower's highest setting while bermuda likes to be mowed at the lowest setting. Bermuda likes monthly fertilizer while St Aug needs it only in the late spring and 2x in the fall. Both like the same deep and infrequent watering, but the side yards will probably need it even less often due to the shade and wind protection.

If you walk along the sides, St Aug will develop a path look very quickly. Would you consider using several inches of mulch along the sides instead of grass?
edd13chen
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the reply.

It's an interesting proposal to use mulch instead of grass where we will be stepping frequently, but my wife simply wants the green look of grass, so don't think that'll work. Would there be any other mostly-grass-and-still-mowable "pathway" solutions like this mulch approach? Thought about stepping stones in the middle of the grass, but I'm guessing that'll ruin my mower.

What about st Aug overtaking my existing Bermuda lawn in the long run, is that a real risk? I watched a pretty convincing youtube video of a landscaper that shows evidence of this. We still prefer the Bermuda look so hate to see it get killed off by SA, if that's even possible.
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Carol Woolf
9 years ago
Oddly, in Florida, mixtures of st Augustine and Bermuda together make a very dense deep mat with st Augustine usually topping out the mix. Most people in Texas never consider that. It works.
Tom Powell
9 years ago
My back yard is in bad shape. I just cleared out a patch and plated Bermuda seed and it's coming up nicely. I have other places in the yard that has pretty healthy St. Augustine. If I want to mix the two, do I plug or buy sod and place it randomly in the Bermuda mix?
TS Garp
9 years ago
If you are OK with how the Bermuda and SA grasses look when they are mixed (which I can't stand), then just seed the Bermuda where you need grass and from there just follow proper lawn care practices. If both grasses are cared for properly then I would predict that eventually the sunny areas will be dominated by Bermuda, and shady areas by saint Augustine, with some mixing in the other areas.
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Tom, where do you live? Unless you live in the desert Southwest, South Texas, or South Florida, it is not hot enough yet to plant bermuda seed. You might be growing crabgrass.

What benefit do you think you will get by mixing the two grasses? They have different nutrient and mowing demands and have different growing characteristics.
Erin K
7 years ago
I am jumping on this thread because we recently moved in a house that has Bermuda and St. Augustine but mostly Bermuda. I would like for the St Augustine to take over more, so we have been cutting high and about to fertilize for the first time. I am curious as to what type of fertilizer to use. Should I use one that is for St Augustine grass? And if so, will this damage our Bermuda? (We live in Central Texas)
dchall_san_antonio
7 years ago
My yard was 99.9% weeds in Bandera in 2014 when I moved in. On the east side of the house and paved walkways was some St Augustine. I have nurtured the St Augustine and managed to increase it to about 2,000 square feet.
- I don't water anything but the St Augustine.
- I don't fertilize anything but the St Augustine.
- I mow the St Augustine at the mower's highest setting and the weeds at the lowest setting. Tall St Augustine will provide shade on the other grasses and tend to dominate - including bermuda.