You've basically answered your own questions. The number of tests could be as high as the number of different areas/soils/etc, but then trim it down if you're not willing to treat them differently. Each test should have 6-12 samples from the test area, mixed.

Andy is right but since this is the lawn forum, my vote is for one test of the front yard (multiple samples).

Your front looks very nice for this time of year. By nice I mean dense. That is the Kentucky bluegrass for you. It is also dead looking. That is also the Kentucky bluegrass for you. But when it comes back, lordy! It is magnificent!!

I believe the culprits in the front are the afternoon heat and lack of all the shady stuff you have in the back. Otherwise it is pretty good. If you google Andy's screen name and Logan Labs, you will find his normal roost where he interprets LL soil tests. He is a miracle worker.

What is your watering regimen? Frequency and duration. Watering almost always can be done better.

I would also like to plug an organic approach for your lawn. The normal chemical approach would be to fertilize once in the late spring and twice in the fall. With chemicals you always worry about getting too much and hurting the grass. With organic you don't have to worry about that. If it doesn't look right in one spot, just put more down. I fertilize my lawn up to 5 times per season although I have gone as high as 8 times in an experiment to see what would happen. What happened is my lawn has never looked that nice. But I have not repeated that as my budget for lawn care is not that big anymore (new job with lower pay). My organic fertilizer of choice recently is alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). So it is available everywhere for about $12 per bag. I don't want to sound like I'm forcing this down your throat. I'm just offering it as something to think about.

Thanks both of you for the advice. I have tried to water the front as much as possible during the summer but I never seem to get the 1" from the hose sprinklers. I wish I could find better sprinklers. I actually just checked in the basement yesterday and I suspect that part of the problem is 1/2" pipe running to the hose bibs. I would love to install an irrigation system (I have no problem hooking into the main) but its not in the budget this year (unless it could be installed in stages....front this year, back next).

I really suspect part of the problem is the concrete/asphalt buried. I believe the builder just dumped materials along the driveway and parkway which is impeding the growth of the grass. I dug up a small section along the driveway where the grass wasn't growing well and there were chunks of asphalt. I plan on doing the same in certain areas this spring. What about areas where the grass grows okay but doesn't thrive like other areas of the front yard. I believe there is probably materials buried there too but I don't want to dig up huge sections.

I also plan on going organic this year. What would be a good schedule for the first year? Whats your opinion on milorganite as opposed to alfalfa? What should I use for weed and crabgrass preventer?

Thanks again!

This post was edited by pmsmith2032 on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 10:55