In Katy you will be better off with more St Aug in the back rather than anything that grows from seed. Common bermuda is about the only seeded grass that will thrive in this latitude. Bermuda seed goes down in the heat of summer, not now.

I agree! Plus, your maintenance practices will be different if you choose another variety. (Mowing, height, fertilizing requirements etc.)

St. Aug's is to expensive for the size of yard I have.

What is the best type of Bermuda? And if I go organic, how hard can it be to maintain both? Wouldn't I just fertilize and mow basically the same?

And if I go organic, how hard can it be to maintain both?

It's not a matter of Organic vs. Sythetic. The two varieties of grass are very different.

Wouldn't I just fertilize and mow basically the same?

No, not at all.

Bermuda:
Under low to moderate levels of management, bermuda grass should be cut at a height of 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches, which may require mowing one to three times per week. A reel mower is preferred for cutting bermuda. Bermuda also needs to be fertilized monthly with 1lb N per 1000sqft.

St. Augustine:
Standard St. Augustine grass should be maintained at a height of 3.5 to 4+ inches. A rotary mower is preferred for cutting St.Augustine. Fertilizer should be applied to St. Augustine in 2 to 5 applications from spring green-up through fall.

As you can see, the 2 varieties are quite different.

Sugarland, I live in Katy and have St. Augustine. If you have the time and inclination buy half the St. Augustine you will need and install it in a checkerboard fashion. It will fill in the empty spaces in no time at all.

St Aug should sell for around $100 for 300 square feet. Is it possible to get the back yard sod included in the price of the house so you can pay for it over 30 years?

If you use a checkerboard, put some sand down between the checkerboards. That will bring the level up so your mower doesn't bounce around when mowing. It also makes it easy to pull weeds that will start between the sod.

As was described above, bermuda and St Aug are about as different as can be. St Augustine is the dominant species when it is kept watered and mowed high. Bermuda cannot be seeded at this time of year. A good bermuda sod will cost the same as St Aug sod.

Getting back to the checkerboard, if you buy a few pieces of St Aug sod, it will spread 10 feet in all directions per season (if kept watered). You could really put in just a few pieces now and get full coverage by this time next year. That would be a lot easier, especially on a budget.

I'm in the same boat as you, almost the same time. We just moved into our new home, with St. Augustine in the front (on the north side) and bare ground in the back. (I persuaded the builder to let me put in 1 inch of compost before they added the sod.)

In the back, I'm planning to try out the Turffalo Tech Turf, which is pretty expensive if you plug it every 12 inches like they say... but I just bought $200 worth of plugs (about 250 or 300 plugs) and plan to plug it evenly every few feet across the back yard and just let it spread. Of course, it will take time because it likes warmth to spread, and it's getting colder. I'll have to deal with the weeds in between. But it's supposed to be a good grass, a hybrid of buffalo, which doesn't need much water. I hope you find something useful, because I'll be interested to hear what happens with your turf as well.

skoot_cat, you recommend a reel mower for Bermuda? I had a $@(* of a time trying to use a reel mower on Bermuda... it would get jammed every time, or just not have enough traction to push the reel around... it was horrible. I'd have to make about 3 passes every time. I nearly pulled my hair out trying.

St. Augustine, on the other hand, was a pleasure to cut with the reel mower. It just slides right on through like scissors cutting paper... as long as I didn't let it get too high. I guess the downside, as you probably meant to say, is that most reel mowers don't cut higher than about 2.5 inches, when 3 or 4 inches is the optimal height for St. Augustine.

scientastic: I've seen Tech Turf up in Lubbock and it looks very good. It does need full sun. Any shade will result in very thin turf. I have pictures I took if you want to see them.

The front yard sod will be laid down in about 2 weeks. What should I do to get the best results?

Apply alfalfa Now @ 20-30lbs per 1000sqft and water in every other day until the sod is laid. One month later apply alfalfa or SoyBean Meal.

After the sod is laid you need to keep it moist.

Week 1 and 2: water two to three times a day with 1/4" of water. (Keep moist not soaked, Dont let the sod dry out.)
Week 3: water once a day with 1/2" water
Week 4-5: water every other day with 1/2-3/4" water
Week 6 and ongoing: water with 3/4-1" water when 30-50% of the lawn shows signs of wilt. Do not water the lawn again until signs of wilt occur again. (Once a week is a good rule of thumb).

The below link gives a run down of what I did for my yard, maybe it will help you. My back yard is also S.A. and has been organically maintained for 3 years now.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Organic St. Augustine

dchall_san_antonio,

I would love to see your photos of Turffalo Tech Turf. Below is a photo of my yard, plugged just a week ago. Not much to look at, just the long hairs of nearly dormant grass stalks blowing this way and that.

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My back yard is on the south side of the house, so it gets a lot of sun. The only thing is the 6-foot fence. I suspect the Tech Turf will have problems in the shadow of the fence, so I've been thinking of buying a flat of Shadow Turf and plugging it around the edges near the fence.

Plugging it at the distance of 12" or 17" as they reccommend is prohibitively expensive, so I plugged it at a distance of 28" instead. This let me plug the whole back yard (30 ft by 55 ft, minus the patio) for only $200. Clearly, it will take longer to spread, especially because it is now getting cold. I don't expect to see it cover the yard until well into the spring. Fortunately (or maybe not, in the long run), the soil after they graded it was fairly free of weed seeds, so I haven't seen much popping up. Before plugging, I laid down an even layer of compost 1" thick. I did not till it in, more out of lack of time than for the reasons mentioned above. I hope I get decent results.

By the way, I'm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, just for those who might be interested in my local climate. I think it's zone 8 here.

Tech Turf has a website at turffalo.com. They claim it does well in most regions of the country.

At the Turffalo website they show an installation at a frat house behind Texas Tech. I have more pictures of that frat house yard. Some show it off well and some show the problems you will have near your fence. Even in the shade of the scrawny tree you'll need something else. Tech Turf really (really) doesn't like shade.

Next April see if you can find a flat of Shadow Turf. That stuff will grow very well in your fence shade and will blend out into the main yard with the Tech Turf. The Shadow Turf will be greener. The Shadow Turf will also be 10x more dense than the Tech Turf. One flat of Shadow Turf planted in a straight line just to the north of the shade line cast by the fence in the summer will spread very well in both directions. The Shadow Turf loves sunlight but it will also do very well in the shade. I also have some pictures I took last week of a house in Abernathy, TX that has Shadow Turf planted underneath a dense English walnut tree. It looks very good. In the sunlight the Shadow Turf will be aggressive, so be aware of that. Once it creeps all the way to the fence, it will creep to the south side of the fence and go crazy on the other side.

If you want to see my pictures, you'll have to email me. I don't post my pictures on the photo bucket type websites.