And I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing soil test reads (you're the first one I'm going to have to disappoint...here...but there's an alternative). There's a couple reasons for this:

1) Houzz has really gone downhill. Management refuses, without being blatantly threatened, to control name-calling and other violations of their policy.

2) Consequently, apparently I've "never given a competent answer," a statement Houzz has chosen to let stand. So be it, but it doesn't come without consequences.

3) Bad chemistry answers abound, along with bad physics, and simple name-calling and obnoxious replies are considered (and Liked) as completely valid replies to them. Bugger that. It indirectly casts doubt on my own answers just by being associated with poor chemistry and garden myths that are openly accepted.

I'm simply not willing to put in an average of 30 hours a month during the busy season to read soil tests under those conditions.

However...as noted above...there's an alternative. Somehow, Houzz can still insta-ban anybody who mentions the other place because reasons. Try searching for "the best independent website for learning about and sharing information about lawns and gardens" and see what forums you find.

I moved over there some time ago. Soil reads are opening back up in February, although they'll only read Logan Labs testing.

As for you, specifically, send me a note. I'll give you specific direction.

The picture speaks for itself. Thanks to morpheuspa,dchall,reeljake and texasweed's bermuda guide. This forum has helped!

These were taken in June 2020 -

Backyard - That slope has been a challenge and thank you morphe for the recommendations.

Thank you dchall for the Alfalfa pellets recommendation - we not only saw lots of worms come up but enjoyed the birds come to our yard.

This is a combination of Alflfa Pellets+24-0-10, Fast acting Lime (Pennington) and light dose of 46-0-0 towards the end of the season.

I had to do that search to see what happened. It is what I thought it would be. I was a charter member in 2008 and still love that forum. I can provide a little history...

The GardenWeb forum was created by a guy named Spike back in the 90s. Spike was the ultimate judge of what was acceptable here. For example, if you tried to post profanity, when you hit the Submit button, your post was erased and you found yourself at disneyland.com. It was hilarious until you found yourself "sent to Disney," (ahem). The forum was growing as more fora were added, and, in the early 2000s, Spike had an opportunity to sell. The new owners (not Houzz, yet) implemented Spike's vision but tried to use forum moderators. Trouble was nobody knew who the moderators were. These owners added sh-tton of advertising, which was a new and unwelcome idea at the time. The lawn care forum split off to have an organic lawn care part, because the arguments were intolerable. More forums were added and the community grew huge, fast. I don't remember the catalyst in the lawn forum, but it quickly grew into a dumpster fire. You could not get advice due to the megalomaniac personalities involved. A large group of us left GardenWeb and started an independent forum. A few of us/them returned regularly to GardenWeb to shanghai members here. Those members found themselves banned for life. The new forum thrived for awhile until the absolute power of forum ownership corrupted them absolutely. I personally had my comments changed to correct "errors" which were not errors but were my diverging opinion from the owner of the forum. A couple of the members on the new forum decided to start another new forum. I'm not sure how morpheuspa was not included in the charter membership of that forum but he came to it within a few weeks of the launch. I got the organic lawn care forum going and TexasWeed moderated the warm season lawns forum. TW had some issues with other members, and they found a way of booting him out. Again it is personalities and the ability to tolerate certain indignities. Morph and I both have been in and out of GardenWeb over the years, but that other forum is still going strong. Except for a very few glitches, it is a safe haven to discuss lawn care tuned to your situation. I think the participation has dropped, but the owner tells me it's all going about the same. But if you have a lawn problem, it's probably been discussed in the 10s of thousands of posts on there.

Spike was grand, I loved Spike. I would have married Spike sight unseen.

I didn't get included in the charter because I didn't want to be. If you check the Artist thread over yonder and realize I've probably divulged half of what I do...and I do more than art...and that I have no kids and don't sleep very much...yeah. I do better being able to duck in and out as it pleases me. I decorate the planet behind me with all sorts of things as I pass by. I just had to order two new watercolor journals and a passel of paper. I'm out. Again.

But yes, with the decay of this place, I just don't see it as a valuable enough forum to expend the effort any longer, so I simply won't. Things have recently improved due to a Sharply Worded Letter With Inlaid Examples, but that shouldn't be required. It's soon to dissolve into a morass of personality wars where the dominant screamer's opinion rules, rather than facts and data. As if it already hasn't.

So, enough.

Looks like you keep the bermuda pretty tall. I do too but it wont look that good late summer. Ive learnt to accept that as I dont have the time to mow 2-3 times a week. I did buy a sun joe verticutter in dec 2020 that I think should help this season. What happens is the bermuda when maintained tall if it gets walked on it wont ever stand back up like it did before and the brown underneath will show from a distance making it not look as good.

I've never used a verticutter, but from what I've been told by the experts, it thickens bermuda quite well. Use it after the lawn has awakened and allow it to recover before using it again. It works because the surface runners in bermuda are so aggressive. It does not work on St Augustine, because they are not nearly so hardy.

I live on a hill so my bermuda tends to want to lay down even more. Dont have this problem in april and may, just late summer. Hare is a pic. Its dormant but you can see what I am talking about.. Hopefully the verticutter will help out with this

Hi Randy, I should be bold to get the grass even lower..you know the history of my lawn so very scared to do it lol. The far left side of the dome needs TLC compared to the right side. The high-grass may be an illusion especially on the far left. Anyway I was planning to dethatch just before summer starts when I am about to fertilize the first time. I will not be detatching the slope as it still needs help to thrive. So should I scalp before dethatch?

Guys, any idea on why my hollies at the top have yellow leaves? This is the shorter ones which I had planted when I sodded the slope.