This past week my wife, Margaret, mowed our lawn for the fourth time this year. The first two rounds were to remove winter weeds. On round three and four, she mowed the St. Augustine. She even cut some Bermudagrass. Bermuda is much slower to emerge and grow than St. Augustine. This year we had an exceptionally dry and cool April. This has caused the Bermuda to fall further behind. With all this in mind, it is time to fertilize your lawn. Even if you do not water your lawn, fertilization will help establish a thick, lush Bermudagrass lawn. It is possible to have a nice lawn without watering. It will not remain lush and green though out the summer, but with proper fertilization and mowing it should look nice. Note, it may burn and thin some in the July and August heat. I recommend a 15-5-10 or similar blend of fertilizer applied at 5-7lbs per 1,000 square feet.

One rancher remarked they were cutting and bailing the junk winter grass off the Coastal Bermudagrass so their next cutting would be clean of weeds and off type grasses. This is another example of how dry and cool this spring has been. In the early 1990’s, the Extension Service established a fertilizer demonstration on Flat Top Ranch with Louis Beecherl. The test was just a standard fertilizer test to demonstrate proper fertilization. We applied the fertilizer in early April. To the best of my memory, we harvested our first cutting of hay in late May. Oh, for the good ole days!