Location NE Florida.
Current grass St. Augustine.
Dogs are destroying my backyard, running on it and digging. I know nothing can really survive digging but what is hardy and grows back fast? I can put a fence up to keep them out of an area for a little while it recovers, with the hope that thick healthy grass with reduce digging.
Don’t have a whole lot of money so ideally I would plant over the st. Augustine, if needed I could use the cultivator to kill it some more but it’s hanging on by a thread. Due to dogs no chemicals, I can fertilize though and keep them off it for 1-2 days.
by Brendon7358
5 Comments
Forgot to mention, grass is on the northern side, with most of it shaded by the house. It usually grows great in the backyard but with the cold temperatures it’s been getting hammered
You need a high traffic turf grass. Bermuda is great but needs lots of sunshine. Zoysia is great for shade. Not cheap.
Bermuda won’t tolerate an area with a lot of shade well at all. It will just stay bare all season long.
Does it look like this seeing the summer months too? Wondering if it just looks worse than usual now since we’re in winter, and if you wait till summer it can grow through the dog damage.
St. Augustine is damn hardy! There are two things to consider.
1. Does it get at least 6 hours of sun for 3 to 4 months of the year?
2. Are your dogs just terribly destructive to the grass.
If you are convinced that you get more than 6 hours of sun a day, then you need to think of a grass alternative. Nothing else will do better. Possibly a type of Zoysia, but that will be an expensive trial and error.
I know this is r/lawncare, so these words are blasphemous, but I mixed in clover in my yard to help offset what my dogs kept killing, happy with the results. No mud, green yard.