I've gone into detail on all of this before here on the forums under various topics. St. Augustine, moved as high as possible using a mulching mower, watered deeply and as infrequently as the heat permits. I've had the soil tested and there wasn't anything that stood out from the soils in this area. What nutrient and mineral defeciencies were reported are being slowly addressed with amendments.

~Dave

I can highly recommend a tool I bought at Home Depot 3 years ago, that I still see there every year.

It's shaped like a small pitchfork, with only two forks on it, about 7 inches each.. You attach a hose to it and water shoots out under high pressure form holes on the very end of the forks.

You walk around your yard and step it into the ground. When the water bubbles to the surface, you move on. This decompaction allows things to start to happen deeper down. I use it on my parkway and some of the areas that get a lot of sun every year.

Also, I had Preservation Tree Services over 4 years for a complete yard aeration and "nutrient dump" for my 60 yr old elm. They have an industrial air compressor that has a long air hose attached to it. It has a foot long plunger-vibrator on the hose-end. It's like a jackhammer setup without the jackhammer.

They walk along and plunge it in every couple of feet. Not only does it leave a hole a foot deep and about 3 inches across, but the air blasts through the soil underneath too.

When they are done, they fill each hole with an organic amendment mix.

It is definitely not cheap -- we are talking hundreds of dollars -- but it was GREAT for my yard and for the old elm.

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...Bill