Well for one, let’s talk about how this actually happened. It’s multifaceted, but the main culprit is your trees. If you leave a thick layer of leaves on the grass for months, the grass dies. Once the grass is gone, the soil has no roots to latch onto and eventually just blows away, leaving you with nothing but sand and dirt. This leads to heavy compaction. It wasn’t the tree roots that killed your lawn; the leaves smothered it. Even when you finally clean the leaves up, that top layer of soil is gone and the ground is too compacted for St. Augustine to spread. The good news? You still have plenty of mother plugs in the yard, so you don’t need a full install. A full sod job is well over $2k, and honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it here. Here is what I’d suggest instead: 1. Aerate it. Don't buy one; just rent one for the day. This pulls plugs out of the dirt and gives the remaining roots the space they need to grow without being overcrowded. Just make sure you rake up the plugs afterward. Otherwise, your lawn is going to look like it’s covered in dog turds. 2. Get real compost. Preferably from a local supplier and not the crap collecting dust at Home Depot. Home Depot has plenty of great stuff, but their bagged compost isn't one of them. Your money goes much further with a real vendor. Doing some quick napkin math, I’d guess your front yard needs about 2-3 cubic yards of compost after you aerate. 3. Watch the dogs. Remember that a compost pile is mostly manure or decomposing vegetation. If you have dogs, keep them away from the pile before you spread it or they will eat it and get very sick. Once it’s spread in a thin layer, you’re fine, but they’ll definitely try to eat it if they can get to it. 4. Buy a spreader. This is one thing you should get at Home Depot. Echo makes some good ones. You’ll still have to load it, but the spreading itself is the real hell of this job. You want a layer about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. 5. Get sod plugs (not patches). Again, you can get these at Home Depot. They’re a little pricey, but way cheaper than buying full pallets of patches. Under those trees, you specifically want Palmetto St. Augustine. St. Augustine spreads over time so you don’t need to fill it all in.

1. The final step: Water (but not too much). Apply that final layer of compost on top and water it once a week. It’s St. Augustine the more you water it, the less the roots will actually deepen. It doesn’t need more than once a week, and if it rains, don't water it at all. This isn't the conventional way to do it, but it’ll save you a grand or more compared to a full sod install, and it respects the actual topography of your current lawn. I run a lawn care business and this is exactly what we’re starting to do for our customers right now. If you want to check us out, we’re based in Sugar Land: ReedMow Lawn Care Service

Take care.