Grass is my undoing as a gardener

As I said in my last post, my next project was weeding in the front yard.  The large island close to the street was the main focus.  I found few actual weeds but more crabgrasses spreading their tendrils in wide circles.  This is the garden that holds my maple tree and the large ixora that was decimated by the cold winter we had.  I'm happy to say the ixora has recovered beautifully, thick with leaves although no flowers yet.

 I'm sure they will return as well as the weather cools.  This plant blooms all winter, providing welcome red flowers while other plants are dormant.

The gardens were quickly done and then I turned to the crabgrass in the lawn.  The closer I looked, the more I saw.  I worked two main areas that are now bare earth (actually, sand).  I intend to dig up the crabgrass  on at least a weekly basis and fill the bare spots with plugs of St. Augustine, if I can find them.  Most of the garden shops I frequent have sod in large squares on large pallets.  I don't have a vehicle to transport that, plus I know what kind of strength is required to cut up the sod.  I don't have that either. 

Also, I'm sure the ground can use restoration.   I'll have to research that.  Lawn care is not my forte, as you can probably tell. 

I'll let you know how that goes in the weeks to come.