Fair enough RC, here's an explanation. Mostly what it deals with is not mowing frequently enough. And of course cutting too off at one time, putting too much nitrogen back into it. More growth is spent on producing stems and parts of the plant that take much longer to break down than the leaves. The problems I have discussed in the past with not bagging bermuda clippings is that if you have many small clippings they have to be evenly spread out over the lawn if you are going to recycle them. And they have to be small enough to get down in there and not wash away into dunes. (Bermuda also breaks down very slowly in comparison to other species) Isn't this a reasonable enough concept that everyone can agree on?

thanx again for the replies. and thanx for asking about the drainage... yes! I want to install a french drain this summer. it's on my list of things to do. i'm in a relatively new development (7 years old) and all the back yards on my street are supposed to be graded to slope front to back and left to right. the sewer drain is on the back right-hand side of my backyard. I'm not sure if we obstructed it with a garden that we put in a few years ago, or what, but the grading isn't adequate at all, so I was hoping that a french drain will help. right now, there can be standing water for days after a strong rain. regarding the recommendations for mowers, thanks for that too! my old one probably doesn't have all that much longer left on it, and I'll definately keep that in mind when the time comes. after reading some reviews, it sounds as though deck design makes a big difference in mulching, and some are just made much better than others. - scott

@gle2011: I think shallow is relative. Some grasses have roots 2 and 3 ft deep. If you mow your KBG at 4" the roots will be about 4". If you mow it at 2" your roots will be about 2". I think the idea is to maximize the root depth by mowing high and encouraging the roots to reach down where the water is, not curl up and form a thatch mat while looking for shallow water. I think your site is vague about how dry the surface might become before needing more water. A lot of us have looked around and see our neighbors watering every day, doing everything wrong, yet having none of that brown straw mixed in with the green blades. If the search feature of this forum weren't so pathetic, I might be able to find my post on this subject. If I recall correctly, morpheus said that you might have to give up a little green in the summer heat but you gain resistance to many other problems. Personally, I have yet to see one of these neighbors' lawns crash and burn due to poor watering. On the other hand, I lost a few patches to fungus while doing everything "right"! I'm going to water an inch once a week whether it needs it or not next season to observe any difference.

Jeannie and Mama, yes, I was poking fun, that's why I put the smileys at the end of the message. Sorry if I was ambiguous. I understand not wanting to make it into a hobby. Then again, there are plenty of things that seem to make people happy and relax, forget their troubles... for one of my neighbors, it's his garden. He just *loves* taking care of it. He also doesn't seem to like to do laundry. Me, I don't much care for gardens. Mine is not worse because I found someone I can pay that comes mow my lawn. No one has to like vacuuming, or cooking, or putting dishes in the dishwasher, or doing laundry. I don't like ironing, for example. I only do it when I have to, which is not often. But for good or bad, I like to do some things -- they relax me and seem to make people happier. I like laundry and vacuuming for example, and I also like to load/unload the dishwasher. Those are tasks that to my mind, have a beginning, an end, and it's pretty hard they'll go bad, usually you end up with less mess, more clean stuff and, unlike my job, I can point to stuff that is physical and exists in the world, other people can see them, and I can say "I ran the dishwasher" or "I did all this laundry" and it's *visible*, it's clean, it's done, everyone is happy. Maybe it's not that way for everyone -- but, for good or bad, I'm a computer geek. When I have a good day at work (it happens often enough), *no one* notices, because everything goes right. When I have a hard day at work, *everyone* notices, because they can't do their jobs if the software or hardware is malfunctioning. And, the vast majority of the times, what I am doing is software, there is *nothing* I can point to that actually exists in the world: it's all just a bunch of bits in random places inside some memory device, like a DVD, a hard drive or a solid state disk. You point to a tiny thing that holds 128 gigabytes but you can't point to the *exact* location the software is in, and there are *tons* of other things there in addition to the software or data that I put in or am responsible for. I shouldn't complain, it's a good life, on one hand it's easier than farming things or building things etc, on the other hand it's harder than herding cats, or so I'm told, I've never actually herded cats. But I hope you can understand why I'm kinda protective of my "hobbies": when I first asked if people in my home minded if I did those, *everyone* said no and backed 3 steps to make sure they were not volunteering for the tasks. I took over them, I like them, I do them very well. *Now* that some people want to share the tasks or take over them, I'm saying no. They are mine! Bwahahahah!!!! ;-) Cheers, -- Paulo.