How much work do you want to put into your yard? Are you willing to sacrifice appearance or are you willing to make it look really nice if it involves spending more time mowing?

I live in NC and have enjoyed my Emerald Zoysia. It does great here. We have a lab and dog urine not only turns it yellow, but kills it. We have trained the dog to use the natural area as a bathroom, works most of the time.

wiley, NC has 4 different climatic zones which can make any grass thrive or fail, where in NC are you?

I am located in north central Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozarks. Last year I had to have 6 dumptruck loads of soil brought in and spread. Our yard was red clay. I spread bermuda grass seed and sprigged even though it was late summer. I think it might have survived if we hadn't had so much rain in the last few months. My yard still has water standing in several places. It has literally drowned the grass. Now all I have are wheat stalks, a very few runners of bermuda and MUD. So my husband said lets just go with sod. Today I measured the front yard and it is 10,200 sq feet.

I already have bermuda on a hillside and it done wonderful, but yes it required lots and lots of mowing. My intial idea was to have bermuda and then overseed with a rye grass to keep it green in the winter. So I am really open about what type of grass. I just want grass instead of clay or mud. If you will remember I have four dogs. So having grass will help keep my house a lot cleaner. And I won't have to give so many doggie baths.

Also I have a wet weather spring on the upside of the yard. When we built our house my husband dug a ditch and filled it with gravel to keep the water off our house. He connected it to the french drain. Now with the top soil I had brought in, the water runs down toward the house before it soaks down to the gravel. Any ideas on how to cope with this? My husband says we have to remove some of the dirt.

Right now I have to much water, but I know this summer will be dry. And then I am going to wish I put in a sprinkler. But that is a whole other topic.

Thanks for the help! Sorry so long.

It sounds like you brought the soil in without consulting a landscaper or a "finish grader." Had you talked with these folks your water would now be draining properly. You need to get that straightened out or you may lose your house to mold/mildew. I think this is a must before you think about anything else. It is a 1-hour job for an experienced grader with a tractor and box blade. It is a 1-week job for someone with a bobcat or skidsteer. These simply can't do what a tractor can do.

Zoysia and 419 are anything but compatible. They don't look the same at all. When bermuda is properly fertilized and water, it has a dark green color like most cool season grasses. But Zoysia is light green no matter how much fertilzer you give it. Zoysia makes a nicer apperance compare to 419.

I have a small patch of zoysia that you cannot tell from the adjacent bermuda without getting on your hands and knees. Here's a picture from last year.
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Dog urine spots can usually be cleared up completely in 3 weeks with one application of table sugar. Scatter a heaping handful on the spot as soon as you see it and water it lightly. In three weeks it should be green again and in 6 weeks it should be a dark green spot like it was over fertilized. It was overfertilized, but with organics, not synthetics.

Auteck, I live in coastal NC.
dchall, thanks for the sugar suggestion, i have heard of adding corn meal after the sugar, do you have any experience with this.
thanks