If others in your neighborhood grow Bermuda, and it seems to do well there, then yours should too. With lots of sun, tall fescue will also work, which I personally prefer over Bermuda. It's less invasive, stays green all year when healthy, and because it grows long puts down a deeper root system. It also looks really nice when "striped." It's been many years since I researched Bermuda, but my memory tells me that it's pretty difficult to grow from seed, albeit not as hard as Zoysia. Fescue is easy to sow, though I wouldn't do it until the fall. Your plan of cutting short, topdressing, sedding, topdressing sounds viable to me. I would add compost (I like Black Kow) to the topdressing as well. You should also press the seed into the soil. The flat side of a garden rake works fine for relatively small lawns, although you'll want to rent a roller for anything of real size. Good luck.

I can't agree, depending on what it is you're asking...... All of my friends, above, have recommended KBG, because you have insisted that you want a lawn. You don't. A lawn is something (for the purposes of this discussion) that one of the ladies of the church might walk on, if she steps off of the sidewalk, on her way to the front door. Oh, my! You want something else entirely. You want something that will withstand kids. Thank you for not saying 'active kids', because if it were active kids, geeze, it would be an even worse situation. Then you mention a dog. That makes it worse. Actually, you mention 'dogs', plural, which makes it even worse than that. Thank you, for not saying 'and by the way, the kids interact with the dogs', because then you'd have about the worst situation possible. Unless you were to add "and after that, the dogs interact with the kids, and then the kids do their best to get even, and before you know it, everybody's chasing each other, and things can get a little crazy around here...." Geeze, thanks for not adding all of that. You are going to want to look up 'athletic field', or look up 'golf course', but you are surely not going to want to look up 'lawn'. (Church lady. Steps off of sidewalk. Forget it). When a two hundred pound guy grabs another two hundred pound guy, and drags him around in the dirt, on Sundays, in front of a crowd, and somebody applauds, and all these guys are running up and down the field, and they're knocking each other over, it's a little tough on the groundskeeper, and he's got to get it all repaired, by six days from today. Or a golf course, where these guys are swiping those clubs, and a little patch (called a 'divot' gets whooshed out of there, and there's a bare spot, two hundred times a day, and the groundskeeper has to make that bare spot repair itself, quickly, it's a little difficult. But one can change the line of approach to the fairway, and while the left side is repairing, we'll all play on the right side. But yes, it's a little difficult, to make it work. Those patches of grass (on both 'athletic fields' and 'golf courses'), difficult as they are, can repair themselves, because those patches get a little rest. A little break. A little down time. But not your place, babe. Nope. Is it three dogs and two kids, or is it three kids, and two dogs? No down time. No rest. Your magic word for today is "fertilizer". You might toss in 'water'. But the point is, you can't just add KBG to the yard, and figure you've got it knocked. You don't, and never will. KBG will repair itself, grow, spread out, rejuvenate, if it has a lot of fertilizer, and that does not mean a little bit of fertilizer. You could go over there, and ask the athletic field guys, or ask the golf course guys, for advice, but after you say 'three dogs and two kids', they're liable to be asking YOU for advice. Your place will have much more wear and tear than theirs will. They will be very interested in how you solve your problems, and theirs will be rather small, in comparison. You get the point: after some wear, the lawn needs the gumption to recuperate. It needs to have the energy, the FERTILIZER, to make that happen, and happen quickly, because more wear and tear is going to happen, coming right up, thank you, and even MORE is going to happen, right after that. So yes, you need KBG: it will repair itself, it will spread out, it's durable. But you need even more, FERTILIZER, to keep all of that happening, non-stop. Just like a sod farm: those guys take bare ground, every year, and from seed manage to fertilize, and the shoots grow into a dark green carpet of healthy lawn. It's the fertilizer, it's not the choice of seed. Lots of fertilizer. Light doses, fairly frequently applied. Grow, baby, grow. Non stop. You need three parts fertilizer, to one part Kentucky Blue Grass. Maybe four parts fertilizer, to one part Kentucky Blue Grass. Keep it growing, non stop, because that patch of ground is not going to get any rest. And go ahead, go over there to the golf course....you can say, with admiration, 'two hundred golfers, with a thousand spectators, and a week later, it looks this good?'.....I got news for you: that guy is going to look at you, with admiration, and he's going to say "Did you say three dogs, and two kids, or did you say three kids, and two dogs?" Good luck with it.

>>I didn't put any fertilizer down, is that something that I should be doing?? Not yet. The seed contains all the resources the plant will require for its first month of life or so. If you go organic, feeding at seeding time is correct (it takes about a month to begin to release nitrogen and there's an extremely wide window of release). Synthetically, feeding about a month post-sprout is correct. At that point, the baby roots have grown enough to be able to gather nitrogen from the soil.What about so called "starter fertilizer"? Does it help at seeding time? I've been going milo so far this year but was thinking about dropping the Scott's starter with Mesotrione to buy me 6 weeks or so until I can put down Barricade or Dimesnsion. Figured its 2 birds with one stone...

Wilsocn, I did an overseed on my 1/2 acre and a complete reno on my parents 1,500 square foot back lawn on Monday. Last night we got a torrential downpour so my lawn will need some spots touched up and my parents lawn was completely wiped out so I now have more seed on the way. Guess I'm trying to say be careful what you wish for on rain. :) I would much prefer watering 3 to 4 times per day during the first few weeks. Miko R, as long as the seeds have good contact with the soil and you keep them moist you will have germination. In the past I have used compost, peat moss, straw, and nothing to cover the seed and germination has been very good either way. Just make sure whatever you use isn't too thick on top of the seed. About 1/4" is as much as you want. Covering the seed will help with moisture retention but if you're watering 4 to 5 times per day that shouldn't be an issue for you.