Bermuda Bible, which says that common varieties can be mowed to between 1-1/2 and 2 inches. At those heights, will the same 2-3 times per week frequency be required? No. The rule of thumb for mowing any grass type is to never remove than 1/3 blade length. Many if not most of the Bermuda hybrids and even some of the improved common varieties can be maintained at 1/2 and less with some of the dwarf varieties. If kept that short requires mowing every other day. Bermuda grass very fast, so fast under the right conditions you can dang near see and hear it grow. When kept at say 1.5 inches you would be looking to mow every 5 to 7 days, and under some conditions, wet and warm, every 3 to 4 days. What results from less mowing? Seed heads? Thinning? Correct. Bermuda has a unique characteristic in that it can be trained to do something no other grass can do. Some expert says it is self defense. When kept short and mowed frequently the blades learn to lay low and grow horizontally to avoid the blade. When this happens the grass interweaves into a tight dense mat of carpet. It forms a barrier weeds have difficulty breaching. As the maintenance height is raised allows the grass to grow more vertically, which loosens up the density and opens the canopy so to speak. It begins to thin out which opens up more opportunities for weeds to invade. I don't mind the fertilization schedule. I'll be going the organic route, so I'm thinking soybean meal, CGM, or alfalfa pellets once per month. Any opinions about which one of those will be best for Bermuda? Also, given my organic care leanings, will general good Bermuda practices eventually crowd out the fescue? If you are going to go the organic route for economic-technical reasons I would suggest Milorganite over the feed-grains. Of the three you listed Soy Bean Meal would be #1 choice. CGM is great but very expensive and SBM has about the same protein content. Alfalfa pellets are uselees on Bermuda, as is corn meal. FYI Bermuda is a nitrogen hog, and many if not most of the organic alternatives cannot supply enough nitrogen fast enough to meet the demand early on and may take a season or two to build up the soil microbes to digest the food grains. However Milorganite works pretty much just like commercial fertilizers. IT has slow release nitrogen but not painfully slow and has some iron in it which is welcomed in any lawn. Now with all that said consider this. For the first season to kick start the Bermuda growing use a commercial slow release urea fertilizer for the next 2 months. Then 1 half application commercial urea, and half organic choice.

Tibb, I'm definitely in the fescue fan club over Bermuda. To each his own I guess. Here's what I do and it works very well. Plan on overseeding every fall with a different variety of fescue. Never cut the grass short even in the spring. The more green is on top the deeper the roots grow which gives them better access to water when things get drier. It will go dormant in the summer but should bounce back later when things cool off. Also cutting it high will block out weed seeds from the sunlight which they need to germinate. If you could look at my lawn compared to my neighbors (who cuts his fescue short) you would see 10-20 dandelion tufts sticking up in mine compared to his hundreds. Plan on tolerating a few weeds. Clover is good, dandelions can be picked out as needed. Crabgrass is a pain but a pre-emergent will help some - too late for that now. Don't water in the summer you'll just stress it out let it go dormant. I don't water my grass unless I've just planted seed. I don't fertilize mine because I haven't needed to. I've overseeded each fall with different seeds and the lawn is looking pretty good. If you mow high and have Bermuda creep in you can control it some because the fescue grows taller and the Bermuda has a harder time. Now if I could just get rid of the Bermuda in the vegetable garden!

I suspect that's too much shade under the trees. Bermuda will not be the best for that spot. Ideally you would have seeded the bermuda in mid June to have the warmest conditions, but this year was not cooperating with the rain and overcast. Still you should have fit it in in the heat of summer for best results. That is crazy about the tree. Is the tree on her property or yours or smack in the middle? Are you renting or do you own the property? I would suggest taking down the chain link at this point, but don't waste the money if you're renting. It is amazing how much difference the deep and infrequent watering process makes. Also if you have not fertilized recently, you might try organic. I use alfalfa pellets or corn meal from Ful-o-Pep on Roland east of WW White. 50 pounds should be under $15 or $10. Application rate is 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet, and it takes 21 days to see the results. With this cold front it might take a few days longer if you were to put it down this weekend. If you buy it now and don't use it all, go ahead and use it all anyway. You cannot hurt anything by overdoing these products. If you leave it in the garage over the winter it will be buggy in the spring. It's still fine to use, but just a little icky. So next April is the time to evaluate what you want to do with the back yard. I think it could be too shady for bermuda. If it seems slow to awaken and turns thin, then shade is the problem. The best place to get St Augustine is Milberger's Nursery at 1604 and Bulverde Rd inside the loop. They sell 14 pallets of St Aug every day, so it's always fresh. Lowe's and HD sell 1-2 pallets per week, and it always looks diseased. Milberger's is also about 1/3 the price of Lowe's.

Yep, anything that grows taller than bermuda, is fairly easy to spot kill with Round up. I just put a little Round up solution in a dish, dip my fingers in there-and rub the tall grass blades with my fingers, making sure that it doesn't drip. If you don't want to get it on your hands, I guess you could wear a rubber glove.