I started a post a few weeks ago, got some good advice. Now I'm thinking along different lines. Original post is http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg0911454920679.html?11 When my Bermuda is completely dormant, could I then kill all the fescue? Would reseed with Bermuda whenever the time is right in the spring. I've gotten all the Bermuda out of the beds it encroached on - that was laziness on my part not doing it earlier. Plan to do shallow(ish) trenching so managing it will be simpler. What do you experts think of this? My thanks in advance, Rosie, Sugar Hill, GA (n, Atlanta)

>How big of an area are you talking about?Rather small, actually. It's a small strip alongside the driveway, measuring something like 5' x 10'. >I'm going to go back to TW's first post and suggest that your friend should learn to love Bermuda.I suppose he could learn to love dandelions, oxalis and crabgrass as well, but that's really not an ideal suggestion for my fescue lawn or garden beds growing alongside it. I can't understand anyone who *chooses* to grow Bermuda grass. It's invasive to every other part of your landscape, ugly (compared to fescue anyway) and turns a lovely shade of brownish gray in the winter. :( Solarization sounds like the most effective choice, but lord, having a dead lawn next door for the next year hardly has me dancing for joy. But I appreciate the suggestions.

If it's that bad, I say just tear it all out and start over. The method by which you do that is up for debate.

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!