It would be interesting to know where you got advice to seed bermuda in the fall. Or do you even want bermuda? It would also be interesting to know who advised rototilling. Rototilling will ruin your soil structure leading to a bumpier and bumpier lawn for the next 3 years.

What would you like to have? I believe you're in the transition zone which means you can have either a northern grass like fescue or Kentucky bluegrass or a southern grass like bermuda or St Augustine. Bermuda is a lot of effort to keep it nice. Kentucky bluegrass is nice but morpheuspa says it's more work than fescue. Both bermuda and KBG need mostly full sun. Fescue and St Augustine can tolerate considerable shade. Doesn't look like you have much shade. If you want to go with a northern grass, then fall seeding is best. If you want to have a common bermuda, then seed that in June. If you want St Augustine, that only goes in as sod, so you can do that any time.

You should not need to aerate.

Don't add any chemicals like lime unless you have a soil test report that tells you how much to use, what kind to use, and when. Logan Labs in Ohio has the best soil tests for $25.

The best thing you can do for your soil is to begin to use organic fertilizer on it. I'm not talking about commercially branded fertilizer. I'm talking about something like soybean meal, alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow), or corn meal. These are fairly inexpensive compared to fertilizer when you buy at your local feed store. The application rate is 15 to 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can start that now or whenever, but it really helps improve the health of your soil.

Thank you! No one gave me the advice yet to do bermuda or even when to seed it(Just read that seeding in the fall is best from a weather perspective and I "think" that is what is there currently), before I even get to picking grass I was kind of hoping to get advice on where to start with the weed/grass ratio issue or if any grass I have is savagable. I am fine with doing the fescue but isn't bermuda more drought resistant? Also a couple of follow up questions.

If I go with bermuda to your point about seeding in June, do I have time to start now? If I did seed in June wouldn't I have to water alot or have a higher risk of screwing up?

If I go with fescue, would my game plan be to roundup in late summer and seed/fertilize in the fall?

Here are some other tidbits about my yard I left out of the first post. I do not have a sprinkler system, 75% of my yard gets full sun(as pictured) but I have a 25% side yard that is mostly shaded.

Thanks!

mat2cam ,

First of all, welcome to GardenWeb if you're new! Secondly, glad to see someone posting from beautiful Charlotte! My wife and I grew up there and lived there up until 2011, and we miss it dearly.

When we bought our house in Huntersville, I inherited a lawn that resembled your description exactly - the builder only cared about making sure the yard had "green stuff" growing, and didn't care if that meant grass or weeds. I also did not have a built in irrigation system.

If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely have "nuked" the yard with Roundup (probably over two applications) and either brought in some decent sod or re-seeded. Here are some grass options and the pros/cons for the Charlotte region:

1. Fescue

Pros: Can be maintained to look good year-round; can be found in seed and sod varieties; will have a higher percentage of matching what your neighbors probably have (if a newer neighborhood). Big Bonus: Fescue will do fine in shade, so it will be great for that shaded side yard you mentioned.
Cons: Maintenance in the summer-time can be expensive and bothersome. Fescue requires A LOT of water during those hot Charlotte summers, especially if you have a newer house that has no shade trees to help protect it. Additionally, trying to sow it now could prove to be difficult, since I've read that it's best to put new Fescue in after the summer months (Sept/Oct).

2. Bermuda

Pros: Once established, it is very hard to kill. It will spread very fast and loves all the sun it can get. Additionally, the newer Bermuda hybrid varieties are very drought resistant, which would be a big bonus for someone without an irrigation system. One more bonus: when the summer heat is really beating down, your neighbors' Fescue will be suffering, but your Bermuda will be thriving. Chances are, some of what you are seeing as "weeds", will actually be Bermuda grass that just isn't matching the Fescue.
Cons: It will turn brown beginning around early October and not come back until late March; so your yard will appear dormant while your neighbors Fescue will be green and lush. Additionally, once introduced, it can be very difficult to get rid of it.

3. Centipede

My father still lives in Charlotte and is obsessed with grass. He transplanted his entire yard with sprigs of Centipede that he found in various places in eastern NC. His yard looks outstanding in the summer time! It requires very little water, does not grow as fast as other grass types in the summer time (maintenance is much less for him), and has a unique shade of green that the rest of your neighborhood will find intriguing. (I'd only choose this option if you treat your lawn as a hobby or a project; if you're wanting to 'fix' your yard and move on to other projects, Options 1 or 2 may be best)

One last note: Being in Charlotte, you can find all of the organic alternatives that dchall mentions in the less urban areas... so depending on where you are, that'd be Gaston County, near Carowinds, even Lake Norman where there are still some feed/grain stores around. Basically, the opposite direction of Uptown, where they will charge you $100 for a bag of fertilizer.

Best of luck and we wish you the best!

Awesome BirkdaleSteve! Thanks for the welcome and the advice! I actually lived off Sam Furr near the Birkdale area before that area really took off 10+ years ago. Now I actually live over closer to Concord and typically shop at those "Farm type stores" for most of my gardening needs as I am an avid gardener. I think it maybe a keeping up with the Joneses thing but I've alwasy had a green thumb but never really cared about a nice lawn until I bought my current house. Now I have the desire but not the knowledge, so thank you for all that advice!

I really like the look of the areas of my yard that there is more bermuda and less weeds so I think I am going with option 2 but I have oh so many follow up questions. I'll just make a list :)

1. The bermuda is completely dormant now can I do the first roundup now and still have time to do the second roundup and seed in June like DHSA said above?

2. You said to "nuke" the whole thing, so should I wait for the existing bermuda to green up prior to round up?

3. If the timing allows to start now, should I put down compost/organic fertilizer while the roundup is doing work and before the reseed?

4. Maybe I'll just save a few more questions and ask, what are my next steps for going the bermuda route. I was originally planning to do this project in the fall but would be fine to start now if that is what I need.

I am getting excited just thinking about having a nice lawn!

Thanks

mat2cam,

1. I do not see the Roundup being any less effective now vs. later in the year. As an example, I would apply Roundup this weekend, and then allow perhaps 2 weeks before applying the second application. Then you can wait a decent amount of time before prepping and laying down seed/sod (it'd be good to have the more knowledgeable people here comment on how long you should wait).

---> One step I did not mention in earlier post: Take a soil sample or two and send it off to Logan Labs. You can post the results in the forum with a brief summary of the project your undertaking, and one of the experts will give you an assessment of what nutrients or additives you should consider for your soil.

2. The answer here may depend on how much Bermuda you actually have. I hate to see you kill existing Bermuda if there's a decent amount of it, as keeping the existing Bermuda could significantly reduce the amount of time it would take to have full coverage of your yard. In one of your photos it looks like there may be some dormant grass, but not in the second photo. I'm leaning towards nuking the whole yard to get rid of all the weeds and undesirables; but it'd be good if dchall or txweed (if he's still around) could chip in with their experience.

3. I would wait - once you nuke via Roundup, you'll want to rake all the dead weeds/plants up and get rid of it so that you're left with just soil. Then you can add any compost you'd like. Be sure to check the Bermuda bible on when to add that stuff when seeding a new lawn. Here's the link: (Bermuda Bible)

4. It's good to get excited and treat this as a hobby - hopefully the project turns out well enough to keep the excitement going!

Feel free to post updates with photos as you go along - the more experienced guys here can help and the rest of us always like to see how things progress and turn out!

Based on everything said so far, it is too late to use RoundUp unless you want to kill the bermuda. You should have done that in January. Having said that, RoundUp is not always the right product. In your case I would not be using RU. I would be using something like Weed-B-Gone Clover, Chickweed, and Oxalis (that's the name). Bermuda will be unaffected by that but the broadleaf weeds will be killed. Spot spray the weeds. Well, your entire lawn is weeds, so have at it! You can do that now or later.

Don't buy any seed yet. Wait until late May and see how the grass is doing. Bermuda is good at coming back.

The Bermuda Bible says the following (summary)

Weekly:

Water once and mulch mow twice at the mower's lowest setting

Monthly:

Feed with a high N fertilizer

Thank you BirkdaleSteve and DChall SA!

After reading and thinking I am leaning towards just nuking the whole thing and starting from scratch. I would like to save the existing bermuda but it might only represent 20% of my lawn in some areas. Additionally, I have too much surface area and way too many weeds to selectively spray O.O, just the thought of it tests my patience.

I am sending off the soil to test next week and will post the results once I get them back. Once I start the process, I will start a photo journal on the progress and post all of it.

Thank you again for all of the help! TBD