Wow. Thanks a lot for the in depth response! I knew I had some bluegrass/fescue but rye grass too?! In North Carolina?! That's not really something I'm pleased about. I'm wanting a predominantly fescue yard. I do have a couple statements/questions in regard to a few of your points below.

What about the yard leads you to believe it's low on resources? I did have the soil pH tested which came out at about 6.8-7. I know the yard was limed a year or so ago. And no doubt it needs feeding from what I understand of the previous owners maintenance routine

Also, the Weed B Gone I used was the one intended to kill clover and dandelions etc but I just happened to miss that spot in the picture lol. It killed it in the places I did manage to hit. I sprayed about 2 weeks ago

I was thinking I had a good enough base to overseed with fescue or KBG/fescue mix without having to completely kill off the lawn. Would you agree or disagree if I am wanting to go with that grass choice?

Thanks in advance for any and all information!

Any other advice?

Can I just start amending my soil, overseed, and fertilize? Or do I need to kill my whole yard if I predominantly want fescue?

If you want pure fescue, you'd have to renovate. Personally, I don't see any need to do so as that can be a very nice lawn if you work on it a bit.

>>What about the yard leads you to believe it's low on resources? I did have the soil pH tested which came out at about 6.8-7. I know the yard was limed a year or so ago. And no doubt it needs feeding from what I understand of the previous owners maintenance routine

The slight patchiness, the inconsistent colors, and the differential in growth rates still apparent from late fall. There are more subtle signals like the way the grass' blades spread that point to issues with lesser nutrients and micro-nutrients in your soil.

None of that is assured, but it's an indicator that you should have this soil tested and then rebalance it properly--don't blindly throw lime or anything else (other than nitrogen or organic feeding) at a lawn or garden. Improperly balancing the resources is worse than being too low on some as resources compete with each other. Overdoing calcium would, for instance, block absorption of phosphorus, potassium, and most minor elements.

>>I was thinking I had a good enough base to overseed with fescue or KBG/fescue mix without having to completely kill off the lawn. Would you agree or disagree if I am wanting to go with that grass choice?

Partial disagreement. Everybody tries to get around the soil test, at least until they see photos of lawns that have had them done, fixed any issues, and then used proper care techniques otherwise. Even cheap, builder's grade lawns look fantastic. Properly chosen seed for the locale stops passing cars to admire the greenery.

There are few existing lawns that can't be rescued to become extremely impressive. But if you have your heart set on one particular grass type, a full renovation is going to be the only way to achieve that.

Since it can't be done until late summer, that gives you the rest of spring and summer to fix any soil problems.

Ok great. Thanks again. So right now my main goal is to get the soil healthy right? I'll start trying to get my hands on that test.

Does feeding introduce the appropriate minerals etc back in as sort of a one stop shop or will I have to spread them individually based on the report findings?

Lastly, if I go with one of the Fescue/Bluegrass mixes, would that be sufficient for overseeing without renovating? I don't really care to have the Rye, but the rye should eventually die out completely with winters since I'm not introducing any new Rye seed right?

http://www.loganlabs.com/get-started.html

The only thing needed is the $25 basic test.

>>Does feeding introduce the appropriate minerals etc back in as sort of a one stop shop or will I have to spread them individually based on the report findings?

Individually. Elements and amounts are determined by the test.

>>Lastly, if I go with one of the Fescue/Bluegrass mixes, would that be sufficient for overseeing without renovating? I don't really care to have the Rye, but the rye should eventually die out completely with winters since I'm not introducing any new Rye seed right?

It might. Overseeding usually doesn't produce the optimal result, but on a severely patchy lawn, it'll certainly do better than nothing.

Eventually, over time, the rye should die. How long that takes is quite another story...

Ok. Sorry to keep asking questions but I'm new to all this! :)

But I'm a little confused on one thing. You say overseeing won't produce optimal results, but it's obvious the yard needs some grass growth in quite a few spots right?

Earlier up you said you didn't believe my yard needed renovating, but you don't believe overseeing will be very beneficial? I thought those were my only two options for a good lawn?

It does look like your yard needs some help, yep.

1) Overseeding involves targeting watering for the new seed, which tends to make the older grasses go nuts, overshadowing new growth. In bare areas, that works fine as there's no old growth. In small bare patches, not so much.

2) Spreading grasses will happily close holes, even very significant ones, if the soil has the resources it needs and it's well-fed. My lawn closed trashcan-lid sized holes in a single season.

3) It depends on what's acceptable. Minor flaws are OK for a lot of people, whereas I wouldn't tolerate them. However, having a lawn without minor flaws can be a lot of work...