Still waiting for your expert comments.

Thanks morpheuspa. I am using what the lowes person suggested. Feeding couple of scotts fertilizers every 45 days. But pardon my ignorance, what I should be purchasing (any brand)? If I need to do it every month, I can do. If there is a yearly schedule for bermuda I can follow quite diligently. Please suggest.

First of I will say the most valuable tool you will find is the Bermuda Bible. Google it and it will help you 10 fold. Secondly. do not re-sod. You will find with proper care of Berumda it will fill-in and spread quickly. We need to know what your mowing and watering habits are as well. It is best mowed at 1-1.5in if you can get it that low, with a rotary mower, probably not. I mow mine around 2 in., but it is common Bermuda and I can get away with that height. On the first back yard pic, what side of the house is that? Is there heavy shade there?

For fertilizing, Lesco is the preferred brand, high nitrogen content. The Bermuda bible will tell you what specific numbers to look for. I personally have used Lesco a few times, but I am getting to the point where I use Alfalfa pellets and Bonide liquid iron, for deep green color, cheaper in my area. I mix in chemical fertilizers occasionally. Rule of thumb during growing season is high nitrogen fert. once a month, and water deeply once a week, deeply being 1in. Tuna cans placed through the yard while watering will let you know how much your sprinklers put out at a given time.

Also submitting a soil test to Logan's Lab will let you know what your soil is lacking. Come back here with the results and one of the experts can let you know what you need.

Thanks t_d_harvey.

Regarding the first back yard pic, it is facing south and receives full sun. It is on the sloping edge of the lawn originally was very infested with crab grass. Now the crab grass was gone, but I have "leafy grass weed" which I am still fighting.

I mow everyday keeping the low setting ( think 1 inch).

mower:Murray 22" Side-Discharge Push Lawn Mower. It mulches as well.I was told mulching is better than bagging.

Coming back to plan of action:

1. I have downloaded the bermuda bible. Since we are in June already, I need to buy nitrogen rich fertilizer and apply every month. Right? Anyone has recommended box store fertilizer. I have lowes and Homedepot near by and no speciality stores.

2. Per the online forums and talking to few SOD experts ( whom I called for quote), I could use some sand application to the lawn to make the Bermuda grow fast. Based on what I gather following are the steps I have.

a. Core aeration

b. Dethatching

c. Apply sand evenly and water. Regarding the sand there seems to be a confusion. Many folks including WalterReeves http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/grass-leveling-referrals/ its good idea to apply 50% top soil and 50% sand. Anyone has recommendations for soil sand mix that can be applied. I came across supersod soil3 mix and not sure if it is of any use for my case. Living in Atlanta area, hence any local store that has ready mix that delivers would be helpful.

Can you please comment if I should be looking at the above steps right away ?

Searching home depot site I found http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milorganite-36-lb-Organic-Nitrogen-Fertilizer-100048741/100618523

Is it good?

You shouldn't have to mow everyday, usually twice a week is sufficient. Cutting no more than 1/3 of the grass blade. By mowing everyday, I think it is harmful because the risk of disease. Someone can correct me if I am wrong on that.

1. yes, monthly. I believe Lowes is the one that carries the Lesco brand. If not it is home depot, lol, can't remember which one.

2. none of that...however I believe Bermuda does love sand, but it is overkill imo. Only reason to apply sharp sand is if you are trying to level the lawn, but that is a whole other process in itself. You do not need core aeration, companies tell you that because that is big money for them. You should not have thatch issues, since your sod is relatively new.

Follow Bermuda bible for now and see how much your yard improves by fall. You can get a soil test done now or either wait for the fall whatever your budget can handle. If you can get your hand on organics, that will help improve your soil quality as well. I use alfalfa, but there are a few others that are recommended as well, maybe someone can chime in with that info. I know that milogranite is good and inexpensive. You can find at home depot or lowes, can't remember which if not both. It will help improve the microbes in your soil.

Definitely get the soil test from Logan Labs, and post the results here. If your soil isn't where it should be you will still have some issues, even following the Bermuda Bible. Don't waste an entire season applying fertilizer without spending $25.00 on a Logan Labs test first.

I will get the test done and post the results

Listen to t d harvey. He's spot on with his suggestions. You're going to have to completely ignore the advice of your locals telling you to do all that mechanical stuff to the lawn. Core aeration is old school. We've moved on to surfactants for softening hard soil. It works 100x better than core aeration, which really doesn't do anything positive at all. Sand is simply a reason to sell you something in bulk so you can see they've done something. Dethatching is possibly worthwhile. On golf courses they slice the bermuda runners to encourage thickening the turf. Dethatching does something similar. Still, just stick with the BB and deep infrequent watering.

Bermuda doesn't like growing between buildings or fences and buildings. It needs at least 6 full hours of direct sun per day. It doesn't even like being on the north side of shrubs. So the grass in your side yard might be a lost cause. You could easily grow St Augustine in there. Just toss one piece of St Augustine down and let it spread. It'll cost you a dollar.

The Bermuda Bible is very chemical oriented in the approach. In addition to that, I would suggest at least once per year to hit it with any organic fertilizer. t d harvey likes alfalfa pellets. I do too. The rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can apply that any day of the year even if you have just applied a chemical fert.

How is the water in the area? Almost seems dry. Try inserting a screw driver in the groud ini that area. You should have no problem pushing it in. Compare to how the green area's react to the screwdriver test. Water probable runs off that area thus it dry's out before the rest of lawn.

t_d_harvey, I was trying to message you directly but couldn't. How does your bermuda do with just alfalfa and Bonide? How often do you have to apply both?

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Thanks Harvey. I'd be curious to see results from alfalfa and bonide only.

Ok. Shern1082, back to the discussion. :)

I have applied Vigoro 16 lb. 5,000 sq. ft. Super Green Lawn Fertilizer, it says N:P:K :35:0:5 from homedepot. Per Bermuda Bible I am supposed to apply a high nitrogen fertilizer. Is this a right brand?

On the soil testing side, sending the samples to logan this weekend

Vigro is a good brand, I believe Lesco is better, but I have had good success with Scott's Green Max as well. I have used them all and imo, it is more cost efficient for me to go with Alfalfa and receive the same results. If money was no object, I would go with the Lesco brand from a JDL dealer (more options than box stores).

You are in the right ball park with your npk though.

Tahnks T_D_harve.I can put alfalfa as well. Where can I get alfalfa? any stores in and around atlanta?

not familiar with your area, but local farm and feed stores usually have it. I'm fortunate to live in the country and the feed store is right down the street from me. Also I think tractor supply has it too.

I see thanks. Does rabbits other animals would be plowing my lawn if I apply alfalfa? If so what is the best way to apply?I find rabbits running around in the mornings, hence checking this out

I do not seem to have a problem with rabbits, every once in a while I may see 1 or 2. However the deer love it. I just send my dog after them lol. Once you water, it swells up and breaks into little pieces. You can kick it around or use a garden hose to get it below the turf. You can apply by hand, spreader if you have one with a large enough hole. Make sure you get the pellets, some place sell in cubes and that is not what you want.

Personally, I would be very hesitant about dethatching or doing vertical mowing without having a soil/thatch test absolutely confirm that you have too much thatch. To DCHall's point, golf courses can perform this to thicken existing areas; for you, having runners will be the fastest way to fill in those bare areas outside of sod. It could even be faster than seeding. Allowing those stolons/runners to grow rampant will allow those bare spots to fill in. (That doesn't include the area where DCHall recommended St. Aug sod.)

And if it helps, the sand shouldn't be done now. Sand is for leveling, which helps you avoid scalping high spots with a mower set very low. I would concentrate on filling in the bare spots and maybe next season, if you still think it's necessary, do the sand treatment. Just my two cents.

Thank you Birkdalesteve.Like I said I am a newbie. What is a runner? What does it do?

I did further research. I saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJMDrj2-Tbc

Does the above work? When I looked for runner what Birkdalesteve indicated, I got some info on creating plugs which would propagate further through runners. Appears sort of hair transplantation :) Any ideas

I followed the Bermuda Bible very closely last year (which was my first season at this house). I didn't get the results I was looking for, but I didn't get a soil test done either. This is my second season, and I got the Logan Labs report done. Morpheus was awesome enough to give me some great recommendations, and I'm way ahead of where I was this time last year. My lawn is better now in June than at any point last year. Here's a pic from last June, and one from this year. I struggled with a thin lawn and a lot of bare spots that never would fill in last year. Even if you don't see big results this year, stick with it because it will pay dividends. I'm in upstate SC about 2 hours from Atlanta, so our weather is basically the same.

June 19, 2014. Lots of bare spots

May 31, 2015. This is almost a month earlier than last year's pic.

Looks good Prorange. I guess I have a long way to go

Also my soil is very hard. I was planning on aerating and all that before this season started, but I'm not going to do that now. I literally had to use a 4lbs mallet to drive my plug puller into the ground to get soil samples...after a rain! I think with as much bermuda as you have, you will see a big difference this year after you see what your soil needs and begin to amend it.

Thanks Prorange. Keeping fingers crossed

On a different note: Planning to send soil sample to loan labs. Per their standard test Logan charges $25. Is it per sample? if so given my yard how many samples should give. I am interested in getting the lawn area fixed for now. On their web site, it is indicated

"Because of soil variations, it is necessary that each sample consist of small portions of
soil obtained from approximately 15 locations in the soil area. After obtaining these
portions of soil, mix them together for a representative sample. Dry samples and place
16oz (2 cups) of soil in a soil sample bag or Ziploc bag."

What be my number of samples. I just take soil from 15 locations in my yard ( front,side,back), mix them and send one sample? What would be ideal choice?

I believe that I have read on here that the suggestions is to mix front, back, and side yards into one sample.

Barring an area with a severely different grass performance or soil profile, yes--one sample, combined, is fine.

In many cases, multiple samples just receive the note from me, "Combine in the future." Sometimes, however, they don't--the most recent was a bare area that refused to grow grass. In that case, it was an obvious area where the grass didn't perform the same as everywhere else.

In my case, and in the cases of all the lawns where I have direct or indirect control locally, one sample is just fine combined from around the properties. The grass, if it differs, has obvious reasons for doing so (like a shadowing tree).