I'd try one last seeding--temperatures through the 13th are going to hold fairly well, then it dives a bit and rebounds (if the long-range forecast is correct). So far, and going onward, it looks like a warm fall. You'll get some fescue, although the KBG will be questionable, as you noted.

I have mixed thoughts on the seeding blanket as it's questionable as to how much of the grass that you do have survives the winter beneath it. However, you could do that and then put down some sod in spring if you wanted.

What's bothering me here is why that area isn't sprouting. It's obviously been kept damp enough (we've seen the photos). It's a bit shady, but that doesn't get in the way of sprout. I'm starting to wonder if the soil chemistry is so bollixed that seed can't even sprout there (a heavily acidic soil or one with toxic levels of some nutrients or other chemicals will do that to you), but for your locale, that's not terribly likely.

So should I just seed and water? Seed, cover with "X"? Some other method?

Growth blankets are made to shelter grass and provide early green up, which I would hope would allow any BG that survived start spreading as early as possible. Creeping red should as well.

I really think the very top layer of soil (maybe only the top 1" or so) is the issue, since nothing get's further down. To refresh, nearly all the soil in that area is a combination of fill and a top layer of screened topsoil. At least that's what was supposed to be done. Now maybe the top 1" isn't the problem, the several inches below which could be the crappiest fill possible. This is why I'm thinking bringing in 1/2" of soil periodically will help layer up areas. Eventually there should be enough good stuff for the grass to take hold of.

Just seeding would be fine. Gently scratching the surface, seeding, and covering with peat or whatnot would be best.

I'd worry about changing the runoff patterns if you add soil, which in that location could be a slight problem. You're likely to get erosion channels in the places where the water gets funneled, which isn't going to help the overall lay of the land. Grasses are pretty tolerant of soils we consider crappy, as evidenced by my lawn before the soil transformation was done. As long as the resources are there (an aspect of the soil exchange sites, not the structure or the way it looks), the grass should do OK.

Even crappy fill will support a lawn if you flow in the resources to handle it.

(tapping teeth) Do you have starter fertilizer? I wouldn't go buy any, but if you have some on-hand, add it at bag rate to that area. The phosphorus, if unnecessary, won't hurt this one time. If needed, it'll help a ton. And we're still many weeks from ground freeze, so it's not a problem to use it.

I do have enough starter left for that area.

I'll give it a try today and tomorrow, and cross my fingers enough grows to survive the winter.

My wife vetoed the pet astro turf, so gotta figure out some way to get grass to survive back there. It will grow, just tends to grow only 1/2 inch down (which is not really tolerant of more than a gentle breeze). People used to tell me being a home owner was fun.

Well, it's fun when things work. I also had one area where the grass refused to grow. In my case, it was a spot that picks up full, direct sun, reflection off the house, heat radiating from a rock wall, and is rather dry from all of that plus the fact that the area's tilted southward (angling it right into the sun) and drains well.

There, my solution was to seed a second time kind of late and water just that specific spot. Winter survival wasn't anywhere near perfect, but it was good enough that it filled in the next spring.

What's under the thin topsoil? Just cruddy soil, or rocks? Cruddy soil I can make work. Rocky soil, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Rocks, not so much.

When I had trouble with Bermuda triangle sprouts crapping out in my little golf pad out back, I started spraying the area every day with compost tea & rooting hormone--It really kick started everything naturally, no worries about burning & I didn't have to walk on it all the time to put down granules. It sounds like you even have time for another layer of seed too.

When you stick a big screw driver in, does it get stuck or only go 1/2" down? Maybe big hunk of rock there preventing growth? I'd also water a bit less. I dropped some TTTF seed in a fully shaded area as a test for an area I'm planning on seeding next year, it sprouted and grew like mad, with little watering once a day or two. An area like that might need less watering?

So here is what the back yard looked like after the post-sandy tree clean up, but before the initial fill soil went in. (summer 2013)

And this is the beginning of July when the fence was finished.

That's a beautiful wooded area. If the grass struggles, why not make a nice fern or moss rock garden or something natural and attractive like that?

Might go that route, but one dog likes eating plants, another likes pooping on them and the third likes peeing on them.

Additional question about something I noticed today. There are a ton of mushrooms that have sprouted up all over the entire area I seeded (not just in the areas that didn't sprout well). Round shaped, not like the toadstool shape. Is that significant of anything or not?

Not significant. Mushrooms will grow on any dead material (like whatever was left of your old lawn), plus they like damp conditions, which you've been giving them for weeks. They're just the happy fruiting bodies of the fungal networks in the soil.

You can remove them if they bother you, or leave them if they don't bother you. I tend to follow a pretty strict "ignore" policy on mushrooms, except for stink horns. I kick those over because they're bright orange and very unattractive.

Did u do s soil test? It might explain some of the germanation issues.

I tried, but my package got returned missing it's address label and looked like it had been used as a football. Had already started the reno so didn't want to go out and dig holes out there again. I'm also guessing I'll need to send several samples from around the lawn since my soil is probably spotty.

On another note, reseeded this week so then.... here come the possible thunderstorms in the forecast. Seriously mother nature give me a break.

Praying mother nature cuts me a break with these thunderstorms today. Seriously it's like clockwork after I seed.

Grass seedlings are tolerant of frost (even moderate freeze) conditions and it won't hurt them. They don't notice it, except that their body temperatures drop so low that they stop growing until the sun warms them again.

You can throw a drop cloth over them if you really want to, but it's not necessary and you're likely to do more damage traipsing around and adjusting the cloth than you would if you just ignored it.

One minor protection is to water moderately just before sunset. It carries the heat atop the soil down into it, and water requires an enormous loss of energy to freeze. The veil of higher humidity over the grass in windstill conditions (required for a first fall frost) will also protect them by reflecting infrared radiation back toward the soil, plus the fact that it needs to turn to dew before the dew point can drop below freezing. The dew itself then needs to freeze into frost, and there's more dew on a freshly-watered soil.

That's a trick I use in the gardens to get myself an extra week or so out of them from the more durable plants. It won't work on those that object to near-freezing temperatures or a light frost (about 75% of my garden as I prefer tropical to extreme southern temperate plants for the most part), but grasses are unbelievably temperature tolerant.

Morpheus, would I be okay if I copy this, as a quote from you, to the forum you don't post to? Some people there are concerned about their seedlings and this is a very good suggestion and explanation.

Sure, just make sure to credit me specifically...not because I care as this is relatively common knowledge, but because I can think of two or three people it will annoy. :-)

(I never claimed to be saintly, just reasonably competent).

A good read: http://www.slideshare.net/osuhorticulture/turf-culture-in-shade

He doesn't have much good to say about the perennial rye/fine fescue blends for shade... I may try poa supina or colonial bent myself (whichever can be mowed highest)