I know a lot about Bermuda but not so much about fescue. The question you asked is how do you keep both. To get the bermuda in the front needs to be cut low. Definitely lower than 3 inches if possible. As it heats up, the fescue will die off/go dormant. You want to be feeding the bermuda throughout the summer to get the best performance. You will probably have to overseed fescue in the fall. I would leave that to the fescue experts. I would see what others say about core aerating in the fall because that is when weeds also germinate. I'm not sure if you want to core aerate at that time because of the weeds.

The fescue in the back shouldn't be fed in the summer and kept long. Because of this, I don't know how much the bermuda will spread back there. The shade from the fescue may keep it from growing.

Just my 2 cents. Someone with much more knowledge will come along and give you better advice but until then you can think about this.

I wondered about the core aerating myself because at this point I'm just trying to get this new lawn established which it seems to be working, slowly, but surely we are seeing a difference already compared to last year. I may not even overseed at all, and come back to that next year. I hadn't thought about the weeds. We do have some but not as much as some lawns in the neighborhood. I'm just trying to get the grass super healthy hoping it will choke out any weeds, if that's possible. A lawn company around my area says there is this magical time to core aerate in our area between Sept. 15th-Oct 31st. I'm not sure if that's correct. If our Fescue continues to do well as it is now in the 80's, I may not overseed and just take the advice about feeding the two separate.

You have to treat the two as two separate lawns with two completely separate care routines.

In regards to weeds, a thick lawn helps but is not an universal panacea. Crabgrass will poke through even the thickest of lawns. Ask me how I know. You have to do constant weed control.

The fescue will go dormant once day temps hit 90+ and night temps hover over 70. If the area is shaded it may stay green longer but if it gets full sun it will start to go dormant by the end of May. Once it does go dormant, watch out for weeds - they will easily crowd out the dormant fescue and kill it.

You should plan on overseeding every fall, the transition zone is hard on cool season grasses, there will be losses over the summer.

j4c11~

I've thought about what you said, but I think I'm beginning to see my problem. Last summer, I'm thinking now we lost alot of Fescue in the back where it slopes, and gets alot of sun. I've never had Fescue anywhere I've lived, so I wasn't sure about it when we first moved in. The house was newly built, and the builder's had just laid sod, and spread seed Feb '15. Looking at it now, I'm thinking we didn't water it enough in the summer. We do have a little shade around the perimeter of the house, but not much because now I'm seeing Bermuda starting to fill in some spaces closer to the backporch. We also have alot more weeds popping up too in the back, but not as much as other lawns I've seen in our area.

I'm at the point where I may just treat the whole yard like it's Bermuda, and allow it to take over in the back. It might just have to look super bad for a bit. I hate the builder's planted two grasses. It makes no sense that it would work. It's worse in the very back closer to the property line. Weeds, Tall Fescue clump, and then bare dirt. I suppose next year, the bare spots will have Bermuda growing in them like I'm seeing closer to the back of the house. We have a little over 12,000 sq ft of lawn. I would say, 5,000 of that is Bermuda sod in the front with Tall Fescue clumps growing in it :(

dchall~

I am waiting for next week to prepare a soil test to send in. Thank you for the suggestion. We are digging one more bed before the season is over, and can get some really good samples to send in.

Does this look like Bermuda taking over the bare spots? Close to the house.

There is some Bermuda in there among the crabs & it looks mighty healthy!

Okay..I think I'm going to have to embrace the Bermuda only in our lawn. It is spreading all around the sides, and back of the house now. Filling in the spaces where Fescue has started to thin out. Temps have not reached the 90's but soon will. I'm thinking we will just keep it cut low like the Bermuda, and stress the Fescue.....but then what about the weeds? We do seem to have alot in the back close to the property line. The seed the builder's laid over netting...ugh...is just clumps of fescue, and weeds. Plants grow back there. We have golden mops, lorapetelum, and emerald arborvitae that have been thriving. We just connected another bed back there because there is barely any grass. Since we see alot of the Bermuda coming in around the perimeter of the house, I'm thinking by next year, the Bermuda will spread back there?

And does anyone have any advice about continuing to fertilize. I know to fertilize the Bermuda in the front over the summer, but what about the bermuda that is coming in the back now. She I just fertilize the entire yard, even with the fescue? Thank you in advance.

DchallSA, I'm on Byrnes off Harry Wurz, any time you feel like rescuing a poorly seeded yard, you're welcome. ὠ1

There are a lot of trees on Byrnes. Do you know what seed you used?

The easiest way to fix anything in SA is to be sure you have St Augustine, and it doesn't grow from seed. If you want help with St Augustine, I can do that pretty easily. Now is not perfect but it's an okay time to do it if you can find the grass.

DchallSA, you have no idea. lol Our backyard was nothing but dirt. For the past 2 months, section by section I've been putting Scott Bermuda from Lowes. I'd never touched a seed before in my life. The entire back fence was lined with these invasive monsters, my husband called them Chinese Privets but I called them Hackberries. Not sure what they were but they had visible roots that we pulled out of the ground and that took FORVER. This photo is from this morning, that area is too shaded by my neighbor's trees, one of which, without even warning us, she blocked in between the chain fence and her new $10,000 10 foot privacy fence! How in the world are we going to be able to get that down now? We already had to cut a couple links in the fence because it's growing into the chain fence. Nice woman, dentist, dumb as a bag of rocks.

(We have St Augustine in the front, not looking too good right now but solid and with your advice (water deep not frequent) we will stop our poor watering habits and get it right again)

I suspect that's too much shade under the trees. Bermuda will not be the best for that spot. Ideally you would have seeded the bermuda in mid June to have the warmest conditions, but this year was not cooperating with the rain and overcast. Still you should have fit it in in the heat of summer for best results.

That is crazy about the tree. Is the tree on her property or yours or smack in the middle?

Are you renting or do you own the property? I would suggest taking down the chain link at this point, but don't waste the money if you're renting.

It is amazing how much difference the deep and infrequent watering process makes. Also if you have not fertilized recently, you might try organic. I use alfalfa pellets or corn meal from Ful-o-Pep on Roland east of WW White. 50 pounds should be under $15 or $10. Application rate is 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet, and it takes 21 days to see the results. With this cold front it might take a few days longer if you were to put it down this weekend. If you buy it now and don't use it all, go ahead and use it all anyway. You cannot hurt anything by overdoing these products. If you leave it in the garage over the winter it will be buggy in the spring. It's still fine to use, but just a little icky.

So next April is the time to evaluate what you want to do with the back yard. I think it could be too shady for bermuda. If it seems slow to awaken and turns thin, then shade is the problem. The best place to get St Augustine is Milberger's Nursery at 1604 and Bulverde Rd inside the loop. They sell 14 pallets of St Aug every day, so it's always fresh. Lowe's and HD sell 1-2 pallets per week, and it always looks diseased. Milberger's is also about 1/3 the price of Lowe's.

DchallSA, we pay next to nothing for rent, the owners are a judge and her husband is a client/friend of my husband. He's a lawyer so we avoid sharing issues with him for the sake of his blood pressure. Lol

The tree root is on her side mostly but it leans and grows our direction. I had to cut some of the chain fence it was growing into.

She used to Air B&B it full time, which wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be, all visitors were nice and not like having a hotel nextdoor.

You're right about the shade. Honestly, it wasn't until I saw this post that I even considered seeding differently in shaded areas

Thank you for Ful-o-pep recommendation, will try the alfalfa and/or corn. Was already thinking I should find a feed store for natural cat litter.

While you are visiting Ful-o-Pep, you might drive another quarter mile north on WW White to Holmgren. Turn right (east) and at the end of the street is Fanick's Nursery. I've spent a lot of money at that place. Mike and Mark Fanick are gardening treasures in San Antonio.

You might ask your neighbor if she ever entertained the idea of removing that tree on the property line. If she removes it, then your back yard shade situation will change considerably.