I wouldn't fertilize fescue on July 4. You want it to grow slowly if at all during the heat of the summer. If you aerate the lawn, do that in the spring or fall when the grass is growing the best. Aerating now will stress it and not give it a chance to recover. Watering at night in the desert is different from watering at night in other areas. In most places, watering at night is a bad idea because it leads to fungus, but in desert climates, night time is the best time to water. too much is lost to evaporation before the water even hits the ground if you water during the day. And winds tend to be higher during daytime, too. I'm going to guess that fescue is the most common because the winters are too harsh for Bermuda to thrive. Fescue can survive the heat, but will need water to get through the summer. What kind of soil do you have? You should try to water less often, but more deeply. That will help the grass develop deep roots. I would immediately switch to once a day watering, maybe watering for 15 minutes at a time. If the grass does well with that, switch to every other day, stretching the time to 20-25 minutes. After a few weeks at that, switch to twice a week for 30 minutes. If that works, stick with that. You'll notice that you've cut your water to less than half what it was before and your grass will probably be healthier, to boot.

Yes, Bermuda hates shade, but even if you plant that tree, the Bermuda grass just heads on out towards the sun. "SurPRIZE!" It says. I have it here. Every now and then I launch a new attack. Every then and now I come back to my senses. Only to launch another, some months or years later. I do believe that newspaper and/or cardboard, covered with mulch to keep it in place, will work over time. But you have to cover the whole lot. The WHOLE lot. I have covered some, and did this over Winter, so the Burmuda grass thanked me for buffering it from the frost. What was I thinking? Cold doesn't kill it, it just goes turns beige and goes dormant. Heat doesn't kill it. Nor drought. Digging it up and leaving it in the sun for an aeon won't kill it. I hear that composting it kills it, but I would need to see that to really, truly believe it. If you were to grow six foot shrubs over your entire block, that would probably kill it. And live among a short forest. That might be my next plan.

For years, I've had a truly gorgeous lawn. Due to the drought out here in California, I've cut back on my watering as much as possible, and its taken its toll. While my fescue is suffering, weeds like Oxalis, Bindweed and even Bermuda Grass are thriving in the lawn. When is the best time to fight these invasive weeds? Should I wait until the cooler months of fall or do battle now? Also, is there a product that will deal with all three, or do I have to tackle them one at a time? Any suggestions on what to use? I've heard that Ortho Weed B Gon works well on Oxalis. Anyone have experience with this stuff?

If you already have enough grass in your yard for your needs ( especially if its just for looks) , its better to not struggle with growing grass around trees.