Have you kept them damp at all times during that week? More top soil would be good....also keep them damp...you may have to water lightly 3 or 4 times a day....do not let the seed dry out. Linda C

The annual rye should die out by itself. That's why they call it annual. Tall fescue will have to be pulled. It should come out in clumps. Knock the soil off the root system back into the hole and the St Aug will spread back in to fill. What do you mean, variegated? To me that word refers to a leaf that is both green and yellow or white along the margin or in streaks or spots.

Actually, NEVER is the time to do it. But since you want to continue watering, mowing, and fertilizing all year long, then do it as soon as the summer heat starts to break. Watch for evening temps to cool down. That's when. Why never? Because the rye grass, thin as it is, is dense enough and tall enough in the spring to shade out the bermuda. Rye delays the return of bermuda by a matter of weeks and can completely wipe it out in spots if the conditions are right. Then you get into a situation where you want to overseed the bermuda with bermuda. If you have a Tif 419 hybrid lawn, the overseeding will turn a beautiful lawn into a patch of weedy looking common bermuda. You might have seen bermuda sports fields over seeded with rye for winter activities. They can do that and get away with it because they have special chemicals, which you cannot buy, to kill the rye in the spring. Can you tell I'm trying to discourage you from doing this?

Rhizo, you've given me enough information to allow me to lighten my burden this winter. No overseeding for me. We have a mix of grasses in our lawn, with St.Augustine in the back and in some cool spots under the shade trees. I finally learned what SAD was, so thanks for that too. I love the St.A but must be content with it in the back yard only. Too sunny on the western exposure. Well, I'll be letting my grass REST this winter. But we do have our newly cleared "back forty", where ancient azaleas were cut down and their locations had no grass, and I am wondering if this fall would be a good time to overseed with the crimson clover? Should I just let it grow and not cut it until spring? We will NOT be tilling the ground, just covering it up so it won't be a mud wallow over the winter. Or would that area, about 25x100, be fine for the annual rye grass? Actually, we bought that portion of our neighbor's lot inside the city here, and took out everything (the 50 yr old mostly dead azaleas, trash camphor trees) except we left three young pecans and 2 huge ancient sasanquas. I wanted to sod it with St.A, but DH said too much preparation required, so we'll just do the best we can.