I think I saw through yardtractor's comments, and found them humorous. He hit all the antiquated high spots from back when the only version of organic gardening was Rodale's approach using 100% compost. I would add stinky since a lot of people use manure based compost which was often not completely composted. You would have to go back to pre-2005 to really get into the flame wars between organics and synthetics. Lots of people on lawn forums around the Internet were banned for life. And I agree that a lot of nonsense is repeated as fact on the forums. I prefer to use photos showing results and let the reader decide what to do. For example this photo taken by former Lawn Care forum participant, mrmumbles, shows his zoysia lawn about 30 days after spot treating with alfalfa pellets. You don't have to look too closely to see the improved color, density, and growth provided by a true organic fertilizer (not compost). But back to the OP... Are you in love with that large tree in the middle? If so then I would suggest creating a planting bed around it and fill the area with something that will hide the roots. Go to my member page and look at the trees in my yard. The three trees on the right are surrounded by "cast iron plant" for about 4-6 feet out from the trunk. The one in the back did not have roots at the surface so it was left alone. Whatever you do, if you bring in soil to cover your roots, do not bury any of the trunk of the tree. Leave some of the root flare showing and stop with the soil. Yes you did not use enough seed, or you did not keep it moist everywhere. You did seed at a poor time of year, so if you want this fixed, get ready for late August. That's the time. It will give the new grass plenty of time to develop roots which can resist the summer heat. Also the summer annual weeds are not germinating in August, so your weed pressure diminishes a lot. Sometimes it is expedient to spot spray with chemical herbicides and get on with your lawn life. You will still benefit from having been on an organic fertilizer program and continuing with that afterward. I call it tough love. They used to make a foaming Weed-B-Gone that was amazing. You could leave a spot that looked like shaving cream on individual weeds. There was absolutely no overspray and nothing touched the soil. Don't know why they don't sell it anymore. It would wipe out dandelions in 2 days. In the mean time practice deep and infrequent watering, mulch mowing at a high (highest??) setting, and fertilizing.

Can you post a couple pictures? The best time to photograph a lawn is when a cloud goes overhead. It would be good to see from far enough away to see the trees and then a close up of the dry spot in the middle. Did you have Marathon in Calabasas before? If not where? And what was your watering regimen (how often and for how long)? Can we assume you are watering this lawn the same way? When were the last two times you fertilized, or have you fertilized yet? Hopefully your close up picture will help someone here to identify your current grass type. Different grasses can be eradicated by different means. Sometimes it's as simple as stopping watering. I'm not sure you will ever be able to apply enough water for those trees. That is a lot of timber to keep moist. The tool which professional landscapers use to prep a garden is a box blade pulled behind a tractor. This is what it looks like in action. The ripper bars you see on the box blade (like a rake sitting above the soil in the blade) can be used to remove most small roots, but there is a limit. When you get ready to get rid of the trees, you might want to consider major stump removal, not grinding, and root removal throughout the rest of the yard. For those two jobs they might bring in a small bulldozer or other heavy equipment.

This is exactly the reason I always suggest people take pictures on a cloudy day. I presume this is a St Augustine lawn, but I can't really be sure. 20 minutes per day is exactly the wrong way to water. The watering mantra is deep and infrequent. Deep means 1 inch of water all at once. You can measure 1 inch using a cat food or tuna can. Place several around the yard and turn on the sprinklers. When the last can is full, that's how long you need to water. Infrequently means not every day. When the temps are in the 70s, infrequent means once every 3-4 weeks. In the 80s, water every other week. In the 90s water once per week. Above 100 you might need to go to watering once every 5 days, but NEVER water more frequently than that. Special exemptions are granted if you live between Banning, CA and Junction, TX south of Green River, UT. That area has a combination of soil, sun, and lack of shade issues which may allow watering every other day; however, I know people in Phoenix who water once a week and they do just fine. Take a picture of the grass with the camera about 3 inches away from the blades. If you have some yellowing or poor looking blades, get a pic of those. The pictures you posted look weird because I don't see any dead grass between the living grass. Also if looks like you are mowing on the mower's lowest setting instead of the mower's highest setting. Change that right away. St Augustine does much better when it is taller. I have an experiment going on with unmowed St Augustine. After nearly 2 years without mowing, some of it is 32 inches high. Much is still down around 9 inches. Most is in between. All of it is healthy looking without any fertilizer and very little watering since Oct 2011. I've not watered for 3 weeks and just left town for a week. Temps are near 100 every day in that area, and I'm not worried. But I'm not suggesting you go to that extreme. I'm trying to prove that taller St Aug is healthier and needs much less water.

Thanks, I thought so but needed someone else's opinion, since it is so sandy and dry there