Thanks a lot for all the responses. I have purchased the rye grass seed and I will overseed it very soon. I am concerned about weakening the existing grass, but I just have to try and see this year and decide whether it is better to have the bermuda weakened or to put up with brown grass half of the year. :) Anyway, before I go ahead, I have some final questions in my mind: #1 Here is the current state of my lawn. It is not completely dormant I guess, but almost. Do you think it is better to wait a bit more so that it goes completely dormant, or should I overseed it right now? The weather is expected to be around high 60's (F), max 70F during the day and mid 50's (F), minimum 53- 54 (F) during the night until the end of October. #2 The place that I purchased the seed advised me to apply the seed at a rate of 30 g. per square meters (approx. 6.5 lb per 1000 sq. feet). Is this a good amount? #3 After I overseed, I know I have to water frequently, but refrain from creating a pond on top. Here, the soil is always wet now in the mornings because of the dew, so I suppose, watering early in the morning and at night isn't necessary? Is once midday and once early in the evening with the sprinkler system sufficient? #4 I believe my current grass is not common bermuda, but a variety instead (more dense and thinner and finer looking blades). Is it possible to identify it? Here are two more closer pictures:

IâÂÂm not in the expert crowd here, so please take this with a grain of urea. I think itâÂÂs too late for both fertilizer and pre-m. You want to get pre-m down prior to weeds coming in, so around September. Once that is down, you can add more if you like for longer protection 8 weeks-ish later if you like. Then, like the Bermuda Bible says, put something like Dimension down when the Forsythia blooms, in late Feb to late March depending on temps (soil temps around 50F). As far as fertilizer, you donâÂÂt want to push your Bermuda too much when it should be going dormant. That will lead to winter kill and wasted money. My nickelâÂÂs worth of free advice is to wait until the early spring. If you are still itching to put something down, grains or Milorganite are good no matter what the calendar says . . .

Bagsmom, I think the way I'd handle the slope depends on whether I intended to live at the current home forever, or only for a couple of years. Our home, for example, is our "forever" home, including our eventual retirement home. With that in mind, I wanted a long-term solution for our slope, so we planted 6 or 8 trees that will eventually shade out the grass on the slope. (In part of the slope, that's already happening.) Then, as the trees get large enough to shade out the bermuda, I'll put in groundcovers that thrive in shade. If the house is short-term, like maybe 2 or 3 years, I'd probably mow or weed-eat it, figuring that I could handle that for a couple of years, knowing it wouldn't be forever. If the house is longer term, maybe 5-7 years, but not forever, I'd try mowing the first year. After that, I'd decide if I wanted to spend part of each week mowing or weedeating that slope for the next few years or if I'd rather get rid of the bermuda and not have to maintain that slope. I think that with a slope like that you have to pick your battles and figure out what's the best use of your time and money. If the slope were south-facing, I'd be tempted to take out the bermuda this winter and plant with a really good wildflower seed mix. Then, I'd treat the plot with an over-the-top herbicide like Ornamec to keep the grass regrowth to a minimum. I'd overseed for the next two or three years with a good wildflower seed mix, like Wildseed Farms Firecracker 234 mix or Oklahoma-Texas mix and continue to attack the bermuda grass with Ornamec or something similar. After several years, you'd have a gorgeous wildflower-covered hillside. You also could mix in relatively low-growing prairie grasses like blue gama grass or sideoats grama. This approach would work best if you are in a rural area where you won't have close neighbors objecting to your "weedpatch", a homeowner's association telling you that you can't have a patch of unmown wildflowers and native grasses or a city mowing ordinance that would thwart your efforts to grow wildflowers. If the slope is westward-facing and if you live in an area with relatively little rainfall, removing the bermuda and planting a buffalo grasss would be a great solution. However, except for watering to get the buffalo grass established, you could never water this slope. Why? Because, in a very dry site with no irrigation, buffalo grass will outsurvive bermuda. However, if you get ample rainfall and irrigate the area, bermuda will invade and choke out the buffalo grass. If it were a northward or eastward-facing slope, I'd plant shade trees and shrubs and mulch heavily beneath them (with cardboard or newspaper beneath the mulch) and wait for them to shade out the bermuda. The problem with that approach is that you'll have to mow for at least 10-15 years until the plants are close enough together to really shade out the bermuda. Also, I don't know what we'd do to control bermuda grass without glyphosate sprays, but because of research showing they may be linked to deformities in some amphibians and acquatic life, I won't spray them near a pond or creek. Dawn

Thanks for the feedback j4 and dchall. Yeah there is plenty of that elsewhere in the yard. I'm using glyphosate on the areas that haven't been seeded. I also didn't put down preemergent for fear that it would kill the seeds. So you think the mystery weed is crabgrass? The stuff I've thought to be crabgrass mostly grew in a bunch manner from a central location. It seems this stuff grows more like a vine along the ground.