If you are experiencing heat like we are in southwest AR and lots of Texas then you better not go below 3 inches right now. Keep it watered. Bald spots will fill in eventually. Maybe next year when it comes back the spots will fill in. Also next year expect some winter kill of your first year Bermuda and plan to fight the invasion of weeds. Creating a perfect lawn takes continuous work, patience, and good weather, among other things. The quick solution would have been solid sod with an irrigation system but that is expensive. I'm a fanatic and have a 3 acre Bermuda lawn that is 5 years old. As much as I love the lawn I can't compete with 2 or 3 months of 100 degree heat everyday and virtually no rain. Forget the "beautiful" lawn for now. I'm just trying to keep it alive and I'm slowly losing ground. Hopefully rain will come and the temps will drop.......patience my friend, patience.

if i was you i would start at 12 am,so it gives water plenty of time too soak in too soiland for each root of grass too get its fill,before sun comes up,i water mine like that,and mine is a carpet for 4 years straight,kentucky blue grass,all so in the afternoon,around 3 pm,just too cool off blades of grass,on the hot days,take a butter knife ,stick it in the ground about 4 inches and rip a straight line in soil,about 4 inches long,then pull back that section,and look at the soil at that depth ,if its moist then your watering good,if its dry then you need longer times,the top 1/2 inch might be dry from sun,but from that point below it should have moister.grass burns because the roots are low on water supply,a well watered root can keep a blade of grass green in a 100 degree temp,and keep the soil sweet,you can use ashes from a fire place,or lime, you can do that once a month,not a heavy coat,i have two fireplace in my home,i have plenty of ash,i sift it like flour, and broadcast it with a spreader,hope this info helps,im not a pro but,it works for me

I'd cut the grass very short, rake with a stiff rake, seed it than water regularly. A little more soil added first might help improve germination but some seeds probably will germinate with or without it. JUst don't mow again or you'll mow off your new seedlings. Not sure what you have in mind for future years with that bed, but if you have a good mix of perennials and self-planting annuals it would help. Be sure to include some wildflowers that reseed in your area easily. (For me that would include poppies, nicotiana, nasturtium, petunia, etc), as well as some perennials and the area could become self sustaining. Maybe add some herb seeds too. Many online seed sites sell regional wildflower mixes that you could mix with what you already have. Even Walmart has large, cheap packs of wildflowers that you could mix in. I'd be sure to include poppies, larkspur, and cornflowers! Karen

It is unfortunate that misinformation continues to be repeated about glyphosate. Denmark has not banned glyphosate, nor have "many European countries". Denmark at one point thought that some of the monitoring they were doing showed that glyphosate could move into agricultural field drainage water in autumn but once they looked at their data and related it to the methodology they used, they enacted no ban whatsoever. As the Danish Environmental Protection Agency specifically stated: http://www.egeis.org/home/main/Evaluation-GlyphosateDEPA.PDF "Against this background, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency believes that no unacceptable risk of pollution of the groundwater is associated with the currently approved agricultural use of glyphosate. The Agency thus does not consider that the updated state of our knowledge provides any technical grounds for the imposition of restrictions on the autumn application of glyphosate." Used properly, glyphosate will not pollute drinking water nor will it have adverse effects on humans. Once applied, it binds tightly to soil particles and is not herbicidally active. If it is applied to hard surfaces such as sidewalks it can move offsite of course. It can also move if there is active soil erosion carrying soil off site. It is of very low toxicity, and breaks down completely into natural constituents over time. It is of equal or lower toxicity than most household products such as detergent, soaps, shampoos, cleaners etc. and far less toxic than some of the "alternatives" often discussed such as bleach, kerosene, high strength vinegars and so on. There is so much misinformation being repeated on the web that it is difficult to get reliable information. This link provides an published overview of the available literature. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Volume 31, Issue 2, April 2000, Pages 117-165 Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1401479