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Question:
I moved into a one year old house last October. I have two problems with my lawn: a) The bermuda grass is bad for about 1/2 of the lawn. By "bad" I mean there are more weeds than grass. (b) Whoever put the lawn in did not level the ground. By this I do not mean an occasional 1" dip, I mean that mowing the lawn is bone shaking. So I really have two questions: What should I do to get better grass? And what are my options for leveling the lawn?
Also I should mention: (1) I would like to put in rye grass for the winter. (2) I put some weed & feed on the lawn about 8 weeks ago. This did help the "OK" bits where there was reasonable grass coverage. But in 1/2 of the lawn, the weeds came back.
I am getting ready to put more fertilizer on, but I don't want to waste my money if it won't help me. Would letting the rye grow over the winter help choke the weeds or do I need to put some bermuda seed there at some point?
With the leveling, I probably need 4+ inches in some spots. Can I put that much on without doing real damage?

Answer:
From your description of the existing conditions either the lawn was not fully sodded or a very poor job was done of preparing the area for the installation of sod. I do not believe that it would have been started from seed. However, that is all of no importance at this time. One of the benefits of bermudagrass turf is that there are herbicides such as MSMA that will eradicate virtually all weeds without harming the bermuda. So this is where I recommend that you start. After applying this herbicide in accordance with the label instructions, you can go ahead and fertilize the lawn again. If you like Scotts, their TurfBuilder is a good one. Or any other slow release, high nitrogen lawn food will be fine.
I do not ever recommend the use of ‘weed & feed’ combinations as the herbicide
used in the majority of them is very non-selective and can do much damage to ornamental plants in the vicinity if not applied with the greatest of care. Also the timing of the applications of fertilizer and herbicide rarely coincide. Then you can begin to level your lawn by the application of a good quality top soil into which has been incorporated some sand and some compost. If you have areas where the bermudagrass does not seem to want to grow through it, I recommend that you sow some seed there. Bermudagrass seed can be safely sown until about the first of October and be hardened off before any frosts or freezes. It will need to be watered lightly almost daily for about 3 weeks after germination in order to get well established. I do not like the practice of overseeding home lawns with rye because of the higher maintenance required. The lawn will need to be mowed at least twice weekly and perhaps even daily, depending on the height. Also it will need frequent watering. For much more turf grass information see this PlantAnswers web site: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/PLANTanswers/turf/turf.html


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