Well where do you live? Unless you live in southern CA or AZ, you Bermuda should be going dormant about now. Have you had any frost?

I live in San Diego. The part of the lawn that is in full sun is still green and thick. The part that is being shaded is turning brown.

OK Weasel21 I remember you now.

Well being in San Diego you are blessed with a very long growing season if 10 months by my guess as compared to 6 to 8 months like most others. However that does bring some unique problems, and you have discovered one, North sides of structures.

During the summer months shade is not an issue because the sun is directly over head. However during the winter months the sun is low on the southern horizon, and shade becaomes an issue.

To get to the point, those areas you see know turning brown is not dormancy, it is the grass dying from lack of light. What I suggest is either wait till after January, and see how far it goes, mark that point with landscape paint or something, and reconfigure that area for partial sun plantings landscape.

Bermuda is still growing strong in South Florida.

I wanted to clarify the shadier spots that I planted Bermuda were doing well compared to the full sun plantings when things were hot and dry in June, then as the rain came the full sun area took off growth wise and the shadier area (somewhat shielded from the rain) didn't grow as well. I will mention it is Celebration Bermuda which is more shade resistant. It was a learning process as it was the first year with just plugs.

I really dont have any other choice but to have a lawn in my backyard. I guess Ill try to find a variety that can tolerate shade. I really like bermuda and it sure would be nice if someone could develop a shade loving variety.

Amen to that weasel. There's always shadow turf which is a zoysia variety. Very expensive.

God luck finding that grass. To my knowledge there is no warm season grass that can tolerate deep shade, heck not even any of the cool season grasses can tolerate deep shade.

As for Shadow Zoysia, don't believe the hype, have not found one person who has it that is happy with it.

Now Zoysia and Saint Augustine can tolerate some light shade, but none that can tolerate deep shade. Honestly for those areas that get completely shaded out in the shorter days, there is nothing you can do but either plant shade loving ground covers/plants, or mulch it because no grass is going grow there. Mother Nature will make the divide line for you to see. You will gain a little bit back next summer, but the cycle will repeat itself. Sorry I know that is not what you want to hear, but is the truth.

I agree with Texas Weed. Don't waste money trying to grow any grass on the north side of anything.

MAYBE dwarf monkey grass could grow there. Luckily, my house faces west and I never do anything on the north side facing next door. I never see that side few times a month when I mow grass. I live on a corner lot so I get full blast of sun on the south side except for the fence in the backyard which is filled with turk's cap. Great plants...

My front yard faces south;when can I plant bermuda for the upcoming season?

Sod or seed? Sod-anytime, seed-when soil temps are consistently in the 70's over nite (IIRC).

As stated you can lay sod anytime. For seed wait until next spring when soil temp gets up to 70.

Count me among those not particularly thrilled with Shadow Turf. I planted some to see if it would keep the bermuda out of an area. It sort of does if I help by pulling the bermuda strands out. I have some blending now and will see which grass wins that battle. It looks like Shadow Turf is much less drought tolerant than bermuda (which means bermuda wins every time) but when it gets enough water, the Shadow Turf will become VERY dense. Both bermuda and Shadow Turf seem to blend together well, so if you wanted to try some, it will definitely improve your shade coverage. Both do very well mowed extremely low. I think you could mow Shadow Turf to 1/16 inch just like the hybrid bermudas.

my bermuda in my front yard actually has a line of deliniation where the house shades it. one area gets sun only 2 hours a day, and this part you actually see a straight line of good thick green grass on the south and thin brown on teh north side of teh line. nothing you can do but use a different type of grass in teh shady areas.

I keep telling myself I'm going to try some Shadow Turf in a shady part of my yard. But, being cheap, I haven't. I'm trying one more shade type fescue overseed in the shady area this fall. If that fails by the hot part of the summer next year, I'm going to break down and try some Shadow Turf sprigs.

My neighbor had some "wild" bermuda growing in the area until shade from my growing bur oak trees simply killed it out.

I figure the only option fairly soon will be some type of shade loving ground cover.