Hello,

We bought a home in Richmond, VA area last year. We were busy and the yard was already neglected so we didnt do much. This year, we have more time on our hands finally and I really want to make the lawn look good.

From my reading, it looks like bermuda naturally grows in the area very aggressively, but is a warm weather grass in a climate more likely suited for a cold weather grass, like tall fescue. Our yard is mostly covered in weeds at this point.

So some questions:

1. What to do in the late fall when it's time to seed? Do I kill everything in the front yard and start over? Do I aerate and plant fescue and hope it overtakes the bermuda/weed combo slowly (year after year)? Put down sod?

2.Even though I know I was a little late in the season, I tried planting some tall fescue in mid-late April, and its nearly a month later and I cant see any fescue growing. (I spread lime as well). Do I need to cut the grass higher to give it a shot to grow in? I have been cutting it short so the weeds dont look terrible. IMO its a eye-sore.

3. For this region, from what I can tell tall fescue is what you want to grow (green 8 months/yr and requires less water and can grow in shade). Is that correct, or should I encourage the bermuda?

4. Is it worth it to install a sprinkler system since our yard is so terrible right now? Seems like most people around us dont have sprinkler systems, and the area seems to get enough rain. Not sure, though.

If It helps, I'll upload a pic of the lawn later today. Cant right now.