Here is a webpage from Auburn and it has some PDF files, one of which is about selecting turfgrass for Alabama:

Auburn turfgrass

If you go with KBG, it seems you need to get a heat tolerant variety. Fine rescue and rye were not included in their list and I imagine Alabama is too hot for them. See how many hours of sun you get in the side yard. If it's too shady you may need to do something other than grass. Don't bring in more dirt, as you could mess up the grading and create drainage problems. Also it could hurt your trees. Those roots need oxygen. Weed B Gon CCO will kill violets (might take a couple of applications). Read and follow directions; you can't use it when the air temperatures are too hot. Roundup will also kill violets you don't mind killing everything. To replant an area, you would use Roundup, then water each day to encourage weeds to sprout, then kill them off (Roundup again), then scalp dead weeds with the lawnmower (bagging them), and seed. The prep work takes several weeks. After seeding, water lightly several times a day and as grass germinates, you gradually decrease the frequency and increase the amount of water.

Agree with Becky but want to reemphasize something. Don't bring in more soil. Well, can you take a picture of your exposed root issue? You should have the root flare exposed, but sometimes there has been a washout that exposes roots 10-15 feet away from the tree. Then you might need more soil.

The best time to reseed for northern lawns is in the fall. For you, that far south, fall would be in September.

Definitely will post pictures of the exposed roots when I get home from work. I'd say generally there are 2-3" exposed within the first 5-10' around the tree, then smaller but still noticeable amounts exposed 20' out from the trunk.

We are basically at the southern edge of the range for cool season grasses from my understanding. If I posted some closeup pictures of the grass in my front yard could someone help me identify it? it gets as much or more shade as the side yard and is an absolutely wonderful looking/feeling grass. I'd be fine going with the same in the side.

couple of general questions about lawn care.
1. recommended place for a soil test?
2. what should be my first step in the back? Kill all the violets? Fertilize to encourage existing grass growth?
3. in front yard, should I just spot treat broad leaf weeds for now and then fertilize once I get a soil test back?

Final off the wall question. In the back, once the violets are gone, I'll be left with Bermuda and lots of bare spots. I know the Bermuda will fill in quickly. But, what are the odds I could fill in with another grass? I generally hate Bermuda:-) super hardy, but otherwise no redeeming qualities in my eyes...takes over my garde. and landscaped areas.

Logan Labs for soil test. Use a bulb planter or trowel to dig four inches and put the inch between 3-4 inches in a bucket (0-3 can go back in the hole). Get lots of samples and mix them together and put in a baggy. Post your results here and Morpheus will do an analysis. Summer is not the time to fertilize cool season grasses but Bermuda and warm season grasses are different. You might google "Bermuda Bible" or read the lawn maintenance calendars on the Auburn website. Memorial Day is a time for fertilizing cool season grass so if you think you have fescue or KBG, you could get in an application if you do it right now (not waiting for a soil test). Miilorganite is safe to use any time and is good on any type of grass. The soil test will let you know about what you need other than nitrogen.

As for what type of grass you have, if you see it in other yards nearby, ask your neighbors what it is. You can also try using this website:

Turf ID

There are explanations of the terms.

If you don't want Bermuda, you could kill it and the violets with Roundup. If that's the plan, I'd wait until a month before seeding. Before doing too many renovation plans, what is your watering situation? Seed needs to be kept moist, which means light watering several times a day, every day. If you're doing this with hoses and sprinklers, you may want to do just one section of your yard. So side yard or back yard but not both at the same time.

Some of the warm season grasses are done with sod or sprigs rather than seed so that could change things, including when it's installed if you use a warm season grass.

It's fine to spot treat the broadleaf weeds in the front.

Yeah, I don't plan on doing this all at once. I think the side yard is my biggest need, so would like to do that first. Then move on to the back yard once that is under control. I understand the process will be different whether I go for warm or cool season grass. North Alabama is a weird place climatologically for grass. Basically in the transition for cool/warm season grasses as far as I can tell. We're generally farther north than people think (about the same latitude as Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and others) and the climate is decidedly temperate (down to 0F in the winter, highs generally in the upper 80s in summer, 4 distinct season).

Will get the soil test done ASAP. Will also go ahead and apply Miilorganite. What about some other organic solutions (soy bean meal, cracked corn, etc)? Any point in that right now? Or better to wait for soil test to come back. We'd prefer to stay toward organic solutions if that's possible

Again, will post picture tonight of

1. Front lawn for grass ID (although hopefully I can do it via the link you provided.

2. Side yard for exposed roots and so you can see the general sadness of the situation:-)

Other organic solutions are always OK and don't need me to read the soil test as they won't change anything. However, the Milorganite alone will feed your lawn quite nicely for the next month or so at least and, for KBG and fescue, is the last recommended feeding until mid August in your locale.

Cracked corn, however, is a really poor feeding but great soil conditioner. That can go throughout the summer at any reasonable rate (10 to 60 pounds per thousand square feet, 10-20 pounds being the normal amount).

I think what morph said was, 'don't wait for his interpretation of the soil test to apply organics.'

Here are the basics of lawn care to help you once you have a mature lawn. A mature lawn is what you have now, so assuming you are going to renovate in the fall, you should be doing this until then. This stuff is simple, but easy to get wrong. I'd say 85% of everyone is watering wrong.

Basics of Lawn Care

After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct.


Watering
Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds.

You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week.

Mowing
Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush.

Fertilizing
Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too much is better than too little*.

At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide.

* This used to read, "Too little is better than too much." Recent test results show that you cannot get too much organic fertilizer unless you bury the grass in it.

Yep. Organics can go whether or not I've seen the soil test. They won't interfere with anything I might do, and they're never a mistake.

I'm attaching pictures to this post for some added info. Pretty sure the grass in the front is fine fescue. Using that grass identifier from NC State, stolons/rhizomes absent, pointed tip, folded vernation, narrow blade width. Picture is attached for reference.

Grass from the front (nice) yard.

Zoomed out view of the front yard. Not perfect, but not bad.

The area to redo. Basically from this point left to the road is terrible. Late evening sun filtering through. Get's more sun than this in mid-afternoon, but still partial shade. Close-ups next.

Characteristic of the side yard area. Patchy:-(

Tree roots from the maple with my 15-month old as a size reference (ingore the pink crocs...he stole them from our 4 year old daughter). Roots go all the way to the left edge of the screen. Understand there might not be much to do about this...but is there anything? Landscape it in some way if not grass?

One more wider lens view of the area in question. Finally, next picture is a little further towards the back of my property (still the side yard) once you get past the two trees.

So this area gets sun most of the day (maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the day is in full sun). It is probably 60%+ dollarweed; also a lot of violets. Would like to work here, too, but it might have to be year 2 of a 5 year plan:-)

The area under the trees is my first order of business, at least by preference. If you experts have a recommendation otherwise, I'm open to it. What should I do to the front yard (where it looks decent) for the rest of the summer? Milorganite for now? What should I do in the side yard where the trees are where it's super patchy? If I go w/a cool season grass (fescue? KBG--too shady?) I would seed in the fall, correct? If so, what steps should I take between now and then? What would be the best route for the area with all of the dollarweed and violets that is in the sun most of the time?

Thanks for all the help! Sorry I have so many questions. Gathering soil samples after dinner to send off.

I suggest big circles of mulch around the trees where the roots are. Use Roundup to kill the weeds and grass and put a couple inches of mulch down. No mulch directly against the trunk. You could also do mulch around the trees in the front yard. KGB likes full sun and it's iffy for Alabama anyway so I'd look into the fescues as an early fall renovation. Tall turf fescue is more heat tolerant than fine fescue. Fine fescue is more shade tolerant. Tall turf fescue is more wear resistant. If you're doing a renovation, you'll be killing everything with Roundup this summer so I wouldn't bother with the weeds for now. Just mow them until killing time. For the back yard where renovation will wait for another year, you can use selective weedkillers and let the Bermuda do its thing. Google "triangle approach weeds."

Call your local extension service office and ask their opinion on what grass to use for your shady side yard. Although your front yard grass seems to be fine fescue and is doing well, fine fescue was not included in Auburn's list of recommended grass for Alabama. How did it do last summer? Here in Virginia, also a transitional zone, I have some creeping red fescue that is already dormant and will stay brown all summer. I want to get rid if it (it's ugly most of the year) but the problem is that Roundup won't kill dormant grass. Your local extension office should know what works well for your area.

It actually looked great last summer...better than it does right now, actually (pretty sure the people we bought from had a company maintaining the yard for resale purposes). It was completely weed free and stayed a nice rich green all summer. Last summer wasn't a particularly hot one here, but it was still North Alabama:-) That's interesting that your fescue is already dormant. What do you want to replace it with?

Does anyone have opinions on zoysia? I don't think I've ever seen any in my life. I know that it's shade tolerance is somewhere between fescue and Bermuda. Seems like fescue might be the only route to go in the side yard? I wonder how much the environment helps my fescue keep from going dormant (the front yard is shaded in the morning and filtered sun through two oak trees in the afternoon).

I have mainly tall fescue. The creeping red fescue is mixed in with it in one section of the yard. It greens up for a while each fall and spring but then goes brown. I identified it with the NC turf webpage. You have something different, as CRF has rhizomes and yours doesn't. So it's a different kind of fine fescue. If I can get rid of it (I'm going to try digging some of it up and spraying with Tenacity and quinclorac), I will overseed with the same tall fescue.

If you think zoysia might be the way to go, it should be planted late spring/early summer (like right now) and it's done by planting plugs, sprigs, or sod. Here is a discussion of zoysia's shade tolerance and one recommendation is to call local sod farms and get their opinions:

zoysia and st. augustine

So you might see what's carried in your area and talk to suppliers. I have a neighbor with zoysia and he's happy with it. Be warned: it is brown all winter. I think tall fescue would work for you, especially if you do mulch around the trees. Mulch around the trees will also make it easier to cut grass, as you won't be bumping over the roots.

@beckyinrichmond I don't know if zoysia is the way to go. I really would prefer a cool season grass. Don't have a whole lot of experience with them (grew up in south Mississippi in a Bermuda, centipede, and St. Augustine world), but from what I've seen much prefer the color and texture of the cool-season grasses. But of course I live in the worst place in the world for growing nice lawns:-)

What is the texture/feel/look of tall fescue? Typically I think of fescue as being kind of clumpy and needing overseeding fairly regularly? Is that true? There is no "clumpiness" in my front yard which is why I maybe thought it was creeping red. Of course, maybe I've misidentified the grass completely:-)

Going to call and talk to someone in the extension office to see what their thoughts are on different cool-season grasses around here.

This is a genuine question. For the area I'm looking at, it is shaded most of the day (I'm going to take some measurements this weekend, but I'd guess a few hours of sun a day, then filtered sun/light shade through the two maples the rest of the day...same as the front yard). Could being on the southern edge of the cool-season grass range combined with limited but some sun make that area of the yard more conducive to cool-season grasses than other areas around here?

Soil samples are collected, morph...will get them in the mail tomorrow. Should I post results in this thread or start a new one when I get them back? Anyone else have input on cultivar types in the transition zone and in partial shade?

There are several kinds of fine fescue and if yours doesn't have rhizomes, it's not creeping red. It could be hard fescue or Chewnings fescue or sheep fescue. The leaves of fine fescue are thin and slender. Tall fescue (tttf) has a broader leaf. It does not spread and does need to be over seeded every now and then. It is a clump but since there are so many clumps close together, it makes a uniform lawn. Google some images. Your tree limbs seem to be high enough to allow light and air circulation so I think tttf will do okay, especially since the fine fescue under the oaks is doing okay. I'd be interested in what the extension office has to say. Ask them why fine fescue isn't theon Auburn's list.