I'm not sure tall fescue is the best choice for shade. Others can help more on that point. There are other fescues better suited to shade.

Have you tried watering it to see what pops up? It is likely going to come alive with weeds. If you were to seed with grass seed and start watering, weeds would appear. If you sprout those weeds first and kill them with Round Up, you'll have a better shot at getting the seed you want to dominate in there.

Where do you live? You are nearing the end of the window for the best seeding in the northern part of the north.

If you loosen the soil with a rake, drop seed, and then walk on the seed to press the loose soil and seed together, that's all you need. That is, more or less, how Mother Nature does it. Then water very lightly, 3x per day, to keep the seed moist (not soggy), for 2 full weeks until the fescue sprouts.

What DCHall said.

You can try red fescue there but really, no grass does well with less than 3 hours of sunlight a day. You're pretty much going to end up reseeding the area yearly or, at best with a red fescue, every few years if you're lucky and the fescue does well.

Most other fescues will demand full sun, 6 hours of sun a day, but will tolerate 4. 1 hour of sun is just too little.

If the area is very small, I might think about giving up on grass and either extending the hedges, mulching it, or planting something else in there.

Thanks for the input. I live in NY. I thought of red fescue. I like it's looks, but it's a Pita to mow from personal experience. Also don't want it overwhelming my KBG. In my previous residence red fescue took over my KBG with a vengeance.

It should be a non-invasive fescue as it won't tiller or spread, but no biggie if you'd rather not.

Fescues will certainly tolerate a bit less sun far better than KBG, which is extremely unforgiving. The least of the fescues...and I hesitate to speak its name--K-31 (Kentucky 31, although it actually is a fescue) is a rough-bladed, wide, unattractive fescue that's practically bulletproof. It's definitely not going to be terribly happy in that little sun but it might survive, It's also hideous.

In this case, I might simply purchase a deep shade mix, use that, and plan on reseeding yearly. It's just not going to survive summers very well between the shade and, most likely, the shrubs sucking out most of the water and resources from the soil.

You might try a different, shade loving, ground cover in that special spot.

Yes - K-31 in that difficult corner might work, w/o need for yearly reseeding. Regarding aesthetics: as a monoculture, it’s not bad at all. You can see for yourself by viewing internet photos. Bulletproof - yes.

What was the name of the Billy Crystal character “it is better to look good than to feel good”?