I do the 1"-1 1/4"/week watering but ony add fertilizer every few months (concerned I will burn it up). Have not added anything yet because our local extension agency recommends first fertilization after lawn has entirely greened up which it definately has not. There are no areas bad enough that I would feel new sod is necessary just an overall thinning (like my hair!:). I thought adding seed to the existing would thicken it up. The grass has not greened much so it is probably still in dormancy like you said iforgotitsonevermind. When I add fertilizer what ratio should I use? I've had a soil test done a few years back. The potassium and, I believe it is phosphate?, were at good levels. pH was fine too. Thanks.

Bermuda is very hard to kill out but it has happened. As far north as you are, it might die out this coming winter. There are some winters in Dallas where the bermuda never comes back. If you have a fescue lawn, then overseeding might help. If you had a coarse bladed grass like St Augustine, then the bermuda would go away simply by mowing at the mower's highest setting. With northern grasses, since they are much finer bladed grasses than St Aug, the bermuda might be fine coexisting. One problem with those two plants is that as soon as the fescue shows any sign of thinning, the bermuda will move in fast and strong. So overseeding would be critical. Before you overseeded in the fall, you could spray the bermuda with Round Up and try to kill it out. Bermuda will go completely dormant in the winter. If your normal turf is up tall and dense all winter into the spring, the bermuda will have a very hard time returning. Do that several years in a row and you have a chance at eradicating it.

red_geranium refects my experiance. Except for 2 spots I had. One an ally bed that got blazing west sun. I put up that cute little wire bed edging fence. Laid down a thick layer of wet newspapers, then proceeded to dump grass clippings and shredded leaves. Layers and layers of them up to the top of that wire edging...over a period of about 9 months and then let it just sit. I pulled any weeds or grass that did poke through. Not much did and it was easy to pull due to the composting going on underneath. . Then I planted the whole thing with huge red cannas and artemisia at the front. Very little grass and weeds grow there now. It worked for that area, because it was in the alley and I could just leave it that way for a long time before planting. Once planted no light gets to the grass so it doesn't try to grow anymore, by the time it warms up enough to trigger the grass the cannas have blocked the light from getting through. The other area was along the side of the house. I did pretty much the same thing. It took several years of constant composting to kill off the grass. But I also had to do a lot of pulling as well. It wasn't planted with cannas, but daisies, roses and moonflower bush and 4 o'clocks. I still had to weed and pull grass in that bed but it was much easier to pull stuff out since the clay had turned to nice garden soil. Most people don't want a huge pile of composting going on in their beds for over a year, and don't want to plant as thickly as I did, so yes, you have to kill the grass first.

Standing water is a tough one, glad you fixed it. Once you see rooting, I'd start with a dose of surfactant, we like baby shampoo because it's cheap, clean & easy to find. Apply that to the whole yard if you can, it helps to break down our high magnesium, super tight Houston soil. From there on, level & fill with some cheap all-purpose sand from Lowe's or HD or the local mulch yard to give yourself a nice firm surface that doesn't change your new drainage--The water will move right through the sand.