Thanks TW. I found this study over shade tolerance. Interesting to see that Princess 77 and Rivera do fine under shade condition. Summary. Bermudagrass and zoysiagrass are two of the most commonly used turfgrass species on golf course fairways and tees in the southern U.S. Shade from trees is common on golf courses and limits turfgrass growth. Additionally, turfgrasses are often subjected to traffic, which damages turf. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of shade and traffic on bermudagrass and zoysiagrass cultivars. Five cultivars of bermudagrass and seven cultivars of zoysiagrass were maintained under typical golf course fairway conditions. Plots were grown in either full sun or were shaded with a 50% light reducing fabric. The cultivars containing the highest coverage after two years of growth in continuous shade were Cavalier, Diamond, Meyer, Palisades and Zorro zoysiagrass, as well as Princess 77, and Riviera bermudagrass. The cultivars having the lowest coverage in shade were Patriot and Tifsport bermudagrass and Zenith zoysiagrass. Princess 77 and Riviera bermudagrass, as well as Cavalier, Meyer, and Zorro zoysiagrass had the highest coverage when trafficked regardless of shade treatment. Selecting cultivars well-adapted to shade and tolerant of trafficking will help golf course and sports field managers improve playing conditions while reducing maintenance inputs and costs. Here is a link that might be useful: Shade and Traffic Tolerance of Bermudagrass and Zoysiagrass � Year 2 Results

I've never read so much miss-information in my life. Most of the responses in this tread are by people who have no idea what they are taking about. that being said - here are some facts. I was extremely resistant to the idea of a "fake" lawn. I mean, I'm a grass kind of person. There are no synthetic lawn companies anywhere near me so I started doing internet research on the product. Talked to several companies. To make a long story short I ended up deciding to use a company called ProGreen to order my synthetic lawn (about 2000 sf). 1. you get what you pay for; if you buy the low-end grass you get a low end product. 2. Synthetic lawn is not cheap: $12-$14 a square foot if you have someone install it; About $4.25 a square foot if you do it yourself like I did. 3. It drains very much just like real grass. 4. Dogs and cats love it, don't chew it, and you clean it up just like real grass. 5. I roll around on it, play on it, and go out and lie in the sun on it just like real grass. I love it. 6. Todays syn grasses carry 8 yr warrenties, but will last 20. 7. The little rubber balls are not even required in the "good grasses" - read that thicker, longer grasses. 8. The syn grass gets a little warmer in full sun, but cools quickly in late afternoon 9. It's the best landscaping decision I ever made, looks and feels incredibly real. I hose or blow it off every couple of months. Most of the time it doesn't need it. I like it so much in front, I put some in back. My dog spends hours sleeping and playing on - never complainted yet :)

Tilling would have been the wrong thing to do, especially for bermuda, so don't hate on your installer. He did it right. Still the surface is not level. You can deal with that in December or wait until next June. The grass either needs to be completely dormant or growing like crazy. Your soil is not likely to be compacted. You can drive bulldozers over it all day long and it will not compact...unless the soil is saturated with water first. If the soil was saturated and then mechanically compressed, that would cause the particles of soil to squeeze the air out and that is the definition of compacted soil. Bricks are made of compacted clay. Adobe is made of compacted silt and sand. Almost no yards are truly compacted. However, many (MANY) yards are hard from a lack of adequate biology. New yards are especially prone to this because they don't get watered, fertilized with organics, and don't have a history of grass growing in them. Here's how to fix yours fast. ...and when I say fast, I mean in 3 weeks. Spray it with shampoo. Shampoo is a surfactant that will allow moisture to penetrate much deeper into the soil. When that happens the microbes in the soil have a more hospitable environment (cooler and moister) in which to thrive. It is the microbes that soften the soil for you. The shampoo application rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. If you have 3,000 square feet, put 9 ounces into a hose end sprayer, fill it with water, and try to spray it evenly until the sprayer bottle is empty. You can repeat this as often as you want to, but wait for 3 weeks before you decide to repeat. Before you spray it test the soil by pushing a screw driver into it. Do that before you water and after. Then spray the yard and apply a full 1/2 to 1 inch of water all at one time. You'll have to time how long to leave the sprinkler on yourself. Do that by placing cat food or tuna cans around the yard and time how long it takes to fill them. I can tell by looking at your (dry) yard that 25 minutes is not nearly long enough. Mine takes 8 hours with turbo oscillator sprinklers on a 3/4-inch hose. That time to water 1 inch is the time you should reset your sprinklers for. Once you know that number, reset the timer and set it to water only one day per week. Bermuda in Fresno should be able to handle one day a week watering easily. I just visited a St Augustine lawn in Phoenix that only gets water once a week, so you can do it with bermuda. When the soil is right it will be very soft when moist and very firm when dry. The shampoo treatment is a replacement for aerating. You won't have to aerate ever again. Use a clear shampoo like baby shampoo. Don't use one with conditioners in it. Cheapo shampoo is fine. Generally you are correct to use the highest nitrogen number you can get easily with zeros for the other numbers. You might want to spend $25 for a soil test at Logan Labs to see if you need P or K in your fertilizer. If you do that, post your results here on this forum. Morpheuspa will read it for you and tell you how much of anything you need to apply, when to apply, and where to buy it. In addition to monthly feeding with high N, I would urge you to add at least one app per year of any organic fertilizer. The organic fertilizers feed the soil microbes so that they can help you take care of the grass. For example they keep the soil from getting hard. They also feed the grass, and there are other benefits. You can apply organics at the same time you use chemical ferts, or any other day of the year. Have you tried mowing down to 1/2-inch and letting it come back up to 3/4? Do you actually hit the ground when you mow lower than 1 inch or does it just scalp off all the green and leave brown stems? Brown stems are normal until you get it down to the 1/2-inch range. If you mow it 3x per week at 1/2-inch it will start to grow horizontally like you see on putting greens at the golf course. That's often the objective for serious bermuda growers.

I have experience with artificial turf, but not with cars on it. I would bet actual money that it won't take the beating turning car tires would give it. I would not make this trade. Instead, I would look at things you can do to "improve" the appearance of concrete. (Where are you located?) There are many coatings available that could dress it up so it looked better when you are entertaining. For the boy, I would buy toys that excel on concrete ... pretty much anything wheeled. He needs a sandbox in the corner, too. I don't think he'd miss grass at all.