CAring for Bermuda grass

[hardworker]

We bought a house a year ago (brand new/new neighborhood) and berumda grass was installed. I keep hearing that we should keep the bermuda grass cut short which i recently did, but it looks horrible. We used to keep it long and it was nice and green. How should i care for this grass.

Secondly,
My back yard is shady in one section and the bermuda grass is always brown, but green in the sunny areas. Is there something i can do?

[Mr. Clean]

Hey hardworker!

You heard right, cutting Bermuda short is the way to go. It does require a good bit of sun, so that is probably at least part of your problem in the shady areas. That is especially true, since the neighboring grass in the sun sounds like it doing just fine. You might see if you can open up the branch structure of tree (assumption on my part) shading this part of the lawn, or try a ground cover.

Caring for Bermuda is really quite basic:

O Apply your organic fertilizers at least twice a year at the recommended ratio. After you have your lawn established using organic methods, I cut back on the amount of fertilizer I apply. You can also apply the various ammendments which you read about here on the site. I think that may be helpful initially, but shouldn't be required as often as you grow (that's a pun) into the organic program.

O Water deeply and infrequently.

O Mow regularly cutting at a maximum height of 1".