Ok - there is a trick to this, but it is a pretty stupid trick. Basically, you put out some cheap seed (like K31) and hope for the best. When that doesn't work, repeat. (See, I told you it was stupid!) Eventually you get lucky and mother nature cooperates enough to get some decent grass growing. What usually happens is that you get some sparce grass now and it starts to come in better through oct and nov. Between washout thunderstorms and long dry periods, you'll probably have to do it a few times before you luck out, but you never know. Of course, the drought could continue through the end of the year an mother nature never cooperates with a few rainy days in a row, but that is the risk you take if you can't/won't water. Another method is "dormant seeding." Basically, wait until late fall and put out a bunch of seed. Wait for spring and wet weather. That tends to work better in northern climates where snow protects the seeds over winter.

My next door neighbor's KBG goes dormant much faster than our tall fescue. I'll keep my fescue, I like it a lot better. Some of his bluegrass had invaded part of our yard years ago, before our lawn was established. That stuff gets brown at the first sign of dry weather. It (tall fescue) also spreads well to fill in small spots that die for whatever reason, but it can take several years depending on the size of the spot. I occasionally have a spot die out for one reason or another. This spring when installing a new heat pump the guy moved a big garbage can onto the lawn and it sat there for 2 days, causing a big brown spot. I know it's too hot and dry to seed that now. In a couple of weeks, when cooler, hopefully wetter weather comes, I'll put a little compost there and grass seed, but only in that spot. We don't overseed the whole lawn because most of it is really nice now. When we first bought this house the lawn was very sparce, more bare soil than grass. For several years we did core aeration in fall followed be overseeding and in a couple of years we had a full, thick lawn of fescue. Karen

Emu bushes could work. I have a yellow one that flowers this time of year and laughs at both heat and cold. And it's xeri, this plant likes dry, baked ground. Go figure. There's lots of other emu plants that would work well too. I like Summertime Blue and especially Silver Turkey Bush (Eremophila bowmanii). Baker's usually stocks these. Here's another site with lots of emu bush information: http://www.oznativeplants.com/plant/Emubushes.html - you'll have to copy and paste that URL to your browser, can only post one link. Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Emu Bush

I just mulch wide enough that my lawn tractor can trim the grass at the edge. If it is already a large tree, it really doesn't need mulch, but it also helps protect it from a lawn tractor or string trimmer.