Looking for some feedback on what to do with my lawn (or lack of).

1. Due to the major drought we had last summer most of my St Augustine died last summer due to cinch bug issues as well as lack of water(which was my doing even though we have a sprinkler system). The grass already had issues when we bought the house 2 years ago which is why I neglected it this past summer. I will not do this again in the future.

2. I planted annual ryegrass last fall to help with erosion (and less muddy dogs) as well as making the yard look somewhat decent during the winter. I know this will die off soon as it gets warmer here.

3. I cannot afford to resod my yard since I have over 5,000 square feet of yard . At over $100 a pallet it would break my bank.

4. Since I cannot do St. Augustine I am wanting to seed instead. I am unsure what seed to use if any since most lawns around here are either St. Augustine (which I know cannot be done from seed) or Bermuda (which likes full sun). I do have one tree in my back yard and one tree in my front yard that does provide partial shade in some areas and I have other areas where I have full sun. I will attach a few pictures of my yard.

5. Any ideas of how to go forward or am I SOL until I can afford to resod with St. Augustine?

6. I had thought about Bermuda but I know it does not do well in shade. Will it survive in partial shade?

Here are some pics that I took this morning so the sun was not fully out yet.

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Since I have annual ryegrass down right now how would I go about preparing the lawn/soil for seeding?

What type of Bermuda seed should I use and what kind to avoid?

When should I do this? Since we may have an early spring would I be able to seed soon and in time before the real hot weather comes?

After looking at the pic of the tree limb I see what you are saying and I never noticed that fully. Are you saying that the whole branch needs to be cut off?

Don't give in to bermuda yet. St Augustine will come back if you have one living plant left. It spreads about 5 feet in all directions in the spring (NOW in SA) and another 5 feet in the fall. There are a few methods that will help you get over the SA watering restrictions.

1. If you need to, water the full 7 hours you are allotted. My sprinkler (oscillator type) takes a full 8 hours to apply 1 inch, so I never water a full inch in the summer. During most of the year I water for 3 hours (3/8 inch) once every 2 weeks in the late spring. In the summer heat I will bump it up, I go to 5 hours. Last summer I was watering all 7 hours. That was a first.

2. Keep St Aug mowed at the highest setting on your mower. Then let it go several weeks in the summer heat. Tall St Aug really resists the drought stress much better than short St Aug. I have another home in George West where I'm experimenting with really tall St Aug. It is knee high in some places left over from the fall. I don't plan to mow it at all and see how the extra desert heat in GW treats the grass.

3. If you want the St Aug to spread, over fertilize it with organic fertilizer. I used corn gluten meal as a fertilizer every month last season and my grass never looked better. Organic ferts tend to not cause over growth, so that is a bonus.

Your rye will not die by itself in SA. That causes a problem for the underlying grass because the tall rye provides too much shade for the real lawn to come out of dormancy. If you want the grass underneath to spring back, you'll need to mow the rye very short to let the sunlight in.