Spring lawn care (lawns, irrigate, growing plants, seeding)

[dcgrl]

Can someone familiar with establishing lawns help me out? i planted fescue in a small area of my backyard in the fall as an experiment--the area had been covered mostly in pine straw and wild violet, so I cleared, weeded, aerated, limed, planted, watered and now have a decent patch of grass. (with a decent amount of wild violet growing--I'm not insisting on perfection)

It's pretty uneven though--some bare or thin spots here and there (I wasn't really successful with the spreader). I'm planning on overseeding this spring--should I use the same type of seed, or an annual seed, and overseed in fall with more fescue?

Also, because I'm emboldened by my success, I'd like to grow the little lawn area this spring. I know fescue is best established in the fall, but can I throw some down this spring, or would I be better served waiting until the fall?

It gets pretty shady in the mid-afternoon, but I have a good amount of sun until then.

thanks for any advice!

[frankpc]

Seeding in the spring is tough, short roots and NC heat. Afternoon shade will help - do you plan to irrigate?
If you have bare spots you should use a pre emergent crabgrass control to prevent being overrun with crabgrass. If you do that, make sure you choose one that allows for fescue seeding or the pre emergent will kill the fescue seedlings.
Grass can be frustrating here, deal with grass for an entire season before adding too much grass area ... I tend to minimize grass area and opt for natural areas and low growing plants ...

Frank