"Joe J." wrote:
We're buying a home in a desert climate and it had about a 10 x 20 lawn
patch in the backyard, the rest is desert landscaping. �The house is a repo
and the water has been off for 6 months so needless to say the grass is
dead. �We want to keep that small patch of green. �Do you think I could
over-seed on top of the dead stuff or do I have to rip it out and start
over? �I'm waiting until around October when things cool off a bit during
the day.

Almost always those smallish lawns in arid areas are sod. If your
dead lawn lifts up in sheets like carpet it's sod. Remove the dead
sod, spread some composted organic matter and resod... you'll need to
water twice every day... it would be best to install an underground
automatic irrigation system, miss a couple of days watering and you'll
lose your patch of green. I strongly suggest you visit your local
independent nursery to learn which type of sod to install in your
specific location and how to care for it... sod is installed, not
planted, it never roots into the soil... I seriously doubt you have
arable soil in a dessert location, all you have is dessert sand and
rock. Unless you're wealthy it would be pretty much a waste of money
to have topsoil hauled in so you can plant a seeded lawn, you'd need
to pile it about a foot deep and still its nutrients will leach into
the sand rather quickly so you'll be top dressing monthly. Unless you
want to be a slave to that green patch go with sod and install
irrigation.