Flush your soil with LOTS of water if you notice the grass turning yellow, tan, or brown after fertilizing. The discoloration could be a sign of fertilizer burn, which means that spot received too much nitrogen from your fertilizer. Watering in excess will cause some of the nitrogen to leach out of the soil so your grass can recover. Once the grass completely dies from fertilizer burn and turns brown, you can't bring it back to life. But you can replace it with new, healthy grass by following these steps: -- Remove the dead grass with a lawn rake. You should be able to see the bare soil.  -- Water the dead patch and surrounding areas thoroughly to flush the excess nitrogen out of the soil.  -- If you have a spreading grass type such as Bermuda or Kentucky bluegrass: You're done. Your self-repairing grass will spread on its own through rhizomes or stolons to cover the bare patch.  -- If you have a bunching grass type such as fescue or perennial ryegrass: Reseed the bare patch with new grass.