They say that, but then our next-door neighbor says that she's never managed to plant anything in the fall and have it survive the birds and squirrels and erratic weather. The seeds I put down in the fall haven't really done spectacularly well, either. I think we're just screwed no matter what...

For the record, I did manage to plant some grass last spring and get it to grow, so it's not completely impossible. I hope that the netting will help somewhat with the birds, as well as with the "all the soil gets washed into the neighbors' yard" problem.