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If you apply too much fertilizer to your grass, it can take about three weeks to recover. If you still have dead patches after three weeks, it might be time to remove the dead grass and overseed the affected area. Since overfertilizing can also cause problems with fungus, leading to further damage to the grass, monitor your grass color and growth for one month after over fertilizing.

How often you should fertilize your lawn depends on its health. A healthy, lush lawn with good soil health may only need fertilizing once per year. Other lawns with shallow roots or that have been neglected or overly reliant on fertilizers may need an application as often as every six weeks.

Provided you're using an appropriate starter fertilizer for grass seed, you can put down seeds and fertilizer at the same time. However, putting them down separately, one after the other, on the same day will help to avoid over- or under-applying the lawn food. Avoid using a fertilizer with weed control elements, as these will likely keep the grass seeds from starting.  

Some of the particular herbicides that work best to get rid of nut grass without killing the grass include Halosulfuron-methyl, mesotrione, sulfentrazone, and metsulfuron. A herbicide like glyphosate would kill nutgrass, but it will kill nearby plants, too.