Bare Land, now what?

Hi hartlbb and good to have you on our message boards!

There is unfortunately no one magic secret for keeping a lawn weed free but the best thing you can possibly do is to maintain a healthy lawn which is well watered and fed. This is your best possible defense against weeds as it allows the lawn itself to win the "survival of the fittest" battle against weeds as it will have the resources to do so.

Your lawn needs good soil. Mix in organic matter e.g. compost, with your existing soil before seeding to give your lawn a better chance in the fight against weeds. Soil containing the correct amount of organic matter will retain moisture and nutrients more readily.

Once your lawn begins to grow you will inevitably have some weeds emerging. You can pick these out with a weeding tool or by hand. Try to pull the whole root system as leaving pieces of the weed root behind will allow it to grow back. If you don't manage to get the whole root out don't worry because it hasn't been a complete waste of time, the weed is now weakened and therefore will find it harder to come back as strong, that is if the lawn is healthy. The weed will find it harder to compete with the lawn grass to get the nutrients and water it needs and will eventually die back completely. Keep you lawn cut at a height of 2.5 inches for optimium preformance against weeds.

Also once your lawn is established you can use a pre-emergence herbicide twice a year, usually in February and September, to tackle the weeds before they germinate. Some of these pre-emergence herbicides come combined with fertilizer so that you are feeding you lawn as well.