or more accurately from Durham region. I have a TON of questions... and am looking for a definitive guide / answer on lawn care and what I should be doing. I apologize for the length of the post... We bought our house about two years ago... this will be our third summer here... the previous owner didn't practically nothing to keep up the lawn, so it was overgrown... we mowed, pulled all the weeds with the claw thingy and off we go... now it seems we have crab grass and the weeds have just gotten insane. So... as far as I know... this is what I should be doing to keep up my lawn: March/April: (when snow should be gone): - spread out pre-emergent fertilizer w/ weed & crab grass killer - only mow when the grass gets to about 3 inches high. May: - around the end of the month lay down some regular fertilizer (not sure exactly what I should be getting and what all those numbers mean on the bag) - only mow when the grass gets to about 3 inches - water if there hasn't been any rain for a week. June/July/August: - only mowing (3 inches) - watering (if no rain for a week). September: - at beginning of month lay down fertilizer again... (what kind? post-emergent killer or pre? or just regular...?) - maybe one or two more mows if the grass gets over 3" but otherwise leave it alone. - dethatch the lawn (every year? two?) - rent a soil aerator (every year? two?) As far as the weeds go, Weed-B-Gon does work, however, I don't believe it's killing the root right away... so it sort of defeats the purpose. Vinegar DOES work, however, again, I don't think it kills the root right away and it ends up growing back. Is there anything to do besides just pulling them up with the claw? We are also getting crab grass. I've read here that I'm supposed to have put down a pre-emergent fertilizer before it even starts growing... too late for that now... I want to salvage this summar season... anything I can do besides pulling up the grass by hand? I'm hoping there is as there is a TON of crab grass. I've already laid down a batch of crab grass / weed killer about 4/5 weeks ago... but I think it was too late by that point. I've thought about hiring a company to just come and do it but this is my first house and I'd like to tackle this on my own first... if I'm armed with knowledge, "the doing" is the only thing I need to worry about. I also seem to have wild tulips growing near the side of the house... odd but I suspect it's from the previous owner. I eventually want to plant my own vegetable / herb garden, but one thing at a time... I need to get this lawn under control. Photos attached. ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from thejames's Garden )
I dont know a whole lot about lawn care, but Scotts (and Vigoro, which is a little cheaper than Scotts) has a line of fertilizers that tell you when to apply them and what theyre for. It -is- too late for the crabgrass preventer, but you can start with the 2nd step of the program which is Scotts® Turf Builder® With PLUS 2® Weed Control. Comes in a yellow bag. Apply between April and June. The also have a regular fert you can apply anytime, it comes in a green bag. Note- I dont work for Scotts and I never have, but I did work for Home Depot and this is what we recommended to people. I also just moved back into the house I spent most of the past 10 years in, but now its my house to care for, and believe me, the lawn needs some work! So Im using the Scotts product.
I am just guessing here, but I am guessing you live in a fairly new house in a sub division? If so, most likely you have no top soil to support the grass. This is what the pictures look like to me.( the builder/developer strips the soil and then sells it to help with the cost of the sub division) Compost, compost, compost on the grass. In the Fall if it is still not looking very nice you can overseed the whole lawn. Straw it and wait on it to re grow. If you wait 'til Fall the grass will germinate, but the weed seeds will not. Mow the grass to 3" tall, not mow it when it is 3" tall. the extra height will help shade out weed growth. Picking up the grass clippings is not as good for the lawn as we think. It is better to leave them, although I will confess, I can't! I hate the grass being drug into the house after it is mowed. So I pick it up and it goes to the garden for mulch. I never put fertilizer on the lawn. I have never thatched or aerated the lawn (Too many animals and people here to worry over it), either. The thatch is a build up of the roots dying and matting and then the water can't get to live ones....no humus in the "soil", no beneficial organisms, no water getting to it because it runs off instead of filtering through...this is a cycle created by the lack of top soil for the lawn. So instead of dumping your resources into the grass itself, first look at the soil and go from there. Hope this helps a little.
When I mow I always have it on mulch so the clippings go back to the ground... our area doesn't accept grass for yard-waste as opposed to weeds, twigs, etc.. The house is about 7-8 years old now and we've heard all kinds of nightmares about digging in the ground and finding all sorts of things just a foot under the topsoil. We've been putting down soil when we can to try to build this up. So.. I should be grabbing that yellow bag (or 2 or 3) of weed control, lay that down and then put down some top soil, or perhaps vice versa? As far as mowing, that was what I meant... only cut it down to 3", my apologies. As far as that seasonal scheduled for lawn care... does that look right to you? Should I be changing my habits there or maybe I've overlooked something? I wish there was a "dummies guide to lawn care" or something.
Check the top soil you have been putting down, sometimes there are not very many nutrients in it. Compost is your best bet for building up the soil your lawn is growing in. As long as the soil is lacking nutrients the weeds are going to grow, thrive and survive....replenish the nutrients in the soil and the grass will be healthy enough to keep the weeds down. As far as your season lawncare plans, I have no idea since we do not have a lawn to contend with. Our front and back yards are all gardens, hubby gave away the lawnmower last winter. But there are plenty of members here who will be able to work you through that aspect. I have always heard that if you keep the soil healthy, water deeply once a week to make the grass roots grow down and not stay on the soil surface, mow but not scalp your lawn will do great.
I have no answers since we really don't keep our lawn "up". Whatever grows, grows. It's never been fertilized or watered. We just keep it mowed. But, I would like to say "Welcome!"
