Lawn care help

[zzzippper]

Because I lived overseas and in a rental house where the HOA took care of the lawn I haven’t had a yard in about 10 years so please excuse the stupidity of my question. After all those years of renting out my house the yard is very under loved and in bad shape.

Anyway, I finally bought some weed and feed and grass seed. Which should I put down first? I am thinking the weed and feed and then the seed. If that is correct, how long should I wait to seed? A couple of days? A week?

Thanks for your patience.

 

[wingriderz]

How bad is the yard ? Is it a case where striping every thing out and start fresh ? If its a case of re seed then you may want just put down your feed and seed. I know you dont have a grow time like we have in Florida. But once you have new sod you treat weeds as a secondary.

 

[Targets Guy]

get a soil sample to your county extension office and start from there. They will be able to tell you what your soil needs.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Don't put down weed killers unitil the newly seeded grass germinates and has been cut three or four times. I reckon you're probably seeding with fescue? It's too late in the season anyway. It will germinate and grow but won't have enough of an established root system to survive the summer unless you water all the time.

Good luck.

 

[Watchdog]

Don't put down weed killers unitil the newly seeded grass germinates and has been cut three or four times. I reckon you're probably seeding with fescue? It's too late in the season anyway. It will germinate and grow but won't have enough of an established root system to survive the summer unless you water all the time.

All this is true. But if you're determined to seed at this time of year, at least aerate your yard first. Some people recommend using a starter fertilizer. I just use regular ol' Scott's Turf Builder.

Fescue is a cool weather grass. It loves sunny days and cool nights. With proper fertilization and application of lime, I've had a green lawn all through the winter months. People used to laugh at me for fertilizing at Thanksgiving...but I liked my yard green at Christmas time.

Fescue goes pretty much dormant in the summer months, unless you just keep it watered on an almost daily basis. I can't afford to do that.

 

[Peak53]

Weed and feed or any fertilizer will quickly kill your new grass sprouts with too much nitrogen. As advised above by ChatanoogaPhil, get the grass established first. Good soil prep and keeping it damp until grass is about 2" tall is required. Fall is a better time to start, but it can be done in the spring.

 

[paplinker]

Since your into fixing the neglected yard consider doing any tree work you might need first before starting on the grass. Will help improve light a rainfall in your yard for the grass and for overall looks..

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Fescue is a cool weather grass. It loves sunny days and cool nights. With proper fertilization and application of lime, I've had a green lawn all through the winter months. People used to laugh at me for fertilizing at Thanksgiving...but I liked my yard green at Christmas time.

Sure. This one is time stamped in March but my backyard stays green all winter long.



I like the backyard more with leaves on the trees and little deer wandering about. Good living in Tennessee...

 

[cougar14]

See if your local rent-all has one of those big water-weighted drums with the cleats on the sides, you roll it all over your yard, it punches through the hard surface so water, seed, and fertilizer get a better start.

 

[Maddog 521]

My solution- - - -

I hired an organic lawn service.
They do the feeding and I do the rest

Lawn is looking great now.

 

[old bear]

zzzippper, if the lawn is really gone, and you are not totally sure how repair it, you may be better off to hire a lawn pro to get it started. Once the new lawn is established you can maintain it. Best of luck.

 

[coltle6920]

Forget the water-filled drum...Pay someone to come in and aerate the lawn and do it right.You should see plugs of 1 1/2 to 2". You'll probably want to water the lawn the day before they come to get better plugs.Leave the plugs on the lawn to eventually break down.

There are "starter" fertilizers that can be put down with the new seed.It gives the seed a boost helping it to root and germinate sooner.Give the lawn a good soaking but stop short of flooding the lawn.Wait an hour or so and repeat.Expect it to take from 2 to 3 weeks to see significant growth and the grass blades will still be fragile so don't allow any traffic on it.

I fertilize my lawn around early May,July and then right before the first snow I put down a Winter fertilizer to get a jump start in the Spring.

After all that here is a link that should put you on the right track.It's from Colorado State University where they do extensive research on turf.Good Luck!!

The Official Site of the Colorado State University Turf Program

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

ColtLE6920, I thought you told us that your HOA ran you out of town for having a poorly kept lawn?

 

[coltle6920]

zzzippper, if the lawn is really gone, and you are not totally sure how repair it, you may be better off to hire a lawn pro to get it started. Once the new lawn is established you can maintain it. Best of luck.

Companies like LawnDoctor and TruGreen can help you get your lawn back on track but they have been pretty bad in some areas.They have been known to charge customers for services not done and they wont go away willingly.I would prefer to do things myself than deal with their shenanigans.

 

[coltle6920]

ColtLE6920, I thought you told us that your HOA ran you out of town for having a poorly kept lawn?

Do you keep a yellow post-it on your computer to remind me?

Yes! They got on my butt about my lawn and it seemed they knew less about what it takes to bring back a lawn than I did.I put up with their BS while doing a lot of research on the subject and now I get a letter once or twice a year complimenting me on how nice my lawn is compared to everyone else's.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

TruGreen around here is the biggest joke I've ever seen. It's not unusual to see their little yard tags on a yard of dirt and weeds.

About 20 years ago my yard had some bad brown patch so I asked if they could treat it with fungicide. They came and sprayed fertilizer. That's like spraying gasoline on a fire.

 

[CBus660R]

Definitely aerate the lawn. The lawn needs those channels for moisture, nutrients, and air to get to the root zone. You can rent walk behind aerators for $60-100 and do a typical size lawn in less than an hour. If the lawn hasn't been aerated for several years, spending a bunch of money on chemicals is a waste, most will just sit on top of the thatch layer and get washed away with the first good rain.

 

[The Big D]

Scott's 4-Step Lawn Care

I highly recommend Scott's 4-Step program. Four (4) applications at different times of the year for different 'problems' but results are quite impressive.

It is not sold at Lowe's but Ace Hardware does carry it. Rebate program ongoing now, too.

Be safe.

 

[Ballistic147]

If it's mainly weeds your best bet for now would be to just deal with it until about September. Any seed you put down now will come up only to die in the heat of summer. Wait until about August and nuke the whole yard. You can get a 2 1/2 gallon jug of glyphosate at Tractor Supply for $60 to kill it. Once it's dead mow as low as possible and spot spray anything green until you're ready to put out seed which should be sometime in the middle of September. Put out a good quality seed and keep it moist by watering lightly 3 times a day. If you do it right your lawn will look like this by October.

 

[Tom S.]

Asphalt and green paint - unless you are rich and can afford AstroTurf.