Help me fix my lawn!

[Twylla]

Okay, smart green thumbs... I need help. I'm a stinky gardener, but i get all that work since DH has terrible allergy issues. Sigh.

My lawn is very lush and green... where it is there. Some funky little weeds are pushing in (they're everywhere in the yard, they almost look pretty, but I know they're a weed, lol). Plus, we've got the usual problems of dandelions, etc. We bought the house last summer and the previous owners had basically just made the yard look "nice" but hadn't really accomplished much. The "flowers" they planted were all dead by the time we actually moved in, and the yard is basically nasty.

Also, they "zero-scaped" a section of the front yard, with 3 evergreen bushes and those white rocks, but they did a very bad job. Grass and weeds are growing through the rocks since they didn't lay down that black plastic stuff, and there aren't very many rocks.

So, my questions are:
-What's the best weed killer to use on the lawn?
-What's the best weed killer to use on other areas, such as cracks in the driveway?
-How on earth should I fix the "zero-scaping" in the front?

TIA!!!

[kadee_29]

Subscribing.

My lawn is pretty nasty too. And I am in the process of pulling a section of lawn to put down something. I would love to hear what others recommend.

[Delaney21]

I'm not an expert on this stuff - I leave it all to DH! But I think you are supposed to use weed killer in the Spring and Fall, but not the Summer. I don't know why this is and I will try to get a better answer from DH tonight for you.

[Twylla]

Thanks Delaney! Any help is much appreciated... I hope I didn't miss out on the chance to kill these darned weeds! yikes!

kadee, I hope we can have lovely green lawns again soon!

[amorey]

What do your funky weeds look like? Sometimes you have to do special stuff for different weeds.

Round Up works really well on weeds that are growing in the driveway. Get the squirty kind and just squirt the offending weed. Be careful, though because it will kill any plant it touches.

[young lioness]

Hi Twy!

Our lawn was all clover and dandelions when we bought it last year, and we've been slowly working on improving it.

Brian read up on the Scott's website about the different products they have that you can use at different times of the year. We bought a spreader at Home Depot to apply the stuff. In the spring we put on a "turf builder/weed killer" mix. Its made to kill a lot of the common weeds and has seed mix to help fill in the grass. That helped some of the weeds (especially the dandelions), but we still have a LOT of clover. A few weeks ago, he applied a summer fertilizer to help the grass some more. In the fall we'll do the turf builder/weed killer again. The stuff we're doing isn't making an immediate difference, but it does seem to be helping.

I know that there are lawn service places that you can contract with to come several times a year and spray stuff on your lawn to keep the weeds away. You could probably have a place like that come look at your lawn and see what they might recommend.

[Twylla]

amorey... there are dandelions, and some smallish little "tree" like things, they have roundish leaves, they're bright green, and they growing in big clusters or clumps all around the yard. There wasn't many of them when we moved in though. I'll try that round up, since there are a lot of weeds growing where they shouldn't! Thanks so much!

Hi Amy!!! I'm glad to hear the mixture is working for you. I sounds like we may have the same lawn... maybe the weeds I'm thinking of are clover. Did you do much hand picking of the weeds? Or mostly stick to the turf builder/weed killer? I think I need to go visit Home Depot and Wal mart for some reseach. Maybe I'll have to call around, we don't have a lot of money to spend on the yard, but if we don't stop these weeds soon, they may take over my house, yikes!! Thank you so much for the help! BTW, how's the erst of the house coming along? deck on the way yet?

[Annette]

We're having a crabgrass problem in the backyard, along with the grass dying because its been over 90 degrees with no rain for over a month now. Its so frustrating because we just bought the sod in April.

[~queen~]

There are plenty of 'Weed and Feed' products you can get to control the weeds. Also, get some summertime fertilizers added as quickly as possible. Scotts products are the most popular, but really, almost any will do.

There is a product called tetrocide or triox (or something like that) that is a total vegitation killer that you can mix up and pour directly over the rocks to kill everything. Lots easier than picking the rocks up, putting down the weed block and putting them back down but be very careful because it kills everything!

[Twylla]

Anette, I can imagine that's even moer frustrating. At least the grass was already there for us. Good luck conrolling it.

Thanks queen! I did get some weed killer stuff I'm going to try. Thanks for the input on the rocks. I think I'll try that route first, and pick them up in the spring if I need to. Also, thanks very much for the fertilizer tip. Is it okay to use them in the niddle of the summer? Or would you suggest me waiting until the fall or even spring? TIA!

[~queen~]

We fertilize OFTEN. At least 6 times during the spring/summer/fall - mostly because of our soil, which is clay - demands lots of long watering and won't keep the grass as green as we like it. Fertilizing helps alot.

As a matter of fact, we just last weekend put down some Scotts Summertime fertilizer plus insect control. Comes in an orange back rather than a green one.

[Twylla]

Oh, good, thanks queen! We also live on a very clay based area. Maybe that's part of the problem. I live in Regina, right smack in the middle of the cold Canadian prairie! I'll look for the Scotts, thank you so much!

[amorey]

I bought some Ortho Weed-B-Gone Max for all the creeping charlie, dandelions and clover I have. I'll let you know if it works. I haven't gotten to use it yet, since you're not supposed to spray it if it's 90 degrees or more out.

[Twylla]

Good luck with that one amorey! Hopefully we can both report back with some good news after a bit of work this weekend! As long as it cools down a bit for you...

[MLA]

My lawn sucks, too! My dad recommended using a weed killer and then seeding with rye grass, which is apparently an annual that grows pretty fast. Has anyone ever used rye grass? Will it work in the Southeast?

[Tanya]

My lawn sucks, too! My dad recommended using a weed killer and then seeding with rye grass, which is apparently an annual that grows pretty fast. Has anyone ever used rye grass? Will it work in the Southeast?
We had Rye hydromulched (specially sprayed and it grows w/in a few days), but around here, it's a winter grass only. You can only attempt to grow it from Oct-Feb. It's very pretty, though!

[MLA]

We had Rye hydromulched (specially sprayed and it grows w/in a few days), but around here, it's a winter grass only. You can only attempt to grow it from Oct-Feb. It's very pretty, though!

Hmm. . . is it not heat-resistant? That could be a problem for me in NC, I suppose. The summers get pretty hot here -- sometimes in the 90's with 90% humidity.

Ugh. I'd just really like to have a nice lawn. :(

[Tanya]

Hmm. . . is it not heat-resistant? That could be a problem for me in NC, I suppose. The summers get pretty hot here -- sometimes in the 90's with 90% humidity.

Ugh. I'd just really like to have a nice lawn. :(
Unfortunately, that is my extent of Rye knowledge, but I know it does grow fast. In its place Bermuda grows in the summer, and the Rye will continue to come back in the winter. I would talk to someone in your area, because it might in fact be fine there. We have St. Augustine in the front which grows (well, of course it goes a bit dormant in the winter) all year round. It's not as pretty, but more hardy. Is that an option?

[Ali]

xeriscaping

[MLA]

Unfortunately, that is my extent of Rye knowledge, but I know it does grow fast. In its place Bermuda grows in the summer, and the Rye will continue to come back in the winter. I would talk to someone in your area, because it might in fact be fine there. We have St. Augustine in the front which grows (well, of course it goes a bit dormant in the winter) all year round. It's not as pretty, but more hardy. Is that an option?

Thanks. I'll talk to someone around here about it. I don't know about St. Augustine grass. Lord, I don't know anything about grass -- I don't even know what type of grass we have in our yard.:o It's green. And that's about all I can tell you.