"Terry" wrote in message ...
"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 02:48:22 GMT, "Oscar_Lives"
wrote:

I just moved into a house with a crappy yard. I want to get it going,
but
don't know where to start. The grass is thin with some bare spots and
loads
of crab grass and weeds. I don't know whether I should fertilize and
weed
killer, or if I should ignore the weeds and fertilize and overseed.

Got any advice?



I don't know your location. If in the US, overseed in the fall. Use
weed killer in the spring when weeds are small and actively growing.
Be generous with seed and use the highest quality you can find, as you
will have fewer weeds to deal with next spring. When overseeding make
sure you use a starter fertilizer. Do not use weed killer 8 weeks
before seeding, nor 3 months after. Identify your weeds.

Why is everyone using chemicals? Doesn't that also ruin the groundwater and
eventually end up in our water supplies and swimming areas.
A current problem here is "Cinch bug", which apparently thrives on
'Bluegrass' which I understand from gardening experts on local radio
programs to tend to be common in 'store-bought' seed mixtures !
To counter the brown areas caused by cinch bug problems a lot of people
rushed out and bought, in some cases, the wrong sprays then phoned in to
these radio programs about how they killed all of their grass etc. having
bought the wrong chemical instead of one to kill cinch bugs!
Fortunately our grass which has never been especially sodded, coddled or
treated with anything chemical except a couple of applications of lime in 30
odd years is just native species and clover and it hasn't been affected by
cinch.
A neighbour, now owning a building lot we once did, is bemoaning that he
hasn't got any grass, only a mixture of various low growing weeds, yet his
'lawn' is one of the greenest around during an unusual dry spell! They had
a busy yard sale recently and it had no impact to whatever he has growing,
which appears to be mainly just local low growing native plants with just
very little grass in it. I've told him not to mess with success!
I do know that now (although we were the second house built on this street)
we can't use our original water supply, a well for potable water because
other neighbours have used herbicides and insecticides.
There are now a great many municipalities banning the use of these
chemicals. However even the so-called 'Lawn Care' companies do not follow
the rules and one can't know if they are just spraying water, old stocks of
now illegal chemicals and/or are spraying chemicals with wind speeds in
excess of 25 miles per hour! In one case, chemical spraying involved the
three corners of a road intersection and within feet of several restaurant
and take-out food establishments; complete with "Notice. Sprayed area. Keep
pets off grass!". !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I try not to shop there.
Seems like the natural and native species of grasses and plants work best
and are least affected by insect pests? Using chemicals may destroy this
balance and then seeding introduces grass species which are not native and
therefore less suitable for local conditions?
I do agree that when one gets grass to grow it crowds out many of the weeds
and a little bit of judicious hand weeding and cutting off the dandelions
early allows the grass to take over and predominate.


I don't recommend excessive use of chemicals, however the OP has a
lawn full of crabgrass and other weeds that he wants to straighten
out. Using Roundup, which is a relatively safe agent and then
reseeding involves minimal chemicals and is the fastest, cheapest, and
easiest way to handle this. Once you have a good lawn established,
the use of chemicals should be minimal.

If you're afraid to shop at stores simply because they had their lawns
treated, I think you're overly paranoid.