First, let me give you a run down on the major cool season grasses, and their pro's and cons. Perennial Ryegrass: A fine bladed, dark green bunch type grass. Germinates in 3-7 days, and is ready for it's first mowing in 3-4 weeks. Can tolerate close mowing (used on golf course fairways) but does well at 2-3 inches. PR is often part of mixes due to its quick germination, but in actuality isn't really good in a mixed stand due to it's fast rate of growth, it's better in a monostand. PR doesn't spread (except for a few new spreading cultivars that just came out) so any stand loss will necessitate periodic overseedings. Once established it is very difficult to seed other types of grass other than PR into the stand due to allelopathy. PR requires full sun, and is somewhat of a thirsty grass, requiring more water than the other major cool season grasses. PR has a very short dormancy period in times of drought, and the grass will die very soon. PR also can suffer cold kill, which occurs when winter temps get very low for long periods. Tall fescue: TF used to be a light green, coarse pasture grass until turf scientists in the late seventies and eighties started developing darker, finer varieties. Development has continued to this day and the newest varieties are dark green, fairly fine bladed, and much softer. Germination is typically 5-12 days, with the first mow at about a month. Also a bunch type grass, but newer varieties have high tillering and higher rhizome activity. Mature tall fescue will spread, albeit slowly, but for the first few years it's spreading is minimal. Any major stand loss will require overseeding. Tall fescue is best around 2-3.5 inches, depending on your preference. Too high it gets bunchy and thin. TF is very shade tolerant, most cultivars do well in sun and moderate shade. Tall fescue has the ability to develop very deep roots in certain soils, and can withstand periods of drought for a long time once mature. Dormancy is longer than PR, but periods of drought will ultimate lead to stand loss. One of the biggest drawbacks to TF is the disease brown patch, but in Colorado this will probably be minimal due to the lower night temps and drier air. Cold kill is also a possibility, but from what I have read cold kill isn't a huge problem unless temps are very low for long periods. TF mixes pretty well with Kentucky bluegrass, as long as you don't select super dark, slow growing cultivars. Kentucky Bluegrass: The Cadillac of turfgrass. Produces a soft lush turf with most cultivars dark green to dark blue green. Spreads via rhizomes, so overseeding is only necessary if very large areas are lost. Germinates in 8-28 days, and is usually slow to establish, first mowing in about 30-45 days depending on the weather, cultivar, soil, etc. The first year it is a bit fragile, but after that it is very durable. There are many different cultivars on the market today with variable characteristics. Usually cut at 2-3 inches, but some varieties can be cut to fairway heights. Mature grass can go dormant in times of drought for long periods, coming out of it when conditions are more favorable. It's spreading ability is one of it's best characteristics as it self repairs areas as big as a dinner plate in one season if properly cared for and feed well. Needs a bit more fertilizer and water than TF, but in reality, to have a great lawn they all require similar inputs. Cold kill isn't an issue, but many cultivars are slow to wake up in spring. It has been the convention to mix different cultivars to increase genetic diversity, and prevent a disease from wiping out an entire lawn. The newer cultivars today are thought to be disease tolerant enough where mixing several cultivars isn't really necessary anymore, which will give a more consistent lawn. Fine fescues are another type of turfgrass, but unless you have moderate to heavy shade, they are typically not suited for full lawns. Their needle like blades are soft, but they are not the greatest looking lawns, and I would only use them in the shady lawns I mentioned above. For a sunny lawn in Colorado you are going to have to irrigate due to your low humidity, and somewhat dry conditions. If water is too expensive to supply 1 inch a week in times of no rain, then PR, TF, and KBG are going to struggle. Fortunately disease pressure should be lower than areas that are hot and humid in the summer. All turfgrasses have their disease issues, with good cultural practices they should be kept to a minimum. To help you decide which cultivar you should use, you can consult the NTEP trials at www.ntep.org. Pay attention to your specific region and characteristics you are interested in. Not all cultivars are tested in the NTEP's since it is a 5 year trial, and new ones that come out mid trial aren't tested. That being said, if a cultivar is being sold, it has been tested by the grower for many years, or else they wouldn't bring it to market. For Colorado, if you choose KBG, I would probably pay attention to spring green up since you have a shorter growing season with lower spring temps. There are a few cultivars that do very well in that regard like Rush, Nugget, 4-Seasons, Jumpstart, and others. Also pay attention to what sod farms in the area are growing as well as local golf courses. Extension offices can be a good resource, but not always, especially when it comes to cultivar selection. Hope this helps.

crouch- If you believe your soil is compacted, you should consider aerating as part of your late summer/early fall lawn care program. Try sticking a long (6" or so) screwdriver into your soil. If it is tough to get it in to the handle, you may well have a compaction issue. Not sure where in Jersey you are, but right around Labor Day is when I get into aerating/overseeding activities in CT. Cold overnight temps, shorter days, and an abundance of maple leaves makes October much too late around here for a high success rate with kbg overseeding. I was absolutely blown away with the results of my efforts last fall, which I moved up to Sept 2-4 (I know everyone says "fall overseeding," but "late summer" would be more precise). Of course I'd love to pat myself on the back as some sort of lawn guru, but the truth is we had pleasant days, not too cool nights, regular rain, etc. right into Thanksgiving! With crabgrass dying with the first good frost, I may not automatically reach for the roundup. I have found that cutting my existing crabgrass/lawn as short as possible and bagging/raking the clippings allows me to seed immediately without the use of roundup. If timed properly, the desirable seed germinates and gets strong enough in the fall so I can apply a pre-m in the spring to prevent the crabgrass seed from germinating. I wouldn't necessarily give up on it this year, but I can't expect you will get optimal results at this point either. I would heed billhill's advice about organic material and watering. KBG is a notorious slow germinator. I would also seriously consider having a soil test done. I understand you wanting to be able to mentally turn the corner on this one way or another and nobody likes to see their hard work go unrewarded. Maybe adjust expectations downward and hope to be pleasantly surprised now. Armed with the knowledge you can gain on this board, this may well be the last spring you need to endure lawn envy.

I don't know what kind of grass you have. I live in MD and my guess is it doesn't grow around here. it's probably a warm season grass of some sort. My experience is with cold season grasses and you wouldn't seed those at this time of year. You would wait until around labor day. If you have a warm season grass, I don't know the best time to seed. The best defense against weeds is to have a thick turf of grass. I wouldn't bother trying to hand pick the weeds as even if you got the roots, some other weed would sprout up in its place. The best thing to do is a to apply a herbicide a few weeks prior to putting down seed. If you want the best results, use a non selective herbicide, but this will kill everything you spray. Use a selective herbicide is areas where you want to kill weeds but don't want to kill existing grass. But, like I said, non selective are much more effective.

Perhaps someone else can help with the evergreens dilemma since I'm not aware of grass not growing because they were once there. If their former roots are near the surface, yes that will prevent grass from growing because it can impede root growth. However, it wouldn't prevent the seeds from germinating, plus you do have some plantlife there, after all. Lime amends the soil to bring the soil's pH into balance. The only way to really know if the soil needs lime is to have it tested. The test results will determine the need, how much to apply, and at what intervals to apply it. Whether your neighbor was correct in advising you to apply lime, I cannot be certain. But I imagine he is familiar with the soils in your area normally needing it. To help with your seeding problem, we will need more information. 1. Did you water the seeds often to keep them moist so they can germinate and grow? 2. Did you smother the seeds with lime? We will need a time factor or order of events to determine that since we don't know at what point you seeded and applied the lime. 3. Does the seeded area receive direct sunlight? Based on the information you've given us, I see no reason you won't be able to lay sod. With proper care, it should root and flourish. Where evergreens used to be, just make sure there are no roots left too near the soil surface.