Many here are shoveling snow, so you don't get sympathy points for commenting on the hot sun ;0 I'll take a neglected lawn over a hyper fertilized lawn any time. At least you don't have a salty soil to deal with. Since you are new to this,... Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it. Too much is better than too little*. At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide.

@mike... Yes the powered reel mowers are self propelled. The McLane utilizes a pulley and belt system to activate the drive wheels and another pulley belt and chain system to operate the reel. The Trimmer and Tru-Cut both use clutches, but the Tru-Cut uses two automotive type clutches so you can creep along very slow or move quickly, and everything in between. Imagine a gas pedal for your left thumb. The reel speed is also independent of the ground speed clutch. And yes the reel speed or (clip rate) of the powered reels is much higher than that of muscle power. This can be detrimental though, if you are using a 10 blade reel or using a very high ground speed. You would need to slow the speed of the reel in relation to the forward motion. This can only be done with the Tru-Cut. Tru-Cut's and Trimmers can cut down to 3/8ths, which is low but not close to putting green heights. McLane home putting green models can cut down to 1/8th.

Well, I did order the reel mower and used it for the first time today. It wasn't any harder to push than a rotary mower, just had to do a little more prep work in keeping an eye out for sticks and little pine cones. I had to stop a handfull of times to remove small sticks from the blades and had pull up some longer weeds by hand. All in all I'm pleased, and it was around 86 degrees when I mowed.

I have seen your weather this time of year. It can be dreary at times. I'm not sure what your end goal is here, and you have a pretty big lawn. The best way to keep things orderly that I can think of is to get some sheep. You can get some feeder lambs, let them keep everything down until the weather dries out, then sell them at a heavier weight and hopefully get your money back plus more. Since you have corrals, I would assume you have some livestock. But, if the livestock are leaving some types of plants, then mix in another animal species. Both horses and cows have their forage preferences. If you have either of these, mix in some sheep and they are likely to eat what the cows or horses won't. Temporary electric netting will allow you to graze sheep wherever you want for short periods if fences aren't available. From experience, mowing wet grass can plug up the mower, requiring frequent stops to clean out the mower platform. It also tends to shred the grass rather than cutting it, which leaves a rough appearance and creates more opportunity for diseases to enter the plants. You can still mow when wet, your results just aren't very good, and you might leave ruts in the ground that will show for a very long time. Herbicides may or may not work well at your current temperatures, but you will need to know what you are trying to achieve. Roundup will kill everything and you'll have 20 acres of bare ground. Bad idea. A broadleaf herbicide such as 2,4-D will control most broadleaves and leave the grass untouched, or a grass killer will take out most of the grasses and leave the broadleaves, both of which you will still need to mow. You can apply a half rate of a grass herbicide such as Poast or Select and it will make grasses sick and stunt their growth without killing them. I'd stay away from herbicides except for specific problems or small areas, though, and go with livestock, and wait for some dry periods to mow close around buildings and a front lawn on the house.