As long as you are happy with the service you are getting and not physically able to do the work yourself. Stick with them. I can do most of the work, but it will take somewhat of a toll over time. Not that I can't, but let me tell you why I opted for Trugreen in the first place. I have a neighbor down the street with a fabulous lush Bermuda lawn. I went down and asked him (we'd never met before) how he did it. He is older than me, and said he's only used Trugreen for years and a mowing service. I was surprised. That's why I opted for Trugreen with my new lawn. I can't say at this point if I'm happy or not as only pre-emergents have been used to this point, but they seem to be mostly effective. In the mean time is there a kid or someone in the neighbor hood that might be able to spread some 20-5-10 now? Even thinking down the road can the same person do subsequent applications for you this year? I don't anticipate great issues with the applications of fertilizer if I do it, but if I have to also do the annual pre and post emergents, season after season, it will take it's toll. That was my primary reason for asking how Trugreen compared to your recommendations. So, would there be major issues if I did the fertilizer myself, and let trugreen do the pre and post emergents? I am temporarily mowing the lawn myself now, but I plan on hiring the same company that my neighbor I spoke of uses, once the lawn is fully established. I will also ask them if they are willing to do the lawn applications as needed. If they can, I can cancel Trugreen. Once again, I can't thank you enough for your assistance.

Part of the problem with crabgrass in bermuda is they both love the same conditions. The advantage you have is in withholding moisture, especially in the spring. The crabgrass will die at first frost. The bermuda will slow down and go dormant about the same time. No advantage yet. Whatever you do, do not over seed with rye grass to keep your lawn green over the winter. There are several reasons for this, but one is so you can get the earliest green up of the bermuda possible. You want every sun ray to hit the grass and bring it out of dormancy. Over the winter you should be watering once per month. When the temps rise into the 70s, you can move to once every 3 weeks. Temps in the 80s you can go to once every 2 weeks. Above ninety and go to weekly watering. Crabgrass needs continual moisture to germinate. If you withhold moisture, the soil will be dry most of the time and the crabgrass seed will not germinate. If you have a very dense turf, the crabgrass will not move in.

I have found that if you want to harvest veggies all winter long you have to start the seeds in the fall. There isn't enough light during the day to get much growth. You need longer days with stronger sunlight than what December brings. So, you could plant seeds for something like carrots that take a long time to sprout anyway and just let them do what they will or you could start some seeds indoors and then transplant them out in the cold frame after you harden them off a bit. It's always a crap shoot - if you start stuff too early and we have a mild fall you'll get too much growth and lettuce and stuff will bolt after one mild day (it seems) or you start them late and it stays cold and cloudy and nothing grows til Spring. If you have the empty space I say go ahead and plant something but don't expect a lot of winter growth.

If you have any deciduous trees around your house I think you can let them be your guide, when most of them have started leafing out from their leaf buds its probably OK to plant. Most years I don't think you have to worry about frost after March first, but I do remember one year when it was bitterly cold in March. For myself my clay soil is the determining factor. I always want to do a final rototilling to try to kill any weeds or bermuda grass that is growing where I plan to plant, and with clay the amount of moisture in the soil is very important, too wet and you have a sticky mess that clumps right back down, too dry and the rototiller blades just bounce off it and I have to get my 66 pound electric jackhammer and 14 pound clay spade for a total of 80 pounds to lug around to dig my planting holes. I also live near the bottom of the north west side of a hill so my yard is usually three degrees colder than the official weather report as the cold air pools in my yard, plus sunrise comes later because of trees above blocking the light from the east.