i am trying to get rid of weeds too but i dont know what type of weeds i have...why do i have brown parts to my lawn? i have tall fescue but in between looks like centipede or bermuda grass or is it crabgrass...need help!!!! here are some pics: http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940329&folder=Inbox&partId=2 http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940490&folder=Inbox&partId=2 http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940311&folder=Inbox&partId=2 http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940357&folder=Inbox&partId=2 http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940485&folder=Inbox&partId=2 http://mail.aol.com/32679-311/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.27940311&folder=Inbox&partId=2

I don't get it. Now you seem to be claiming that you shouldn't be faulted in any way since this all happened when your dogs were left in the backyard while you were at work. Yet in your first post you described the "fun game" Gus plays attacking the lawn co. sprayer similar to the way he does a hose pipe, as if you witnessed him turning into a "neon yellow highlighter" yourself. Which is it? Either way, it should have NEVER happened. Shelby Turf & Shrub was at fault for doing it the first time whether you were at home or not...and should be held responsible. But please tell me how you can possibly not feel guilty and not consider yourself at fault for allowing it to continue numerous times ("everytime he comes out")? I'm sorry if you're feeling "flamed", but whether intentional or not I don't much care for the somewhat whimsical way (with a smiley face, even?) in which you told of your poor dog being repeatedly exposed to potentially harmfull lawn chemicals. Believe it or not, I'm a pretty easy going guy but I really don't care if this a gardening forum or a pet owner's forum, I can't stand hearing about animal abuse WHEREVER it rears its ugly head. Would you have allowed a child to be sprayed down? Or is it ok as long as it's just a dog that can be put down before you have to incur expensive vet bills? Give me a break!

dewey1139, Salt should be used sparingly in any area where you ever intend to grow some sort of plant on purpose. Homemade salt remedies can harm the microbial life in your soil (good soil is alive and filled with many living microorganisms---billions per square foot) and the salt can remain in the soil a long time, damaging plants you hope to grow there in the future. In his book "The Truth About Organic Gardening" (which I highly recommend), Jeff Gillman discourages the use of salt as a homemade herbicide for exactly the reason I stated above. On a personal level, I already have a high sodium content in my soil, so the very last thing I'd ever want to do is add more salt to it. Some scientists have done research with boron (easily available to the homeowner in Mule Team Borax, sold on the laundry aisle) as a herbicide and found that it controlled certain weeds, like creeping Charlie. However, there again, a little boron is good and even desirable in general for good plant growth, but excess boron can be toxic to all your plants, so I wouldn't use this method unless I'd already had a soil test and knew my soil didn't have excess boron to begin with. Tons of weeds in the soil indicate poor soil. Many weeds colonize poor soil as they are adapted to it. To get rid of the weeds, improve the soil. It is that simple. Once the soil is better, the grass will grow more thickly and more lush and will crowd out the weeds. Be sure you're mowing at the proper height too. I like lawns seeded with clover as part of the mix, and I have many, many dandelions growing in my front yard and love them. We're out in the country, though, and our neighbors can barely see our house from the road and, because the house sits back 300' from the road, no one can tell what sort of lawn we have or if we even have one at all. Thus, I don't have the peer pressure of having nearby neighbors who think a suburban yard should look like a green carpet of astroturf. If I felt a certain level of peer pressure to have a perfect green carpet of lawn, I'd work on fixing the soil so the grass would be vigorous enough to keep the weeds out on it own, and I'd use a pre-emergent weedkiller (chemical or synthetic, both types are available) to prevent the weed seeds from sprouting. That's a lot easier than mechanically removing them after they sprout. I imagine if y'all go to the lawn forum or the organic forum you would find the lawn experts there who could answer your questions. I prefer growing everything else that exists more than lawn....trees, shrubs, ground covers, herbs, flowers, veggies, fruits....and even native grasses more so than lawn grasses, so I'd be more likely to try to tell you to get rid of your lawn and replace it with water-wise, native plantings and then to mulch heavily to keep the weeds out. When I have weeds growing someplace, I ask myself what the weeds are telling me. Generally they are telling me they found some bare soil and sprouted and grew there, so for beds of non-grassy plants, mulch thickly applied combined with regular hand-weeding while the weeds are small and easy to remove is the answer. For lawn grasses, a weed problem is telling you the grass is having trouble growing well and covering the ground, thereby leaving bare spots where weed seeds can sprout. In that case, the answer is to improve the soil and to make sure you are growing a lawn grass suited to your soil, growing conditions and lawn maintenance practices. Dawn

What do they look like? What color are they, and do they grow from leaves that all come from the ground, like dandilion leaves do, or do they grow up along a stem? Are the leaves heart shaped? I'm curious, because I didn't think sweet or fragrant violets were winter hardy that far North. As far as eliminating violets from a lawn, I did spot some threads on that posted long ago--somewhere on thread pages 11 through 13, I think. We have quite a few little purple violets in our lawn that are typical to our area, and I would, personally, never give them up--they look lovely in early spring, when the grass is at its worst. After my husband mows the lawn, you can hardly see where they are. You might try reseeding your lawn a bit with some grass seed especially for shade, if it has become a more shaded area over time. Violets like partial shade, and possibly are competing with a variety of grass that can't compete. For more desperate measures, the old threads might be helpful to you. ;o)