Speaking of baptism by fire...I hope the rest of your experiences with GW are better than this one. Y'all got off track early and it went downhill from there. You can have a weed free, low maintenance lawn, and do it without routine use of Weed-B-Gone. It is a matter of 1) growing grass that is suited to the location, 2) proper watering, 3) proper mowing, and 4) regular fertilizer. You are trying to hit todays issues but you have the recent memory of last year's issues weighing you down. I'm going to focus on this year's issues. The current symptom seems to be that your grass is too thin and it is allowing a variety of weeds to come and take over. Can you find the bag of seed you bought and tell us what the Guaranteed Analysis part of the bag says? I'm hoping that will explain the entire block of problems so far this year. I'm also hoping it will suggest a solution to be implemented in the fall. Fall is by far the best time to seed in the north. If you seed in the spring (early or late) there are weed seeds sitting there waiting to germinate. When you put in grass seed, all the weed seeds will germinate, too. You can prevent the summer weed seeds from germinating by seeding in the fall. Then in the spring you will be using a mature turf care program. That involves keeping the soil relatively dry and providing a tall grass to shade the soil. Keeping weed seeds dry in the spring can be hard with Mother Nature helping to water, but if you gain some sort of control over the moisture, then you should water deeply once every 1-2 weeks. Get out the hoses and sprinkler (I like an oscillating sprinkler). Keeping the grass tall seems to be your nature so that's good; however, when you do mow, mow at the highest setting on the mower. Auteck has not explained why he suggested mowing at 2 inches, but over the years the general consensus here at GW is that really tall grass is much better than anything else. Four inches works better for keeping weeds out and reducing your summer watering requirements. In the summer when the heat really hits, you can go without mowing for a month or two, but you should still water every week or two. The second problem with seeding in the spring is the new grass plants cannot tolerate the summer heat. Could that be why your lawn died last summer? Fall seeded grass has all winter and spring to develop deeper roots that can stand the heat and low moisture. Regardless of what the weeds are, you have some and need to get rid of them. The reason you have any weeds at all is your turf is not very dense. I am questioning auteck's idea that you have Kentucky bluegrass, because you should not have that thin a turf with KBG - unless that was what you seeded with this year (need the Guaranteed Analysis). The "dandelion" weed should die with WBG, but since it has not, I'm going to suggest that you fertilize right now, and then in 2 weeks, try the WBG again. Weeds that are not very healthy will not absorb the WBG and can even resist it. I know it seems crazy to fertilize the weeds so you can kill them, but that is exactly what I'm suggesting. Again, this is the consensus of Internet forum users over the ages. If you don't have a favorite fertilizer, look for a fertilizer like plain old Turf Builder that does not have any other additives like herbicide or insecticide - just fertilizer. If you are interested in an inexpensive organic lawn care program, here's a link to one. Also, it looks like you live in the woods. Does your lawn get much sunlight during the day in the summer? It must get enough for "crabgrass" to grow. True crabgrass needs full sun or it won't do well. Whatever your weed is, it acts exactly like crabgrass and looks much the same. I'm okay calling it crabgrass. I've been reading here for years and it always surprises me how early crabgrass appears in various parts of the country. My approach would be to discourage it with proper watering and mowing and to tolerate it (meaning no herbicides) one more season with anticipation and the hope of getting such a dense lawn next year that it will not come back. Yes, it can be done. For the fall, would you consider hiring a landscaper to resurface your entire lawn? In one morning he could fix the spots where the trees were, give you the best drainage possible, and prepare the soil for new seed. It would be a complete renovation which is why I don't suggest you spend a lot of money killing weeds this season. However, I'm not saying you should abdicate lawn care either. Treat the lawn as if it was the perfect lawn (despite the weeds) and it will surprise you. I should say that since you are not lawn people (yet, and I'm optimistic you will be), I have some doubt about the quality of the grass seed you have already purchased. It is very easy to buy a bag full of weed seeds when you are not experienced at reading the bags. It would be a shame to renovate and get the same problems back.

My best friend when I was in elementary school was Swedish and adopted by two parents who were born in Sweden. I'm sure I had that at their house..I do remember some God awful fish. There were a lot of other not so great foods but I always asked for and got kringla when I went there which actually is Norwegian,and also Fattigman cookies.Yum. Then,when we moved to Iowa decades later the teachers in the school where I taught always brought kringla in and to this day I still make it. It's so easy and the best thing in the world to have with coffee. There is a simpleness to Scandinavian cooking and sometimes it just hits the spot. Not that fish though..if it's the same thing I had.

Dieter, I will continue to be on the look-out for my periwinkle. :) Jeff, I just returned from a trip around town checking out different nurseries and I found one that I really like. It's called Columbus Flower Market and they had loads of nice looking perennials. I especially was appreciative of their shade loving perennials. I bought a couple of heucheras (amethyst mist and green spice). They had another that I loved the look of...had a peach colored folage to it, but I moved on to other plants. ;) I bought a couple of strawberry begonias that she assured me grew in her own yard and returned. I was not so sure about that, but thought I'd give it a try. I bought an evergreen shrub I've been hunting...fragrant sarcococca (sweet box). And I bought a holly fern. Now I may have to return for one of her beautiful painted japanese ferns and great expectation hosta, which is one of the most beautiful hostas to me. She had lots of other choices there as well, but I figured I'd gotten as much as I could handle getting in the ground for now. Especially since my Frankly Scarlett daylilies and tea olive keep looking at me with such a forlorn "don't forget about putting us in the ground soon" look. Thanks for the tip about the Jemison nursery. I rarely get north of montgomery but it might be a nice little excursion to make this summer before I go back to the classroom.

Funny you mention that. I have a patient who's much younger than her DH, also, and his kids weren't always the nicest to her - but when the skids had their own children, SM took the place of their own mother. She said, "I guess they figure it's been over 30 years since their mom had a baby, and only a few for me, so I'm the want they want advice from and to watch their babies..." But, I could totally see them saying, "Dana, Daddy's going to take us all out to a nice dinner - but that restaurant isn't right for the babies, so we'll be dropping them off for some stepg-ma time w/ you for a few hours!" and expecting me to throw a party and enjoy it all... In our situation, BM has told the girls she's moving back to CA when she retires in a couple of years. That's another odd move if it happens. I mean, the girls have been gone in college for years, finally move back here, so you want to move to the other side of the country? Weird. I'm afraid I'll be the MIL from he!! who moves in next door to my boys and their wives....lol. Right now, I'm dreading any 'marriage' situation w/ the SDs. The 22 y.o. who's living w/ the bf is my worry. I love the bf (more than her by far), but I want to somehow work into a conversation that today, when you wait til you're settled to marry, you can have any type of wedding you want 'cause you can foot your own bill! Hint, hint, lol. I'm not opposed to doing something for her, should we ever have $ again, but I'm envisioning the princess for a day/weekend type of event that DH will suggest we sell the house for...and, I actually do believe in the days of the distant past, the bride's family DID foot the bill as their DDs needed to be taken care of, had no careers, and married in their teens. I married at 33 and made more than my parents combined, so there was no way I was having them pay for our wedding which was kind of large to include many of our colleagues, etc. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me that there is no upcoming engagement... D