No links - this is all off the cuff (customized for you). Pictures are almost always helpful. If you need to show us some particularly poor looking grass, take those pictures from an altitude of 3 inches so we can see spots on the blades of grass. All garden pictures should be taken in the shade or on a cloudy day to minimize contrast. We can use the pictures to get a general id on the grass and weeds and direct that part of the rehab.

Rototilling is never a good idea, but it is an especially poor idea for a lawn. It changes the soil in many ways; all for the worse. It sounds good on paper, but when you look at the short and long term effects, it's a lose/lose all the way around.

The area where the trees were - are there wood chips in the soil? That would be bad, too. Can you still dig up that area and get rid of them? When wood decomposes the fungi that do that require a continual supply of nitrogen. Then normally get that from the air, but if the wood is buried, then it takes it from the soil. There's no amount of fertilizer you can apply that will not go directly into decomposing the wood chips. The result is yellow plants growing above the wood chips. That can last for 10 years or so.

Here's what I call the 1-2-3 of lawn care. I put this together several years ago.

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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. With organics, 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.

* This used to read, "Too little is better than too much." Recent test results show that you cannot get too much organic fertilizer unless you bury the grass in it.

Hey thanks so much for the reply. I have some pics here and to be it seems as though 80% of my front yard is just weeds so that's what most concerns me. You're saying that these weeds could resolve themselves with proper watering and fertilizer and mowing? My other big concern is seeding the spots where the trees stood. I still have to remove most of the wood chips, but afterward am I just putting down new soil and seeding? And with what type of grass would I reseed with?

I also plan on putting in a garden in the back yard next year so a decent amount of grass will be taken up for that. Should I just remove the grassy area that will be used for the garden and try and replant the grass where the trees were?

Also, and this might be jumping way ahead of myself. Would it be benificial to rent an aerator and then put down fertilizer?

Here are the pics of my lawn. A very ugly site at the moment. It haunts me every day when I get home! Bare in mind the trees were just taken out. I plan on spending this weekend digging out the rest of the wood chips.

This is not the time to seed. You can seed mid August to early September, whenever the summer heat starts to break. However if you want to dig up grass from the back where your garden will be and plant it in the front, that's planting sod and you can do that most anytime. There may be a sod cutter that you could rent to help get it done. After you dig out the wood chips, fill the hole with topsoil. It will likely settle over time so add enough so you don't have a depression in a few years.

The first and third pictures are clover. You'll need Weed-b-gone Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis for that. Clover is tenacious, so this is a special Weed-b-Gone product that's a little more concentrated than the regular Weed-B-Gone.

The grassy weed in picture #4 is likely just a different variety of fescue.

You have some bare spots but mostly the lawn is fairly dense. I believe you have a mix of fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. KBG will turn brown in the winter, so that's a dead give away to identify that. Fescue will remain green but will not grow in the winter. Fescue will not spread to fill in bare or thin spots. KBG will.

And yes, mound up the soil over the holes where you're digging out the wood chips. I would mound it up an inch higher in the middle for a hole that big. Then as it settles over the years, it will not leave a hole.

What I said was that if you were watering, mowing, and feeding properly you should not have a weed problem. Once you do get a weed problem, you usually cannot water, mow, or fertilize it away. In the south if you have the right mix of grass and weeds, then you can water, mow, and fertilize it away, but not in the north.

Okay I understand. Is there anything I should be applying besides the weed-b-gone for the clover?

Would it be better for me to just remove what grass I have and replace with sod?

If weeds are your main concern, work on killing them. Do a search on "triangle approach weeds." Weeds are manageable; no need to replace grass just because of weeds. You have a lot of work to get the wood chips out. How is it coming? If it were me, I'd work on improving the soil this summer (get a soil test and make amendments) and then overseed or renovate in mid to late August, whenever the summer heat starts to break. If you choose to renovate, you would be killing everything off with Roundup in July, watering daily to encourage weeds to sprout, then killing everything again, scalping and bagging. Seeding requires light watering several times a day. If you don't have in ground irrigation, you would need to assemble sufficient hoses and sprinklers to cover the area being seeded. Also a timer to turn the water in and off when you're not home.

Thanks again for the replies. Apologize for all the questions, but what do you mean by "scalping and bagging?" After killing everything, and the entire yard is dead, would I then reseed the entire lawn and water?

The wood chip removal is a slow process, but it is coming along! I will post pics when I get them removed and full of top soil. That alone will make the yard look better, at least for this summer.

Once dead, you'd mow and bag the lawn at the lowest setting to remove as much of the dead stuff as possible (this is one time when bagging it is a good idea as there's usually a lot of dead stuff).

Then reseed and begin the watering process.

The fully scalped lawn won't choke out the sprouting grasses, and allows sunlight to penetrate to the new shoots. It also gets covered over faster by the new growth than taller dead grasses would, so you don't have to look at it for as long.

I had a pile of wood chips from a stump being ground a few years ago. Shovels don't work well. I wanted to use the chips as mulch but it would have been so much easier if I had let the tree people pick them up with their machinery (jaws) and take them away. I ended up picking at the pile with a trowel and bucket and it took me weeks. Hope your pile is easier to work with. Another thing to perhaps consider when seeding is using Tenacity at seeding and a month later to prevent weeds from germinating. Tenacity and Tupersan are two preemergents that allow grass to germinate while preventing weeds for a short while. Later in the fall you can use a normal, longer lasting preemergent. Tenacity has to be measured and sprayed with precision and you should practice with plain water first. A hose end sprayer is not appropriate. Scott's has a fertilizer with mesotrione, which is the same thing.

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat, very devious process of removing these! Anyway, I looked up the Tupersan and it says to apply in the late spring and mid summer. Can I just apply when I seed the entire lawn this fall?

So to kind of get a list going, after killing the lawn and weeds in July, I will then apply new grass seed in August once the high heat is gone. Any recommendations on what kind? Before or during the seeding process, do I need to put down fertilizer or compost?

Also, should I rent an aerator before seeding? Thanks for all the help guys and gals!

Kill the weeds again with Roundup right before scalping, bagging, and seeding. You do not need to aerate. Compost not necessary. If you like you can put some peat moss lightly on top; that would help keep the seed moist. You do not want to bury the seed with anything. The seed can just lay on top of the soil. The key is the light watering several times a day to keep it moist. After the seed germinates, you gradually decrease the frequency and increase the amount of water until you finally get to the one inch a week all at once that David describes. Are you getting a soil test? That wil let you know what kind of fertilizer to use (whether you need phosphorus or potassium in addition to nitrogen) and if you need lime and if so, what kind. Milorganite is an organic fertilizer that can be used most anytime. What kind of seed? Do some reading and decide what you want. Kentucky bluegrass, turf type tall fescue, fine fescue, and rye are the main kinds for your area. KBG likes full sun; tttf and rye can tolerate some shade; fine fescue is the most shade tolerant. Here are some recommended cultivars. If possible, get certified sod quality seed. It will have very few weed seeds and no noxious weed seed. See what's available near you. You can also order seed and have it shipped to you. Get a mix of cultivars so that if one kind gets a disease, it won't necessarily affect all the grass. KBG can take up to a month to germinate; the others will be up in 1-2 weeks.

If you've decided to renovate, there is not much point in using selective weedkillers now. If you haven't decided, there is the option of using selective weedkillers now (which will not kill grass, only weeds) and overseeding in August. It may be that after getting the weeds down, you find that the grass is spreading and not looking bad. To overseed, mow low and bag and then put seed down and start the light watering.

For that size lawn, I second the techniques suggested for a full renovation. For N.E. Ohio, KBG is king. I've had great success with it and would plant no other type of turf in our area. As far as the tree chip areas, removal os the chip/soil mix is hard work, but necessary. You can plan on approximately 1" of settle for every 12" depth of fill if you use screened top soil. Sharp sand is also an option. I've filled areas up to two feet deep with sand with no adverse effects. I've done both straight sand and a mixture of 1 part top soil (I used the type you can buy by the bag at the big box stores), 1 part peat moss and 8 parts sand. I've seen no real difference in the end result as far as turf growth and maintenance, however, for depths over 1' in depth, the mixture would likely prevent rapid percolation and aid in soil moisture retention. I've sowed KBG seed using both the surface method and slit seeding and have never had failure with the slit seeder. Consequently, I highly recommend the use of a slit seeder. (HD used to rent a BillyGoat for $60 a day, well worth the money.)

Nice and green is one thing, but another advantage of KBG is it spreads to fill in thin areas. Otherwise the thin areas will let in weeds which could make the lawn look like a clumpy mess.