Congrats on your lawn! Er, I mean your new home, Sam!

You almost certainly have a northern mix lawn (KBG, rye, fescue) as most people do. There are exceptions, in which case you most likely have one or two of the three listed above. Not much else would flourish in upstate NY.

Once we get the photo(s), we can work better with what you have.

Awww, c'mon morph! Already we know they're newbs. We can help right now.

First of all, spring is not the time to get your lawn in shape if you live in the north. Fall is the time, so pull up your gardening panties and get ready. It's practically July so you've got all of July and probably all of August to get ready for the big project.

A full renovation involves spraying to kill the grass, then watering to encourage new weeds from seed, then spraying again to kill the new weed sprouts. Then you rake up the chaff and put down the seed. Don't worry about aerating, rototilling, digging, or anything. It's pretty simple. Then you water (to be explained later if you decide on full reno). Then you mow and start backing way off on the watering frequency and going up on the amount.

Or if you don't want to do a full reno and just want to see what happens, you can kill the broadleaf weeds with Weed-B-Gone Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis killer. Spray with a hose end sprayer. That stuff targets only broad leaf weeds like dandelions, thistle, clover, chickweed, oxalis, and most others. It does not kill grassy weeds that might be mixed in with your turf. Once you get the broadleaf weeds killed off, you can evaluate the remaining grass.

I have a new house and new lawn, too. Remember this: even mowed weeds looks better than wild weeds. I mow every week just like it was a showplace.

Here is something to have on hand. Actually you can start with this right now. Practice proper lawn care so when you do whatever you're going to do in the fall, you'll have some good habits. Here it is.

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 (unless you use organics in which case you may overdo it without fear of hurting anything).

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.

If the lawn has been ignored for some time, it would be a very good idea to get the biology back up to normal. Start by spraying the yard with any clear shampoo. Spray at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Then water about 1/2 to a full inch to work the shampoo down into the soil. This has multiple effects - all good. Then I would apply any organic fertilizer at a half rate. My favorites are alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) and ordinary corn meal. These are available at most feed stores. Morph likes Milorganite and/or soybean meal. Those might be more available to you where you live. Get whatever is inexpensive to start with. Apply at 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet for the first dose. Once you do that, 3 weeks later your yard should look considerably better in color, growth, and density. That will signal that your biology is back and your soil will be much healthier. Don't worry about chemical fertilizer all summer. Wait until early fall for that.

Can't wait to see the pictures.

Alright finally I got the chance to stop by the house on the way to the store. Here are the pictures!

That's the front (obv). We are planning on removing that obnoxiously large overgrown fir tree and replacing it with something. As you can see there is some landscaping already in place it just needs some TLC trimming, weeding, etc.

Not sure why it uploaded the pic sideways but oh well. That's the side lawn and it gets little-no shade there are some ivy plants providing ground cover that will either need to be trimmed back and grass seed that's happy in the shade planted or allowed to cover that area and pruned regularly. Lots of weeds happening in this area and some brown spots.

Again with the sideways nonsense! I hope you can see enough of the grass to possibly let me know if it's salvageable. I don't think the BF will want to do a complete redo of the lawn but I'm fine with any tips to regain control of this thing up to that.

What we're doing right now:
1. No watering we've been getting tons of rain about 2" this week so when July warms up and the rain amt drops off I will look into sprinkler systems to water according to dchall's suggestion above.
2. I'm looking into a soil test through logan labs as I've heard suggested elsewhere on the forum. I have a feeling I might get obsessed with this little project.
3. Mowing, well I already mowed Monday on the medium setting on my mower (really not sure what height probably 3-3 1/2" there wasn't a conversion sheet in the manual that I could find) this was before I found the forum & mowing suggestions! I plan on mowing next week on the highest setting. I'm assuming my grass isn't the type that likes being mowed at the lowest setting but you guys will tell me that.

Any suggestions on the type of shampoo for the lawn? As long as it's clear can I use the cheapest available? When would I spread the fertilizer after shampooing the lawn?

Thanks for the help so far I really appreciate it!

1) No watering is necessary at those rainfall rates!

2) Tell us about it. :-)

3) Three to three and a half inches is fine if you prefer that. Three is the recommended height, but taller is better if you can stand it.

Fertilizer and shampoo don't interact, so you're good to go in any order at any time you like--with an organic fertilizer!

If you're using a synthetic, hold off! Feeding now is a really bad idea--wait until Labor Day. The lawn will tolerate not being fed just fine, but the risk of burning is extremely high right now (organics, however, will not burn).

Any inexpensive shampoo that's clear (ish) is technically just fine. I have a personal preference for Suave as it's incredibly cheap, but White Rain is also very inexpensive. Store brand baby shampoo is also great.

The actual chemistry to look for, optimally, is more complex. For best results, something that lists "sodium laureth sulfate" or a chemical very similar (like ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate) is best.

If you do this a lot, mixing your own from powdered or hyper-concentrated sodium laureth sulfate is cheapest, but we'll see if it's needed.