Yep -- you really should wait till early fall to seed any cool season grasses... (Unless you want to do something totally crazy and plant out Millet to hold the soil like I am doing...) 1st thing should be to get a soil test done by your local University Extension... The 1st thing you will need to work on now based on test results is PH problems -- either too acidic or too alkaline.. Correct PH for your grass is critical to the health of your lawn. While you are at it, figure out what sort of grass(es) you have growing... It may not be as bad as you think... If it's bermuda -- have no fears of fertilizing often in the Hot summertime... If it's cool season grasses -- don't put down any fertilizer till the end of August/beginning of Sept... If it's a mishmash of Warm + cool season grasses and weeds... you will need to decide which one you want more.. so you can pick your culture (Mowing, herbicides, and fertilizer.) Do you want mostly Warm season grasses (Brown in winter) or do you want Mostly cool season grasses (Unhappy in the Hot summer?) You get the picture.. Thanks John

Well is sounds like your lawn was seeded in spring. Not a terrible time to start a lawn, but fall is best. The crabgrass could have been surpressed with an application of Tupersan when the seeding was done, but that is a moot point now. It's good that you are doing a soil test, because if you want to seed this year Sept. 1st is a good time for Long Island (maybe a few weeks earlier if it's cool enough and you use KBG). Tossing seed down occassionally, and at all times of the year is akin to throwing money away. Seed needs to be wet continually until it germinates, and then it still needs plenty of water. Seeding in summer is a bad idea. Mowing high is good, too high is not. How high is your mower set? If you are going to seed in late summer, then you might want to kill off all existing grass about a month before you do so. Crabgrass will die in the fall, but it is a gradual process, and it will get in the way of you seeding efforts. Also corn gluten meal has some preemergent activity, but it's no where near as good as Dimension, Halts, Barricade etc. I realize you have children and dogs, but after watering in it shouldn't be an issue. Mulch mowing is good, but if there are a lot of seedheads from poa annua, crabgrass, or other weeds it would be better to bag until seedheads aren't present. Again, seeding should be around Sept 1. Cool season grasses are best to start when daytime temps are in the seventies, nighttime in the 50's. Also if you plant KBG you might want to start a little earlier as KBG takes longer to germinate than TTTF or PR. You can grow mostly everything in full sun. For sun and shade you could try TTTF which does well, or a blend of KBG and FF. Seed selection is a long topic, so I won't get into it here, but most people will tell you to look elsewhere than the big box stores for your seeds. Ringers Lawn Restore is fine to use on an established lawn, but it would be better to use synthetics when establishing a new lawn. Coffee grounds are fine to put down as fertilizer, or you can put them in the compost pile. Preemergent timing is variable, a rule of thumb is apply when the forsythia is in bloom. Many people use a variety of organic fertilizers, Milorganite, Soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, etc. They all work, it's just important to supply you lawn and soil with the appropriate levels of nutrients, so let's see what the soil test says.

Hi, I am new to this forum. A little background, I had new sod installed in my back yard last August. It all took very well and looks very nice. I need to know what is the best for me to do with my fairly new lawn. Normally with my front lawn which is not new, I would apply a weed and feed sometime in early to mid April. I am unsure of how and when to do fertilizer to the back lawn. I live in Casper WY. We normally get a couple heavy wet snow showers into April and even early may. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. If there is any info that I did not post please let me know and I will fill you in. That's in advance.

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.