I just moved here too. From what I have read, you should wait until closer to spring to apply lawn fertilizer. I planted a rose today. A woman at the nursery said this was a good time as long as your soil is not too wet.

Weeds seldom go to sleep here. When you hear the first neighborhood lawnmower, it is high time but not too late to start in on your lawn care. You can turn over and break up soil anytime, but to do planting it should be from crumbly to loose. Turning it over coarsely can quicken the drying and warming processes.

Spring in this region is from Feb. to July, many plants are in flower now, established roses are starting to make new shoot growth and so on. I heard a lawn mower going last week I think it was, my front lawn could stand a trim already as well.

One thing that may catch you by surprise is our summers. Summer hits about the second week of July, when it then becomes very dry as a rule - a late friend that moved to Seattle from the Chicago area, made a pretty intensive hobby garden could not believe how much he had to water it during summers here. (One August after moving here he went back home to visit and they had had an inch of rain per week since May; a typical Seattle July may not see an inch of rain the entire month).

Yes, recent PDX summers have trended hotter; 2015 had 30 90+ degree days. Fortunately, water bills here are based largely on infrastructure and current large projects and have little to do with homeowner water usage. Even so, most home lawns go to brown in summer. Haven't heard a lawnmower since November, perhaps they have been masked by leafblower sounds.

Lawns in this area are typically comprised of blends of cool season turf grasses. That means they grow when weather is cool and go dormant when weather is hot........in as mild a winter as we have experienced so far, it is not at all unusual for lawns to become long, straggly and needing a mow. Lawn services and homeowners have already been busy in my area tending to this.

You can certainly start to fertilize now (although it is still just a tad early - we could still get some cold winter weather). But I seriously recommend avoiding any "weed and feed" product. These types of lawn care products are notorious for contributing heavily to groundwater pollution, can be harmful to both small kids and pets and are incredibly inefficient.At one time there was talk of having these weed and feed products banned from the PNW marketplace because of their highly negative impact but it never got past the serious discussion stage AFAIK.

Separate the two products - use a dedicated lawn fertilizer (an organic product - not Scotts - is always a good solution) and treat weeds individually. If you have a widespread weed problem - too much to manage by manual removal - then use a spray like Bayer's All In One Lawn Weed and Crabgrass remover, which can be used to treat individual weeds or sprayed to address the entire lawn. As a liquid, this is far less likely to leach into groundwater than a granular product and can be directed specifically where needed.

Most often, a well maintained and healthy lawn will outcompete weeds so you need to focus on getting your lawn into good shape. Mid April to mid May is the ideal time in this area for lawn renovation and reseeding chores. Most regions in the PNW will have some sort of community or municipality provided lawn care publication that will provide both tips and a calendar of necessary lawn care chores. Here is one provided by the OSU extension service.

Wow great info!! Thanks so much guys! And I hear you, gardengal88...I hate to use Scotts but haven't found anything that works as well over the years and have tried what I thought were all the organic options - at least all that I have ever heard of. I've tried full strength vinegar individually applied to weeds and that was a bust for me too. :( But I will try Bayer's lawn spray tho and see what happens - have not heard of that one before!

Sadly, "lawn" at our new house here is a very relative term. I'd say it's 80% dandelion/crabgrass/moss and 20% dirt/grass combo. I was hoping to avoid major time/cost by renovating it with a Weed and Feed to make grass stronger and weeds weaker - and then later doing a thick seed over to out compete the weeds with fresh grass. At least it would be an improvement if not perfect.

My other options (that I can see) are: smother the whole thing and install new sod. Or smother and re-seed. Or smother and install a non-lawn alternative (wildlfowers, moss, or gravel + ornamental grass). All of those however require more time/cost than I have free at the moment.

Thanks so much for all the great tips...much appreciated!!!!!