Sorry. This will be a long one. It always is with me. (blushing) I'm with the OP on this one. Even if no one but me ever saw my lawn, I would want it to be dark, rich green GRASS...and nothing else. (I'm known for wanting everything to be beautiful. I'm also a bit of a home body, and enjoy spending time in my yard. Many guests have remarked that, no matter where they look (on my property), there's always something beautiful. I'm always taken aback by those comments, since while that was MY goal, I never expected others to pick up on it.) Case in point about the intentional act of putting down grass, and not other (lower maintenance) plants. I own a small, remote island. I made the decision to create a lawn area and, once you include the slow-moving barge fees (3 days to get from its port to the island), labour, equipment, and materials, that lawn cost me $14,000. That obviously begs the question, why, on earth, would anyone spend a nickel putting in expensive, high-maintenance grass, only to let it be taken over by clover and other weeds??? My husband and I recently purchased a 19th century farmhouse in need of roof-to-foundation renovation. As such, I inherited a lawn that is EASILY 70% weeds, including clover so thoroughly interwoven, it would be impossible to pull by hand. I pride myself on my beautiful lawns and gardens, and can spend/have sent hours, each day, ensuring everything is healthy and how I want it. At my last home, I developed a bit of a reputation for being out weeding my lawn by hand for hours, plus how awesome my expansive lawn was. My point is, I want my lawn and gardens to be a certain way; plant the plants I want; pull the plants I don't want; unafraid to put-in the effort to achieve that. I prefer not to use any kinds of "chemicals", other than the ammonia and mild soap I include in my homemade fertilizer recipe. (My last home was a beach house. So, that only reinforced my desire to go chemical-free.) But this new-to-me house is demoralizing me...practically to the point of tears, much of it because of the state of the (laughing) "landscaping". Sure, mowing can cut off 60% of the sea of clover flowers that make my lawn look white (or dying...can't decide which). But there are still lower flowers that seem to sprout up to full height within the next 24hrs after a mow. These flowers last from late spring to fall. In short, I'm plagued by clover flowers throughout the entire season I want my lawn to look great. It's just such a shame the previous owners didn't nip the clover in the bud, when each plant was jut a little, round cluster. I love catching them early, knowing I've stopped additional infiltration. But I'm helpless, overall. Looks like I'll have to replace the entire lawn; start from scratch; do what the previous owners SHOULD have done, and pulled weeds when I first see them. I'm not really buying the whole "benefits of clover" thing, amidst a grass lawn. If I wanted a clover lawn, I would plant a clover lawn. Putting down and maintaining grass is an expense in time and resources. Clover is virtually free (since it shows up on the wind), and is seemingly mantenance-free. Since most sod and grass seed are sold with some guarantee of being weed- (and clover-) free, I just don't believe that most people who spend the money and effort to put in a grass lawn, are okay with losing any percentage of it to other, invasive, undesirable plants. I kind of liken it to suggesting that a Ferrari owner would be okay with someone switching it with a Cavalier, and just saying, 'They both get me from point A to point B, so I don't mind.' I can fully envision putting in other kinds of ground cover, and have considered it at past properties. Not being my first rodeo, I already have substantial plans to reduce the amount of lawn area, and increase planting beds. But much of this current property begs for a beautiful, thick, dark green lawn...of grass. No dandelions. No clover, but particularly no clover flowers. (I'd be more okay with clover, if not for the flowers.) The desperation was so great, I did something I thought I'd never do, and tried the iron-based WEED-B-GONE product. (Harsh, chemical herbicides have been banned in my area for years...resulting in public parks being taken over by weeds, for the most part. It's such a shame, in the sense that a healthy, well-maintained lawn is not only beautiful, but fantastic underfoot.) That is really my philosophy, beyond the aesthetic. A lawn should be cool, soft, and luxurious under bare feet. Weeds, even overgrown grass, also tend to make barefoot walking less than a joy. So far, I haven't found a way to get rid of mats of clover. The WEED-B-GONE did nothing I could notice. I'm at my rope's end on ths matter, and likely will have to pull up the entire lawn, to put down new, almost-weed-free sod, where I can physically manage pulling individual weeds as they appear. I guess I'd plead with people to pull unwanted clover plants when they're small... if not for yourself, then for the next property owner. Sure, it means time, every day, or every few days, combing the lawn, looking for weeds. Yes, it can be back-breaking and time-consuming. But that grass lawn didn't get there by accident. A grass lawn is intentional.

A mix of KBG, Fescue and P Rye is what I've been using for the last couple years and that's what the current lawn SHOULD be but it literally has all died off in the heat and traffic and other grasses and weeds took over. Here's a distant pic of an area by the tree we cut down with large dead patches. Here's just a random up close area. Pretty much the whole lawn looks like a lot like either one of these pictures. Not much of the grass listed above. LOL

May is the third worst month to seed northern grasses in your area. Only July and June are worse. So that is part of the reason you have so many weeds. To someone's credit, though, I would have expected far more weeds than grass by this time of year. You're doing something right!! The garden center that sold you the seed in May should be off your list of future purchases, because they don't give good advice. Based on that I also question the quality of their recommended seed. You have plenty of time to overseed this year. Fall is the time to seed. New York is a big state. If you live in the north then start with the herbicide now to seed in early Sept. If you live in the south then you can wait a week or two and seed later in Sept. Seeding early in the fall gives the new grass time to come in and for you to evaluate whether you need to thicken it up with more grass seed. Go back and reread gardengal's first post in this topic. She has a very good way of explaining those concepts. There are many Weed-b-Gon products. "Basic" WBG is a 2,4-d product, at least in my neighborhood. A slightly different product is Weed-b-Gon Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis Killer. That one has Triclopyr (longer wait period). Formulations for these products may vary from state to state as different regulations apply. I would suggest you read more here on this forum to see what you can learn about lawn care. You can't rely on TV ads to tell you when to do things. Here are some general concepts that have become common knowledge on this and other lawn forums. New seed (northern grasses) should be applied in the fall. Weed n Feed products rarely work as advertised. Spot spray herbicides work better. Deep and infrequent watering is the way to go. Frequent watering leads to shallow roots and general brownish appearance. Spring fertilizer should go down late, not early. Wait until May or late May. Fall winterizer goes down after the grass has stopped growing but before total dormancy (before you have regular freezes). For most this is around the end of November. Mulch mow always. The clipped grass returns valuable organic material to the soil. Mow most grasses at your mower's highest setting. This leads to deeper rooting. Deep roots take advantage of moisture and nutrients deeper in the soil.

Good evening. I am here again to get some directions. My front lawn is full of different creepy weeds. I am in So Cal in the City of Covina (91790). I was able to identify some of these weeds such as the clover, pearlwort and spotted spurge. I have come across some old blogs on this website and someone had used the Ortho Nutsedge Killer and not sure if it is the right time to apply this post emergent at this time. I have been suggested to water infrequent/deep (getting there) and mow high. The day temperature here has been in the mid 80s to low 90s and night mid 60s and low 70s and hardly has any rainfall this year. It has been tough that even my neighbor's beautiful St. Augustine lawn's unable to keep up against the weeds. Thank you for your time/input.