I've always heard that weed and feed should only be used in the cooler months. If you apply it now it will kill your grass. Sorry.

Wait, wait, wait. Don't spray borax on your lawn unless you have a soil test that shows you are short on boron. Boron is an essential micronutrient, but there is a sensitive threshold on how much a plant can take. If you go over the limit, you would essentially sterilize your soil and nothing but a few select weeds will grow. The best soil test to determine your boron levels is the $25 test from Logan Labs.

I use Milorganite in the spring as well, for summer and fall I use the Scott's Turfbuilder product designed for that season. I am by no means a lawn expert though, these are just easy to find, relatively inexpensive products that do the job well enough for me. I'm confident you could kill the ivy (and not your trees) if you have the time and patience. Again I'd suggest trying the Weed B Gon Chickweed Clover & Oxalis concentrate in an Ortho Dial N' Spray hose end sprayer. Just pick a calm day and get down low to avoid spraying the tree trunks and leaves. If the ivy is anything like wild violet it will take a couple of applications but it will work eventually. Then like you mentioned you'll have to rake out the dead ivy and reseed the bare patches. But as others have said, a weed-free (or even weed sparse) lawn is a huge commitment so I don't blame you for hiring it out--if you can find someone to call you back. Last thing I'll say is that no matter how diligent you are about your own lawn, if your neighbors aren't equally diligent you will always have some of their dandelions, clover, ivy, etc. filtering into your lawn. So I've lowered my expectations and live with a semi-weed free lawn after 13+ years at my current house.

Yes, noob, this is a popular topic among your kind. ;-) Never use a weed n feed product. They are hard to apply properly, and even if you get it perfect, there are a couple timing issues. The macro timing issue is that spot spraying the lawn with the above product should be done in mid April (2 weeks ago) and your first spring fertilizer (in the north) should go down in late May, six weeks later. The reason for waiting until mid April to spot spray weeds is so that they are up and growing well. Sleeping weeds or unhealthy weeds don't die as well as vigorous weeds, and that leads to spraying again. Now would be fine to use the All in One product assuming you live in the north. The reason they are hard to apply is the grass is supposed to be wet so the product sticks to it. This is backasswards from the way every other product is applied. Keeping the grass wet while also applying the dry product is a 2-person job. Around Memorial Day you should put down a dry fertilizer product to carry the lawn through the summer. My favorite fertilizers are organic, but I'm not going to twist your arm on that. And since you identify as a noob, here are some other tips. Watering Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Measure that by placing cat food or tuna cans around the yard and turn on the sprinkler(s). Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That time will become your watering time from now on. Mine is 8 hours with my hose, water pressure, and oscillator sprinkler. Yours will be different. Frequency depends mostly on the daily high temperature. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. With temps in the 70s, water once every 3 weeks. With temps in the 80s deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 90s deep water once a week. Other factors bearing on watering include sun/shade, cloudiness, wind, soil type, and humidity. Start with the frequencies mentioned and adjust by a day or two in either direction depending on conditions. If it rains, reset your calendar. Honestly last year in my part of Texas we had rain timed perfectly so I did not have to water until July. This year we started a month ago. Deep and infrequent also helps keep weeds away, because weed seeds need shallow and frequent watering...like daily watering, to germinate. Mowing Mow most grasses at the mower's highest setting. This gives the most dense grass and provides the most shade to the soil surface. This helps prevent weed germination and slows down evaporation. Fertilizer First app of the year in the north is late May (Memorial Day). Second app is in late summer (Labor Day). Third app is in late November after the grass goes completely dormant and stops growing. This is the winterizer application to prepare the lawn for spring awakening. This application is why you don't need to fertilize in early spring. Use a dry product to apply pounds of fertilizer. Liquid fertilizers apply micro ounces of fertilizer and must be repeated every week or two. The above are in order of importance and are the condensed wisdom of the Internet forums over 20 years: Watering, mowing, and fertilizing in decreasing order of importance. These following are special topics that everyone should be aware of. Insecticide If you have lawn damage and discover that a certain insect is to blame, THEN you can apply an insecticide. Otherwise do NOT apply preventive insecticide in anticipation of the problem before it affects your grass. There are millions of insects in the soil and lawn which are important to keeping the lawn healthy. Spraying insecticide willy nilly is a really bad idea. Fungicide Pretty much the same problem as with insecticide. There are billions of beneficial fungi living in the soil. Don't kill them for no reason. If you water as above you will likely not have a fungal problem. Sometimes Mother Nature does not cooperate and disease can happen. Also, mushrooms are not a problem. They may be unsightly, but they are not a problem that a 9-iron can't fix. They will pop up in a healthy lawn if it gets too wet (ahem, Mother Nature). Dethatching and Core Aerating If you water and fertilize as outlined above, you should not need to dethatch. Whereas if you water every day and use spray fertilizer, then the grass will 'learn' that it doesn't need deep roots to survive, and it will tend to grow at or above the surface. Thatch happens. As for core aerating, it is extremely unlikely you have compaction issues unless you have the marching band practice on your lawn right after a rain storm. If your soil is harder than you want it to be, try spraying any clear shampoo, like Baby Shampoo, at 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Follow it up with 1/2 to 1 inch of irrigation or rain. Give that 3 weeks and the soil will become much softer. Before you get too skeptical, keep in mind that this costs you 50 cents to try. It is not worth your time arguing about it. If it doesn't work for you, you would be in the minority, and it only cost you 50 cents. YouTube videos. I mean WTF? These guys must be paid by the fertilizer and -icide industry to shill products. Seriously lawn care is not rocket surgery. I have thought about writing a book on lawn care, but the more I think about it, the more the book turns into a 3-fold pamphlet. There is not much more to say than what I've said. How can these guys keep finding stuff to post to YouTube???