Just bought house -- weeds&bare dirt in lawn (Durham: how much, buying)

[nickmaps]

We just bought/are moving into a house in Durham on about 1/4 acre. The front lawn looks pretty good (I'm guessing it was sod), but the back is a mess -- weeds and patches of bare dirt all over the place, intermixed with the lawn. Lawn is a fescue mix I believe.

I know I'm wayy too late for pre-emergent, but is there anything productive I can do to manage the weeds for the time being? It's mostly clover and some other broadleaf stuff, lots of trampweed, some blackberries, and some weird pale greenish-yellow thing with long round stems and tiny leaves I haven't been able to identify.

Is there any sort of annual grass that might be worth trying to plant to stave off weeds infesting the remaining patches of dirt (and have my lawn looking nicer!) until fall-time, when I can heavily overseed with (probably) a fescue mix? I'm not really looking to kill the whole lawn and start over this fall, though I guess that could be an option.

I've got some "Scotts Turfbuilder plus 2 Weed Control" that was given to me for free, but the common thought seems to be that weed&feed products are junk.

Are they *so* junk that it wouldn't be worth putting down if you got it for free? Or am I better just going and buying a real weed control product? What do you recommend? Selective dry-style would be my preference, simply because it's easier to apply...

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

You can spray your back lawn with some weed killer like Weed-B-Gone and keep it well mowed so any new weeds do not go to seed. Then wait until the Fall to do any real lawn renovation. It is really too late for fertilizer at this point IMO. I wouldn't waste time trying to grow grass in the summer either. You will go crazy trying to keep it watered.

If it were my lawn I would wait until September and kill off all the weeds, aerate the yard, overseed with fescue mix, apply lime and starter fertilizer, spread hay to keep moisture in and birds away from seeds, and water daily for two weeks to get the seeds to germinate. If you do this two years in a row your backyard will eventually look as good as the sod in your front yard. Good Luck!

FWIW, it looks like you are reading the NCSU turf files which is a good thing since it is a wealth of information. There is also a good thread on city-data about lawn care here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/charl...-question.html

[KCfromNC]

About the weed and feed - I wouldn't put down fertilizer now since the growth it will promote will just stress the lawn when it gets hot in a few weeks. It's not that weed and feed is junk - it works, it's just that when you want to fertilize is usually not when you want to control weeds and vice versa.

I'm not familiar with a stand along (i.e. no fertilizer) dry weed killer. I'm with NRG in using spot treatments with Weed-B-Gone or the like. It sounds like you have a more widespread problem, so maybe look into the hose-end sprayers? That can't be too much more work than spreading dry stuff, I'd hope.

And as usual, NRG is right on with the rest of what he says. I'd add that you can also use the summer to get a soil test done. This will give you a bunch of detail about what you'll need to do to get ready to grow new grass this fall. It's a simple process - fill a few small boxes up with soil and drop if off over by the RBC center (just up Edwards Mill from I-40). Most likely your lawn will need lime to bring up the pH of our normally acidic soils. This can be added any time, so you can do it over the summer if you get the urge to work on the lawn. The soil test will tell you how much you need to add.

But basically there's nothing to do right now other than weed control. Use the time to practice keeping the lawn alive - make sure it gets at least an inch of water a week, and mow with your mower set as high as it can go (3-4" is good). Once you get to late August or early September, then you can start with the fun of aerating and seeding.

I know the feeling of wanting to do something now, but it's better to wait until the right time instead of doing a lot of work and watching it die once we get some real summer temps.

[MI-Roger]

1. Treat the entire back yard with Round-Up
2. Roto-till the entire back yard
3. Finish grade, then rake out all sticks and rocks
4. Hire a sprinkler company to install an underground system
5. Sod
6. Water
7. Enjoy your new back yard all summer long

Other techniques will work but will require two years of time and effort before you have a yard you can enjoy.

[al_roethlisberger]

I'm also curious about the "right"(somewhat subjective I'm sure) type of grass to use in our region.

I see a lot of folks using fescue where they have some shade challenges, but it does tend to be somewhat delicate and unhappy in summer.

What are the more common and native species of grass that are "nice" and relatively low-maintenance?

Al

[stantheman78]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

1. Treat the entire back yard with Round-Up
2. Roto-till the entire back yard
3. Finish grade, then rake out all sticks and rocks
4. Hire a sprinkler company to install an underground system
5. Sod
6. Water
7. Enjoy your new back yard all summer long

Other techniques will work but will require two years of time and effort before you have a yard you can enjoy.

sounds right.
If you dont want to go with sod. then add top soil and seed for step 5.

[DanielleNC]

We're having a similar problem. We just moved in last week. The yard is an acre, about 3/4 of it being grass. Or should I say grass/weeds. There are lots of bare spots too, with those being red clay. Wish we could do something now, but we knew we should just wait until the fall. Sod sounds nice, but pricey! How much does sod roughly cost?

[nickmaps]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'm going to go with spraying everything with selective Weed-B-Gon with a hose-end sprayer for now, then aerate and overseed (and maybe spread a thin layer of compost or some other organic material, depending on how ambitious I'm feeling) in the Fall.

The reminder to get the soil tested is a good one, too. I'll be sure to do that.

[KCfromNC]

I realized I forgot to post a link to the NC soil test info - NCDA&CS - Agronomic Services Division Soil Testing Home Page It likely won't turn up anything unusual, but it's free so no harm in doing it. And yeah, organic matter is always good no matter what you're trying to grow - it just depends on how much time you have to put it down.

And for the question of which grass to pick, we're right in the middle of the transition between warm season (bermuda, zoysia, etc) and cool season (fescue) grasses. Neither is ideal for this area. Warm season grasses do well in the summer but are dormant (brown and dead-looking) during the winter. Fescue is great during the non-summer months but will either go dormant or require a lot of water during the summer. It's a tradeoff either way. Most people go with Fescue. I'm not aware of any native grass that's commonly used as a lawn here.

[candlegirl]

DanielNC, sod installed runs roughly 60 cents a square foot....