Teach me lawn care

I'm pretty sure most of my "grass" is actually weeds. Its very apparent this time of year.... some spots are brown, some are a lush green, some are scraggly weeds, etc. I want to remedy this. My current plan is at the beginning of every season to

Overseed (what type of grass?)
Fertilize
Spread Lime (I guess soil ph is a common problem here)

Is this enough frequency?
Should I water? What about sections of the lawn that are in the shade most of the day? What about ants? (noticed some hills out in the back yard today)

What would it take to just replace everything with zoysia?

(This is in Winston-Salem, NC)

This time of year I dump a bag of Scotts Bonus S on it, which is a weed and feed. It does a great job of killing the weeds and feeding the lawn. That's pretty much all I do until July/August, when the heat starts to turn it brown. Then I start watering 3 days a week for a couple of hours.

Other than that, don't let it get too long and don't cut it too short. I also bag it every other cutting.

I don't have any shots of just the grass, but this will give you an idea of what it looks like. This is the back yard. The front is nicer.

If you use the Bonus S, spread it evenly. It will make your yard look splotchy otherwise. It will also burn the grass if you over do it. I treated mine last Saturday.

Edit:

For the ants, it's Amdro or nothing. I broadcast spread per the instructions and that pretty much takes care of the ants.

As far as watering frequency, if it rains once a week, I usually don't water. You want the grass to put down deep roots and infrequent watering encourages that. The three times a week during the hottest part of the summer, is just enough to keep it alive but if we get a good long rain and I won't water for a week. Usually it's a case of checking it when I get home. If it's starting to dry out and wilt, I water it. If not it goes for another day.

If you want to replace all the grass, I'd take a hard look at centipede. It doesn't like weeds and will choke them out. It's also pretty drought resistant. You'll have to check and make sure it's usable in your area. I know it doesn't like extreme cold. One disadvantage is it will invade your flower beds. It's a creeping grass.

I used to get all worked up about how my lawn looks. Got old after a couple of years. Now I cut it once a week, at a taller setting than before, and it looks just as good as when I was spending a lot of time and money on it.

Check around to see if there's a county extension service or state board or agricultural college that can do soil testing for you, it's a fairly common and inexpensive service. You send them a sample of soil, they do an analysis and send you the results. That way you'll know just what the soil needs, whether it's lime or something else.

Spoolpigeon wrote: I used to get all worked up about how my lawn looks. Got old after a couple of years. Now I cut it once a week, at a taller setting than before, and it looks just as good as when I was spending a lot of time and money on it.

this

I let it go dormant in the summer when it doesn't rain for 2 months. It comes back with the September rain.

I de-thatch at the beginning of the season, then I put down Scott's Step 1. That's usually done by now, but there's still a fair amount of snow in the yard.

Seed early in the season, post-frost. Water consistently for a couple of weeks.

I like Ortho Weed-B-Gone (the one that attaches to the hose) for weed/dandelion control around late May.

I'll put down Grub-ex in June if/when I have signs of grubs. Otherwise, I skip Scott Step 3.

Winterizer in late, late fall.

Mow once a week. Once every other week as it gets later in the summer. I let the rain do the watering.

park cars on it, kill by keeping cars there for 2 weeks, move cars, repeat.

Everyone above has great advice, although a bit generic.

If you want to DIY it all, your first step should be getting a soil analysis done to see what it is you actually need. You can buy soil test kits at the big boxes or online, or most states have some kind of program just for this and to help you come up with a plan to get it in shape. In Ohio, it is through Ohio State and I believe it is free or near free. From there, take their advice and get your soil to a healthy level and then worry about growing grass. Doing this is actually the way you should start no matter what you do.

I actually have a lawn care company do mine. They test and determine what I need. My lawn had been mostly neglected up until I moved in and had some dog damage. I am still trying to fix the crab grass. Back to this company: its a local guy named Leo and I have him come out for 6 treatments a year. The first treatment is aeration, and then I overseed with a grass blend from my local garden center. Then sometime in May Leo comes back and starts with his sprays and granules of nutrients. This will be my third year with him and my yard seems to be getting much healthier.

The downside: you will mow a lot to keep it at the right height. Long enough to keep the weeds from germinating but short enough to be healthy. With my grass I set the mower at about 3 1/2" .

So I spend more time mowing, but its actually no more expensive to have him do the treatment than it would cost me to do it myself.

Point being: for the same amount of money you might be able to pay someone to take care of everything but mowing and trimming.

Wait until the hottest day of the year, cut it as short as you can.

Problem solved.

I live in the PNW, my lawn is 90% moss. I don't see the problem. It's green and you don't have to mow it.

Do get the soil tested and consult a local source for info on what to do to your lawn. The kind of grass that does best varies in different parts of the country. What is common here in the Midwest wouldn't survive in the south and what some places call grass we call "weeds" up here.

Trans_Maro wrote: Wait until the hottest day of the year, cut it as short as you can. Problem solved. I live in the PNW, my lawn is 90% moss. I don't see the problem. It's green and you don't have to mow it.

except for the having to live in the PNW this would be great … LOL

my yard is what's called a 50' yard … it looks fine from the road / 50' away … mostly weeds / pasture grass

cut it as short as the mower will go … if draught starts turning it brown … yea … no have to cut …. and I realize that it'll be back the next yr

If its green I let it grow, knock it down when I mow...

How much do you care about the environment? No chemicals have been applied to our lawn in over 20 years, you just need to learn to embrace your inner dandelion lover.

Check these people out. Gardens AliveWe use a pre-emergent from them and a corn gluten (which isn’t a gluten at all but a protein) as fertilizer. Then you can feel happy that your kids and pets can play safely on it and you aren’t berkeleying up the environment every day.

My wife is a professional dog walker and she hates it when spring arrives and the ChemLawn people come out and start spraying toxic crap all over the place that hurts her throat and eyes. It’s amazing that they say keep dogs and children off for 24 hours, because once it’s dry its obviously safe. Rain, lying on it, sticking your face in it must be safe after it’s dry mustn’t it!!!!

I'll look into the soil analysis.

I don't care about chemicals too much. I've seeded/fertilized before but never used something that said to stay off it for 24 hrs.

I got a pretty reasonable quote from a local place, just need to sell the wife on it. It was ~$280 for 5 visits throughout the season where they seed/fertilize/check on stuff/do whatever. Considering each time I treat my lawn I buy like $40 in crap it doesn't seem like a bad deal as they probably know what they are doing much more than I do.

I just tested mine last week and found it was crazy alkaline. Like nearly off the chart they include in the test kit alkaline.

Iron and sulphur treatment to start. Then retest and repeat until the soil is hospitable to plant life. I'm ok with weeds as long as they're green.

What Adrian_Thomson said is really smart! If you can do natural, do it! I had a really hard time finding anyone to actually do it around here though. I'm hoping that once I am in a happy place, I'll be able to go natural on my own.

@ProDarwin: that is exactly what I found. Not much more to pay someone else to do it while I work/play AND it turns out better than I could do.