Ah…life in my part of the world right now is full of people pouring chemicals into their lawns, buying fungicides, fighting drought, lugging bag clippings around and spending dollar upon dollar on their lawns. And most of them look like crap, or cost hundreds of dollars and have issues every week. Or, they water and water and water…and still have issues. All because they get stuck in the Scott’s ™ mentality, or the Home Improvement store mentality.
Of the hundreds of homes around me, I have the greenest and healthiest lawn to be found. Additionally, I have the lowest maintenace and the lowest cost.
Most people are on step 3 or 4, or have watered 3x as much…or have lugged countless bags of clippings to the curb, or wherever.
Me? I fertilized last in September. That’s right, I said September. Total outlay for my half acre of grass? 25 bucks!
I haven’t bagged clippings in two years now.
Haven’t needed fungus control, or disease control. When the grubs got a little tough, I broke down and spot treated with a $6 back of bug control - generic no-less.
People ask me who does my lawn, and I tell them ‘no one’. What program of fertilizer? ‘None!’ They get indignant! They think I’m holding out!
There are many more tricks to turning you lawn care into almost “no care”. Want them? Just ask?
Have a problem…tired of chasing your tail? Let me know. I can help you and your lawn!
Preach it, brother. Our methods are the same, although I did give it a half application of fertilizer in April.
I’ll deep water in the summer for about 30 minutes a week early in the morning. A neighbor lets his run in the afternoons for 10 to 11 hours, depending on when he remembers it. Mine looks a heck of a lot better and I never get brown patch.
I live in Nevada…plenty 'o sun.
Brown spots come and go…healthy patch here, weak patch there.
Sprayed to kill the little bugs (gnat-like) and also put down some fertilizer in the Spring and Winter…
I water 15 minutes at 5:00am. That’s it.
I am trying to not use chemicals. I did not weed and feed this year. I fertilized this spring. I have this weird vine / weed / ??? that winds itself all through my grass. I some spots it has choked the St.Augustine out. I live in Houston so we get lots of heat and at least currently lots of rain.
How can I get my lawn thick and green and healthy without weeds and without chemicals?
You answered you own question: It’d be a major project.
Could try a moss killer, weed killer, then re-seeding in fall.
Re-seeding by hand could take a few years to establish enough desirable grass.
Other than that, smells of major project.
Best now since its crap anyway: kill the moss, weed ‘n’ feed, and keep cutting it. Grass likes cutting and weeds dont. Weeds are green and look half decent cut.
cut about mid setting. Healthy lawns get cut highest setting. Leave all clippings.
You could jump to a fall feeding (i’m less familiar with such southern climates) only - organic. Good products from Ringer and Milorganite. Also, depending on the area, there are various local organic weed killers. They are usually local in distribution.
Good Weed mgmt also comes from:
frequent cutting, high cutting and deep twice weekly watering.
To catch up, get a liquid weed killer that advertises to ‘stick’ even in the rain. May need it twice.
You might need chemicals to catch up only on the weeds.
Creeping Charlie.
Live in Wisconsin.
It’s invaded my grass now, from my ‘garden’. Bastards just grow and grow.
I’m an amatuer lawn care guy, so the Borax thing is out, I’ll overdo or underdo what is needed.
What do I do to get rid of it, Guy With The Greatest Lawn Care Advice?
First of all, you need to be sure that Charlie is who he says he is because proper weed ID is essential to good weed control.
Adjust your practices to improve turf health and density (that is, increase mowing height to 3 inches or more, fertilize and overseed in the fall, water properly, etc.). DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS. Keep soil dry as long as possible.
A postemergence broadleaf weed killer containing salt of dicamba (3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid) is your best bet. Check the ingredient list on the label to see if it contains this active ingredient. Often it is found in combination products (Trimec, Three Way Lawn Weed Killer, etc.) and is mixed with weed killers, 2,4-D (2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and mecoprop or MCPP (2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy) propionic acid). Products containing triclopyr or 2,4-DP may also provide decent control.
in the spring, spray again. In fact, wait until he is blooming, as he is very susceptible to herbicides at that time (April to June). Again, a second application may be necessary.
NO BORAX!
Again, weedkillers might be necessary to catch up and give you time to adopt good practices.
PER DAY?!
Yikes…this is a desert!
Ya want me to drain Lake Mead?
When I said 15minutes at 5:00am, that is every morning, 7 days a week.
Or do you mean ONLY water twice a week for 45-50 minutes and not water the other days?
That would be pretty iffy with our average 105-110 degree days burning on it all day.
Our city has a weed abatement program. I keep telling people who want me to cut their weeds that
if they would just wait for them to flower first & then let me cut them, then I won’t have to cut
them again so soon. Naturally they get around two feet high, which looks spooky.
So what do you think? Wait for the grass to flower or just do it when its 4" high? These
are meadows by the way. Not lawns.
Climate: Memphis → hot & humid in the summer, occasional ice and snow in the winter.
Ground: Mostly clay and sand. There’s about 1-3" of dirt/sand/clay mixture on top, then it’s clay and sand beneath that. Needless to say, the ground is like concrete.
Lawn: Err. What lawn? It’s a roughly 10 feet by 20 feet chunk of earth hemmed in on all sides by concrete, exposed to full sun all day. Normally it’s mostly clover, but the heat has killed all of that off for the season. The grass that is there might be bermuda: it’s been neglected for so long at it’s best it looks like a guy’s 2 o’clock shadow, but with mange. (It doesn’t even rate being compared to a 3 o’clock shadow.)
What kinds of options do I have? I’d prefer it to be as low upkeep as possible, and it doesn’t have to be your standard run-of-the-mill lawn: I’d be just as happy if anyone knows of an herb or other plant that will serve as ground cover. (The one exception: vines/ivy, I just don’t like the look of that as ground cover in an urban setting.) If I had a way to haul in some nice looking gravel, I’d turn it into a rock garden: who cares if that wouldn’t ‘match’ the house.
I’m a neophyte, be gentle with me. I’ve never had a lawn before. I mean, Mom had a lawn when I was growing up, but other than mowing it and moving the sprinkler ocassionally, I have no experience with a lawn.
Buying a house with a small yard. Haven’t examined the lawn closely , but there are some small bald patches in the back (looks like where kids have played). The back yard is fairly shady, would get mid-day sun. How do I get grass to grow here? In front, the grass looks okay, not too green, but not all brown, no obvious weeds. This part of the yard will get a lot of sun. What do I need to do to keep it healthy?
I’m buying a push mower (it’s a small yard), what other “lawn tools” am I going to need.
Salem is warmish in the summer, July-September daytime weather in the 70’s and 80’s, with a few 90’s thrown in. It generally cools off at night, and we can count on some rain (like right now) all summer.
Climate is MD Eastern Shore. My yard is very shady and the lawn is dying or dead in the shady places in back and is also losing the battle in front. The giant Loblolly pines in the front yard suck all the water out the soil and don’t leave any for the grass. They also cover the ground (ie grass) with pine shats. I rarely water and leave that to the whims of nature. I have a new mulching mower that pulverizes the grass clippings. When should I seed? How often should I water? Why are there ant hills all over my front yard. Why are some large areas of my back yard all weirdly soft and spongy underfoot (it’s almost creepy) . Do I need a sprinkler system? A riding mover with a thatching attachment? Little rugs of of sod farm grass laid down? I’m so confused. My lawn hates me and I hate it. Mutual loathing with a monocot can’t be good for the soul.
