Lawn care

Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
1,716
Location
Germantown, MD
Hello everybody,
My family is moving into a new-to-us home in 4 weeks. About quarter to a third of an acre. In Maryland, DC suburbs. Grass is OK, not great. I haven’t had a lawn to take care of in 20 years and then it was just mowing the grass at my parent’s house. Need some advice on the initial actions I should be taking and when. I’m figuring on the following:
get soil analyzed, fertilize per recommendation.
rent a core aerator and give it a once over
pre-emergent herbicide - uh technically these are not permitted in this area. I gather there are not any effective alternatives? They are still readily available though…
Post emergent, again technically only organic type products are permitted.
I assume there would be subsequent fertilizing, overseeing, etc but am pretty clueless about timing and sequencing. Appreciate any advice!

jeff
 
My experience it that lawn care is an all or nothing situation. You do to a lot of work to get the lawn looking great. If you don't go full in the lawn looks just ok. It also takes a lot of water and sprinklers to get it green and lush all summer. My lawn is not the nicest in the neighborhood.
 
The only advice I have is be careful with the pre-emergent. I used a little bit too much last winter (Bio Advanced 3 in 1) and the lawn looked sorry and burned all summer 2022. Now that it's dormant, I have a lot of bare spots and the lawn just looks ragged. My neighbor's is also brown and dormant, but it's still full and looks pretty decent. Mine's not getting anything but lawn food this spring and I'll spot treat the weeds.
 
A soil test is always a good start. I like to use a crab grass preventing fertilizer in early spring, then a weed control fertilizer in early fall.
I have a power edger for along the sidewalk to keep edges trimmed.

God waters it for me.

It can become obsessive in a hurry!!! I don’t have any lawn pictures, but this is part of my backyard, which is not as nice as the front.

07708BCA-9630-4F04-8984-48D313DD064D.jpeg
 
A soil test is always a good start. I like to use a crab grass preventing fertilizer in early spring, then a weed control fertilizer in early fall.
I have a power edger for along the sidewalk to keep edges trimmed.

God waters it for me.

It can become obsessive in a hurry!!! I don’t have any lawn pictures, but this is part of my backyard, which is not as nice as the front.

View attachment 143083
That's beautiful. Looks like a picture from a magazine.
 
You must use a crabgrass preventer before it grows or it will be next to impossible to kill. Fall is the most important time to fertilize.
 
I vote don’t go crazy and just mow it unless it really really needs help or you have an HOA that will bother you for a “lackluster” yard.

I will admit while my neighbor, who goes through the effort of spraying all sorts of chemicals and digging up dandelions, has a nicer looking yard, I get all the dinner…. I mean wild life!
E4E268DE-1A77-496A-94FC-7AE67389D697.jpeg
 
Start with a soil test. Pre emergent early spring then a nice dose of a light fertilizer. Cut lawn with a sharp blade during the season. You can do another dose of organic fertilizer if you are consistently watering early summer. Spot spray late spring any weeds that pop up. Purchase a good quality tall fescue blend grass seed not from a big box store. Spend the money for quality seed weed free. Come late summer cut your existing grass low as possible. De thatch the whole thing really good beat it up. Spread your seed cover with peat moss. Keep it moist for a couple of weeks. In about a month you will have a nice lawn. By next spring best lawn on the block.
 
I don’t mind clover, so I get a quality grass seed and then also spread micro clover. My grass stays green and looks fine from 25 feet. Close up there are different plants growing, but I’d prefer not to apply too many chemicals to my lawn. My kids play out there, roll around, etc. I don’t need them getting exposure to unnecessary pesticides. I also don’t mind the variety. I’m not trying to grow a golf course.

That said, I will apply either a low dose fertilizer, or milorganite. I also have holly trees, so I tend to spread some lime to offset the acid that mulched up leaves may create.
 
Best organic fertilizer is Milorganite. The stuff is fantastic and will really green and help thicken the lawn. It is packed full of micronutrients that will make lawns healthy. I would apply it at one-half the recommended rate or else you could be mowing every other day. By the way, it is a low nitrogen fertilizer, but it is effective!
 
6F6158E7-F128-4A82-B1F7-57DF768557CA.jpeg

I changed the way I manage the lawn as the climate has changed. I’m slowly over seeding with modern drought and bug resistant cultivars I blend together. TTTF that can spread. Some bluegrass. Perennial rye as a host for bald spots. Sunjoe dethatcher landzie compost spreader, backpack sprayer for weeds. Pre-emergence based on charts.
 
Best organic fertilizer is Milorganite. The stuff is fantastic and will really green and help thicken the lawn. It is packed full of micronutrients that will make lawns healthy. I would apply it at one-half the recommended rate or else you could be mowing every other day. By the way, it is a low nitrogen fertilizer, but it is effective!
I have a friend who uses this stuff. It is treated human waste solids from a sewage treatment plant.

In this day of many drugs being flushed down the toilets that raises a bit of concern in my book. But the stuff works and is cheap and I believe it only requires two applications a year.
 
Best organic fertilizer is Milorganite. The stuff is fantastic and will really green and help thicken the lawn. It is packed full of micronutrients that will make lawns healthy. I would apply it at one-half the recommended rate or else you could be mowing every other day. By the way, it is a low nitrogen fertilizer, but it is effective!
Over time your soil will be high in phosphorus that locks the ability of the grass to take in iron that makes grass green. Great to use during the summer it's organic light in nitrogen high in iron. Since it's organic it's needs heat to break it down. It won't burn your lawn.
 
I have a friend who uses this stuff. It is treated human waste solids from a sewage treatment plant.

In this day of many drugs being flushed down the toilets that raises a bit of concern in my book. But the stuff works and is cheap and I believe it only requires two applications a year.
Well, you've heard about the beer that made Milwaukee famous, this is the stuff that makes Milwaukee some money.

As far as the drug concern goes, I would imagine that the normal sewage treatment processes and the microbes associated with it along with sunlight would decompose/degrade any drugs (pharmaceutical and illicit) to a non-detectable level.
 
The best time to do lawn care is actually in the very early fall. Over doing anything in the spring can burn a lawn up in the summer especially in your area. I applied crabgrass killer in the early fall and the grass grew in amazingly thick. Save your money for seeding in the fall. Spring seeding does not give time for roots to develop before heat sets in. Core aeration is good in the spring. This allows roots to more easily thicken.
 
Do some research on clover lawns. I have mixed clover in with my grass to a positive effect. Clover is more resistant to my dogs pee as well.
if you do mix in clover, no more weed killer. You can spray dandelions and large weeds, but no spreading weed products or you will kill the clover.
keep it cut and you won’t get too many of the white flowers. Let it grow a little long and the clover flowers are good for the bees.
 
Hello everybody,
My family is moving into a new-to-us home in 4 weeks. About quarter to a third of an acre. In Maryland, DC suburbs. Grass is OK, not great. I haven’t had a lawn to take care of in 20 years and then it was just mowing the grass at my parent’s house. Need some advice on the initial actions I should be taking and when. I’m figuring on the following:
get soil analyzed, fertilize per recommendation.
rent a core aerator and give it a once over
pre-emergent herbicide - uh technically these are not permitted in this area. I gather there are not any effective alternatives? They are still readily available though…
Post emergent, again technically only organic type products are permitted.
I assume there would be subsequent fertilizing, overseeing, etc but am pretty clueless about timing and sequencing. Appreciate any advice!

jeff

IMO no need to test the soil unless you plan to make a large scale change with something like lime. I aerate with a plug aerator in the spring and fall after I mulch leaves. I use Menards 4 step program and grub control. It’s less expensive than Scott’s and works the same.

Just my $0.02
 
Do some research on clover lawns. I have mixed clover in with my grass to a positive effect. Clover is more resistant to my dogs pee as well.
if you do mix in clover, no more weed killer. You can spray dandelions and large weeds, but no spreading weed products or you will kill the clover.
keep it cut and you won’t get too many of the white flowers. Let it grow a little long and the clover flowers are good for the bees.
My next door neighbor had the same idea. We don’t talk anymore.
 
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