weeds

[Red Arrow]

Hit it with some Weed-B-Gone.  As the name implies, it makes the weeds be gone.

On some lawns, it would be Green-B-Gone.

[Hoss]

Hit it with some Weed-B-Gone.  As the name implies, it makes the weeds be gone.

I just wish they made a product called 'Weed-Stay-Gone'...

[Conan71]

I'm going to do one application of weed & feed on the front yard, then over-seed with Bermuda on the sunny areas in a few weeks and fertilize the crap out of it from now on.  I managed to choke out crab grass at the first house I ever owned by simply feeding and watering the existing Bermuda.

Now that I'm in the same place most weekends and nights, I actually have time to properly take care of a lawn.  My fescue over-seeding in the back yard last fall was a success.  I just did my spring over-seed in the remaining bare areas and can't wait to see a full lawn front and back now.

Oh, and also kudos to Recyclemichael:  the Garden Gourmet composter works like a charm.  I thought I'd ignored it too much last year and it didn't get enough sunlight for heat.  Turns out, I got around 50-70 pounds of really rich soil out of it which came in really handy for some garden top soil, potting soil for herbs and a little extra to mix in with fescue seed.  MC and I moved it to a sunnier spot last night, I'm anxious to see how much quicker we get good soil out of it now.

[TheMindWillNotLetGo]

I got a feeling I should have bagged that first mow.  Weeds not gone but in check for now.  Applied the anti fungus stuff last week.  Probably hit it with weed gone one more time next week.  I think perhaps it is time I looked into some of that overseeding you mention....you just lay down some bermuda right over the lawn or is there any other prep work involved?

[Conan71]

I got a feeling I should have bagged that first mow.  Weeds not gone but in check for now.  Applied the anti fungus stuff last week.  Probably hit it with weed gone one more time next week.  I think perhaps it is time I looked into some of that overseeding you mention....you just lay down some bermuda right over the lawn or is there any other prep work involved?

Most people recommend sowing it in about 1/4".  On my back lawn (fescue and rye blend), I did no prep, just hand cast the seed (easy now, no Biblical references) and covered it with top soil to about 1/4".  Germinated in 5-10 days and has taken root nicely.  Not 100% certain Bermuda will respond that way.  They have a grass-specific soil at Lowe's I've used a couple of bags of.  Once I discovered a nice mound of fresh dirt in my compost bin, I finished up the rest of the back yard over-seed with that.

I know with fescue, the earlier you can over-seed in the spring the better.  Not sure about Bermuda if there is a cut-off point when you really should not apply after.  I'm not aware of it ever being too hot for Bermuda to germinate.

[Gaspar]

My experience is that it is best to seed fescue in the fall (late September through October).  The reason being that if you seed in the spring you cannot put down a pre-emergent for weeds without preventing or retarding the germination of the fescue.

Seeding in the fall also gives the new root system all winter to establish underground.  This is especially helpful if you don't have an automatic sprinkler system, because grass freshly germinated in the spring has very little root mass and dies out easily in Oklahoma summers.

this is kinda my schedule:
February: First application of pre-emergent/crabgrass preventer, trim crapemyrtles and other shrubs.
March: First mow at 2" (3-3.5" after that)
April: Second application of pre-emergent/crabgrass preventer
October: Over-seed with fescue

Always water grass in the early morning, never in the evening or at night.
For the very few weeds that I do get, I use a broadleaf killer with MSMA to get the crab-grass.  Unfortunately I had to purchase a stockpile of MSMA back in 2008.  
If I can avoid using a chemical and just pull the weeds, I do.

[Conan71]

Against better judgement and advice of others, I did not over-seed last spring until late May.  The fescue was not very happy about it but it survived the summer heat, mainly because I set a sprinkler out with a timer to hit it every morning about 6am.  Main reason I don't care as much for fall over-seeding is having to stay on top of leaf fall to keep it from getting smothered.  Now that I've got my monster 6.5 HP Lawnboy mulcher back to health, won't be an issue to keep up with leaves so long as it doesn't suck up the seeds or new grass 

[Red Arrow]

Against better judgement and advice of others, I did not over-seed last spring until late May.  The fescue was not very happy about it but it survived the summer heat, mainly because I set a sprinkler out with a timer to hit it every morning about 6am.  Main reason I don't care as much for fall over-seeding is having to stay on top of leaf fall to keep it from getting smothered.  Now that I've got my monster 6.5 HP Lawnboy mulcher back to health, won't be an issue to keep up with leaves so long as it doesn't suck up the seeds or new grass 

John Deere X360.  48" cut, power steering, hydraulic mowing deck lift, takes about 1-1/2 hours to cut the yard since we have a lot of trees.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/docs/zmags/residential/online_brochures/rle_literature/static/select_series_zmags.html

[Gaspar]

John Deere X360.  48" cut, power steering, hydraulic mowing deck lift, takes about 1-1/2 hours to cut the yard since we have a lot of trees.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/docs/zmags/residential/online_brochures/rle_literature/static/select_series_zmags.html

Cup holder?

Ooh!  Grunt Grunt Grunt.

[custosnox]

It takes one of these bad boys to take on a lawn the size of mine

[Gaspar]

It takes one of these bad boys to take on a lawn the size of mine

Cup holder?

[Conan71]

I love my postage stamp sized lawn.  It was even better at my last house, the swimming pool took up the better part of the back yard so there was no grass, just banana trees, some tomato vines, and the rest was all pretty much plant and forget vegetation.  It took right at 7-8 minutes to mow the front and I could go jump in the pool afterward.

[Red Arrow]

Cup holder?

Yep, in the right fender.  I had to go look since I don't drink and mow.

[custosnox]

Cup holder?

nah, but has an after market keg holder and tap that you can install.

[Red Arrow]

nah, but has an after market keg holder and tap that you can install.

I think I would get way too tired operating a weed eater with a keg attached.  I probably wouldn't care though.