Lawn Weed Control

[Ryuzaki]

The backstory is I bought a house last summer in a nice suburb and the guy that lived here before me didn't do a single damn bit of lawn maintenance. Everyone's lawns are so lush with fescue and zoysia, meanwhile mine is nothing but dirt and weeds. I want to get it fixed up and I want to take the journey myself.

The other thing is this is on top of a big hill / tiniest of mountains, and when they built the houses they just scraped the top off to reasonably flatten the areas, which means there's zero top soil. I had to bury my dog a few months ago and it was nothing but clay and rocks. So aeration is going to be a must.

I'm looking for guidance. I grew up with a lawn where there was 3 acres of "grass" so all we did was weed eat and mow, but it was largely weeds too. So I don't know much about getting rid of them.

I didn't have time to prepare for the fall season and lay down pre-emergent or fertilizer, but I did try to spray once. Spectricide did not a damn thing to the weeds.

I just bought a backpack sprayer Sunday:

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And I went with some Roundup concentrate this time (weed only, not "kill everything"). It does seem to be working as you'll see below. But I have such a vast array of weeds in here:

Here's a view of the general mess I'm dealing with:

You can see that it's working pretty quickly (today would be closing in on day 4 since spraying) and the clover is starting to keel over:

I feel like it's starting to wilt and cause discoloration in giant stuff like this full on cabbage looking thing and those fluffy towers:

It's working on the dandelions that where there Sunday, but tons more have popped up since then (unbelievable):

Then I've got these onion looking things popping up everywhere that it doesn't seem to be doing anything for:

And what the hell is this? Some kind of moss? I'm aware weed killer isn't going to work on moss. This almost looks like some kind of juniper:

Here's the backyard where it almost looks reasonable if you can't see up close:

I'm trying to figure out what my move is come Fall. Right now I was hoping to get these weeds under control before it starts cooling down, and then I'll have the lawn aerated, fertilized with pre-emergent control, and then over-seed. I'm told once you get thick enough grass going it'll choke out the ability for a lot of the weeds to grow.

But again, it's all compacted clay, so that's an issue. Should I bother trying to bring in a couple truckloads of topsoil or just ride it out with fertilizer and aerating? And do I even have a chance of getting this under control without pre-emergent at this point or am I fighting a losing battle?

I know my other option is to burn it all down and start fresh with seed, plugs, or sod.

Any lawn guys got some tips for a noob?

 

[GNews]

1st - Pesticide is never the answer if you ever want to have a garden
2nd - Boiling salt water or just boiling water / Salt Water is said to be an natural solution but will take time
https://earthsally.com/weed-grass-killer/how-to-kill-weeds-naturally.html
https://simplifygardening.com/boiling-water-to-kill-weeds/

My grandmothers house was special for me as a child. After my Uncle passed who was living there, no one upkept it. And this part of middle GA is like the Amazon rain forest if you dont upkeep things. The soil is super rich/ fertile . So i went back home, and used an axe / machete / hoe / tiller to fix everything.

These solutions can indeed work but you need patience and a vision.

The beauty of doing it naturally, the Hummingbirds, butterflies, & insects you see from all of this....... AMAZING! They dont frequent the yards where people spray the same.

 

[Tucky]

Agreed on the no pesticides. I use a mix of salt and vinegar in water solution.

 

[eliquid]

I would go the other direction.

I use Roundup "kill everything" because I have grass and weeds that want to grow in my gravel and edges of landscape. Where I spray, I want the grass gone too.

It kills it fast ( 4-7 days ) and stays gone for about a month. Even if you use the 365 day version, it will be back in about a month or 2. So there is no worry of "overdoing" something.

I'd kill everything and even take a propane torch to it ( the big kind hooked up to the big tanks ) and then lay down new on top with straw. Next year, power seed on that.

 

[bernard]

Get a goat?

Rent one or buy one, they eat weeds apparantly.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/using-goats-for-weed-control.htm

Have you considered not doing the typical grass field and instead going for rewilding / ungardening?

Would be less work and you'd have more wildlife, insects and birds around.

https://www.treehugger.com/steps-toward-ungardening-4856106

Honestly I think your backyard could be really cool if you allowed to go semi-wild, because it has that difference in level. Plant some bushes along the sides, get a pond.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm not going to garden in the direct soil. If I do it'll be in raised beds (if I do). I've got more than enough insects to last me a lifetime, from the nice butterflies to the annoying flying everything else. Slugs, grasshoppers, snails, and all them types too. Rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, moles, snakes, and I think I have a gopher to be honest.

I've got so many birds I managed to even collect one that's "not right in the head" and spends all day banging into one of my windows. It left for a week to bang on my neighbors window, which was funny to watch him freaking out about it (he also works from home). It's not a case of "he see's a reflection and thinks it's grass." He's fixated on a specific window on each of our houses.

I've got so many birds I've got eggs in nests on my wreaths and any flat, covered spot they can find.

I don't think any of these critters are going to mind there being lush grass instead of hard clay and weeds.

I'm not interested in the wild "let it go and see what happens" tactic, especially not for the front yard.

I can't have a goat. I have the cheapest ($60 annual) homeowner's association that's there to stop people from parking boats and motorcycles and basketball goals all over the street and one of the few stipulations is no goats and other farm animals. No raising chickens and other noisy bastards. I live in the country but this is a semi-ritsy suburb planted in it. Wasn't my first choice but the market was what it was. I'm very happy here, but I'd rather have enough land to do whatever I want like having a shooting range and having goats, etc.

Honestly I think your backyard could be really cool if you allowed to go semi-wild, because it has that difference in level. Plant some bushes along the sides, get a pond.

I'm definitely going to "Mr. Miyagi" it up some over time. First order of business is have a roofed structure built over the patio slab. I've got the guy I'm going to use and have seen his designs. I just need to give him a call and get it going. I'm still getting the inside of the house situated after 9 months. Kind of prioritizing things in a certain order for now.

I'd kill everything and even take a propane torch to it ( the big kind hooked up to the big tanks ) and then lay down new on top with straw. Next year, power seed on that.

I'm contemplating going this route. Burning it all down (chemically or literally), bringing in topsoil, then seeding. It just really depends on what I can get done with the existing weeds by early summer. Because if it's going good I'm probably going to fertilize with pre-emergent so by early fall there's not a bunch of autumn weeds and I can over-seed then.

I'm hoping that all plays out as expected. But these weeds! Today is day 6 of being hit with the selective grass-avoiding RoundUp. There's some clear death action going on, and I really need to mow on Sunday, so I'm hoping the Roundup will have made its way to the roots of the weeds by then. Because it's all getting mowed regardless.

 

[GarrettGraff]

Hit me up on Skype.. you know I own a sod farm too, right

Also, do NOT use fertilizer with pre emergent while seeding.