Apologies if this is the wrong place or if I'm asking questions that have been covered in great detail before. i tried reading through the FAQs and some articles, and I think I have a way forward but wanted to confirm.
I'm a NYC resident who never had anything resembling a lawn until 5 years ago, when I bought a seasonal home out on Long Island. I've been paying people for the past 5 years to care for the lawn, and I've reached the point where I think I'm paying for nothing - the lawn doesn't seem very good, the prices are relatively high, and I've reached the point where I'm going to give it a go myself.
The breaking point was when my latest landscaper cleared some brush for me with the plan that he was going to seed the lawn. The clearing was done in May. For whatever reason, he disappeared until late June and claimed it wasn't too late to seed then. He proceeded to nuke the remaining weeds with RoundUp, and now I have a patch of 20x85' of dirt, basically. The rest of the property is a third of an acre riddled with weeds, from crabgrass, clover, chickweed and some other stuff I haven't identified yet.
I think my plan of action is going to be as follows:
- Follow the triangle approach and hit the entire lawn over the next 2-4 weeks to target the weeds
- Send off soil sample for nutritional analysis
- Fertilize
- Aerate the soil and seed
Soil samples - how many is "enough"? It's a 135x85 lot, with a house situated smack in the middle. My backyard is partial sun, and the sides and front are for the most part full sun. The soil seems to be the same throughout (though again, what do I know?). If I take 2 samples from each section, enough or do I need more?
Is my timing right? Can I start tackling the weeds now and still have time to seed before winter?
Finally - what seed should I be looking at? Zone 5, eastern end of the North Fork of Long Island. I've been told my soil is 'sandy loam', if that means anything. Drainage doesn't seem to be great. I do have an irrigation system, although I'm going to have to extend it since it doesn't cover the area that was previously brush. I'm looking for something that will hold up to traffic (my kids play on the lawn and currently beat the c*ap out of it) and will look good.
Sorry for all the questions but it seems I have more questions than answers after doing my reading. Thanks in advance for any assistance.