Advice for Weedy Lawn

[Cole]

Hi all,

My mother and father in law moved into a new home this summer and I was hoping to get their lawn into decent shape.

Right now we are only focusing on one area of the lawn. The other areas will be sodded. This area is basically 30% - 40% crabgrass and other weeds. The grass is a northern mix. If this were me, I'd do a full renovation here, but it's not me and I can't be there to make sure it gets the attention it needs for that to work. Also, there isn't in ground irrigation on the property. My father in law will, however, be using manual sprinklers and has been through the summer to get the grass looking better.

So, my hopes for this are to reduce the easy weeds and get the turf to come in nice and thick. This doesnt have to be a perfect lawn, but an overall nice appearance is the goal. It's clear I'll be putting down a pre emergent next spring for the crabgrass, but what about this year? Should I just fertilize as normal and seed next year when the crabgrass is under control and we're left with a bunch of bare spots? I was initially thinking we could overseed this year, but with the "lawn" being so full of weeds, is this pointless? What would be your first steps this fall, to get this lawn into respectable shape?

[andy10917]

Have you read the Triangle Approach to Weed Control article? Your timing couldn't be better - the season where temperatures don't complicate things and weed metabolism starts September 1st.

[Cole]

Hi Andy, yes I have. I will definitely hit the broadleaf weeds. I will be at his place tonight, but if I remember correctly it's mostly crabgrass so I won't be bothering with trying to kill that now. I will double check on what other weeds I am dealing with and work on killing them off this fall.

What about the grass itself is there anything I can do to help it along or should the focus just be on removing the weeds?