Looking for some yard help

[black2002ls]

Hopefully its not too late into the season to try and improve this a little bit. We pay a company to cut the grass, I don't think they do any sort of landscape work, just mow and clean up. They waited 2 friggin weeks to mow this past time so everything was grown up pretty bad.

The first pictures are of the current state of the front yard. We moved into this house a little less than a year ago. There wasn't a great yard to begin with, either the realtors or the previous tenant/owner attempted to lay some sod square and hope that it would spread. It appears to be mostly weeds right now.







Then there is the back yard, it is pretty bad as well. Everything is pretty brown because it had gotten so tall and they scalped it when they cut it.



Finally, there is a section along the fence with the neighbors. It is covered by a tree with a pretty thick canopy. Is there anything that requires little sunlight that I can plant here to spruce it up a bit?

[Blackpony]

looks like your back yard needs water. I would try some weed n feed in the front and back yard along with watering 2-3 times a week. Then after about a month put out some scotts max green along with watering twice a week and it should start to come in.

[black2002ls]

looks like your back yard needs water. I would try some weed n feed in the front and back yard along with watering 2-3 times a week. Then after about a month put out some scotts max green along with watering twice a week and it should start to come in.

it was just cut yesterday. The problem there is that it was grown up pretty bad, so this is the stuff that wasn't getting any sun. I'll try and get a closer shot so you can see what the make up of the stuff there is.

[Blackpony]

Yeah, its best to cut the grass as low as possible. Also aeirating before applying the weed n feed will help tremendiously.

[zemog]

as was stated in earlier posts
DO NOT apply weed and feed with atrazine (which is the active ingredient in many weed and feeds) around your trees, unless you dont want them anymore

also, why aerify then apply weed control, (pre emergence) it forms a barrier on the soil surface which when broken kinda defeats the purpose of using a weed and feed (and yes they do contain a pre emergent)

[black2002ls]

What is the safe zone around the trees?

[Lone Sailor]

For starters, there is hardly any grass there to cut, so the fact that you're paying someone to mow it seems odd to me. Secondly, if you're paying someone to mow your yard and they only perform the service once every two weeks then you should probably find a different lawn service. I could see doing it every two weeks during July-September when more than half the yards are crispy, but not during March-June.

[black2002ls]

For starters, there is hardly any grass there to cut, so the fact that you're paying someone to mow it seems odd to me. Secondly, if you're paying someone to mow your yard and they only perform the service once every two weeks then you should probably find a different lawn service. I could see doing it every two weeks during July-September when more than half the yards are crispy, but not during March-June.

Maybe I should rephrase, they cut the weeds down. They took care of the lawn work at our old house and were pretty good. I don't know if they have seen a spike in business or not. I've got a co-worker who is mowing lawns and I will probably start having him do it.

[zemog]

What is the safe zone around the trees?

dont know, i wont use it......products can leach and i'm not gonna take a chance

[Blackpony]

as was stated in earlier posts
DO NOT apply weed and feed with atrazine (which is the active ingredient in many weed and feeds) around your trees, unless you dont want them anymore

also, why aerify then apply weed control, (pre emergence) it forms a barrier on the soil surface which when broken kinda defeats the purpose of using a weed and feed (and yes they do contain a pre emergent)

Has not hurt my trees in the past 2 yrs... Although i dont apply it to the tree..

I am no expert in lawn care, but the past 2 yrs this was the procedure I used with great results....

Last year:

[zemog]

the post says "weed and feed with atrazine"
scotts uses a 2-4-d

[black2002ls]

Nice yard. I think I found some weed n feed without atrazine. I started in the front yard. We have small dogs that we let out in the back yard, so I've got to make sure that I pick the right time to get it done.

[black2002ls]

Starting to see some of the weeds turning yellow and dieing off, I'm starting to wonder if there is any grass in there....

[miketyler]

I would trim that tree. A little more sunlight and regular watering will improve your chances. I would bet you could plug or checkerboard that whole area pretty cheap with Sod. St. Augustine does pretty well in part sunny areas like that.

[black2002ls]

I would trim that tree. A little more sunlight and regular watering will improve your chances. I would bet you could plug or checkerboard that whole area pretty cheap with Sod. St. Augustine does pretty well in part sunny areas like that.

Given the very small amount of grass that is actually growing, I've given serious thought to laying some sod tiles after the weed and feed has a chance to do its thing. I'm off work tomorrow and going to spend some time removing some of the stuff that hasn't been killed off by the weed and feed, I'll get some pictures posted and I'll re-assess