We bought a house in January that was new (never lived in), but sat for 4-5 years after it was built. It looks like the front yard was sodded, at least I can see the green mesh in certain places. I guess the builder hired someone to cut the grass and trim the bushes, but it didn't have the care and feeding it needed from the start.

I see clumps of grass (fescue) but much of the yard looks like dead and dried up weeds, maybe crabgrass?, not sure. We are starting to string together 50-60 degree days, it won't be long before I'll have stuff growing out there.

I am not sure if I should power rake to remove dead stuff, though I thought that was typically a fall activity. Or maybe just overseed, but I am worried that the weeds will overtake the yard again if I don't treat them. Or maybe, just apply a pre-emergent to attack the weeds and let the grass attempt to take hold with a little fertilizer.

I guess one other option would be to just bring a landscaper in to scrape the yard (and level) with the intent to resod.

I have about 3500 sqft.of lawn and live in North Georgia.

Thanks in advance for any/all advice.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Rule of thumb is more than 50% weeds and undesired grasses and your best bet is to kill it all and start over. Less than that and weed and feed type activities should improve your lawn.

 

Yes if its not the kind of grass you want for a lawn (check whats right for your area, wait til Fall, kill it with non selective herbicide (ie Roundup) Check your soil type for fertilizer/ph levels. Powerrake to take everything up Then use either a slitseeder and/or aerator to prep the soil, seed, water twice a day til it comes up (I normally put a starter fertilizer down the same time as seeding) Then wait til Spring (March) then put down a pre emergent to kill any weed seeds in the soil (I use Lesco's fertilizer with Dimension you can buy it at HDepot) will kill the crabgrass seeds after that follow up with a normal fertilizer and by the time you get to end of Spring you may need a post emergent for Broadleaf weeds. [HR][/HR]After you have done that you will be great shape

 

I sent soil samples off to UGA for analysis. The results came back and I added lime and 10-10-10 as prescribed. In addition, I overseeded with tall fescue (Rebels). That was about two weeks ago. Now my question is - what to do about the weeds? They seem to enjoy the pH change and fertilizer too. Can anyone recommend a good weed treatment? I don't need more fertilizer (weed and feed) and it's too late for pre-emergent (plus, I have seeds down).

Thanks in advance.

 

I use Trimec Classic but I think the same chemicals are available under other brand names. Trimec happens to be more for commercial use and farmers so it's considerably less expensive to buy at the local feed & chemical supplier.

 

Did you already have a tall fescue lawn? Most grasses play well together but tall fescue does not, it tends to grow in weed-like clumps if mixed with other grasses.