Hey everyone,
My wife and I recently moved into our new home and it is now time for us to tackle the backyard. The issue I am having is that the yard is literally more weeds than grass and I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?
As you can see from the pictures, we have a couple of cats, so we would like to save the lawn and keep the grass if possible. I am willing to mulch, compost, fertilize... whatever! The biggest issue that I am having is that there is no access to my backyard through the house, so I cannot hire anybody to come in and spray.
Again, if anyone has thoughts on this problem, we would really appreciate your help. Thanks.
[img]https://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii565/whatteachersthink/IMG_1468.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii565/whatteachersthink/IMG_1471.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii565/whatteachersthink/IMG_1472.jpg[/img]
-
mrmcalpine
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 1:27 pm
- Location: Newmarket, Ontario
Wow, from the pics you posted, you sure can build real close to the property line up your way. New construction here in the New Orleans area requires at least a 3 ft. easement on both sides of the house in relation to the property line. You may have that, but it doesn't show up well on the pictures.
Older homes in our area are grandfathered in and many times the homes are built right up to the property line. My neighbor and I share a common alleyway between our houses and I can literally reach out and touch the sides of both houses with ease. Of course, this makes for a nasty situation if there is a fire in either house. I worked on the local fire department for over 20 years and saw where many houses were seriously burned by the one in the middle catching fire.
As to the weed issue, why not attempt some granular weed and feed on the lawn if you have no issue with chemicals being used. I found it worked well after Hurricane Katrina's flood damage to my property just about killed my lawn because salt water inundated my area of the city for over 2 weeks. When it came back, it was full of various weeds and just a few runners of St. Augustine grass survived. It took over 2 years before my lawn came back with lots of TLC.
Older homes in our area are grandfathered in and many times the homes are built right up to the property line. My neighbor and I share a common alleyway between our houses and I can literally reach out and touch the sides of both houses with ease. Of course, this makes for a nasty situation if there is a fire in either house. I worked on the local fire department for over 20 years and saw where many houses were seriously burned by the one in the middle catching fire.
As to the weed issue, why not attempt some granular weed and feed on the lawn if you have no issue with chemicals being used. I found it worked well after Hurricane Katrina's flood damage to my property just about killed my lawn because salt water inundated my area of the city for over 2 weeks. When it came back, it was full of various weeds and just a few runners of St. Augustine grass survived. It took over 2 years before my lawn came back with lots of TLC.
-
Master_Mind413
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:15 am
- Location: California
This is the problem we had back in 2009 when we moved into our new house, there was no room for grass because of all the weeds I'm sure we had at least 5 if not 20 of every weed in the book
I'm all for organics if possible but I'll tell you my experience with that, I tried a lot of organic weed killers including the popular cinnamon oil or cedar oil mixes and while they did work "ok" they would only kill a few here and there and within a week or so new weeds took there place I ended up wasting a lot of time and money, before I eventually went down and picked up a broad spec herbicide, "weed b gone" and it wiped out about every thing but the clover within 2 weeks
This has been a ongoing project I'm still working on today, first year it took 4 bottles of herbicide
Second year 3 bottles, third year 2 and this year a half bottle
After every spraying 2 days later I would go out and counter the herbicide with fish emulation fertilizer from a hose end sprayer, which seemed to make a huge difference, that and a mulching mower
2010 I was finally able to start over seeding what little Bermuda was there and got a decent lawn going, I can now go outside and dig a hole and find about 6 earth worms and a ton of insects which tells me the soil is alive and well
I'm all for organics if possible but I'll tell you my experience with that, I tried a lot of organic weed killers including the popular cinnamon oil or cedar oil mixes and while they did work "ok" they would only kill a few here and there and within a week or so new weeds took there place I ended up wasting a lot of time and money, before I eventually went down and picked up a broad spec herbicide, "weed b gone" and it wiped out about every thing but the clover within 2 weeks
This has been a ongoing project I'm still working on today, first year it took 4 bottles of herbicide
Second year 3 bottles, third year 2 and this year a half bottle
After every spraying 2 days later I would go out and counter the herbicide with fish emulation fertilizer from a hose end sprayer, which seemed to make a huge difference, that and a mulching mower
2010 I was finally able to start over seeding what little Bermuda was there and got a decent lawn going, I can now go outside and dig a hole and find about 6 earth worms and a ton of insects which tells me the soil is alive and well
If you allow your cats access to the yard, chemicals will make contact with their feet and, during grooming, the cats will ingest the chemicals. Not healthful, actually harmful, for the kitties. 
If those are dandelions I see in the photo, right now--while they're still yellow and before they become puffballs--snap off the flowers and stems at ground level. It's very fast. Toss them into the haul-away yard waste; don't compost them.
Now take a breath. What you want is a stand-up weeder for the tap-rooted weeds, like dandelions, so you can get the entire tap-root. The plant will come back if any of the root remains. These are sold under many names, but the salient point is that you push down on the "business end" of the tool with your foot; you don't have to crawl on your hands and knees. These are also good for shallow-rooted weeds.
If you're also dealing with Bermuda grass or another stolon-propagating invasive, look up my successful and non-chemical war with Bermuda grass here on the forum. Just use "Bermuda grass" and "cynthia_h" as author for the search criteria.
Best wishes!
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
If those are dandelions I see in the photo, right now--while they're still yellow and before they become puffballs--snap off the flowers and stems at ground level. It's very fast. Toss them into the haul-away yard waste; don't compost them.
Now take a breath. What you want is a stand-up weeder for the tap-rooted weeds, like dandelions, so you can get the entire tap-root. The plant will come back if any of the root remains. These are sold under many names, but the salient point is that you push down on the "business end" of the tool with your foot; you don't have to crawl on your hands and knees. These are also good for shallow-rooted weeds.
If you're also dealing with Bermuda grass or another stolon-propagating invasive, look up my successful and non-chemical war with Bermuda grass here on the forum. Just use "Bermuda grass" and "cynthia_h" as author for the search criteria.
Best wishes!
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
In my opinion the best thing you could do would be to topdress mixed with peat moss to create a better soil for the grass to grow and get more nutrients and have stronger roots. Also what I would do would be to over seed your lawn. This way you don't have to worry about any chemicals around your pets, or that expense. By over seeding you are you will essentially be strangling the roots of the weeds, with the roots from all of your new grass once you seed. I also suggest not letting your cats eliminate in your back yard which causes the grass to burn from the acidity in the urine.
Let me know what you think.
Let me know what you think.