More Weeds than grass, What to do?

Basic maintenance of existing grass:

1. Water regularly, grass needs ~1-1.5 inches of water a week. Can see how much water your sprinkler puts down by using a couple of tuna cans, running sprinkler for a set period then measuring water depth. Most people are surprised how little is put down when they measure. Best time to water is early morning before heat of the day - less water lost to evaporation and less risk of fungus - and generally better to water heavier 1-2x/week than more often and lightly, as frequent shallow watering reduces drought tolerance.

2. Mow at a fairly high setting - most northern grass likes being cut at 2-3.5 inches high, and weed seeds hate it. Mow regularly with sharp blades, so that you generally don't cut off more than ~1/3 of the grass height each time you cut to avoid stressing grass. If you have to hack it down from a high height, do it in two or more mows spaced a couple of days apart. Generally, leave the clippings mulched instead of bagging them unless it's a lot of clippings that might smother grass - clippings return nutrients to the soil, reduce weed pressure (unless you're mowing weed seeds) and it's just easier.

Infrequent maintenance of existing grass:

1. If your soil is compacted, then consider core aeration. A big machine pulls plugs out of the ground that can be raked up or left to degrade back into dirt. This loosens the soil and improves air, water and nutrient penetration. It also breaks up light thatch (a mass of dead stems and roots that can mess with the top of the soil in excess). Many people do it annually, usually every couple years is fine.

2. Dethatching is the use of a manual rake (if in shape!) or a power rake to remove surface debris and thatch from the soil, exposing dirt. This is usually not needed for regular lawn maintenance, as most northern grasses don't make a ton of thatch, but is useful when cleaning up debris, before seeding and to help a neglected lawn as a one-off. A bit of thatch isn't bad, a lot is a problem.

3. A soil test is when you get a sample (or several samples) of your lawn soil (often mixed together) and send the bag to a soil testing lab. They will check it for pH, organic matter, nutrient levels, major minerals, etc. Finding out what's wrong with your dirt lets you fix it, which will drastically improve the quality of your grass (and your other plants). Best time to check is in early spring before you've applied fertilizer (fertilizer can mess with the tests).

4. Topdressing is the practice of applying a thin layer of soil to the top of the lawn. Generally it comes in two types - a soil high in mineral content (like sandy topsoil) that fills low spots and makes the lawn more levels, and topdressing compost, which has poor leveling but will improve your soil and add nutrients. Generally you cut your grass quite short, apply it in piles, rake it around using a wide, flat rake (landscaping rake, levelling rake) and move it around until your grass blades poke through. You want to do 1/4 to 1/2 inch, no more - more than 1/2 inch can kill the grass.

Fertilizing grass:

1. Fertilizing grass is easy. Don't pay someone. If you have done a soil test (and you did do one, right?) then you'll know what to do - if you don't, post here. If you didn't do one, then you can use a general lawn fertilizer high in nitrogen and low in phosphorus and potassium, as grass is a leafy plant that mostly needs nitrogen. Generally you apply 0.5-1lb/100sqft of nitrogen (so a 33% nitrogen fertilizer would be 3lbs/1000sqft), spaced 6-8 weeks apart for a total of 2-5lbs of nitrogen a year. Generally 2-4 applications is enough per year, starting from when the grass has started greening up and ending as the grass begins to stop growing, maybe taking it easy on the fertilizer in the summer heat.

2. To fertilize, get a broadcast spreader (handheld if < 4000sqft lawn, push spreader (not Scott's, their wheel design is flawed) if > 4000sqft. Buy whatever fertilizer you like, synthetic is cheaper and faster, organic is harder to mess up. Put in a measured amount. Walk at a normal pace, follow bag settings and directions. Again, this is easy.

Seeding grass:

1. Not every grass is seeded. some is sodded, using rolls of grass and dirt and laying them on top of bare ground. Sod gives you 'instant grass', and it's easier than seeding. It costs much more though. Basically you remove existing grass and dirt down to an inch below where you want the lawn height to be (and this is your chance to improve the dirt if you want to), then you apply the sod rolls as soon as you get them (must be applied within a few hours of receipt, it dies fast), lay them like bricks with no gaps at all, pushed firmly into the dirt to get good contact, then water heavily until soaked and then water 1-2x/day until it's rooted and the sod won't easily lift up. Don't walk on it until rooted, usually takes a few weeks. Don't fertilize it until it's rooted. Cut it kinda high for a while. Most sod is a sun-loving grass called kentucky bluegrass, so generally not a great choice for shade unless you buy something that's listed as a 'shade grass'.

2. To seed grass, you have four times: first is seeding end of summer to early fall when the nights have started to cool and the heat isn't quite so bad. This is the best time to seed grass, because it'll have all fall and all spring to grow before the summer hits. Second is spring seeding, where you seed as soon as the weather warms up enough for grass to grow, usually soil temps of ~55F, or when the forsythias on your street start to bloom. Spring seeding tends to die due to it begin too new for the summer without a lot of luck and babying. Third way is dormant seeding, where you broadcast grass seed in the late fall to early spring when it's still too cold for it to germinate and turn into grass. This is a handy trick as it's less work than other seeding and you get grass growing a bit earlier in the spring, but it's prone to crop failure. Fourth is kind of a subtype - you soak the grass seed in daily changed water from anywhere from a couple days to a week or more (depending on grass type), then you take it out, drain it until it's half-dry, then mix it with dirt for patching or lots of organic fertilizer for broadcast spreading. Perk of this way is it starts growing as soon as you put it down, saving you a lot of time, water and risk.

3. To dive into the process, first you remove debris from your lawn, second you cut the existing grass quite short (maybe 2 inches), all at once to stress it. Then you level low spots with topsoil, then you apply seed in a broadcaster, then you apply something on top of the seed to retain moisture, hide it from critters and improve germination (like peat moss). Then you have to lightly water it minimum 2x/day, keeping the seedbed moist until the slowest seeds have popped (about three weeks). The watering is a pain, but if you forget a day and it gets baked then your grass seed will die so keep it up and maybe buy a watering timer or something. Keep on mowing the existing grass fairly short until the grass seed has popped and then slightly increase cutting height by a half inch and keep it there until the new grass has all come in. Once it's all an inch high or more, can reduce the watering to first 1x/day for a few days, then every other day, then back to usual schedule.

4. What seed to buy? Well buy the good stuff, which means good quality seed suited to your site conditions. Don't get the cheapest seed on clearance at Walmart, the grass won't perform as well and it'll have weeds in it. Don't get sunny mix for your shady yard. Even good seed isn't that expensive.

Weed control

1. In most of Canada (Ontario East), most good chemical weed control options have been banned (despite weak evidence for it, but I digress). You can get it from the West or from the US, but use knowing that although quite rarely enforced it is illegal to use most of the 'good stuff'.

2. Options that exist legally Canada-wide include a pea hormone based spray by wilson (which is a sluggish version of 'the good stuff'), or iron-based sprays that will knock back mature broadleaf weeds and might kill baby broadleaf weeds but don't pack to-the-root killing power, requiring frequent reapplication.

3. If you want a 'kill all plants' chemical, use glyphosate. The other options don't kill to the root well. The concentrate is cheaper and you can adjust strength. Wear clothes and don't bathe in it and you'll be fine, it works great. Takes ~2 weeks to really kick in, but those plants will die if you get it all over their leaves.

4. The 'good stuff' for weeds is 2-4D, or a blend of herbicides containing 2-4D like trimec, weed-b-gon, etc. It kills broadleaf plants but leaves grassy plants alone (unless they're seedlings, don't spray on new grass or in the two weeks before planting). Read directions.

Bug control

1. There are many bugs that eat grass. First is grubs, white gross things that turn into beetles. Webworms are caterpillars that turn into moths. Chinch bugs are little crawling bugs that eat grass juice. Ants can mess with grass too. You can kill them on contact with a spray of water mixed with a tiny dash of surfactant (like a tiny squirt of jet-dri) or a squirt of dish soap. If you have access to US 'good stuff', then you can use grub preventer (use in early July) or 24-hour grub killer (use in late spring). If you only have access to nematodes, then buy fresh ones end of June or early July, store in fridge, wait until evening when sun is setting, water grass, spray nematodes then water grass heavily again and keep grass wet for three days. Or apply them in the rain then keep it wet. They kinda work on new grubs, don't at all on mature ones.

Common issues

1. My grass won’t grow in the shade!

Well, grass all needs at least ‘part sun’, or a few hours of direct sun a day. Some grass needs 7h+, some can handle as little as 5 and be fine, but it needs at least some sun. Grass is not a deep shade plant. So buy the most shade tolerant grass you can, baby it in every other way, and cut it hog so it has long blades to catch any light it can. If it is under trees then prune the trees to let some light hit the ground, and your grass might been more water and nutrients at margin as it is fighting with tree roots. If you really can’t get light though, just do something else.

2. My grass is dying in patches!

Well, first give it a tug. If it comes up like a carpet with no roots, you have root-eating insects and must address. If the blades are discoloured (slimy, dusty red, blackened, yellow) then you might have fungus - reduce watering frequency, avoid fertilizers and pray (unless you have a US fungicide, in which case use it ASAP). Fungus isn’t as bad here as in the US southeast with long hot wet seasons but it happens. Also, you may not be watering the whole lawn - check coverage.

3. My grass has brown tips!

Sharpen your mower blade, it’s dull and tearing the blades. You should sharpen every year or every 20 hours of use, whichever comes first.

4. It’s summertime, should I seed?

No. It’ll die.

5. I won’t water regularly, should I seed?

No, it’ll die, though you could try dormant seeding and get lucky.

Good luck and keep on learning and having fun! Ask questions here, share stories, post pictures, participate and when you've developed some expertise please give back to the community and keep the cycle going.