Rental house with a nasty "yard" - Need advise.

[Dashunde]

So I've got this rental that has bare patchs, lots of random weeds, and a few large-area bare spots caused by wind-blown leaves.

My objective is to get this yard green and thick with minimal expenditure, but I dont really know what to do or what order to do it.

The house is in Nebraska and the current grass type is unknown, and the weeds are a clove looking type with round blades and its rather flat-lying, and there are several other weed varieties all over the place... this sad lawn is mostly weeds to be honest.
The yard is about 100' deep x 60' wide.

I know that it will need alot of over-seeding, thats a given, but I dont know what to do about the weeds or what fertilizer to use or not to use. I also dont know what to do about the (assumably) highly acidic dead-leaf bare areas.

Frankly, I'm at a loss as to where to start...

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Dashunde]

Comon guys... help me out here.
Should I kill the weeds first, then fert and seed?
Is there a particular product I should use?

[grassyfras]

Get it on a good fert program and take care of the weeds. This fall go in there and do your slice seeding aerating and water water water...


Where do you mow in St. Louis?

[grassyfras]

I just re-read your post and saw that the lawn is pretty small. Why not make a day of it and sod the thing with a buddy?

[Dashunde]

Thanks Grassyfras... I'll do that.

I work west county... Chesterfield, Ballwin, etc.

[topsites]

never weed and seed any closer than 30 days apart tyvm

[Dashunde]

Could I seed first to fill in the bare patches, then come back later with the weed killer?
I'd like to get grass growing asap because of some very large bare areas due to the leaf build-up along a concrete patio... theres a 4' x 20' long strip of dirt in that area.

I guess what I really need to know is how soon after seeding can I weed? How does freshly germinated grass interact with weed killer?

[garth1967]

is this a customers yard or a prop you rent out. if it is a customers yard i wouldnt bother too much.if you can get in contact with the actual owner sure.if it is your rental ,sure i would rip the place up and turf it.especially if it is all weed

[grassyfras]

I think most lables say a 2 week to a month to after seeding to be able to weed.


I cut in West County too. Maybe will see eachother around.

[turfcobob]

Dashunde: If the spots you need to do a quick repair are small and in a highly used or visiable place try this.

Go to a place in the lawwn like by a fence or out towards the back that has good grass growiing. Remove enough for the repair with a sod cutter and move it to the trouble spot. then move the dirt from the trouble spot to the place where you removed the grass and seed it.

I have done this a number of times to implement a quick repair. One time we moved hundreds of sq. feet of grass from the outfield fence line of a ball field to sod around the new bleachers and no one even knew we had gotten the grass from the outfield.

Works and is a quick fix.

Turfcobob

[Dashunde]

Thanks guys, good to hear your thoughts... funny though, the two of you are in my "backyards" - I need to clairify - I dont own the rental, I am renting it here in Lincoln while my wife is finishing her PhD at UNL. I'm not working West County STL this year, but will be right back at it next year when we return. (The move to LNK happend sort of spur-of-the-moment, forcing me to put things in STL on hold for '06)
In the meantime, this yard here is total crap and I gotta fix it!
To be honest, I'll probably just over-seed now and kill the weeds in a month or so.

I'm also looking for some new accts here and/or some sub work, I came with my Gravely 48" hydro and hand tools... I'm trying to steer clear of hardscape while I'm here. But on the other hand, my full time job here is with a rental company, so equipment is 1/2 price for me. Not sure what to do yet... but I would definitely make a sub/partner on some patio and/or wall projects.
I just dont want to put all of the effort forward it requires to build a client base since I'll only be here till around Feb '07... so some sub work would be great.