Lawn Dilemma

 Hi,
Due to construction projects on two consecutive years, my lawn is a
complete disaster.  Because I didn't want to start grass in the middle
of the summer, large portions of the lawn were left bare this year.
Of course these areas ended up infested with crab grass.  I put some
seed down in mid September which seems to be doing fine.  However,
there are several areas that need to be re-seeded.

Now for the dilemma part.  Next spring I plan on putting down corn
gluten as a pre emergence weed killer/fertilizer to take care of the
crab grass.  If I proceed with that strategy, I cannot reseed for a
couple of months which will leave me with poor grass coverage in many
areas.
My options as I understand them are:

1.  Seed again now - Boston area - and hope that we have enough time
for the seed to germinate before winter. If the seed doesn't germinate
will it be "close enough" next April for the corn gluten to have no
effect on the good grass seed?
2. Skip the corn gluten this year and reseed in the spring as planned.
3. Kill the crabgrass this spring and wait until next fall to reseed?

 I should also mention that I have young kids and I will not be
willing use anything that is not environmentally friendly. Any advice
will be apprciated.

Thanks,
Stu

 
understand them are:

4th option- mark the bare spots and dormant seed in the winter. If you use a
specialty pre-emergent like Tupersan it will not affect your grass seeds. Or
don't put pre-emergent on your marked spots and get a Weed Hound to hand
pull those areas.

I know you prefer the corn gluten (as do I) but sometimes getting decent
turf established anyway you can and *then* going organic is the fastest way
of getting where you want to go.
Also- lawns are a work in progress and regardless of how you handle spring
you may need to overseed certain areas each fall until you get a good stand
of grass established.
IMO.


--
Toni
Hills of Kentucky
USDA Zone 6b
http://www.cearbhaill.com

 
Thanks for the info. I agree on the overseeding basically each fall as
I build up the turf .  I am considering a derivation to what you are
suggesting.  There are many uneven spots in the lawn.  In the spring I
will do some, airating spot filling with loam to help fill the low
spots and settle the high spots.  If I use the corn gluten, can I
spread a thin layer of new topsoil in selected areas without worrying
about the barrier that gluten creates?

Thanks again,
Stu

 Craig said:

This is an old tip that I've never had the occasion to test directly (but I
will comment more after):

Drive a small spade down in one or two spots  around one of your
plants and cut a few roots.  This might shock the plant into ripening
the tomatoes.

OK, this year one of the new varieties I was trying was not ripening any
tomatoes, not even a hint of color, even after all the others were doing
so.  It was so full of green tomatoes that the stake was leaning over
threatening to crash into the fence. (I have electric wires at the top so
this would have been a Bad Thing.)   I drove in a couple of small stakes
to tie off the larger one and stop the leaning.  And shortly after that, a
whole bunch of tomatoes on that plant started turning red.

 Now, I would think this was entirely coincidental, except for having
remembered that old advice.  So I may have unintentionally confirmed it
works.  Or, maybe not.  I doubt it would hurt to try.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)
  
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

 wrote:


It could be too late to seed unless you think you've got 3 weeks of no
frost.  You could heavily seed the most crab-grass problem areas, and
protect with straw.  Next year apply the pre-emergence twice and
hand-pull any crabgrass, or at least prevent it from seeding.