Lawn help

[Scott]

I have a small, fenced, townhouse backyard. The yard is in horrible shape, although it is very green. I have lots of weeds, crabgrass, and a few bare spots. The yard is fairly shady and has good drainage.

It is now early December (Northern Virginia).

I do not want a perfect yard but would like to do what I can to improve the current situation.

What are the best, fairly low maintenance, routines for clearing up a weed infested yard. I'm guessing it has never been fertilized and I do know there is a grub problem.

Thanks

[Phisherman]

What is done to a lawn in fall will benefit throughout the year. Now that has passed, it is not too late to apply a winterizer fertilizer.

[David J Bockman]

Hi Scott,

I'm in Fairfax. Definitely put down a nice winter feed like Espoma's Turf Tone.

If a significant snowfall is predicted, you can overseed your lawn. The snow will insulate the grass seed and the freeze/thaw cycles will help drive the seed into the earth.

Dave

[shw104]

Thanks for the advice..

Does anyone know of any good online stores for ordering yard/garden supplies?

What is the best way to spread fertiziler and weed killer in a small yard. It seems foolish and difficult to use a large wheeled spreader. Thanks

[Phisherman]

There are small spreaders you can buy. There's the hand-held ones too. The problem is that buying a not-so-popular spreader is you won't be able to use the recommended settings on the bag. A 1 gallon capacity garden sprayer does a good job for spot-treating weeds.