Lawn help for beginner

Dublinguy2018

Hi guys, I bought a house last year and it's my first time having a lawn so I'm trying to figure it out.
The builders seeded it but did a bad job and the soil had lots of debris left behind ( beer cans, wine bottles etc). I removed what I could and overseeded last April. The lawn seemed to come in pretty well and I spent a lot of time weeding by hand. The lawn was always fairly thin but I thought it would thicken out over time. The main work I did last summer was basic watering, weeding by hand and adding bits of soil. I did add a feed that was supposed to kill weeds but it didn't seem to do anything.

I didnt do much over winter and now large parts of the lawn are yellow, there's a lot of weeds and the lawn is still very thin.

I've dug out a lot of weeds, put soil in their place, aerated the soil, overseeded the whole lawn and put chicken manure pellets down (all about 2 weeks ago), the yellowing is improving a bit I think. Some parts of my lawn are short and yellow and like hay whereas other parts are lush and green, I don't understand why.

There are too many weeds to do by hand, I understand I can buy a post emergence weedkiller but how do I make sure my lawn isn't damaged? And do they work?

I'm going to try to attach some photos of the lawn and the weeds .

Can anyone tell me what to do make the lawn lush and thick?

Also can anyone identify the type of weeds? And how to get rid of them?

I also seem to have a lot of what I believe is crabgrass ( I could be mistaken) , how do I get rid of this?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

Dublinguy2018

Dublinguy2018 wrote: »

Hi guys, I bought a house last year and it's my first time having a lawn so I'm trying to figure it out.
The builders seeded it but did a bad job and the soil had lots of debris left behind ( beer cans, wine bottles etc). I removed what I could and overseeded last April. The lawn seemed to come in pretty well and I spent a lot of time weeding by hand. The lawn was always fairly thin but I thought it would thicken out over time. The main work I did last summer was basic watering, weeding by hand and adding bits of soil. I did add a feed that was supposed to kill weeds but it didn't seem to do anything.

I didnt do much over winter and now large parts of the lawn are yellow, there's a lot of weeds and the lawn is still very thin.

I've dug out a lot of weeds, put soil in their place, aerated the soil, overseeded the whole lawn and put chicken manure pellets down (all about 2 weeks ago), the yellowing is improving a bit I think. Some parts of my lawn are short and yellow and like hay whereas other parts are lush and green, I don't understand why.

There are too many weeds to do by hand, I understand I can buy a post emergence weedkiller but how do I make sure my lawn isn't damaged? And do they work?

I'm going to try to attach some photos of the lawn and the weeds .

Can anyone tell me what to do make the lawn lush and thick?

Also can anyone identify the type of weeds? And how to get rid of them?

I also seem to have a lot of what I believe is crabgrass ( I could be mistaken) , how do I get rid of this?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

Trying to attach pictures now

Dublinguy2018

Dublinguy2018 wrote: »

Hi guys, I bought a house last year and it's my first time having a lawn so I'm trying to figure it out.
The builders seeded it but did a bad job and the soil had lots of debris left behind ( beer cans, wine bottles etc). I removed what I could and overseeded last April. The lawn seemed to come in pretty well and I spent a lot of time weeding by hand. The lawn was always fairly thin but I thought it would thicken out over time. The main work I did last summer was basic watering, weeding by hand and adding bits of soil. I did add a feed that was supposed to kill weeds but it didn't seem to do anything.

I didnt do much over winter and now large parts of the lawn are yellow, there's a lot of weeds and the lawn is still very thin.

I've dug out a lot of weeds, put soil in their place, aerated the soil, overseeded the whole lawn and put chicken manure pellets down (all about 2 weeks ago), the yellowing is improving a bit I think. Some parts of my lawn are short and yellow and like hay whereas other parts are lush and green, I don't understand why.

There are too many weeds to do by hand, I understand I can buy a post emergence weedkiller but how do I make sure my lawn isn't damaged? And do they work?

I'm going to try to attach some photos of the lawn and the weeds .

Can anyone tell me what to do make the lawn lush and thick?

Also can anyone identify the type of weeds? And how to get rid of them?

I also seem to have a lot of what I believe is crabgrass ( I could be mistaken) , how do I get rid of this?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

Trying to attach pictures now

Dublinguy2018

Dublinguy2018 wrote: »

Trying to attach pictures now

More pictures

fixXxer

You need to walk on it when the grass is growing. I was in a similar situation to you, moved in and reclaimed a lawn from waste ground. The bit by the car where people get out and step on it frequently is great, the bit by the hedge that people dont really ever walk on is still thin years later.

looksee

For a new lawn its really not all that bad. How much clearing out did you do when you were finding beer cans and bottles? Its more than likely that there is other rubbish down there and the soil has been turned over so sub-soil is on top. Keep mowing and feeding as appropriate. Some of the weeds you may have to dig out with a trowel, the plantain for example (long ribbed leaves in a circle). You also have clover. I would be inclined to ignore the clover, its green and offers a bit of diversity for insects, but if you want a perfect grass-only lawn you will have to treat it with the selective weedkiller.

I think in general you are worrying too soon, try and not let dogs/kids hack it up too much this year and I think you will find it improves.

With respect, FixXxer's thin lawn near the hedge is probably more to do with shade and competition from the hedge than failing to walk on it!

fixXxer

I wondered that too but the sun falls on it for most of the day so it shouldn't be light. But I'm very much an amateur with gardening.

Blowheads

Selective weedkiller and a good fertilizer.
If weeds are bad you might want to call in a professional

Hocus Focus

I never heard of walking on a new lawn to make it grow. IMHO it would have the opposite effect, well trodden pathe through grassy areas are bare of any vegetation. Fixxer's lush patch near the car parking spot may just be an area where there is more nutrient in the soil.

copacetic

It’s not too bad, but you need to either do a fair bit of hand weeding or selective ‘weed and feeds’ over time. Bets to buy a large bag of granules and a spreeder as it’s consistent application careful over time that you need. It does look like your main issue is poor soil though, I’d be looking to weed and feed, scarify, the. top dress now with a lot of organic material rather than soil and with more over seeding, then weed and feed once a month through the season and then scarify and top dress again in the autumn. You’ll need to hand pull any and all bug weeds as weed and feed isn’t for large rooted weeds. Maybe buy one of those long handled weed pullers.

Regie93

Hocus Focus wrote: »

I never heard of walking on a new lawn to make it grow. IMHO it would have the opposite effect, well trodden pathe through grassy areas are bare of any vegetation.

Actually, walking on a new lawn can have different meanings: in case you need to trim or water it - that's ok. But as for hard using (playing volleyball, running with kids etc.) - probably not.
Once you have mowed it 2 or 3 times you can do anything you want.