Posted: 7/4/2004 5:42:04 AM EDT
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I rent a duplex, and between me not mowing it and the dog tearing it up, my backyard is now mostly weeds. Weeds that grow extremely fast and have little seeds that stick to the dog. Anyway, i want to get rid of the weeds at least, and having some kind of yard back would be nice. I don't want to spend much money because I am renting. The landlord had brand new sod in when I moved in though, and I don't want to get nailed for killing it when I move out. I also don't want to do anything that would endager the dog. She doesn't live out there, but she goes out twice a day unsupervised, and I don't want her eating some kind of poison and yacking it all over the house, or dying. I'd also like to not have to kill myself maintaining this lawn. It's not mine for one thing and I'm lazy for another. I've thought of wrangling up some Bahia sod from one of my subcontractors (I'm in construction), but I don't know if I really want to deal with that and/or if it would work just by dropping it over the weeds and watering the hell out of it. I do have an irrigation system in the yard, so at least watering (while expensive) won't be a major pain in the ass. Any thoughts? |
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How long do you plan to stay there? You can always spray gas on the lawn(which will kill it), lay plastic over the yard and then putr sand or rocks over that. Once you get ready to move than lay down new sod. Ivy is also a good choice for ground cover....but once it gets rooted it is hard to stop. Maybe look at other types of ground covering plants. Talk to you local nursery, a REAL one, and tell them about your situation so you don't get a poisonous plant. SGtar15 |
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Most lawn sprays/weed killers need a couple hours to dry after they've been sprayed and then it is safe for animals to go out there. I spray for weeds in my dog runs. Let it dry, let them at it. Do you want nicer grass? Not sure what you want.... It's easy enough to pick up inexpensive lawn products at Big Lots.... spray a weed and feed right now. Wait until fall and overseed with a fescue/rye mix. Then get off your butt and mow once a week.  |
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well, I don't really want to do the gasoline thing being that I live in Florida and the water table is very high. I guess I'll have to try some sort of weed killer. Is that going to kill whatever grass I have left as well, or does it somehow pick and choose the weeds? How much should I need for a 30x30 yard? Any idea on cost? |
| Roundup will kill just about any plant it touches, however it is safe to ingest in small amounts (not that you would want to) and will only cause a mild case of the squirts. It should be completely dry after 2-3 hours and safe to put you dog back soon there after. There are some weed killers that say they will only kill weeds and not grass but those are hit and miss at best. |
+1 Definetely works and then get some good grass seed as mentioned. I used this stuff last week and found out that most of my grass was weeds. |
How long will it take to kill off the weeds? |
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They make plenty of weedkillers that you just spray on the weeds... as long as your dog doesn't eat the weeds it shoudl be fine. Then just rent a rototiller to break up the dry dirt that is now your backyard, mix in some top soil, throw some new grass seed and fertilzer down, and water it to holy hell. That should get it growing back and fast. Or if you don't mind spending the money since you're lazy, just pay someone to come in, kill everything, except the dog, and put down sod or new grass. Don't they make a spray on lawn now... or is that fertilizer that looks like green spray foam? I planted some grass at the beginning of the summer in some dry dirt spots and most of the spots are nice and grassy now. It wasn't growing too well at first so I started watering it like four times a day and now it's fine. ETA
I think I have that on part of my front lawn.... is it really thick, and when you move it, step on it you can almost see a large patch around it move with it... like it's all woven together? Do they use it on golf courses? |
As I said, it's a duplex. This yard is really just the dog's bathroom, and there is a patio that I covered that serves as my workshop. Basically I'm just tired of picking the weeds off the dog every time she comes in from taking a shit, and would like for those weeds to go away. |
I know all of this. I was hoping that through the genius of modern technology someone had invented a weed & seed that you could spray on that had weed killer and grass seed all in one. Aparently there is no shortcut. |
So you want the peanut butter and jelly in one container? Lots of luck... I doubt they make anything that can distinguish between grass and weeds... but then, I'm no lawn engineer... try asking around in hometown forums like California, Texas, and Florida... they will likely have a lot of "lawn engineers" in their areas who know. 
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Technically that would be possible, but even herbicides that won't kill a particular plant at labeled application rates would probably kill seed in direct contact over time, so no, no "weed&seed" yet that I know of. OTOH, Miss_Magnum had it right earlier.....just buy some weed&feed, kill your weeds and fertilize the grass at the same time; chances are there's still more grass there than you realize. |
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Like they said use the weed and feed, it just has 2-4-D in it so it won't kill the grass. After that if its to thin, just lay down some fescue and you should be good to go. The sod is another idea if you have access to it, sod tends to be expensive in my area. I have a good stand of weeds growing right now, its about the only thing I can get to grow in the soil type on my property. Lots of work planned for this fall, I need some turf. |
  For a 30'x30' yard, just kill off the weeds with Roundup or Spectracide, then replant with cheap grass seed from Sam's Club. Rake it into the soil, and water heavily. When I planted my yard, I also spread straw over the grass seed to help keep in the moisture. Looked ugly until the grass grew up, but worked. The straw then decomposes pretty quickly. |
I was all set to go buy this stuff, but I suspect that the grass that I do have left is St. Augustine, and it says on their site you can't use it on St. Augustine. Shit. |
I was wondering if someone would throw that up there.... that's funny. |
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When we moved into the house we're in (we rent also) the back yard was done up in the "desolate wasteland" motif. And having a dirt back yard with an in-ground pool also just won't work, so I HAD to plant grass. I got a 4-5 of burlap potato bags from the local grocery store and a 20lb bag of deoderized manure and some grass seed. I tried most all of them and I found that the toughest (I live in a goddamn desert-grass HAS to be tough to survive) is perennial ryegrass. Rough up a patch of soil the size of 3 burlap bags, throw down a copious amount of ryegrass and cover with a 1/4" to 1/2" layer of manure. Stake the burlap bags down over the manure. Water regularly once a day. When the grass grows 1" to 1 1/2" through the burlap sacks, gently pull the bags up and repeat the process in the next area. You WILL tear up some grass but it'll be OK. This will allow plenty of room for the dog to roam and do thier business while you ramp up grass production. The ryegrass is ready to be cut when the seed pods show, and when you cut it you'll also spread the seed. If you don't want to use a herbicide to get rid of the weeds, you'll have to just pull 'em. Gloves and a cooler full of beer will facilitate this job. This is what I did to our back yard and it didn't cost much at all and the grass in my back yard rivals the BEST fairway on ANY golf course. And I have 3 dogs playing, shitting and pissing on it. Two of the dogs are females and their piss can be detrimental to grass. It doesn't seem to affect the ryegrass. |