Anyone use Lawn Doctor?

[fitme40]

Our backyard is green-but unfortunately it's mostly weeds!! DH thinks he can get it to grow grass himself but I think it's beyond our scope of doability. Getting rid of the weeds, tilling the soil, what type of seed to put down,etc. I was on the Lawn Doctor website and they say they will come out and give a free evaluation of the lawn with no strings attached. I believe this but wonder how much the subsequent charges would be. Obviously, it depends on the amount of work it needs but I'd just like a ballpark idea. TIA

Laura

 

[marnold]

We have used Lawn Doctor, Chemlawn and a local service who perform similar services. BELIEVE ME they are worth the money for the weed and feed treatment. We pay a mere 35 bucks every two months during the spring, summer and fall and it is worth every dime. We are in Southern Utah. The grass looks fabulous and healthy without any weeds. We live in the country and we fought dandelions every year. I truly think that their liquid mixture spray is the key to its success. I do not use it in the backyard with the furry babies though because we have doggies who love to graze.
As for their other services...I have not used them. They offer tree spraying, plugging and thatching...we do all of these things ourselves. Do you have animals? If I didn't have furry babies, I would re-seed it yourselves. With dogs, reseeding can be a nightmare though and I would think that buying sod would be a better idea.
What the hey, have them come out for an estimate if it is free!
Good luck!

 

[Govtgirl]

Depending on how bad it is, you can do it yourself. And even if it's AWFUL, you can still do it yourself, you'll just go through a different process.

Our lawn used to be a mess, so we got a lawn service and it looked better, but not how I wanted, and sometimes I swear they scrimped on the weed-preventer so in spring it would be a mess and we almost had to start all over again.

So, I took the bull by the horns, and did it myself. I use the Scott's products and follow the yearly program, follow the basic rule of over-seeding in the fall, using a pre-emergent weed preventer in the spring. Unless your lawn is truly more than 50% weeds, you can totally over-haul it in 2 years. The only way to do it faster is to kill the existing lawn and put down sod.

I need to take pictures, because I swear our lawn now looks like an ad for Better Homes and Gardens, it is a thick plush, 99.9% weed-free green carpet! I love my lawn!!

Funny thing, I've now noticed the neighbors out in their lawns more, mowing more, the lady across the street added garden lights 2 weeks after I added mine, edged her lawn a week after I edged mine...I think I'm starting a trend!

 

[fitme40]

Unfortunately, it is really just about all weeds. I'm not sure there is any grass! I think the only way to really do it right would be to dig it all up and start from scratch. The thought scares me!

I want to walk barefoot on a lawn like yours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Govtgirl]

Two years ago, our lawn was about 50/50 weeds and grass, with a lot of bare spots. Even if you have a lot of weeds, at least they're green and if you keep the lawn mowed and edged it'll give the appearance from the street of being a real grass lawn while you're overhauling it. Lawns with weeds look the crappiest when they aren't mowed regularly, because the weeds grow taller than the grass, so if you keep it mowed it'll help a lot. Set the mower height to 3 inches. It's MUCH better to water the grass deeply, and less often, rather than a little bit all the time. When you water deeply, the grass roots establish themselves deeper, so they can better survive a drought. Watering a little bit, often, makes shallow weak roots.

Get a good book on lawns, and learn the basics of upkeep. Here's some advice: even though spring isn't the best time to overseed (fall is ideal), you can't go backwards, so you might as well start now!
- Get a sturdy rake, and manually de-thatch your lawn. You want to get that layer of yukky dead stuff out. If you can, compost it, it'll make great nutrients for your lawn! Unless you have a HUGE lawn, don't rent a motorized de-thatcher, they're very rough and can do more harm than good. If you can, pull the big major weeds, and if it leaves a bare spot you can spot patch it with Patchmaster.
- "Top-dress" your lawn with quality topsoil. You want to give the seed something to sink it's teeth into. Buy the kind with fertilizer already in it.
- Over-seed your lawn. Water it twice a day for 2 weeks (yes, really!), and watch the little springs of grass grow!
- Then, once that's getting established, apply something like Turfbuilder with Plus 2 weed control. That'll fertilize the grass, and start controlling the weeds.
- In the fall, overseed again (don't dethatch again!), and then in early spring apply a pre-emergent weed killer.

And no I swear I don't work for Scotts, it's just that 2 years ago my lawn was a total awful eyesore, and now it's gorgeous! They have a LOT of good info on their website!

Just a warning, killing the grass and starting all over doesn't always work. We tried that with a service, and you still have to do all the procedures to keep the lawn weed-free.

HTH!