I am in Allentown, PA, and as the weather is getting warmer, I am getting outside more, and I realized that over the last few years I have been loosing the fight with my lawn.

I have a bunch of weeds, I have thin areas, I have moss, I have cracked dirt (see pictures). I am really thinking of doing something drastic� resodding etc� but I want to give it another go of doing this my self before I call in (and pay for) the calvery.

I last checked my soil chemistry 2 years ago, I probably did only did fertilizer one last year, so I did the lime (which was suggested 2 years ago, and the crabgrass fertilizer (40-0-8) already ...yes, lime last weekend, waited for rain, fertilizer this weekend.

So my 3 big questions are
1) What is that blue flower that is in multiple places in my yard, and how do I get rid of it?
2) What is the best way to put grass in that area that has the cracked soil (that is where the snow drifts from the street cleaning end up, but we did not have much snow this year)
3) What should I do with the area close to the street, there always seems to be lots of weeds there and thin (if any grass).

Pictures are in link

Thanks in Advance

N2L

Henbit is a mint and it has square-shaped stems, although I can't really tell that the stems are square when I look at them, just like it's hard for me to tell that sedges have triangluar stems, and I have good eyesight I think.

Henbit will die as the temperature climbs. Before it dies and after the flowers show up, it will release seeds to try and grow back next year.

This weed is easy to pull out of the ground. Not sure but I think the seeds might be found in small structures called nutlets that the plant produces. The nutlets are spherical things that are usually about 2 or 3 millimeters long. Sometimes I see them close to the ground.

Henbit is prolific. Lots and lots of henbit. But on the positive side, it is easy to hand pull.

An interesting quote I found is "The fertilized ovules produce seeds that are the next generation."

So ovules are a part of a flower's ovaries.

Some plants like some dandelions have flowers that include both the female and male parts (the stigma and stamen). So they self-fertilize. Neat trick I suppose but probably not as fun--though fewer headaches I would guess [chuckle] ;-)

One reason your grass near the street is doing poorly is the heat from the street dries out the soil nearby. It needs extra water near the street. A second reason is you are mowing at your mower's lowest setting instead of at the highest setting. Most grasses will do much better when mowed very high. Exceptions to that rule are bentgrass, centipede, and bermuda. A near exception is Kentucky bluegrass which seems to do better one notch lower than the highest setting.