First and foremost,

This forum is filled with an incredible amount of information and thank you to all who participate. Now onto the discussion:

1. Where you live? - Philadelphia Suburb

2. What type of grass you have? - Not sure

3. What products you have applied to your lawn, and how much? These include fertilizer, herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, etc. - None, see info after questionnaire

4. How often and how long you irrigate? - Haven't, see info after questionnaire

5. Is the lawn established, or have you recently seeded/re-seeded or added sod? If so, when? - I believe established

6. At what height you mow and how often? - First mow of the season yesterday, prob a bit too short

7. Results of soil test if applicable. - n/a

Specifically describe the problem being as descriptive as possible

8. Entire lawn is affected or a specific area(s)? - Entire lawn, see info after questionnaire

9. If it is a specific area, what is different about this area? This can include: Shade, standing water, insects/pests, weeds, moss, rocks, heavy traffic, etc. Also, if the problem area is ring-shaped or spreading in any way.

10. If your problem is with weeds, what type of weeds?

11. How long you have noticed this problem and it is recurring? - see info after questionnaire

Solution:

12. Do you have a preference towards a synthetic or organic solution? - no preference as long as its safe for dogs

13. Past efforts to remedy the problem. - N/A, thats why im here!

14. Are any solutions not feasible? (hand pulling weeds for 2+ acres, daily watering, etc.) - hand pulling weeds at first is probably not feasible due to the amount, once under control then yes

Here's the story ladies and gents:

This is our first house and our first spring here. Basically the former owners let everything yard related go to crap for past few years including the lawn, bushes, and trees. We're in the process of having the bushes and trees cleaned up, but I want to have a nice lawn.

I realize this probably won't be fully realized for a bit, but I want to get started on the right path.

The property is 3/4 acre. There is a significant amount of weeds. Like most people, I want to have a lush green lawn, particularly in the front.

I believe seeding is probably required, but I'm lost on where to start, what seed/ferts to buy, and where to go from there to get the lawn back on track.

Advice on what to get, how to apply, when to water, and follow through would be greatly appreciated! :)

Attached are pictures of the front lawn and essentially is a snap shot of the entire lawn condition.

Looks like you need fertilizer. Organic fertilizers are always safe for dogs. In fact mine likes to lick the stuff I use. Tasty! Chemical fertilizers are usually safe for dogs if you keep the dog off until the morning after you apply and water it in. Before that the fertilizer is in a solution that can get on their feet.

For more information on organic lawn care, go to the Organic Gardening forum, find the FAQ, and go to the last one on Organic Lawn Care. Read that and come back here for an update.

You can really speed up the repair of this lawn with organics beyond what you could do with chemicals. Why? Because you cannot apply chemical ferts in the heat of summer without overstressing the grass. Organics can be applied any day, or every day, of the year. And they can be over applied with increasingly excellent performance. More happens to be better with organic fertilizer.

Over seeding should be done in the fall. Wait until August to evaluate it to see if you want or need to. You have plenty of grass to get you through the summer.

Raise you mower all the way. There are many reasons for this.

Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means about an inch (cat food cans are about an inch). Infrequently means monthly in the cool months and gradually moving to once every 7 days in the heat of summer.

I browsed over the faq and its a good starting point. It seems as tho there are several choices for organic ferts. Can you suggest which ones you think are best and recommend a schedule for me to follow?

Along that note, any recommendations for spreaders? I don't have one and would need to pick one up. Also, since i have 3/4 acre, what do you think is the best method to water that much lawn?

Can you tell what type of grass I have?

Thanks in advance!