Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker here but I am in a situation where I need the expertise of the people in this forum.

A little background -

Bought a house that was dormant for over a year. It has fescue grass but was over run by weeds and such when we bought it in the winter. Through some heavy thatching and reseeding in the spring I was able to bring the lawn back to its former self. The 1.5 acre lawn is completely irrigated and I water it every day (only later learned that I need to do it every other day) For a month or so in June it was perfect. But then all of a sudden once it got hot in July it was immediately overrun by grabgrass. I admit that I did not put any crabgrass treatment down until it was a little too late. Even then I just used scotts turf builder and weed control. I feel like it only made the problem worse. Not to mention the weeds are so much more dense than the grass and made bagging the clippings nearly impossible, so I probably made it even worse by mowing it so much.

So here is where I need your help -

1. Please identify this type of crabgrass for me.

2. With it being almost the end of August, and being in Massachusetts, what are my options for killing this week? Should I just wait for the first frost?

3. Since it has taken over so much of the lawn (80%). I expect to have huge bare spots after the weed dies. What is the best plan of action for that? I plan on de-thatching again, and aerating the lawn, when should I do that?

4. Once the weeds are dead and the lawn is aerated, when is the best time to over seed and do I maintain a watering schedule at that point?

5. Also I plan on hiring a lawn service to apply treatments to the lawn next year as I cannot keep up with it. Any recommendations on what kind of service to get or what questions to ask?

Any other information would be greatly appreciated and let me know if you need any clarification on anything.

Thanks

Brian