We are first time home owner and never done any lawn care/ gardening before. We moved in this house in the middle of July and the backyard (western faced) are full of crab of grass, just some north and east side of the house has some grass growing wherever there is some shade. But now almost all are crab grass everywhere and some bald spot at the hottest spot. The whole lot is less than 1/3 acre. And by reading this forum I found out that we should not waiting for spring to re-install/re-seed the lawn, sounds like right now is the right time (We are in RI zone 6B). Should we do a reinstall/or reseed is enough. The grass is brown/yellowish but the root is still there, and I always mowed too short (one of the errors I realized after read this forum)

What should we do to get a decent lawn? What are the steps start from here?

Here are some pictures of our lawn:

Thanks a lot
Greendale

I did not know what the steps (tools) for aerate and reseed. Where should I get the seed for reseed. Do I need to do Hydroseed? Also, from the picture, do you think I better just go with round up as there are little grass left to save? Do I need to have professional to do the round up for me. How poison is it, do I need to wear special protection cloth if I do by myself? We have a 4 years old and is there any side effect of round up we need to consider? Sorry for all the questions, I am very new to this.

Again, thanks
Greendale

Hydroseeding is for special circumstances where you cannot get conventional tools. Generally if your area is best accessed by mountain goat, then enlist a hydroseeder.

Crabgrass will be dying out for the year really soon. I would treat it like its already dead and ignore it.

If you have full sun, then you have two great choices for grass.

Fescue
Stays green all year although it is not actively growing in the winter.
Tolerates medium mowing but can be mowed very high or left unmowed during extreme heat.
Spreads only very slowly. Each individual seed gives you one plant in one location. Best way to a dense fescue lawn is proper seed coverage.
Tolerates more shade than other cool season grasses.
Fertilize 3x per year.
Seed sprouts in 2 weeks.

Kentucky bluegrass
Normally goes into dormancy in the winter and becomes brown.
Mow at medium height for best appearance.
Spreads to fill in bare spots and form a carpet of grass.
Will not grow in the shade.
Fertilize 3x per year minimum.
Seed sprouts in 3 weeks.

Many people will use a mix of these two grasses to get the best coverage and winter green effect. Then if disease hits one species, the other will usually/hopefully maintain some color and life while you are fixing the other one.

For you I would suggest skipping the Roundup unless you have weeds other than crabgrass. Get a slit seeder and run it with no seeds for two passes (criss cross). Adjust it to just touch the soil surface. That will slice up all the existing grass and turn it into chaff. Blow or rake all that away into your compost pile. Then run it with your seed. Finally roll down the seed and start with frequent watering to sprout the new seed. This time of year the crabgrass seed should not sprout. That's one reason to seed now. Water 3x per day just enough to moisten the seed at the surface. After 3 weeks (assuming fescue) or 4 weeks (with KBG), start to back off on the watering frequency and move up on the duration. Eventually you should be watering once a month in the cool season and applying an inch (unless you get an inch of rain). As the temps increase in the late spring, you'll be watering more frequently. You'll go to every 3 weeks, then 2 weeks, then 10 days, and 7 days. In RI that should be the very most you water. You might not ever need to get to 7 days.

If you want to have a really nice lawn, get a soil test from Logan Labs in Ohio. I'm sure you want advice on how to get your soil test results read for free. You can copy and paste the following terms, "logan labs andy morpheuspa micros" into Google. The first 50 or so results are all from the place you want to go.

I have been on an organic lawn care program since 2002. I highly recommend you do at least one application of organic fertilizer per year. You can do it as one of your regular apps or you can do it as an extra. I've been hanging out here for all that time and have seen the results you get when going from no organics to just once. It is shocking. Most of the really helpful lawn gurus on the Internet are either on organic programs, or 90% organic, or they have at least given it a good try. They are most helpful because they have been on both sides of that fence and have learned the differences and benefits. This forum used to be so full of arguments about organics that GW started a separate organic lawn care forum. Times have changed now and I have not seen an argument in years (yay!).

Where to get good seed? I've seen really great lawns made from contractor grade seed. Yes it is nice to start out with pure, weed free, seed from the best varieties, but you don't really have to. If you want the lawn of the year, then spend the extra money...and be sure to get the soil test...and go organic. Think about what kind of grass you want, do more reading, and ask more questions.

Soil tests are done by many STATE funded colleges and by private laboratories that can be found in phone directories.
Brown University does soil tests and possibly other colleges and extension services in your local area.

Crabgrass is an annual and grows best in the heat of mid summe.It overwinters as seed. It comes up about mid May or a little later. It is killed by fall frosts...and it is not shade tolerant--grows best in full sun.
Your best defense against it is a healthy turf--grow the best lawn you can, and crabgrass and weeds can be greatly avoided.
Proper fertilization and watering will help insure an adequate supply of plant nutrients for vigorous grass growth.
One of the easiest and best methods to avoid problems is by raising the height of your lawn mower. A good looking lawn has grass growing at the 2 1/2" to 3" height for best northern cool season grass types such as Kentucky Blue combined with perennial ryegrass and fescue.

A pre-emergent can be put down to destroy the crabgrass seeds as they germinate. This though, can kill other grass seeds, so the time of application is important.
Generally this should be done from late April to early May.
This can be best checked by calling your local "extension" service of your state funded college or university.

Without going into a lot of work needlessly, use a fan rake and vigorously rake the ground first in one direction, then a second time in the other direction to remove the dead grass and loosen up the soil for water and grass seed which is best applied at this time.
As long as the soil temperature is above 45º to 50ºF then grass seed can be applied and expected to germinate.
Below that, the seed will sit until optimum time which might be next spring.
Don't be confused by air temperature...a few nice summery days does not speak for when seed should be put down...seed grows in soil---so the temperature of the soil is what's important.

Some people never have a soil test done --they rely on how the plants are growing in your area--in your neighborhood--in your garden. If they seem to be growing well, then one can assume the soil is healthy and may need only good gardening habits.

Yes, the crab grass is overwhelming in our yard, there might be some other weed but they are very minimum. So I think I do not need using round up and that's a good news.

I normally go to Home Depot or Lowe's to buy stuff for my house work, Can I get grass seeds from there instead of go to some lawn care company? I think most grass seeds they carried are Scotts brand, but I never checked to see what kind of grass seeds in the bag. I will do a check to see if they are KBG oand Fescue. Also, roughly how many bags I need to less than 1/3 acre?

So first step: Rent a slit seeder to run it from south to north and then from east to west for the whole yard. (I will go to see what exactly a slit seeder looks like).

2nd step: rake away all the crab grass.

3rd step: run the slit seeder with seeds in it. (criss cross again?)

4th step: water

repeat 4th step until there are grass sprout.

Yes, I will have my soil tested - but I can not wait for the result to start reseeding my lawn - since I will miss the perfect time. I think Univ of Massachusetts can do the soil test. My neighbor's lawn are all very decent so I believe it can be done.

Again, thank you

There is one exception that I am aware of. UMASS is the lab the lawn experts used to use until 2011. Something happened at UMASS that year and their reliability came into question. The tests are probably fine. Certainly they are much better than, say, TAMU. Still, you really only need a soil test in my opinion if you want a super lawn. 99% of everyone get by with no soil test.

You can get seed at HD or Lowes. Again, what your lawn looks like later depends on your watering, mowing, and fertilizing. Secondary to all that is the way you manage weeds. If you water and mow right, you should not have much of a weed problem. Follow the directions for seed spread (pounds per 1,000 square feet). If you go two directions, which is not a bad idea, then split the amount in half for each run.

Also the grass seeds they carry are scott's northeast - Could not find if KBG and Fescue, but they say it is a mix (of what kind grass?). But everybody uses it - So I think it should work?

Again, Thanks
Greendale

Maybe not now but I will definitely get a soil test from Logan Labs in the future - since we also want to do some gardening - flowers /fruit trees and vegi. A soil test is necessary.