Scotts Crabgrass & Grassy Weed Preventer, 5,000 sq. ft

Lawn care is very easy. All you have to do are follow the plan, Adjust it as necessary for YOU (and your area) and you will have great results!.

Early spring,right after the snow melts is when to apply this. I am in Chicago and the usual time is before April first. If you’re like me and have Perennials you know that they start to grow back in late April. Your goal is to get this down BEFORE stuff starts to grow. The biggest mistake is to wait once it’s warm and things are sprouting up, That is just an indicator that you procrastinated too long and this product will not be as effective as it should (apply after the snow melts and the ground starts to thaw BUT before the ground gets soggy).

So here is my simple great lawn tips.

Late March, Early April
1. First 55-60 degree day. Clean up your plant beds. Cut off all of last seasons dead stuff from Hostas and other Perennials including Decorative Grasses etc..
2. Rake up all the leaves and debris. If your Garbage company offers Lawn Waste containers (I have Waste Management), order one. I pay $3 a month for a large 96 gallon wheeled container which they empty every trash day. (it’s cheaper and easier than using lawn waste bags).
3. Put down your crabgrass preventer. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS! If it says put it down when grass is wet DO SO! Don’t just throw your products down without reading the directions.
4. Put down some Preen in your flower beds, follow the directions on the package.
5. Put down your Ant protection if you need it. I use Ortho 0196010 Home Defense Max MONTHLY if needed.

In mid-May.
6. Fertilize your trees, shrubs and perennials. I use a chicken waste product available at Home Centers runs around $8 a bag
7. Follow up with STEP 2 which is usually a Weed & Feed product.
8. Continue to clean up your plant beds
9. Move plants that have outgrown their spot.
10. Apply fresh mulch. or try a product like EnviroColor Cocoa Brown colorant to restore your mulch. (it works pretty well).
11. As your Weather permits get your garden planted.

June
12 Use a grass food to feed your lawn. I am not too picky about this step. I just buy whatever is on sale.
13. REPEAT step 5
14. If you have dogs apply some Adams Flea and tick yard spray to the lawn. Buy it locally as their sprayers really really stink.

July
14. Grass most likely will be ok might need summer guard type product.
15. This is BIG. If your grass does not bounce back when you step on it. It’s DRY, water it or at minimum stop stepping on it! (and that means stop running over it with the lawn mower!) Nothing drives me nuts more than seeing landscape companies running around stomping grass that is not growing!

October
16. De-thatch your lawn. Many people do this in the spring, I prefer to do this in the fall as “mulch” season for me always seems to take longer and longer (the older I get)
17. IF you have crabgrass issues repeat step 3 now.
otherwise do your winterizer fertilizer.

Lastly

It’s necessary to overseed your lawn (at minimum) every 5 years (or sooner) If what you are doing is not working maybe it’s time to buy 30 lbs of grass seed and spread it. Follow the directions and do NOT put grass seed down if the fertilizer you are using at the time says it will not work with fresh grass seed.

Lastly and this might be the most important tip. RAISE YOUR MOWER DECK! Cutting grass to short weakens grass, it allows water to evaporate much faster and makes it easy for weeds to invade your lawn. As the temps go up the grass should be left longer so that it doesn’t dry up and turn brown.

Second lastly :] sharpen your mower blade! A dull blade rips grass, A sharp blade cuts it. Ripped grass is left damaged and can lead to other issues that you honestly don’t want to deal with (disease).

Hope that helps!

Post a msg if you have any question. I usually answer them within 24 hours.

Avoid it, does nothing to the crab grass or weeds.
Followed the instructions to last details. I did see a few weeds go brown. May be 2% of the crab grass or weeds. This made the weeds flourish. Tiny bag, not worth the money.

Prevents crab grass and other leafy weed development for an entire season. Does not appear to kill full sized crab grass plants. Still useful, but will require hand removal of already grown crab grass plants and will keep new growth from developing!

I’m not the best at managing a lawn, but know the basics. This does the job when used on a properly installed lawn. The only time it didn’t work was when I found out the place I was renting had the yard installed on top of road base. The landscaper who installed the landscaping didn’t do it properly, per the original owner of the property at the time, and the yard had a lot of crabgrass no matter what I did. Otherwise, it’s worked great for me over the years and most people I know use Scott’s lawn fertilizer products.