Crab Grass is taking over! Part 1

Gardening is another of my hobbies - another way to ease the stress of being "in the middle" of life.

Bill and I decided a few years ago to care for our own lawn. We both enjoy gardening and the exercise and stress relief we experience from weekly mowing and lawn care. I have spent countless hours planting, weeding and clearing spaces to make room for more outdoor space.

We have several invasive species of plants in our area and this year, we have an abundance of Crab Grass. As the song goes..."if it weren't for Crab Grass, we'd have no lawn at all."

It all began a few years ago when our aging dog could no longer use the stairs of our deck in order to "do his business" in the backyard, instead using the front door onto our front yard. A large portion of our front yard began to die due to the toxins and so each spring we spread grass seed to replenesh what lawn we had left. Because of this, we could not put down preemergence and fertilizer for fear the grass seed would not germinate. In researching for this post, I've found the key to crabgrass control is to apply preemergence - hence, we missed the boat and the circle began.

Our beloved Monty.

Our faithful friend died in May and, never really caring about anything but his comfort to that point, we finally began to notice the condition of our lawn. We spread Scott's Turfbuilder summer formula after his passing, but it was too late. Those thousands of crab grass seeds lying in wait since last year had already germinated and were ready to take over as soon as the temperature heated up.

And heat up it did...while on vacation in early July the northeast experienced record breaking temperatures shooting over 100 degrees! When we returned, our real grass was brown and our crab grass was HUGE!

Hence the war began and although I battle the pesky weed each day by hand pulling it from flower beds and walkways, we've given up trying to rid our lawn...until next spring.

Since I am a strong believer in education...I'm sharing my research with you, just in case you are thinking of waging your own CRAB GRASS war. The good news - there is hope. The bad news - it's pretty much too late in the season to do anything about it this year :(

Kelli In The Middle of:

Lush green lawn - vs - Crab Grass infested lawn 

Tune in tomorrow...