r/lawncare_canada

I am zone 5b. I do not have very many weeds, so I am just going to do some spot spraying. Planning on using a combo of 2,4..triclopyr and quincloric since I have some Crab grass, some clover and some various broadleaf. I also have some sedge that probably will have to deal with separately with Sedgeender. Good combo or overkill?

What type or grass seed should I use in Ontario? Looking for the darkest grass and easy to maintain.

I’m planning on fertilizing 1st week of September with Scott’s green max and around October 25th with Scott’s Fall fertilizer. Is this a good timeframe? I usually only did one fall application around October 1st but trying to get healthier better grass to grow. I also plan on using fiesta in September. Located close to Toronto.

Just looking for any advice or tips for fertilizing and spray with fiesta.

I spent quite a bit of money to buy some premium grass seeds and I want to give myself the best chance to successfully overseed my Vancouver, BC lawn in September.

Is there such a thing as premium soil and if so, what is the best brand to buy?

Thank you

I live in southwest Ontario and got a new property that has lots of bindweed, creeping Charlie, and clover.
I want to seed new grass, would it be better to use glyphosate or cut low and rototill / dethatch and level new soil?
I’m open to any suggestions.

This year I paid someone to do some lawn work, mainly to see what they did and when. The schedule includes fertilizing 4 times. Knowing that you have to be careful what to fertilize and when, I can only assume they are using a different fertilizer for each time of the year. I live in Ontario, Canada, so we have cold winters.

So here is what I came across online, and I don't know if it makes sense:

Early Spring / Starter Lawn Fertilizer | 16-32-6?

Early Summer / Lawn Fertilizer | 35-0-5?

Late Summer / Lawn Fertilizer | 24-4-10?

Fall / Lawn Fertilizer | 8-15-30?

Does that look like a good plan?

And where can you buy quality fertilizer for each season of the year? When you buy 'common grade' grass seed from a box store, it's not a good quality seed, so not sure if the same applies to fertilizer.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, I had to take some time off from lawn maintenance due to recovering from surgery in late spring/ early summer (so I skipped the Cormeal application), and now the lower part of my lawn has a solid infestation of crabgrass (highlighted in the first photo). Worth noting it was roughly the same amount of crabgrass as last year).

When I did my lawn renovation last year right before Labour Day, I was successfully able to outcompete and dominate the crabgrass, keeping it at bay (as shown in the second photo from end of the season).

I am trying to figure out the best approach moving forward:

Option 1: Glyphosate and nuke the affected area now but also kill the surrounding grass (not ideal). I originally thought about painting each individual leaf to selectively kill the crabgrass and leave the good grass behind, but I’m thinking that is turning into way too big of a tedious project.

Option 2: Stick to the same pre-Labour Day fall overseed/ Reno routine that worked so well for me last year to crowd it out, followed by using corn gluten meal next spring.

What do you think is a better approach here?

Hi! I'm on Vancouver Island, Canada, which is zone 7B. It's South of the 49th parallel so temperatures are more akin to Seattle than to other parts of Canada.

I have removed a large hedge and a great deal of my lawn right now is dead/dormant due to irrigation restrictions meaning I can only water the lawn with sprinklers once a week for two hours total.

With the hedge removed I put in a bunch of new lawn soil in its place, but the issue is:

a) watering restrictions end Oct 31st. October gets a massive amount of rainfall here(100-150mm, or about 6"), and September gets hardly any more than August (about an inch)

b) First frost is Nov 10th (on average). By mid November, soil temps will be 10C or less.

So, I need to somehow get the lawn growing faster than it ordinarily would, as Google tells me I need 3-4 months of growing temperatures with adequate water to survive the winter, and this does not math. (You can get a 'new lawn' permit but they have to be issued before water restrictions take place)

Spring was a bust, as the hedge was removed in April but I barely was able to grow any grass before the June 1st watering restrictions went in.

Other than sod, which is expensive and sometimes just dies for no reason, what is my best option to get the lawn ready?

(Spring time faces similar challenges, with a last frost date in early May, so less than a month to grow a lawn).

Secondly, any recommendations on grass that would be easiest to grow? I had success over seeding with the Scotts stuff that's a mix of red/creeping fescue last year, but that's even more dead than the rest of the lawn now, so it grew fast and then gave up. I had a fascination with getting sheep fescue because it requires almost no water but that might be a dumb idea.

The main challenge is keeping this new lawn moist long enough to establish I think.