r/lawncare_canada

Wondering if this is possible to save by just pulling out the weeds and watering consistently. Sod was put in 2 years ago so I am trying to refrain from putting sod again unless it is impossible

Ive probably layed a roll of sod in this one specific spot like 3 or 4 times now. Everytime it dies. Ive layed sod in various spots in the front and back with no issues. No idea what the hell is going on, any help would be great

i live in brampton canada, im situated in a house with easement and thus the slop and un even ground, i thought about levelling but i cannot due to easement. and with each year its becoming harder and harder to stop weeds and have lush grass. would appreciate help in what steps i can take to fix this. thank you

Hi Everyone!

I am both a fairly new homeowner, and new to this sub. My backyard seems to be starting to get taken over by the weeds in these photos. Last year there was really no issue and it was mostly just grass, nothing too crazy. However, we’re only in May and these two weeds (3 leaf clover ones) and (the larger green leaf ones) have started to completed take over the backyard.

I’ve started to pick the dandelions by hand, so I’m not super worried about that, but what would be the best method to tackle these other two weeds?

Thank you in advance for all the help! Seriously!

Lately i've seen a lot of posts asking how to restore their lawns.
I am located in Brantford Ontario so you know what the weather is like.

I had a lot of weeds. Literally more weeds than grass. Tons of dandelions. Absolutely hated going in my backyard.

Here's what I did.

Depending on the level of weeds you have you might want to go nuclear like I did or try to salvage.
If I tried to salvage it, it would've taken me atleast 3 years to get to what I achieved in 9 months.

Started the process in August 2025.

1. Rented a roto tiller from Homedepot and went to town.
2. Removed all the dead grass (raked) over the course of 3 weeks as they kept dying and wanted to remove as much organic material as possible.
3. Ordered 3 yards of top soil and 1.5 yards of clean sand. Mixed them together and leveled the lawn.
4. Did some landscape edging with the blocks.
5. Applied a good layer of Scott's sun shade mix grass seed. Almost 8kg. Raked the seeds into the soil lightly.
6. Watered twice a day for 2 weeks straight. By then it was end of September and temperature was cooling down with some rain here and there. By October it was perfect amount of rain and I didn't need to water it.
7. By end of October grass grew to about 2-3". Mowed it down to 1.5" and that was the last mow for the year.
   But before the first frost it grew back to 4" and I left it at that.
8. In April of this year I mowed it down to 2" and applied Scott's turf builder fertilizer and didn't do anything till first week of May.
9. To fix the patches you see in the photos I mixed 2 bags of top soil for 1 bag of sand, mixed in 7 handfuls of seed per batch (a batch was 2 topsoil 1 sand) and filled in the spots. There are baby grass currently. Will cut the lawn in 2 weeks when the seedlings are atleast 2" tall but I will make sure i won't cut so low so the 2" new grass won't get cut.

Before attempting to fix the patches I mowed the grass to 1.5" since I knew I can't cut until the seedlings emerge.

------------------

Front lawn was a different story. It had dandelions but not other weeds. So I took a different approach.

Started the process summer of 2025.

1. Bought fiesta off Amazon.
2. Applied that shit liberally twice a week for 2 months. 99.9% of the dandelions were gone.
3. Cut the grass down to 1.5" and rented a detatcher from Homedepot and took 4 passes to remove the dead grass. From roughly 800 sqft of grass I had almost 10 yard waste bags filled with thatch.
4. I applied a little bit of fertilizer and watered for a week. Let the soil breathe a bit.
5. Then I mixed 1 yards of top soil with 0.5 yards of fine sand. Mixed 4kg of seed with it and filled the spots. This was in September of 2025.
6. Watered everyday until it started raining consistently.
7. Cut the lawn again end of October.
8. March of this year I cut low once and applied fiesta.
9. Let the fiesta work for 2 weeks and then applied Scott's turf builder.
10. After letting the fertilizer do its thing for a week I overseeded again.
11. It rained for about 3-4 weeks straight so it was great for the grass but it grew really tall.
12. I cut down the grass to 5" beginning of May. Then 5-6 days later I cut it down to 4" and again 5-6 days later I cut it down to 3".
13. In may after the 2nd cut I applied fiesta again.
14. Today on Victoria Day I cut the grass again and applied fiesta.
    0 dandelions. Fuck em.

Hope this helps.
There's one pic of the front lawn.

New Home owner and curious how you guys would approach this. Just groomed up a ton of low lying branches and cleaned up the needles. What’s the best way to grow grass under a cedar?

I live in Vancouver and we have stage 2 water restrictions which means we can't water our lawn. This happen every summer and after years of this, my lawn looks bad: https://ibb.co/tpsfq2KV

If I start applying pre/post-emergents, overseeding, nematodes, etc, how do I deal with the water restrictions?

I had a lawn company drop a flyer at my home saying the morning due was enough water for the above applications but I'm not sure.

The soil under my roof downspout has sunk. I have ordered a gutter downspout extension and thinking of filling the hole with pebbles and top soil. What else should i do to ensure this doesnt happen again ?

I just moved to my house and I see this dandelions all over my lawn and there are some thistle too. Help me with this. What can I do? Should I overseed now?

Anyone have any experience with plant ID apps, like PictureThis?

I compare results with Gemini or ChatGpt, and I find im even more confused. I was thinking my front yard is overrun with a type of quackgrass, but one app says its actually Kentucky, and other says a fescue, and another says Buffalo grass. Seed heads like this always makes be think its weedy, plus the very fibrous stems. I noticed these seeds heads appear in spring, right after first mow, like a survival mechanism.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/garden/weather-measurement/115488-4-in-1-digital-soil-meter

Does anyone have experience using these? Are they just as good as doing a more standard pH test on soils, or is it more of a gizmo that will never leave the drawer it rests in?